by excito-are 17 Replies latest jw experiences
I went to Church in my local town while the witnesses attended the Perth assembly. It was a good sermon and I actually felt very upbuilt and refreshed after listening to it. I really thought I would of felt guilt or some negative feeling for doing this, but quite the opposite. It was nice to leave Church with postive feelings rather than feelings of everyone is evil in the world and we are not doing enough for Jehovah. Just thought I would share todays expericane with you guys.
Excito
Going to Church is generally hard to do at first for ex-JW's, but the love and support of others most of the time out weighs any negatives.
We attend Church regularly now and are quite happy to do so.
Outaservice
I love attending church in Kentucky and look forward to every opportunity I get. I am glad you enjoyed the service.
Once I got over the hang-ups instilled in me by being a JW I found going to church a good experience. I have found something that I never did as as a JW and it made me realise all the lies I was told.
Maddie
Glad you felt like branching out. It is a major difficulty for many ex-jws to attend another church. I wasn't raised a jw and know that some church sermons are quite uplifting. They don't always dwell on doom and gloom.
The kingdom hall always made me feel nervous and pessimistic about the future. Good idea to go while they were out of sight.
It might be an interesting experience just to meet new people
and see what its all about in a church..
h40
We sometimes go to the MIL's church even though there are many things we don't agree with. It is a social thing but we will never "join" another religious group. Does that mean we left God then.......I don't think so.
Blondie
We sometimes go to the MIL's church even though there are many things we don't agree with. It is a social thing but we will never "join" another religious group. Does that mean we left God then.......I don't think so.
Blondie - I feel the same way about never "joining" another church, and don't feel in the slightest that I have left God. In fact I feel that I am on the road to getting closer to God.
Maddie
I have visited the neighborhood church a few times since fading , and have found it to be a positive experience .Just like others have said ,I too found the sermons to be uplifting and encouraging . I was raised as a witness so my perspective of church was quite askew. The first few times were uncomfortable ,because I was expecting to be struck by lightening or something . My husband is not comfortable with the idea so he has never gone with me . I am sure some of our former friends have seen me going there ,but so far no one has approached me about it . I think as long as I don't go back to the hall they will treat me as out of sight out of mind . I have no desire to ever join any religion ,however I have no problem attending to different services .
I am so happy to hear that somebody else went to a Christian Church to see for themselves. I went to 12 different churches in one year, at each one I found a beautiful group of people and have settled at a Southern Baptist Church. I wear my Church name badge to the supermarket after Sunday Morning Services and am not at all ashamed when an elder or other JW sees me with it. I MADE A GREAT CHOICE AND WANT THEM TO KNOW IT.
You know the Watchtower did join the United Nations as a Non-Governmental Organization. They do persecute molested children and protect the perpetrator and when they lose law suits require the victim to sign a gag order. The 1914 date was arrived at with Free-Mason mysticism about the Great Pyramid NOT date calculations which fall apart since Babylon did destroy Jerusalem in 586 B.C.E. not 607 B.C.E.. Their editors are grossly dishonest and quote illuminati philosphers like Bertrand Russell. After 40 years I saw enough, heard enough, experienced enough ugliness that when I found out about the UN NGO scandal I knew they could not be what they said they were.
Enough negativity. The Watchtower minimizes Jesus Christ as being 100% in charge.
1 Cor. 15: 24 Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25 For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27 For he "has put everything under his feet." Now when it says that "everything" has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. 28 When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.
(All verses are from The New International Version but I use and like The Holman Christian Standard Bible better.)
The Watchtower forbids that all Christians can partake at the Memorial of The Lord's Supper (communion). Notice the REAL issue. Disregarding the feelings of other Christians. Harming what Jesus Christ died for would make a person subject to adverse judgement.
1 Corinthians 11
17 In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18 In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19 No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval. 20 When you come together, it is not the Lord's Supper you eat, 21 for as you eat, each of you goes ahead without waiting for anybody else. One remains hungry, another gets drunk. 22 Don't you have homes to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the church of God and humiliate those who have nothing? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you for this? Certainly not!
23 For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, "This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me." 25 In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me." 26 For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.
27 Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. 28 A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.
1 Corinthians 12:27 Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
The Watchtower teaches Salvation by Works from faith.
Ephesians 2: 8 For it is by grace (undeserved favor) you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.
Salvation can only come from faith. Faith alone - In Christ alone. I was taught to mock that idea as being the stuff of simpletons. YOU CAN-NOT READ A VERSE SAYING SALVATION IS ONLY THROUGH FAITH AND THEN ADJUST THE REST OF SCRIPTURE TO REQUIRE WORKS OF ANY KIND. Do not confuse bad works that can lead to a person from dis-qualifying one from Secured Salvation with good works that can never earn or quarantee or qualify one for Secured Salvation.
The Watchtower had to reword many passages to enforce their opinion of Salvation by Works from Faith. The Kingdom Interlinear gives a word for word translation from the Greek in the left column and then the New World Translation's wording in the right column. Every time I came across changes they were condemnatory of the Watchtower and showed a proclivity to change the words of Scripture to suit their own ideas. In John 3:16 the WT wrote "in order that everyone exercising faith in him " while the word for word translation IN THEIR OWN INTERLINEAR reads, "in order that - everyone - the - believing - into - him - not - might be destroyed - but - may have - life - everlasting." Their excuse is a false explanation of the technical aspects of that word , tense, person, etc. and wanting to make a person defy God's requirment that a person must believe and act that way - NOT ACT AS IF ONE BELIEVES. Which is what James 4 is explained to mean by the WT.
When Jesus said at John 3:16,
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."
Jesus Christ was not telling a part of the process. The Holy Spirit was not being deceitful to allow only part of the plan of salvation to be disclosed there.
When Paul wrote at Romans 10: 9,
That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
He was not telling only a part of the plan of salvation and the Holy Spirit was not failing to tell the whole process.
When the evil do-er on the stake next to Jesus asked at Luke 23,
39 One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren't you the Christ? Save yourself and us!"
40 But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don't you fear God," he said, "since you are under the same sentence? 41 We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong."
42 Then he said, "Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. [f] "
43 Jesus answered him, "I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise."
(An argument over placement of a comma here is a huge distraction and removes a sensible examination). The now repentant criminal satisfied the requirment for salvation in the statement of Romans 10:9. He recognized that Jesus had the authority over him to determine his future and place in that kingdom - Jesus was indeed empowered to be his Lord AND the criminal knew that Jesus would become a King and therefore would in fact be resurrected - The criminal believed in his heart that God would resurrect Jesus.
I have hundreds of issues that have been settled by attending a Baptist Church. The Watchtower used huge amounts of biased language and hatred based arguments with slanders, calling others "pagan" when their founder was a Free-Mason! Free-masonry is painted over Wicca (neo-paganism) and Enochian Magic. The Watchtowers religion is painted over Free-masonry. Scratch through the layers of "paint" and the Masonic ideas can be discerned.
For example: Free-Masonry teaches re-incarnation. My deceased father-in-law was a Mason and believed in re-incarnation. Re-incarnation gives a fresh start at the point where a person had progressed their spiritual life to in the last physical life. The Watchtower's resurrection teaches just that! To support such a thing plain statements such as found at Revelation 20:
Satan's Doom
7 When the thousand years are over, Satan will be released from his prison 8 and will go out to deceive the nations in the four corners of the earth—Gog and Magog—to gather them for battle. In number they are like the sand on the seashore. 9 They marched across the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of God's people, the city he loves. But fire came down from heaven and devoured them. 10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
The Dead Are Judged
11 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. Earth and sky fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. 12 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.
are explained away with convoluted explanations that it occurs during the 1,000 year long judgement day ... but this resurection occurs AFTER SATAN IS THROWN INTO THE LAKE OF FIRE IN THE FINAL JUDGEMENT. Un-believers are judged by their works. Believing Christains are NOT JUDGED anymore but are the Holy Ones, the Saints, and part of the First Resurrection.
Hebrews 9:27 says:
as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment,
and that matches the first and last resurrection scenarios.
Having this months version of "accurate knowledge" will not earn or qualify one for everlasting life. That enslavement to study is also a requirment for works, isn't it?
I get it. The Watchtower only wanted to diss on Christianity, detract from tradionalist ideas and minimize Jesus. Do you get it?
Regards,
Paul
P.S. A large number of respectable translations can be accessed at http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=
