Hi im New around here

by Ian99000310 48 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  sacolton

  Ian,

  Welcome to the forum! Stick around! I'm very glad you are in search of the truth, but the Watchtower claims to be God's only true organization on Earth. That it has the direct communication from God and all truth comes from the Watchtower. Even if you were to become "anointed" - your independant thinking and interpretations is worthless as a Jehovah's Witness. Only their GOVERNING BODY can decide what is "truth" and what the Jehovah's Witnesses must (I stress "MUST") believe. If you attempt to add or remove anything of their theocratic agenda, you will be considered "apostate". Research the organization first.

  Glad to have you here!
• 

  mrsjones5

  Sorry I was being so cut and dry but what everyone is saying above me is true. If you become a jw you will have to give up any independance you're proud of and used to having. There is only the party line to follow in the jw organization and any deviation from that party line means marking or worst case expulsion.

  But like I said before, please do further deeper research into the history and workings of the Watchtower organization...best to do it now...while you can.

  Josie
• 

  leavingwt

  I am a free thinker and for me the bible not only has instructions on how to be true but can and will always be interpreted in many ways.

  This is what Jehovah's Witnesses refer to as Satanic thinking.
• 

  Ian99000310

  If those who lead you say, 'See, the Kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the Kingdom is in and around you. When you know your selves, then you will be known, and you will be aware that you who the sons of the living Father. But if you do not know your selves, you are in poverty, and you who are the poverty."

  the Kingdom is in and around you
• 

  Wasanelder Once

  Ian, continue to create your own religious view. If that involves including JW thinking, hey its your life. Please don't think that you understand the reality of the JW experience for those of us who invested so much faith in doctrines that lead to an impossible social structure that ultimately kills faith. Live the life and you will see that unless you accept the Watchtower dogma as your sole source of faith you will never know God. Once that fallacy is uncovered the resulting freedom is the source of great joy. For many it results in a race in any direction from further religious control of one's life. Good luck to you. With JW's its submit or take a hike, we have taken a hike. W.Once
• 

  mrsjones5

  the Kingdom is in and around you

  Not for jws
• 

  ninja

  now you're just talking pish....
• 

  poppers

  If you are really searching for "truth" don't rule out abandoning all belief systems, including religions and philosophies. Every belief system is a way of putting you in a "box of ideas" whose walls confine you in some way. Can real "freedom" come with such restrictions?

  "You" want to know "God", which is a wonderful goal, but that goal rests upon something absolutely fundamental: knowing who/what you are. Find that first, find what you really are beyond every idea of who you think you are. Once you know what you are then there is a foundation for finding "God".
• 

  lurk3r

  Hello Ian. You sound like a guy after my own heart, or perhaps I am after yours. It would be great if you stuck around here, as there are many "truth seekers" such as yourself that post here on this board. Most people who join into the JW

  way of life are very different than the way you present yourself. YOU WILL be accepted with open arms, big smiles, and big love. For someone who has never "felt" this bombardment before, it is often different than anything else they felt in times

  s gone by, and really, who doesn't want to be loved? With a world full of broken hearts and sad people, it's hard to see though the "love",and not see it for what it really is. Superficiality. There are only two kinds to the JW mentality. Those who fall

  in line with doctrinal thinking, and those who don't. When you stand up and confront the "love", by asking questions in which your heart seeks , you'll be left wondering what it was exactly that you felt in the first place. Please don't let me be one

  to dissuede you, it seems apparent to me this is something you have to do for yourself. PLEASE come bck here and share it along the way.

  lurk3r
• 

  Leolaia

  I am a free thinker and for me the bible not only has instructions on how to be true but can and will always be interpreted in many ways. this does not mean anyone can say the other is incorrect.

  Whereas the JWs believe that the interpretation of the Bible published by the Watchtower Society is the only correct one (that is, until the Society changes an interpretation to a newer one).

  They believe that the Watchtower Society (or rather, the "faithful and discreet slave" that uses the Society) is the means through which God explains the true meaning of the Bible. If you become a JW, you cannot doubt this or you would be thought to be an apostate. If you become a JW, you must accept what the Watchtower Society teaches and teach these "truths" to others.

  We are getting closer to a united church... there will always be sepretists and people who choose to follow on different paths and this neither wrong or right.

  The Watchtower Society condemns ecumenism and interfaith. If you join the JWs, you will be expected to believe that only the path of the JWs is the correct one.

  And for this they should not be knocked in fact i implore all those who have been involved with the WT in the past to be more tolerant in a true christian manner.

  They are however not tolerant of those who can no longer believe what the Watchtower Society teaches, such as a child who was raised as a JW who never had the kind of experience you had of exploring Catholicism, Islam, and other religions. If someone who was raised a JW wants to explore other faith, he or she would very often be shunned and certainly be strongly discouraged from believing differently from what the organization teaches. There is no tolerance for freethinking and expressing yourself in a way that disagrees with the organization (if you have private thoughts that differ from it, you are supposed to keep those to yourself).

  some of my intepretations will not nessacerily fall in line with the WT...But surely there love for me and for christians allows for this.

  If you end up joining the JWs, you will have to shed these views that do not agree with the Society. You will be quizzed on your beliefs prior to baptism and when you are baptized you will have to affirm that you believe that the organization is directed by God as his channel. If there are beliefs you do not agree with, bear in mind that you will still have to publically teach the official doctrine and convince others of the correctness of it.