Very confused-help please (page 4)

megs

welcome hatchetsup! What they did when I signed up was to send a pioneer over (during the day) who left a note with contact details. I left her a voicemail saying thanks but I've changed my mind! lol

BabaYaga

HatchetsUp said: i read posts on here and i get goosebumps from it, dont know if that sounds stupid, but i do, lol.

Doesn't sound stupid at all... I completely understand! Sometimes there are tears, not just goosebumps.

I also understand about telling your wife things she had never heard about your JW experience. I had been out for YEARS and would have a slight panic attack trying to answer my husband's curious questions about the Watchtower... before I found this site! It has released so much in me... now he probably wishes I would shut up about it!

skeeter1

I'm sorry about your loss. Welcome to the group.

I am least comfortable with those who claim to know the absolute truth, and most comfortable with those who openly admit that life contains mysteries that we will never fully know.

FlyingHighNow

this is weird to say, but ive never felt this kind of support from stangers before,

Hatchet, you don't lose your brothers and sisters when you leave, but the ones who are still inside and still snowed. When we leave, we are still brothers and sisters to each other, but this time it's better because it's unconditional. There is still this connection and bond we made while in, but it's much more enlightened and real.

villabolo

Hatchetsup, I recommend Crisis of Conscience and In Search of Christian Freedom both by Raymond Franz like the other posters have recommended. These are absolutely the best books on the subject of JWs as well as Apocalypse Delayed by James Penton.

As far as your fear that you won't make it into "Paradise" in case the Witnesses are "right" just ask yourself why God should damn you just because you have "inaccurate" theology. It should be your heart that counts in the eyes of such a god. Otherwise, and this applies to the god of the Witnesses, He would be like a harsh school teacher who kills you just because you didn't get his theology lesson right.

Villabolo

hatchetsup

welcome hatchetsup! What they did when I signed up was to send a pioneer over (during the day) who left a note with contact details. I left her a voicemail saying thanks but I've changed my mind! lol

hey megs, i grew up in calgary, maybe we went to the same kingdom hall, lol, it was right by marlborough mall

Black Sheep

Hi Hatchetsup,

Welcome to the forum.

Sorry to hear about your grandma.

I was born in and never baptised too. Problem was, even though I wasn't baptised, I still thought it might have been the truth until I was 52 years old. By that time I had made quite a few life defining mistakes that I severely regret.

what if it is the truth? what if my family will be in paradise and i wont?

You can say that for a lot of religions. JWs reckon the bad guys will just be dead. No thoughts. That is pretty good compared to burning in hell, so your question could equally be:

what if the catholics have the truth? what if my family and I will be burning in hell?

I am not suggesting you join the Catholics.

When I was 52, my father said something that started me studying the Watchtower.

He reckoned that I had better hurry up and 'get in' because Armageddon must be just around the corner as the 'generation of 1914' are nearly all dead now.

Within days I had found out that the 'generation of 1914 will still be alive at Armageddon' doctrine had been thrown out in November 1995, seven years earlier. He was hanging on to a prophesy that even the Watchtower Society knew to be false.

Now, my family won't even give me a Watchtower or an Awake! to study. I have to download them from my fellow Apostates on the internet.

I have asked every family member I have to give me a list of the kings of Babylon from Nebuchadnezzar to Nabonidus, showing what years they reigned in. None of them have because they can't give me one that agrees with the Watchtower. That list kicks the sand out from under every doctrine that depends on 607 BC for the fall of Jerusalem, including their 1914 doctrines, and they have no defence. Check it out.

Eventually I came to the conclusion that all religious writings are just man's thoughts about God. None of them are God's thoughts about man.

Freedom at last.

Cheers

Chris

LouBelle

hello hatchetsup: first of all welcome to JWN - we all know the relief you feel when you can speak to others that understand straight a way the life of a JW.

Realising ones' mortality is a huge thing, especically becase we don't know 100% what is out there ... if anything and if so what it would be like. I personally don't believe in the paradise - I don't take the JWs' rendering of it that literally. I do believe that once this physical life is over that we continue our journey as a spirit being ... though not in heaven bouncing on clouds and such.

I would encourage you to do research about different faiths, even the JWs if you want too. As Renaiaa said - you won't find many here that will encourage you to study with the JWs - but research their faith extremely well and you will see why - for yourself. You'll find out the truth about the so called truth.

I wish you many blessed hours here - welcome friend.

StAnn

Hatchetup, welcome and happy birthday! So sorry about your grandma. I lost my grandma eight years ago and I'm just starting to get over it.

You will find that people on this group have all found their own way, or are finding their own way. I'm now Roman Catholic; Flying High Now is Episcopalian; Password Protected is an evangelical Christian; Mouthy is an independent Christian. I could go on and on. Many are agnostic or atheist. And we're all friends and we cut up together and we laugh and we fight and we argue about politics and we get into heated discussions about just about anything. It's like a real neighborhood with real people where we can be our real selves.

Hope you find the answers you seek.

St. Ann

dinah

I left her a voicemail saying thanks but I've changed my mind!

That's good to hear!!

Welcome to the board, hatchetsup!

Sorry to hear about your Grandmother. It's very understandable that you would feel a pull toward the religion she followed. Someone has already mentioned this, but if you studied and "made progress in the truth" and then changed your mind--you're family would be forced to shun you. Since you left at 12 without being baptised you have a loophole.

I was born-in and was a Witness until I turned 18. I was disfellowshipped for my worldly ways. This religion has so much power of the mind, I still believed they were right until I was about 30. After reading Crisis of Conscience, I was angry!

About receiving support from strangers, in so many ways we are not strangers. Many of us have the shared experience of being born-in to this mess and we can all relate to the same things. That was the thing that made this place feel like "home" for me. Reading all the stories, I would think, "I felt the same way" or "that happened to me too" You know how it was to be the "different" kid at school. We all missed the good cartoons on Saturday morning because of field service. There's just so much we have in common from our childhoods.

I'm very happy you've stumbled across this place (no pun intended).

Very confused-help please

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