Honest Question..........

by thraxer68 45 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  LouBelle

  Greetings Thraxer.

  I live my life in harmony with the bible, with my god and I am happier than I've ever been. I don't go to church, I don't belong to any religion. I don't believe in religion. I no longer have to prove anything to anyone and if I don't know what happens when I die (cos I've never experienced that) I say so.

  I don't have to know all the answers. I walk my path as true as I can and don't tell others what to do. I'm happy to discuss god / beliefs but I don't NEED for anything to be any one way.
• 

  jgnat

  Goodness and truth sings. You will know it when you hear it. However, you won't find a single organization or doctrine that carries all goodness and truth. There are failings in us all.

  So what do I do? Like an old preacher told me once, I eat the meat and spit out the bones.
• 

  techdotcom

  While I don't share you faith God or the Bible, I think Earnest said it well:

  I have to say in all this time there has been no single answer and, as far as I am concerned, no answer at all.

  In my opinion, problems with the Witnesses and potential issue with any belief system, religious or not, is the tendancy for all of us to want to throw away the uncertainty of life and bask in the comfort of certainty. It has been my further oberservation that this comes at too high of a cost, both to induviduals, and to society in general. While there have been many great and good people of faith and good things can be attributed to many religions, many of the most horrible people and most heinious works can be attributed to people of strong belief doing what they "know" to be right.

  Keep asking questions, and enjoy.
• 

  ESTEE

  thraxer68, welcome to JWN.

  Lots of great suggestions for survival ... on this thread.

  thraxer, my best advice is to just be patient with yourself. It might take time to let go of all the conditioning you were born and raised with. It took me years of therapy to let go of it.

  I suggest that you start with a talk with your family doctor. You will be amazed at how much good advice they can offer you. Also, your doctor might know a therapist who understands about cult conditioning. I realize that the jws train therapy out of its members, but therapy is something that helped me in the recovery process. Therapy helped me to see more clearly how some of my beliefs were delusional. Because, for whatever reason, my dysfunctional parents chose a dysfunctional religion...go figure. But really, my parents' choice was all part of the pattern of dysfunciton. They needed a religion to support their pre-existing twisted beliefs. It was a match made in heaven on earth.

  Therapy helps in another way, too. It gives you a support system for when you finally go head-to-head with the elders. You will have somewhere to turn when the religion turns against you. It helps people exiting not to resort to suicide when all their family and friends are turned against you. After all, FEAR is the JW's greatest tool to keep you stuck in a place you have outgrown. When I finally left (via disfellowshipping) I had my therapist and a few close dance friends. So I didn't fall into a void. I had a functional life outside of the organization.

  So, thraxer, you might want to allow yourself to learn all you can about the cult. Knowledge is power. JWs can no longer keep us separated and alienated from others who have left, thanks to forums such as this. We support one another here. This forum must be the bain of the GB's existence, trying to keep a lid on all the toxic stuff that is seeping out in the news, on the internet, etc... Trying to keep people from noticing that ever-growing pile of stinky stuff shoved under the rug. I mean, that rug is only so big!

  Let us know how it goes, dear one.

  Love

  ESTEE
• 

  jgnat

  For accuracy in interpretation, check out the Seventh Day Adventists.

  For distributing bibles, look at the Gideon Society.

  For gathering together, warmth and fellow feeling, the house churches.

  For spreading the good news, the Jesus Film Project.

  For abstinence and separation from the world, the Amish.

  For a doppelganger religion to the Witnesses, with more authentic original teachings, the Bible Students.

  All the above organizations do something better than the Witnesses. Each organization will have it's strengths, weaknesses, supporters and detractors. You will not find a carbon copy of what you found with the Witnesses; nor should you. That path leads to oppression, fear, and rigidity. Consider that Jesus was able to condense all the bible requirements in to a single sentence. Condensing words to real truth requires a clear head, not distracted by some camp or another. Seeking after truth should be an individual journey, with the helps of our friends and societies along the way. Make sure also, that your search never stops.
• 

  VoidEater

  I did not find a connection to something larger than myself until I left organized religion.