Hi!! New Here and need to express some feelings (page 4)

mouthy

I wrote a lot before but dont know if it went through( old age messes up)

I did to my kids what you went through But one thing I was SO pleased to read
YOUR alive ,my dear Melanie raised a JW is dead...Alan too,though he left home because he couldnt stand

my preaching ,,,,,,Annmarie ( daughter ) still is in bondage mustnt speak to wicked old Mum ( me)
because I didnt believe Jesus came invisably in 1914.

It is NOT the truth. it is a Cult. Glad your hubby is doubting also. Mine died, He used to beat me to stop being a JW
but that me a stronger one cos they said it was persecution... I feel so bad NOW that I gave him such a hard time
he was Catholic....

You might lose the family ( MUm,Dad,Gran)

but it is worth it ,to get your mind back,

Mouthy

Ding

Coffee House Girl,

If celebrating holidays or birthdays would defile your conscience, then don't do it.

But please realize that the anti-holiday, anti-birthday dogma of the Watchtower has no basis whatever in the Bible.

It's a control and guilt trip the Society lays on us.

Consider the following Scriptures, which the WTS never showed us:

Romans 14:

4 Who are you to judge someone else's servant? To his own master he stands or falls. And he will stand, for the Lord is able to make him stand.

5 One man considers one day more sacred than another; another man considers every day alike. Each one should be fully convinced in his own mind.

[His own mind! Individual choice and freedom!: Gasp!!!!!]

6 He who regards one day as special, does so to the Lord...

Farkel

:My problem now is even though we have been inactive, I used to think I could never turn my back on Jehovah and wondered how could someone who was raised as a JW turn to another religion or start celebrating the holidays or become apart of this "system of things"

You're "confusing turning your back on Jehovah" with "turning your back on a Religious Propaganda Corporation" which never represented Jehovah, or even if they did, quit representing Jehovah after 1917 when Joseph Franklin Rutherford began his work of turning the rather benign little group of Bible Students into a full-fledged cult of Corporation Worship, er, I mean "THEOCRACY" (which really meant those who ran the Corporation, not God,).

Just look at blatant self-boasting the Watchtower publications say about the "Faithful and Discrete Slave" (now obselete, and replaced by the "Governing Body") and you should be able to easily tell it is a cult based on men and ever-changing doctrine, rather than a faith based upon a God who never changes.

You deserve a better God than the false one the WTS Society lyingly says it was given the exclusive rights to represent.

Farkel

cyberjesus

welcome

Mattieu

G'day KNB and a warm welcome. So many of us share the same confusing thoughts and experiences, glad you found JWN and posted. Cheers, Mattieu

Lozhasleft

Welcome to the gang - my advice read 'Crisis of Conscience' by Ray Franz and then you'll know what to do. And as you can probably already see this forum is a great place to be with lots of help and support. Dont be afraid to ask the questions even though the answers may hurt.

Loz x

rabidewok

Read everything you can get your hands on!!! The fear and anxiety will diminish with your newly educated mind! You will no longer be under the mental control of the Organization.

3Mozzies

Welcome

I had massive guilt trips with this religion.

I've read the books people have told you about and they have helped me so much.

I also have done a lot of deep research on this religion and PROVED to myself that it's one BIG lie and such a dangerous cult.

Take your time to prove it to yourself.

We are all here to help each other, it's great to have you onboard :)

...and if it all possible watch the video from 1985 entitled, "Witnesses of Jehovah". It maybe be on youtube in parts, and it's an hour long, but worth every minute!!!!! I was so sick after watching it that I refer to that moment as a real turning point for me....I had that "punched gut" feeling after watching it. My late mother watched it as well.

I have that video in full on my Vimeo page:

http://vimeo.com/13409973

3Mozzies

AK - Jeff

Lots of advice here. Welcome.

My suggestion is to read Ray Franz book 'Crisis of Conscience' [it may have been suggested, I didn't read every post]. It will help you get grounded a bit as you make this journey.

No advice, just personal experience: I had never celebrated anything, really including life, as a Jw. I left at 48. My first celebration was about a year later when we did Christmas for the first time. Then a year later my 50th birthday. We just plunged in, tested the water. It was uncomfortable, but not bad in any way. We had begun to raise our grandchildren due to unfortunate turns of events about that time, and like you, we wanted them to be socially involved with schoolmates and others. It helped us to do that.

Now, 7 years later, I am an atheist. At times my grandkids ask about God or Jesus or Heaven. I just tell them simply that I am not going to make up their mind for them about what to believe. I will help and support them no matter what they choose in that regard. I will take them to church if they wish. Or I will discuss evolution and my opinions that no deity exists or was involved with mankind's history - if they wish. But I don't force them. The only thing I will not allow them to do is to ever join a cult. I will investigate and make the call on any 'oddball' religion they might wish to get involved with. Otherwise - they are free to think, eventually to choose a religion, to celebrate or not to celebrate any holiday they want to - within reason of course.

I wish you peace as you ease down this pathway of unfamiliarity. You will find great pleasures, and you will find some pain.

Jeff

VampireDCLXV

Welcome Knb1983.

I know what it's like to have known little else but 'The Lie' all my life. (It's not the truth, is it?) I didn't have the good fortune of having other JW kids in my class so I was pretty much all alone. I had very few friends on the inside growing up, but now I realize ones on the inside were never friends at all.

The thought that I was being told what to believe and not being allowed to question it always lurked in the back of my mind too. Even though you lost your childhood, I'm glad you're not going to steal it from your own children. All we can do is keep moving forward. Nice to meet you.

V665

Hi!! New Here and need to express some feelings

Share this