Are they really that bad??? (page 7)

diamondiiz

It sounds like you're in a cult yourself. No point of jumping cults as the result will be the same. Read and examine the bible and take it for what it is. If God is real you don't need another person telling you what to believe. If the bible is God's word it should be clear to the reader. Maybe examine some threads here that discuss some parts of the bible like the flood, tower of babel and the creation accounts and meditate on it if the bible is truthful or does it sound more like folklore of the times?

DanaBug

well, look- if they are not the truth, where is one meant to go to find the truth. Isn't there even just ONE group out there that teach the truth straight from the bible, and are in union?

I hate to break it to you, but no there isn't. The Bible is interpreted differently by different people, that's why there's so many denominations. If someone tells you they have the truth, they're lying. But you asked where to go to find truth. According to the Bible, John 14:

6Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7If you really knew me, you would know b my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”

15“If you love me, you will obey what I command. 16And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— 17the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be c in you.

No where does the Bible say we have to be in a certain religion to have salvation. What's important is accepting Jesus and following his example, and we learn about that example from the Bible. Just study the Bible and pray, that's all you need. It's not dependent on attending a church or being in a specific denomination, it's dependent on our personal acceptance and a relationship with God. And, imo, that makes for a much more loving, merciful God than the one the Witnesses preach.

mamalove

I didnt read all of the comments, so sorry if I am repeating.

OP, would you feel comfortable cutting off ALL association, casual or familial if one of your friends or family decided not to be a JW anymore? That is just one reason...the shunning. That is evil.

You can kiss your privacy goodbye, kiss your freedom goodbye, and let a publishing company dictate what you believe.

OnTheWayOut

Isn't there even just ONE group out there that teach the truth straight from the bible, and are in union?

Any group that insists that they are all in unity has asked members to check their brain at the door and just believe whatever they are told. You have to do the work of learning "the truth" of the matter for yourself. That way, nobody tells you what to think.

OBVES

But if God wants us to avoid blood at any price we can use it to the advantage of our children .

Do you want to keep your child for 100 years only as your child will die most likely without beliving in God or take a chance in a law loophole and let your child die by refusing blood transfusion for religious reasons in order not to break God's law and see your child in the Paradise most likely alive eternally ?

Most kids after they grow up are not believing in God the right way so they as a grown-up people most likely will die forever.

For instance I would prefer to die as child because of my parent's refusal for blood transfusion than to live on a happy life for 100 years without believing in God .I would end up with death forever but as a dead child I would be resurrected in the Paradise and at that time it will be easy to be saved and live forever .

We cannot just kill the kids for any reason as we cannot kill .

There were people who were dying for their religious convictions they could choose life but chose to die.

People in Haiti who were saved and died in an earthquake there should have been happy when this disaster occurred to leave this world by going to a new better world of joy,prosperity .They were leaving the misery they had in their country .

Apostle Paul was willing to die as to be absent from the body is to be present with Christ- 2 Corinthians 5.8.

How first christians were dying cruel deaths for their religious convictions !They chose to die .

diamondiiz

Obves: Get some medical help, you really need it.

Lily Pie

Anonymous4.

Well done for doing your research. I am a Pentacostal (AOG), I became one after studying watchtower publications. I promise you, that all *religions* are the same. They all are dogmatic and nasty in many respects all religions are CULT-like. Thats the human aspect... religion always magnifys humanity.. ugh....

But where do we draw the line? If you become a Jehovah's Witness, and then you choose to stop believing it, then you will be harrassed, and you WILL loose all your friends. (similar things can happen in other religions, but this IDEA is written in thier JW INSTRUCTION MANUAL). Jehovah's Witnesses also have enormous amounts of contempt and intolerance for other religions which is off-putting.

As I said, I am an AOG member, but I don't nessesarily agree with everything about the Trinity, I think *jehovah* should be reinstated into the Old Testament, but not the new testament, I don't think it matters if Jesus is called God or not, But he is the Way, this is biblical. Maybe we all will be living on paradise earth, I don't really care about that detail either. But I will say, Jesus is the WAY. the only way.... if you believe what the Bible says...

If you are really interested in The Truth of God, I encourage you to read your bible. You can even use the NWT together with say .. the ESV... The Bible is the sword of faith. Do not read the bible with help books, read it for yourself, the whole NT using a translation you are not familiar with.

I realised only yesterday, that letting yourself be bonded to *religion* whether Pentecostal, or the Watchtower, is completely contrary to the Truth of Jesus. You are tying yourself to laws , no freedom found there. Think about it. Jesus on the Cross. Paul went on and on and on about it. It must be important.

I think this is part of your God-Journey. Maybe you are connecting with God through your bible study. Spend some more serious time on this before you become baptised.

Ask a Jehovah's Witness, if there is ever a valid reason to leave The Truth. Regardless of what their answer is, In my experience, in thier eyes anyone who leaves, has left in order to commit sin, whether this is the truth of it or not.

Please PM me if you want further information on scriptural matters, or to discuss anything about the bible, or want some advice on having God without religion. I seriously AM NOT a fundamentalist in the Pentecostal Movement, though I really am into *knowing* God.

Good Luck to you with this.

Lily Pie

I would also like to add. If anyone is at a Pentecostal Church, and they are being harrassed about attending, or they are being told that speaking in tongues is *nessesary*. Then I advise you to keep away. This is not what a relationship with God is about.

You will know them by thier fruit. HAHA.... such a JW catch-phrase. But seriously check out the fruit of a congregation before you give them money or become too involved, and never let yourself become intimidated.

Good advise for all religious involvement.

GLTirebiter

I love my bible and love learning new things from it.

Then it is important to know that, as a Jehovah's Witness, you would be using their "New World Translation" (produced by a small group of WT leaders, notably their late president, Fred Franz). It is different from other translations: sometimes subtly, other times considerably, always in a way that supports their unusal doctrines. See John 1 for a good example of this: the NWT version uses the wording of spiritist Johannes Greber--not found in any other respected English translation.

Maybe that's not what usual people do who are not already JWs, but that's what I do.

So do I, as do many other Catholics in our parish. You will find regular Bible readers in every Christian faith, in non-Christian religions, and even among Atheists and Agnostics who strive to understand "the other side". You will also find people in Christian churches who are largely ignorant of the Bible. JWs have no monopoly on Bible reading, and as others have already commented, they use their own publications first and the Bible only as a supporting reference.

I found it disappointing that the "book study" at my ex-wife's Kingdom Hall was a study of the Watchtower magazines--not a study of the Bible.

AK - Jeff

Oh boy. Time will not permit a full answer. It would take a book.

Read Crisis of Conscience before you do anything else.

Jeff

Are they really that bad???

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