I was a JW from the ages 19-37. When I first left, I went to to a Church of the Nazarene where several of my friends at work are members. I was raised as a Baptist, so the beliefs there were similar. But after a couple years, I still could not accept their teachings about the Trinity and an eternal flaming hell. I left, and started doing my own research into the history and similarities of religions. At this point, I am agnostic. I don't accept Christianity's God. I do believe there is something more out there besides this life. I think it's wonderful being out of organized religion, and to be able to explore different things, and NOT know all the answers. I tend toward being pantheistic in my beliefs now...we and all creation are "God" and still evolving.
After leaving Jw's did you go into another religion or serv. god ur own way?
by average joe 31 Replies latest watchtower bible
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wantingtruth
After being made free of man made organized religion , is the best time and opportunity to learn from Jesus , listen to him and "seeking first the Kingdom of God"
then the rest will be added to us
what "the rest" ? - community ( congregation , christian friends , the necessary knowledge, etc )
during our life in the org we were in the "wilderness"
there God is making (preparing) a way (of worshiping)
Isaiah 35
8. And a highway shall be there, and a way; and it shall be called the Holy Way.
The unclean shall not pass over it, but it shall be for the redeemed;
the wayfaring men, yes, the simple ones and fools, shall not err in it and lose their way.
(Amplified Bible)For those loving God , Jesus and God's righteousness , it is "the way of holiness"
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sd-7
I tried investigating the Christadelphians, even attending one of their church services. I still wanted to believe in God and the Bible, and I still enjoy talking about such matters.
But, I think I'm more of an agnostic now. I believe something or someone caused all this stuff to happen, but I don't believe there's a divine being who cares about humanity. We could just be the end result of a series of stuff happening--universes collided, big explosion, giant black monolith, monkey with bone in hand, whatever. Don't know, don't think we'll have full answers before I'm dead anyway.
I think it becomes pitiful when we feel that if there were no God, we could not live as morally decent beings with regard for the rights of others. I think we are capable of good things, great things, if only we would learn to accept our moral responsibility and our potential. I don't think living in fear of some catastrophe because of rejecting religion is a healthy way to live.
Nobody yet has come back to tell us if there's more to this life than our 70+ years. Nobody from the past couple of millenniums, at least. That being said, best we can do is use our remaining time well. No shame in that.
--sd-7
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talesin
I don't believe in G*d myself, but have done volunteer work since '89,,,, and it is the very bestest! If one is an Xtian, and wants to serve G*d, the best way is through volunteerism..... imo.
tal
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techdotcom
"I think it becomes pitiful when we feel that if there were no God, we could not live as morally decent beings with regard for the rights of others."
Wow, really? I think it's entirely possible to have an ethical framwork for behaviour without having to believe in some kind of diety. Personally I was born into the JW's otherwise I would have never fallen for it. But once indoctrinated, even with my natural skepticism, it was difficult to shake it. I don't see any reason why we need god, in fact I see a lot of contemporary and historical examples of good reasons to not just choose to believe something and use that as a basis for moral conduct.
edit: okay from re-reading you may have been saying exactly what I'm getting at...not totally clear. In any case I think the JW's produce quite a lot of atheists, especially from those born in.
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fade_away
I left and still believed in God and the Bible 100%. That was 8 months ago. I've spent the last 8 months doing research on the Bible and all its stories and the more I research it, the more bogus it sounds. Some of the stories are impossible like the Flood story. Also i've noticed paralles and extreme similarities between the Bible and other myths that pre date the Bible. The more I look into it, the more I see the Bible being a rip off book of tales. Today, I'm leaning towards agnostic. I believe God created life because life seems way to complex to not have a creator. However, I think God either doesn't care about humans anymore and just gave up on us, or he is literally dead.
Maybe he existed once but I'm sure he doesn't exist anymore. So no, I don't attend any other churches.
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Velour
I left a year ago as an agnostic- at least a personal agnostic, meaning God didn't care about me personally. After leaving I became obesessed with what is real and what is true. I realized that truth is absolute and no matter what questions you ask or how you test it, it will always be truth. And I realized, too, that what we all know and can agree that is real is what we can see, touch, taste, hear, and smell and anything outside of that is just speculation and opinion. I'm an atheist.
I realize that the indoctrination of the JW can run deep inside someone for a long time making it difficult, if not impossible, for someone to even open their minds up to the lack of evidence for a god. I had to accept that truth is truth is truth and I'm working hard to reset my mind. I also know that with worshipping a brand of religion comes a community of people who you can get emotionally tied up with and you can miss that when you leave. So I've looked for other communities to get involved with that don't require me to sacrifice my thinking ability and freedoms. And lastly, I had to accept that I dont and that the world we live in does not have all of the answers. To say that a magic skydaddy created everything and will solve everything is living outside of reality. I had to accpet ''I don't know" as a legitimate answer. I appreciate now that with "I don't know" comes a search for the answer.
Where did the earth come from? I don't know. We may not know in my lifetime. I accept that.
Where will I go when I die? I don't know. What I know is real is I will turn to earth and that will be the end of my life. I'm like any other living thing on this planet, I'll die and that will be it. Does it bother me? Yes, but such is reality and I'd rather know the truth and make my life wonderful now than pretend I've won a secret lottery with a prize at the end of my life.
Where does morality come from? I don't know. I know that I still feel a desire to be good to those around me. I don't believe a god who murders people to take their land, who condones slavery, and who says he'll murder billions of people in the future because they failed to convert after 1 or 2 folks show up at their door giving half assed presentations is any source of morality. No religion is without hypocrisy and blood guilt. The world pushes forward because thinking human beings said "F*ck that 2,000 year old book! Slavery is wrong! Women are not property! Science is the search for answers, it's not magic!"
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cult classic
We have not explored any other beliefs. I have an almost zero tolerance for religion, holy books and god.
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Bella15
I disassociated myself for sure after visiting the WT headquarters in NYC - I saw that their only focus is to sell magazines and books. After leaving I couldn't even heard the term "religion" and really didn't believe in God for a while but due to certain events that made realize that the Watchtower Corporation is in reality a publishing corporation making money out of the faith of the people, I started to think about "God" ... to make the story short I went to buy a bible at Half Price Books and started reading, it was like I was reading the bible for the first time I started praying and my mind and heart changed ... I suffered a lot during this period thou, I spent a couple of months crying over the WT deception I've discovered, crying for all the "wasted" time, all the suffering growing up in my disfunctional JW family. I remember buying a bible with Jesus' words in RED because I wanted to read only what Jesus's said. I was not interested in the apostles' comments. Then I read the books of Genesis and Revelation (beginning and end of the bible). I cannot explain it was like something was teaching me all this things about Jesus, I experienced love, joy, real happiness like I never knew before ... I was set free from the WT bondage.
I remember very well as a child really liking God but hating the god the WT preached. The god that was going to kill even the orphan children leaving in the streets (yeah my mom told me so when I was a child) I was rebelious, I actually got baptized when I was 26, way late for someone raised in that religion. So perhaps in my case I really wanted to have a relationship with God and found my way to Him after leaving the WT, others may not have that spiritual need. But if anybody wonders about what is the truth in all of this ... the truth is not an organization the Truth is a person - JESUS. And to be totally honest for the benefit of those searching for what the TRUTH is ... I still have my reservations as far as what the apostles may say about certain things - they were imperfect humans too ... but what convinced me about the bible is its accurate prophecy (and not as revealed by the WT) --- no other book can claim the same. My advice to anyone out there looking for something, read the bible and ask the Holy Spirit to teach you, to reveal things to you
I am not a member of any Christian church but I am not afraid to visit any of them. I learn so much about real Christianity not Sects like JWs. Whenever I can I go to Lakewood Church here in Houston (actually Lakewood has many services and group bible studies not only what you see on TV), sometimes I go to Second Baptist for different bible based seminars for couples, children, moms .. and recently my kids asked me to find a church close to home where they can have fellowship with other young christians and sure enough we enjoy attending The River UMC - we meet in an elementary school on Sundays. Sometimes I cannot help but start crying when I see all the things I learn in these churches, real stuff for real people living real lives in Jesus and helping others in the community and abroad. I have come to love the Body of Christ, all Christians spreaded all over the world. It has taken me 40 years to finally feel like a person that matters, with a voice, with a choice, loved by the Father and Jesus. I call those 40 years, my years in the wilderness ... now I have found my Promised Land. Reminds me of another person who spent 50 years in the WT, not he calls this time his Jubilee ... awesome! Call me crazy ... but I made Jesus my Lord and Savior (not the Watchtower Corporation).