dear AGuest...
Jesus loves you this I know, for the bible tells me so...
I feel kind of sad for you.
love michelle
Soooo... "Brother" Daniel and "Sister" Pat, Just Left...
by AGuest 31 Replies latest jw friends
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OUTLAW
Now, away with you...
A slave of Christ,.....SA
Hey Shel..You got me Laughing..
Dam that was Funny!..
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...OUTLAW -
AGuest
My Lord, the Holy One of Israel and Holy Spirit, JAHESHUA, the Chosen One of JAH (MischaJah)... loves me, Michelle... as does his Father and mine, the MOST Holy One of Israel, JAH of Armies. The Bible didn't tell me this, though. The Bible says that God "so loved the WORLD that He gave His only-begotten Son." And I absolutely believe that... that when "I" was a part of the world, "they" loved me... in spite of my being part of the world. I mean, the Bible says so, yes?
I was called OUT of the world, however, by that Holy One, due to his love for me. I was drawn to that One by the MOST Holy One... due to HIS love for me. And it was... through and FROM him... that I came to know that both love ME... SA... personally... NOT because I am part of the world (and God loves the world, generally)... but because I am KNOWN by them... and now know THEM... and belong to them. Literally.
So, their love for me is not abstract, not general, not a technicality. It is not the love one has for his countryman, his neighbor, his friend, even his brother. It is the love one has... for his child. A "son."
So, please... don't feel sad for ME. Rather, feel [very] free to REJOICE with me... as I would do with you had you [been able to say] the same thing. I would not have felt jealousy over you... but would have been happy for you... and rejoiced with you Truly. The only thing sad... is that are not... and have not been... able to do the same.
A slave of Christ,
SA
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still thinking
Na...she was just singing a song...that's an oldie...I had that on a 45 when I was a kid...I think she might have been singing to herself LOL
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AGuest
I think she might have been singing to herself
That... or watching too many reruns of the "Bodyguard" - LOLOLOL!
(Sing that song, Sistah Whitney!!)
Peace, dear ST...
SA, on her own....
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watersprout
apparently I have the ANTI-CHRIST spirit.......thats my diagnosis from myelaine
Oh dear, she got you to ST?? Myelaine seems to have ''it in'' for a certain few on here.
Peace
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life is to short
Shelby I have never truly stopped to think about why some people stay in the religion like you explained here.
(Some of them, however, what would they DO? Meetings and field service fills their time (augmented by concerning themselves with and minding others' business). Take all of that away and... what? I always worked full-time when "in"... so I was grateful to have more time on my hands. But some who left around the same time got... ummmmm... "antsy." Didn't know WHAT to do with themselves. So much time on their hands a few actually went bonkers (got caught up in all KINDS of "madness"!).
Living as a "free" people isn't easy. Not everyone can do it. For many of these, it's like being let loose after years of being incarcerated: while in the clink, folks tell you what to do as to virtually everything: when to eat, when to sleep, when to play, when to get up, when to lay down, when to march the yard... everything. So that when they "get out"... most go back because they simply cannot cope, cannot "navigate" the "real world." I belive that MANY JWs are like this... and so they stay NOT because they believe the melarkey, per se, but they don't know where else to go... what other "place" is going to demand the same "forced labor" as the WTBTS... and so they will have to think/do for themselves... and they simply can't.)
I can see that so clearly now that I read this from you. So many of the ones in my congregation are this way. They wanted to be told every minute what to do and how to do it and to get the prise that comes from an elder saying "good answer, good answer" when all they have done is to read back or parrot something from what is in front of them. I have seen grown women beam with joy at the elder telling them "good answer." It always did make me feel a little embarrassed for them.
I hate to admit it but looking back I think I was a little that way. I loved Bethel because I knew what to do and when to do it. I did not have to worry about life in many ways, paying rent, what to eat, etc only my overseer hated me and my work so that was a problem but aside from that it did give me a feeling of security though I was never happy with it.
It is truly sad to think of JW's being trapped in this way but they want to be trapped like you said they do not know any other life nor do they want to.
It is truly in so many ways nice to be free, to know that God loves EVERYONE if you still are able to believe in God. I am still having a struggle with that but I would like to believe in God.
Anyway I have to run to work but peace to you also dear Shelby and thanks for such a lovely post it gives me a lot to think over.
LITS
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AGuest
It is truly in so many ways nice to be free,
It is, dear LITS (peace to you, dear one!)... but it isn't easy. It's one reason why people who lose their religion replace with... well, "other" stuff. Including a belief that there is no God. Too hard to walk by faith... rather than by sight. When you're part of a religion, you're NOT walking by faith - you are walking by what you see (KHs, elders, GBs, WTs, Bibles, Popes, priests, cathedrals, altars, crosses, pews, pulpits, stained glass... and other people, MANY other people, revering all of this and more!). And by what you hear FROM the leaders/fomenters/creators of all of this.
When you leave all of that, though, you CAN feel... well, "abandoned". Because there's no one to literally hold your hand... and tell you "when to get up and when to lie down" any more. No one to literally tell you what "such and so means." No one for you to emulate, literally, for you to gauge YOUR "spirituality" by... to look at/to so as to know if YOU'RE "doing it right." No one HUMAN, that is.
I know you've heard the phrase "leap of faith"... but I have learned that many don't really get what that means. It means jumping off the "cliff"... in spite of the fact that (1) there's no "net" below, and (2) it APPEARS that there is no one below to catch you. It means that, somehow, you KNOW something/someone IS there... and WILL catch you!
That is why I state the truths that I do without fear: I KNOW what I hear/see... and that my Lord WILL "catch" me... if I just step off that safe "cliff" and follow HIM. This requires me to let go of my fear... and jump. It also requires ME... to take the step. And he's "caught" me, dear one... every time. But not everyone possesses that kind of faith. I do not say this to say that I think myself "better" - I was actually blown AWAY... when I first learned that most DON'T have it. When I asked my Lord why me... why he was speaking to ME... he said, "Because you have faith the size of a mustard seed!" That statement blew my mind: given all of the oh-so-"spiritual" JWs and others I knew, I thought, "If that's what I have... and all I have... where in the WORLD is the rest of folks??! What about Brother So-and-So? Sister Such-and-Such?" And then I thought... "Oh... my... God." It was one of the most powerful... and saddening... revelations I've ever received.
Just as with a convict being returned to mainstream living, it takes SOME measure of faith to succeed. Whether in God... or in oneself. It also takes some measure of wherewithall, some ability to at least TRY. Which requires THINKING. And most folks (well, certainly JWs) don't want to think, dear one. Many EXJWs don't want to do, NOW. Rather, they [still] want others to think FOR them. Even worse... they [still] want others to manifest their faith... FOR them. Doesn't work that way, though.
I have learned from this board that many JWs never believed in God to begin with but only put up a pretense. For appearances. For family. I often marvel, then, that those same ones come to places like this... after living a lie a good part of their lives, perhaps decades... and then literally DEMAND a response from the Most Holy One of Israel. Challenge HIM to prove HIS authenticity and genuineness! As if HE is as culpable as THEM... for the lie THEY lived. As a child, I get it: you are under your parents' rules and so should... MUST... obey. That is the entitlement of any parent.
I used to not get, however, how that could be once a person becomes an adult. That they would either fake "loving" God... in order to please family/spouses, etc.,... OR challenge the Most Holy One of Israel to prove Himself when THEY couldn't do so themselves!
But I do get it now: it's a form of puerility. Childishness. Not the inability to grow up... think for oneself... choose for oneself... but the lack of the DESIRE to even do so! They want to remain "children"... without ANY responsibility... or accountability... for their choices... or lack thereof. They don't get that this, too... is a choice... and one no one can answer for, but themselves. Eventually. One way or another. Now... and/or in the life to come.
Sorry, a lot going on "in" me, right now, dear one... and so had to get that out. Thank you for indulging me... and, again, peace to you!
YOUR servant and a slave of Christ,
SA
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jay88
I was called OUT of the world, however, by that Holy One, due to his love for me. I was drawn to that One by the MOST Holy One... due to HIS love for me.
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You say the Darnest things Shel,......
FOF
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life is to short
Shelby
You made total sense to me in what you wrote. I just have never thought of it in the words you wrote. My husband always felt that taking the leap of faith was pioneering and living on nothing but I could never see God in it. It was trying to please men. Trying to impress the ones in the hall. I always felt flat when I was pioneering. Now I know why it was not what God wanted me to do or anyone to do for that matter.
I liked you example of the leap of faith. I truly to believe that there is more to life the just being born and dying. I do not believe in the God of the Jehovah's Witnesses, he is just to cruel and unloving. But to believe the way you do seems like there is a hope that God really does care. Thank you for sharing your faith and your posts I aways enjoy them.
Blessings to you LITS
