Hi Fernando:)
Thank you for your warm welcome
I hope to that I will continue to learn about JW's on this forum even though it will be second hand information, it will help me to understand my JW friend, to understand what they may feel or go through.
One thing i will not do with that friend is discuss religion because I value the friendship and love that friend so very much, I don't want to do anything that will cause her to distance herself from me. All i can do is pray and be a supportive friend.
Hi and Thank you Black sheep :)
I see where you are coming from, that's why I said up till the age of 15 my faith was borrowed :) Since then I have come to know God personally, on my own. So yes, I take what God has done in the lives of my family members as something to be thankful for to to remember, however, Jesus is my foundation and with that I can't go wrong. I fix my eyes on him because he is the perfector of my faith.
I realise that there may be a lot that i do not know or that are not as true as i grew up to believe that's why I ask God each day to direct my path as I do not want to lean on my own understanding of who he is because honestly, I don't think anyone can ever grasp his fullness.
The hurt and the pain that JW's who have left or are no longer active feel i can never understand because I have never been in that position, but God can and does :)
Love Jumba!
What has helped you avoid the doctrine roundabout and forever chasing your tail?
by Fernando 18 Replies latest watchtower bible
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Jumba123
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Black Sheep
You just be careful Jumba. You sound like you might be eyeing up a JW as a future partner.
As long as she thinks that there is a possibility that Jesus selected the Watchtower to be Jehovah's sole channel of communication in our day, she is damaged goods and is not marriageable material.
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Jumba123
black sheep :hehe, that friend is not a future partner, we have been friends for many years and I am a female I have however fallen in like with a JW male, but that is a different story.
Prior to researching the JW doctrine and what they believe I thought that the 'do not be unequally yoked'' passage did not apply to us ( him and I)
I assumed that because they believe in Jesus and God that it would not matter, the only thing that i thought was different was the fact that they do not celebrate christmas or birthdays or recieve blood transfusion.
But this site has given me a deeper insight on the religion so i've taken two steps back 1) because I don't want to make his life difficult (even though he pursued me) and 2) I don't want to make my life difficult. -
yadda yadda 2
Well Fernando, you can see that mostly all you will find on this site is the advice of persons who would love to convince you to throw your bible in the garbage and become an atheist, so you're probably on the wrong forum for this question.
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Band on the Run
I was a born-in. My ggf and g-uncles and g-aunts hailed back to Russell's time. They were arrested before the First Amendment became robust going from door to door in Patterson, NJ. My mom was expelled from high school at fourteen b/c of flag salute. My mom raised me to believe in Witnesses but give the powers in Brooklyn lalck of respect. She had many stories that indicated no respect was warranted. The universal family rule was to keep private business private. Go to Bethel if necessary but skip local brothers.
Public education sowed many doubts. It hurt when classmates said I was not Christian b/c I did not make the sign of the cross. I was not invited to parties.
The tension grew higher b/c I was also a voracious reader and addicted to a Manhattan sophisticated life style. I straddled two worlds, loving one.
My fundamental point of departure was not doctrine. Reading the Bible in consecutive verses opened my eyes to outright lies. Rather, it was the ambience of JWs that repelled me physically. I would want to vomit over their overreaching and control. Their articles not to serve all white foods. If necessary, use paprika. I saw nothing wrong with a tested and proven vaccine. I respected only a handful of Witnesses who were also in for many generations. My honorary aunts and uncles. They were warm and friendly, even fairly bright. There was no love or warmth any place else. I could read many grades above my actual grade level. The brothers were functionally illiterate. I thought intellect was a gift of God. Not one of them seemed to read a newspaper or watch the Evening News. Combine that with my parents belief/disbelief, I could not respect them. I was pinched and kicked in the KH by my father.
I loved choral music. Mostly the Beatles but I appreciated traditional church music such as the messiah. I wanted to vomit. Making a calendar, I checked off every day until I was eighteen. Next, my father was forcing me out of high school against my will so he could observe me bag groceries. I was facing a court battle. I knew the principal would not let me bag groceries. I would have to give up my mom and siblings that I loved.
Jesus emphasized love, to love one another as he loves us. A teeny bit of love would have helped my revulsion.
Later, when I read the actual Bible, I was shocked. I knew the Witnesses, read old Lit with occult symbols and pyramid worship but I remained shocked.
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Disillusioned Lost-Lamb
I'm a born-in third generation and pretty much always felt deep down that it's all rubbish, but never allowed myself to acknowledge that.
Finally admitting the reality of it all made me realize, “hey I'm not a canine and I have no rear extremity”, then naturally I quit chasing my tail like a dog.
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Black Sheep
... I thought that the 'do not be unequally yoked'' passage did not apply to us ( him and I)...
Taking a step back is good, Jumba. I see you have noticed that he isn't being entirely honest with you.
As in most cults, JWs are encouraged to hide information from non-members. My JW family will take it one step further and blatently lie to cover up unsavory doctrines and rules and make recruits.
There are quite a few threads on this forum started by people who have married 'weak' JWs only to have them turn into full on JW true believers once they have children to save from their bi-polar killer god who is going to kill all non-JWs, soon.
Be careful
Chris
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Dogpatch
This answers one of the main reason I quit the churches. Not because I don't believe in God, which I do, but because of the "God people" with inflated egos who expect me to accept their imaginary super-daddies and sky-daddies and demons and a torture chamber (hell) that is saicker than any man could have ever invented.
Religion — The Bad Parent
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irondork
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