Joining a Church and advice from co-workers!!!!!!!!!! (page 3)

Jon Preston

thanks BOTR and wasblind.

ill test out a few when we move. But i do feel more spiritual when im outside with my family. Well see how thing sprogress

Faithful Witness

Church of Christ is not the same as the Mormon Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

It is its own denomination. From what I can tell, they do not add extra books like the Mormons do (Book of Mormon).

For what it's worth............My wife and I left the 'truth' 47 years ago. We wanted to start a family and the blood doctrine wasn't worth the paper it was written on and we knew we'd never agree to it especially if we had a child. Once that unraveled there was no turning back so we moved and faded in one fell swoop.

We decided after we left the JW dogma that we would become 'non's non believers in any religion and that we really didn't care if there was a god or not.

We raised our son with holidays. We encouraged him to read (we still swap books) to develope critical thinking skills as we challenged him on his assumptions. He was exposed to the witness beliefs through relatives and we always took the time to discuss that with him. We explained why we had left.

He also had permisson to visit his friend's churchs as long as he shared what he saw and heard with us.

He grew up to become a fine person, kind and smart. My sister The Witness paid us her ultimate compliment "Without Jehovah and the Bible in your life I can't imagine how you raised such a great son". We imagined it and lived it.

Later in life, I discovered that as it turns out we did have beliefs without realizing it....... beliefs that I had naturally discovered through my reading and coversations......we were belivers in Secular Humanism.

The philosophy secular humanism embraces human reason, ethics, social justice and philosophical naturalism, while specifically rejecting religious dogma, supernaturalism, pseudoscience or superstition as the basis of morality and decision making. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ]

It posits that human beings are capable of being ethical and moral without religion or a god. ..............the humanist life stance emphasizes the unique responsibility facing humanity and the ethical consequences of human decisions.

I learned that we were not in unchartered waters but in fact we were surrounded by the finest thinking the world has ever known. From the ancient Greeks to today's science we continue to learn, improve, create and live as well as we are able. And most importantly make the world a better place for our loved ones.

jgnat

Church of Christ

Go slow on joining another church. Nothing like unfamiliar rituals to trigger the cultic thinking again. Nothing to freak out your wife, OK?

The Church of Christ is in the middle there somewhere. Here's a bit about it's founder.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_O'Kelly

Bella15

If you ask for it, God will lead you to the right Church (a group of believers) for you. May not be one, perhaps different ones. I attend 3 actually - one has a great summer youth group for my children (Baptist), the other one is a Methodist close to my house for regular attendance, do outreach and missions in the community and out of town, family gatherings, etc). Then I love to go to Lakewood Church (evangelical non denominational) either Spanish or English when I want to be with thousands of believers worshipping. I respect all churches who use ONL:Y the bible and teach that JESUS is the only WAY. Sorry the Mormons,Scientology, etc. don't do it for me and other groups that focus on new revelation given to certain man in the past 100+ years ...

quellycatface

Been to a couple of RC services but I'm enjoying my local parish church now. Got a good thing going with my spiritual self and no control techniques.

Check out all your options.

May the force be with you.

InChristAlone

Jgnat, that is a great diagram!

Clambake

I read this article about six things you should avoid when choosing a church

End times church. If you hear the words Magog and Armageddon over and over. Run
Churches that revolve around a charismatic pastor or leader.
The patriotic church- Churches that believe the USA has a special place in god’s plan.
The liberal church- gay pastors, pro-choice etc. Non-religious people speak quite highly about them but membership is in sharp decline.
The social club church.
The bible isn’t complete with our additional text churches. Ellen White, Joseph Smith. Claim to have a monopoly on truth.

RubaDub

Have you thought about joining a local gym and just chanting during the workout routine ???

Rub a Dub

wallsofjericho

sorry to say this but your OP makes you sound overly eager to have acceptance by a church. This is why so many fall victim to the JW's

I think you need to take some time and apply a little skepticism to your decision process before coming on to an anonymous forum looking for the approval of people you don't know about major life decisions.

Joining a Church and advice from co-workers!!!!!!!!!!