by DaleRivers 35 Replies latest jw friends
Why did you become a JW, what particular teachings attracted you to 'the truth' ?
In my case (baptized at 20/21) it was the only religion I knew; my mom, her mom, and favorite sister were JW; and the teachings of no hellfire or immortal soul made sense to me.
How about y'all?
The promise of peace, destruction of military powers, Rev 11:18. self-studies, baptism 1957. pioneered since 01/1958.
I grew up in the "truth" but didn't really care about it. In fact, I only attended meetings, I did no service. I spent time at college parties and hanging out with "worldly" friends. I had zero friends in the congreagation. But one day I was attending class and was thinking about the state of the world. It was such a mess! I really started to preoccupy my mind with world affairs. The more I did, the more I became disheartened.
Then one Sunday morning, a brother whom I respected (and still do) gave a talk. He picked song 195 "This is Jehovah's Day" with the following lyrics:
"What will you bring, Jehovah's Kingdom?
Triumph of truth and righteousness.
And bring what else, Jehovah's Kingom?
Eternal life and happiness.
Praise the Universal Sovereign
For his love and faithfulness."
And since I never really doubted the correctness of their doctrine, it really struck me at such a weird angle which had never touched me that way before. I thought, "Wow! Jehovah must really be an amazing God to do this for us, for ME! He doesn't HAVE to correct things, he didn't HAVE to give me life on a paradise earth...but he loves me SO MUCH that he WANTS to! And he is faithful, he didn't promise me this and then change his mind! Why haven't I been appreciating him more and doing more for him?"
So for me, it was the character of God that brought everything full swing for me and motivated me to get baptized at 20 years of age.
If only I knew then what I know now...
For me it was the focus on the preaching work; each Witness accepting a personal responsibility to preach publicly. I thought it was what Jesus would want his followers to do.
Why did you become a JW, what particular teachings attracted you to 'the truth' ?
It wasn't really because of a particular teaching.
It was because of a circumstance.
Here is the story:
In my mid forties.
Wife was away for a week long trip with our daughter to visit her mother 500km away.
I didn't go because of a project I was in charge of at work.
I had been to a bar on a Friday night and got hammered.
Woke up Saturday morning with a hangover, made a coffee, slumped on the couch and started watching cartoons.
The cartoons finished and a documentary about the Nazi invasion of Warsaw, Poland started.
The documentary was being told by adults who at the time were young teenagers witnessing the invasion.
Their stories were heartbraking.
When the documentary was over I was in tears, I was really shook up.
Don't remember the last time I cried. It was probably when I was a child.
It made me think about the meaning of life in amongst all these atrocious things that have happened.
I came to the conclusion that if there really was a God then he doesn't care.
So I decided to say a prayer.
The only other prayer I had occasionaly said in my past was The Lords Prayer.
I had never said a prayer before a meal although on ocassion I had heard others say one when invited out for dinner.
In the prayer I said to God that if he really exists then why doesn't he care about us.
I told him that he must have seen the things that happened to those people in Warsaw and the fact he did nothing about it proved he did not care.
Immediately after the prayer I realized that I was either living on a planet that happened by accident or living on one created by a God that doesn't care.
There was a knock on my door.
I opened it and saw a young man standing there in a suit.
He said to me; "Do you think God really cares about you".
He then handed me a tract with those same words written in the title.
That's it!
That is why I became a Jehovah's Witness.
.
.
abe
The young guy whom I first listened to talked of their commitment to not kill---even in war. That was the thing that got me to accept a study.
Tearing down of a mainstream church's doctrines by my BStudy friend , and later, I convinced myself that these guys couldn't be lying- what would they have to gain? Didn't have access to TTAT or JW Facts or freminds.org etc. Got to these sites after the convention in 2007.
My mom got baptised when I was 2, and I was raised in, but I didn't get baptised until I was 35. I went to meetings whenever Mom could take us. She had 8 kids and Dad wasn't interested in getting baptised, although he studied off and on. He was a drinker and a lady's/man's, and he didn't want to give up his lifestyle. Also he thought the JWs were a bunch of spies.
As I grew up, I went to the meetings when Mom could go, I really enjoyed the meetings, but I saw too much reproving and punishing for my liking. A very zealous 15-year old Sister, who was my age, was reproved (or whatever it was called back then, I don't remember) and cried so hard, during the meetings, that she was reinstated in a week. I was quite shy and thought if anything happened to me like that I'd have to run away. I also hated the way JW husbands would crook their fingers at their wives to have them go to whomever was crooking. The hubbys would be shaking heads and fingers from across the Hall at their wives which reminded me of a man and his trained dog/monkey. Couldn't handle that. So, I continued to study and attend meetings off and on until I had 3 kids of my own and decided it was 'now or never' make a decision one way or the other. So I prayed and got up the courage to go to the new KH(we had just moved from Washington state to Kentucky) and asked for a study ao I could get baptised. I did get baptised in 1985, so did my kids.
Anyway, Take care,
AB
Always Busy: please tell us the rest of the story. After you and your kids got baptized, how long was it before you 'saw the light'?? Were you then shunned by the new congregation? Did your children continue to be active JWs? Did you eventually join another religion after the Witnesses?
I was a 3rd generation JW. Getting baptized was a natural occurrence. I was indoctrinated from birth, so I had few options.
