Couple questions....like if JW's not the right way then what is?

by world 57 Replies latest jw friends

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  world

  New member here so don't attack :D here is a couple questions I have been contemplating lately.

  if jw isn't the right religion, then which one is? Or is it basically believe in God, the bible and you'll be fine?

  2. i can't find any other religion who has broken thru all the racial barriers and teach the same stuff worldwide....In all honesty I do trust "most" jw if I were to stay at their house or vice versa.

  3. If some of you don't believe in the organization, why attack it or stand outside assemblies etc trying to spread the word of being against them, what benefit is this?

  4. I have read and seen throughout history that they could have wrong teachings and that yes they have been wrong in the past about some things, jw normally say well we changed and the light got brighter. What is a good reply to that??

  5. Most JW don't even read the bible, they just automatically think its the truth and follow it no matter what. If I bring up a question to an elder they auto think I'm against it, why is this?? Honestly ....

  All in all, I still attend but lately thinking it's only because of friends and family. I have so many doubts, I'm actually stuck of feeling like hey what if it is right and I leave then I wont be accepted in paradise? Or what if I fade away and will be just fine but with all friends, wife and family would look so down upon me. I do believe there is a god and I do hope there is a paradise or heaven that we can be in because I really don't think our life was just meant for 100 years or less then nothing. Wish I had all the answers :D

  The meetings have became slightly boring, same stuff every week, elders never want to use you unless your friends with them or if they say jump and you say how high. They have been caring more about their reputation than helping children IMO.

  Just so so confused lately and it's driving me nuts.... :/
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  blondie

  Do you believe that the WTS does not have the right way?

  If there is a right way, you have to decide what it would look like and look for it.
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  Scully

  The best belief system will teach you how to think, rather than what to think.
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  msconcerned

  World, welcome. I have many of the same thoughts and have been dealing with them for the past couple of years. The best thing i have done is when i ask a question i try not to think like a JW, when you do that things are much clearer. Please be subtle in your questions to other members.....cause they will betray you. We are here for you.
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  Abe Ostate

  1. You're still thinking from within the JW perspective when you ask the question of which is the "right" religion. Why does there have to be a right religion at all? Or why can't several be right in part, and you have to take what you from each and can combine them?

  2. A great number of churches have spread internationally despite racial barriers. There are Catholics on every continent, the Pentecostal churches growing in the United States and in Ethiopia, and the church I attend with my family has links to churches in India and a Hispanic church in the ghetto of Buffalo.
  
  I would also challenge you and asked what extent race isn't a factor to the witnesses when there is only one minority on the Governing Body, and he's still American, to my knowledge. No Latinos/latinas, no Asians, no Indians, no Native Americans, etc.

  3. I've never stood outside of the convention to protest; I see this as ineffective and frankly rude. However, the benefit of doing this is helping others, from our perspective, regain control of their life. People should not be scared into shunning their children, or letting their children die if they need a blood transfusion, or told the college is a false refuge of Satan, that masturbation is a secret sin, that independent thinking is of the devil (all of which I've heard at assemblies and in fact have on tape).

  4. A good response to the claim that "the light got brighter" is that a group that has always claimed to have "the truth," the whole truth and nothing but the truth, is deceiving itself or others, for if your beliefs have to change, that means you did not have or teach the truth in total at some point,
  
  A good example is the Watchtower article in which the revised understanding of the faithful slave was put forward. The article states at the beginning, "our spiritual relationship depends on us accurately identifying the slave." If this were true, than any JW who died before that magazine came out is doomed to annihilation, as they did not correctly identify the faithful slave as the Governing Body. New light is inherently contradictory for a religion that claims to be 100% right all the time.
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  sloppyjoe2

  1. There really is not a right answer to this. Every religion can be picked a part. A belief system is really for the individual's own identity. JWs need to feel they are different and are the only ones who know the truth. It is the indiidual jw who likes the beliefs and identifies themselves with it. Aside from anything else, there is no question that the organization since it's inception has not been able to predict one single thig right. That removes all credibility that god solely communicates with them.

  2. This really tiea into question one. This is something you identify with and feel is important. Does it really mean anything? My hall when I was younger had a ministerial servant disfellowshipped for stealing money out of the sisters purses at the hall while they weren't looking. I realize you emphasized most but what experience do you have in truly trusting JWs? Do you do business with them? Have you loaned many to them? I personally went to a hall where I was the minority in my teenage years. Racism was alive an well in that hall and from what I her remains to this day.

  3. I wholeheartedly agree win you here. This serves no purpose and actually feeds the idea that pripple that oppose JWs are crazed demon possessed monsters. But you have to understand a lot of people devoted their entire lives to this religion and finally found out it was all bogus. They are angry and feel cheated. That is why they do it but I do believe it hurts more than helps.

  4. Why did Jehovah tell them this incorrect teaching for so long? Did he lie or did the governing body make it up? Aside from these questions a truly ingrained jw will dismiss these questions.

  5. Because they want to make sure you don't question it to other people an start a problem.
• 

  Magnum

  I have lots of questions, too. It's very good that you're thinking and questioning.

  if jw isn't the right religion, then which one is?

  In order for that to be a valid question, it first has to be shown that there is a "right religion", and I don't know whether there is. I'm still seeking the answer to that.

  2. i can't find any other religion who has broken thru all the racial barriers and teach the same stuff worldwide....In all honesty I do trust "most" jw if I were to stay at their house or vice versa.

  The truth about the "trust" thing is that I trust almost all my assocates (workmates, etc.) and would stay at their houses and not worry about them stealing from me. I trust all Mormons and Baptists and Catholics I know as much as I would any JWs I know. I don't think JWs are any better or worse than most others in that area.

  Even if JWdom is exemplary in 'breaking thru the racial barrier', it stil is a hypocritical, deceptive religion that tries to hide its past and is guilty of false prophecy and has teachings that don't make sense. The JW leaders don't want the rank and file to read anything outside their writings because they know what they're trying to hide.

  "They teach the same stuff worldwide" because members aren't allowed to so much as question their teachings. They're all forced to believe the same stuff, and most of it has been shown to be balogne. They're presently rebranding and dropping a lot of the belief system that they taught "worldwide" a few years ago. Teaching the same stuff worldwide does not make it right. They teach it and JWs have to swallow it. They currently teach their "overlapping groups" generation doctrine worldwide. Does that mean it's the truth? They taught their older "generation" concepts worldwide. Did that make those teachings right?

  3. If some of you don't believe in the organization, why attack it or stand outside assemblies etc trying to spread the word of being against them, what benefit is this?

  By far, most of us don't do that. But I'm not saying it's wrong. Is it wrong to speak out against lies, deception, hypocrisy, etc.? And, don't forget, the org has a history of 'spreading the word against' the rest of the world. Why should it be OK for them to speak against others, but not OK for the others to speak against them?

  4. I have read and seen throughout history that they could have wrong teachings and that yes they have been wrong in the past about some things, jw normally say well we changed and the light got brighter. What is a good reply to that??

  First, the context of the scripture they use in Proverbs about the light's getting brighter is not referring to an increase in understanding of doctrine. Second, there is no light that gets brighter for them as if they are progressively understanding the Bible better. They're simply wrong and they take another guess. In order for them to be able to say the light got brighter, they'd have to prove their current understanding is correct or at least better than the teaching it replaced; they can't do that.

  5. Most JW don't even read the bible, they just automatically think its the truth and follow it no matter what. If I bring up a question to an elder they auto think I'm against it, why is this?? Honestly ....

  Because they're clueless, ignorant, lacking in reasoning ability, self-righteous, smug, overly-confident, and in many cases, outright stupid. I know; I have family in and I've dealt with JWs for decades. They're scared of questions because their teachings can't stand up to them. Why do you think the Bible Highlights part is designed the way it is? It is designed to allow for no questions and only brief comments that support the org's current teachings.

  I have so many doubts

  I do, too.

  Wish I had all the answers

  I do, too. I'm seeking, questioning, searching, exploring. If I ever find what I think are answers, I will share them.

  Hang around and keep thinking and questioning and seeking.
• 

  AlphaMan

  Just so so confused lately and it's driving me nuts.... :/

  .

  World.....The best thing to do is just continue to read here on JWN and and learn TTATT. (The Truth About The Truth) Research old threads. The Watchtower is full of lies, false teachings, false prophecy, deceit and scandal. The Organization has a history of producing dysfunctional people and destroying families. Read Crisis of Conscience by former JW Governing Body member Raymond Franz. Read Steve Hassan's books describing cults and see that the JW religion truly is a cult.

  Go with your gut feeling, and I bet your gut is telling you the JW religion really does not make sense as "God's chosen Organization".

  Good luck in your search.
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  azor

  I just left as well and struggle much. The channel of God series on you tube by only in christ has been very helpful for my wife and me.
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  berrygerry

  I came on here the first time thinking similarly.

  Maybe if we could just try to fix the problems within, as Average Dub is a good person (and he is).

  I agree with racial harmony, neutrality, and many other things.

  However, the GB is our mediator (doesn't make sense), the WTS is our conscience (why do we have our own?).

  The most hurtful teaching of JW's is the adaptation of disfellowshipping, doing it EXACTLY opposite to Corinthians, and then in 1981, expanding it to include shunning family, and perverting 2 John in the absolute worst way (ALWAYS ignoring verse 7, which refers to the antichrist), if our family were the antichrist, then, yes, they should be avoided, but, if that is the case, then how is it possible for the antichrist to be reinstated into the congregation?

  Not only is it the most hurtful, it demonstrates the desperation of the group.