What Are Your Beliefs?

MoeJoJoJo

I am very curious in what everyone believes as far as religious beliefs.

Since leaving the org, I feel I am still in a limbo state, I'm not quite sure of what I believe yet. I believed a lie most of my life which I'm sure most of you can relate with, so its not so easy for me to jump right into something else.

I do feel there is a superior being who created us all. I am still trying to sort things out.

So if you care to share, are you atheist, pagan, christian, etc.? Could you list some of your basic beliefs and how you came to believe as such? Like I said I am very interested and if something makes sense to me and sounds reasonable, I would explore it furthur.

annalice

I wish i new what i believed . After fading away from the whole witness thing I'm still not able to fully put all my faith into believing in one thing . I still believe there is a higher source but what that is i don't know anymore . I'm requestioning everthing in my life still . What is true and what is a lie? After being a witness my whole life and finding out all the lies my trust has been completly crushed. Can we ever fully put are trust in any religion again? For me I'll always be questioning it.

gsx1138

I'm about as blatant a Pagan as one can get I guess. As far as your limbo state, I wouldn't worry too much. Sometimes the journey is just as much fun as the outcome. If you interested in finding a belief system then I say look around and research. It took me a good 10 years of going to different churches, studying religous history, and getting the atheist viewpoint to end up a Pagan. I think it is very, very important to listen to the atheist viewpoint. Too often people dismiss it and really short change themselves on a different point of view. I don't agree with atheists but they do have a way of exposing flaws and weaknesses in just about every religion that you're not going to get from a christian writing a book on christianity (of course their going to paint a rosy picture). They have a few choice things to say about Paganism as well. In the end YOU decide what is best for YOU.

gsx1138

Silverleaf

Hi MJJJ,

I was never a JW but considered it when I was engaged to one many years ago. I never felt comfortable with Christianity because it didn't make a lot of sense to me, then I read the Bible and discovered that it REALLY didn't make any sense. I've always thought I must be pagan - a bad thing according to JWs- so I didn't pursue my beliefs until my DH started researching Wicca. I picked up a book on Wicca and finally found things that made sense to me. I don't consider myself Wiccan - I call myself a Pagan Universalist most of the time and my beliefs have evolved a lot in a last few years and are still evolving.

Basically I see our creator as the mother goddess - a truly loving spirit that created the earth for Her children. Like human parents, She cannot and must not do everything for us, we have to learn some hard lessons on our own and She is there to guide us and love us even when we screw up. We don't have to sing special songs or spend certain days of the week worshipping Her [unless we choose to]. We live our loves to the best of our abilities and be the best people we can be and that's enough for Her.

I do believe in reincarnation - it just makes sense to me that souls would live forever, and keep coming back to live different lives and learn different lessons. I have no direct evidence of this, but it makes more sense than having one chance at eternity and being able to condemn yourself to oblivion for making one mistake. I belive those of us who truly sin - commit unforgivable acts such as murder, child abuse, etc, will face their actions in the afterlife, not with torture and damnation but with complete clarity of thought so they can fully understand their wrongdoing. I think shame is a far worse punishement than anything else.

I believe in celebrating life at every opportunity and learning about all the paths we can take. There is no one true religion and no path is right for everyone but I do believe the destination is the same.

Silverleaf

Windchaser

Hi MoeJoJoJo, thanks for your question.

I wasn't raised a jw, but it found me when I was 21. Before then, I was a Methodist. When I was little, I played outside a lot. It was evident to me that everything in nature had been created. The beauty around me was like a written book from God.

I walked away from jws over four years ago. At first, I still believed it to be the truth and felt very guilty. But, I no longer had the desire to go to meetings, go out in service or be a jw in any way. I turned to the internet's search engine one day and typed in Jehovah. I tried reading the wtbts official website and it did nothing for me. I then turned to Beyond Jehovah's Witnesses and have posted there for a little over a year now. I learned a lot there and during this growing process, I came to realize that man-made religion isn't where God is. God has been with me since I was a little kid and I don't need imperfect religions to tell me about him.

When I think about God, there are two distinct things that I am sure of. That he has a great love for all his creation and that he wants us to be happy. I don't have any answers like religions do, but I know in my gut that he is going to take care of things eventually.

I guess this isn't very profound, but in a nutshell, it is how I believe.

zenpunk

5 years after I left the organization I became Taoist. That was two years ago and I enjoy the philosophy of living in harmony with the natural element of the world instead of trying to be the superior being, as Western Culture and the JWs teach.

trevor

I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered. My life is my own. Be seeing you.

neyank

I still believe in God and His Son Jesus Christ.

I believed in them before becoming a JW and still believe in them after leaving the JWs.

The WTS as well as every other religion on earth at this time is controlled and run by imperfect mankind with their imperfect ideas on God and what He wants.

I do believe before the actual end comes God will make sure that we humans do know what the real truth about Him is, and it won't be from any orginization that keeps changing what their version of truth is.

neyank

Windchaser

((((neyank)))) A kindred spirit! :)

gsx1138

You are somewhat right jjrizo. I first started to look at other religions than Christianity because of the hypocrisy. Now you are mostly wrong. Most Pagans, that I know, believe that most of Jesus teachings are good. You've classified every other religion by your own warped vision that is clouded by your own beliefs. The basic morality structure and beliefs are not even remotely unique to christianity as just about every religion on the planet echos those sentiments. There are many good reasons to even doubt that what is written in the NT was even said by Jesus. I digress, I chose not to follow the Bible or christianity based on my own study of the origins of both. There are many Pagan stories in the Bible that are spun into the role of Judahism and later Christianity. This does not mean that both beliefs are bunk it just means that now you have more belief systems to choose from. I do notice that you tried to paint your beliefs with the rosiest picture of all.

gsx1138

What Are Your Beliefs?

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