A question for you....

by Dia 6 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Dia

  I just got to wondering this, after reading the post by the girl who is thinking of joining the WTS....

  (This would be for those who became a JW by choice - not birth, tho of course, anyone here can comment).

  I'm wondering, what KIND of Christian were you prior to your conversion to the WTS?

  You can give your denomination if you choose. But what I'm really asking about is what was your experience with religion, in general?

  Did you go to church?

  Did you go to Sunday School?

  Were you passionate about it? Bored silly?

  Was your family religious?

  Did you celebrate holidays? Was that a religious experience or a social event?

  Did you ever go through that 'teen stage' when people people start looking around at all different kinds of religions?

  Did you ever go through that stage when kids start to question what they were brought up on? And start to doubt everything they think they know?

  If you did, how did the people close to you react?

  Did religion matter to you? At all? A lot?

  Etc., etc., etc...

  Please feel free to take this in any direction you wish. I'm just wondering....
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  Tinkerbell4125

  Dia, I was born into it! All my life, I honestly thought it was the *truth*. Growing up in it was difficult. My mother was a witness and my dad wasn't. There were alot of arguments between my mom and dad and then dad turned around and took his frustrations out on me and my siblins. Let me say, without going into details, life at my home was no picnic. Hubby and I disassociated ourselves in 1999. Needless to say, I don't think the JeHover Witnits have the truff anymore!
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  Dia

  I can relate to that, more than you could know.

  How about those who were not born into it? What was your experience with religion BEFORE the WTS walked into your life?
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  shera

  You can give your denomination if you choose. But what I'm really asking about is what was your experience with religion, in general?

  Did you go to church?

  Before I became a JW,I went to other churches when I was a young girl but I didnot learn any doctrine and the reasoning behind their doctrines.

  Did you go to Sunday School?

  I went to bible school,it was more fun than,sitting down learning about the bible.

  Were you passionate about it? Bored silly?

  I wasn't ither one

  Was your family religious?

  No,my mother was and still is a God loving person but has no faith in religion...I think I'm following her steps.

  Did you celebrate holidays? Was that a religious experience or a social event?

  Yes,I did ,it was a social and family thing.

  Did you ever go through that 'teen stage' when people people start looking around at all different kinds of religions?

  Yes,thats why I became a JW......

  Did you ever go through that stage when kids start to question what they were brought up on? And start to doubt everything they think they know?

  I had no real bibical knowledge,just the JW teachings.Its just now I'm learning other faiths.

  If you did, how did the people close to you react?

  When I became a JW,my mother never perscuted me,she just didn't want me shoving it in her face.I had other family members wanting me to leave.

  Did religion matter to you? At all? A lot?

  Yes,not too much.I have a spiritual longing ,but no religion.
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  PointBlank

  Hi Dia, I married into the JW sect at the naive age of 15. Before that, my family was not spiritual or even religious. But I occasionally walked to a small baptist church about a block from my home for sunday school and sometimes even the church service. I don't really know why except that I've always (since I can remember) known that God existed and I wanted to know him.

  As for the holidays, yes our family celebrated them all. It was just what you did. It wasn't a religious experience at all, and I even used to have the oddest feeling on Christmas morning, like something wasn't quite right. It all seemed so confusing to me even as a child, especially when I realized what is was suppose to symbolize.

  PB
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  Sentinel

  When I was quite small, I know that both my parents were searching for the right church to go to. My mother took my dad to quite a few, and then they basically gave up. I can remember listening to their conversations, as to how their feelings were hurt, because some man or woman, supposedly christians, had been offensive. You see, my parents were poor, and so, we didn't dress like everyone else, and some of these churches were really quite hoity toity. My mother continued to search and my father became totally disinterested........in everything.

  My grandparents, both sides, were very religious. They both went to church faithfully, and tried to do "good works". But, going to Sunday School and listening to the hellfire preachers was scary. I also went to various church's with other Aunts and Uncles, trying to "save me". I think I was baptised as a Lutheran, a Baptist, and a Brethren.....

  For several years prior to the JW experience, mom and dad would send us off to Sunday School with our paternal grandparents. Being warned that even saying a curse word, could cause you to be struck dead by god was awful. I used to worry a lot about whether I was a good enough girl to get to heaven, or whether I would go to hell. It weighed heavy on my mind. I tried very hard to be good, but ended up making my parents angry with me. Because my parents were so confused and unhappy themselves, their punnishments were unusually harsh and cruel, and I really feared this god who could hurt me even worse.

  When mom became a JW, my fear of hell was alleviated, but replaced by the fear of dying at Armageddon.
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  Kingpawn

  Dia, I was recruited into it about the age of 21 or 22.

  Did you go to church?

  My experiences were like Shera's for this question.

  Did you go to Sunday School?

  Sometimes...a Baptist church. Also been to Presbyterian services.

  Were you passionate about it? Bored silly?

  It was just somewhere I was told to go so I went.

  Was your family religious?

  My half-sister and her husband were...I think they were so strict with their kids because they had the beddin' before the weddin.'

  Did you celebrate holidays? Was that a religious experience or a social event?

  Social event.

  Did you ever go through that 'teen stage' when people people start looking around at all different kinds of religions?

  No. Church for me was "out of sight, out of mind."

  Did you ever go through that stage when kids start to question what they were brought up on? And start to doubt everything they think they know?

  No.

  Did religion matter to you? At all? A lot?

  Didn't matter. But, shortly before the JW's arrived at my door, I had begun to turn over theological questions in my mind. For example, if God was all-knowing, He had to know Adam and Eve would screw up. Was it allowed or desired? If He didn't know, He couldn't be all-knowing. How do I know Hhe then knows what's best for me morally if He can't predict the future? IOW, He's not infallible in one area so why should I take His word for it in others?

  Then THEY came along and critical thinking went away....