So my JW mom messages me on Facebook last night and says she wants me, for a month, to read the Bible, but first pray using the name Jehovah and in Jesus name and then read it with an open mind. She is so ridiculous! First of all, I do pray but I usually just say Father and I always pray in Jesus name and I find it ironic that she is saying I should have an open mind when hers is closed. I have a thriving relationship with God. But to honor my mother and to use it as a way to share my faith with her, I just said I would do it, which took a lot to drop my pride. I had been praying that God needed to set something up with her if he wanted me to see her because I had no desire to and then he did! I am going to journal what I learn over the month and then have lunch with her showing her what I hear the spirit saying to me. It may open her mind a little to the actual truth. Nothing is impossible with God!
My Mom's Challenge to Me
by lriddle80 25 Replies latest jw friends
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blondie
Are baptized as a jw and are active (at least 1 hour of "preaching" a month) as well. The WTS teaches that non-jw prayers are not heard by God.
Here are comments made officially by the WTS Just Reporting not Supporting
https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1102005147
WHAT REQUIREMENTS MUST WE MEET?
5. What shows that Jehovah does not listen to all prayers?
5 Does Jehovah listen to all prayers? Consider what he told rebellious Israelites in the days of the prophet Isaiah: “Although you offer many prayers, I am not listening; your hands are filled with blood.” (Isaiah 1:15) So certain actions can cause God not to listen to our prayers. For our prayers to be favorably heard by God, therefore, we must meet some basic requirements.
6. In order for God to listen to our prayers, what is a primary requirement, and how can we meet it?
6 A primary requirement is that we exercise faith. (Read Mark 11:24.) The apostle Paul wrote: “Without faith it is impossible to please God well, for whoever approaches God must believe that he is and that he becomes the rewarder of those earnestly seeking him.” (Hebrews 11:6) Having true faith is more than merely knowing that God exists and that he hears and answers prayers. Faith is proved by our actions. We must give clear evidence that we have faith by the way we live every day.—James 2:26
And other WTS comments:
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LoveUniHateExams
Hi Iriddle80 - take up your mom's challenge!
You have absolutely nothing to worry about.
Whether you pray to Jehovah saying 'in Jesus' name, amen' or not doesn't matter a jot.
The WTS has been hiding sexual abuse of children for decades.
It is a cult that needs to feel the long arm of the law upon its shoulder.
Let us know how you get on!
All the best
LUHE
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Finkelstein
Nothing is possible with God!
Why ?
Because this god like all the other gods imagined by ancient people never existed but the stories those ancient people told expressively to create power relevance to their specific god remains in literature like the bible..
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cha ching
After reading the Bible 'for a month, using the name Jehovah & doing so in Jesus' name", ask your mother to answer some questions that have come up, since she has been reading the Bible far longer than you have 'using Jehovah's name,' she must be able to answer these questions better than you, right?
Tell her that you have been watching the news, have read of the Catholic Church and their sexual abuse cases, and the court case recently won in Montana, USA, against Jehovah's Witnesses.
Remind her that the Bible says
(1 John 4:16-18) . . .God is love, and he that remains in love remains in union with God and God remains in union with him. 17 This is how love has been made perfect with us, that we may have freeness of speech in the day of judgment, because, just as that one is, so are we ourselves in this world. 18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love throws fear outside, because fear exercises a restraint. Indeed, he that is under fear has not been made perfect in love.
Tell her that you cannot understand how if God is love, how can he allow children to have fear? Fear of going to the KIngdom Hall to be molested? Fear of reporting to the police, and being reprimanded if they "bring reproach on Jehovah's name"? -
The Fall Guy
Hi Iriddle80 - your mom is simply following JW cult-training by trying to get inside your head again.
Time for some reverse-witnessing; you have a PM.
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jp1692
Why don't you say, "Sure mom, I'll do that ... but only if for the same month you don't go to any meetings at the KH and don't read any WT literature at all. None. Just pray to God and keep an open mind."
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JW GoneBad
If you haven't already...give your mother a history lesson on the name 'Jehovah'. Have her Google Raymond Martini Jehovah.
Years ago when I learned the close ties between Raymond Martini, the Roman Catholic Church and the name Jehovah...I couldn't help but appreciate how indebted Watchtower should be to the RCC!
So much for the command at Revelation 18:4 to: "Get our of her my people..."
In conclusion: The RCC & WT are joined at the hip so to speak due to Raymond Martini's invention of the inaccurate and improper use of the name 'Jehovah'!
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Crazyguy
Here is some good key scriptures, what is the good news? 1corthinans chapter 15 answers this.
What must one do to be saved john chapter 3 and chapter 6 says just believe in Christ, no works needed. Ephesians chapter 2:8-9 says works are only for boasting.
The gospel say that jesus taught that we should not judge , do not exalt ourselves and that a true Christian loves everyone even his enemies.
Jesus did not shun anyone.
There are plenty of scriptures that teach that god does not show “favoritism” in the books of Acts Romans and such.
There also a plethora of scriptures that state all who believe and do the will of god are gods children Mathew 12:50 is a good one . These verses and subject I mentioned completely show how then JWs are wrong and can no way be the true religion. In fact the New Testament doesn’t say anything about having to be part of a sect or organization or cult to be right with god and be saved. Good luck to you!
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jwundubbed
I think you should be very careful in following these specific wishes. What you are doing is normalizing the behavior and making it into a habit. That is exactly how habits are formed. You do the same thing every day, over and over, until it becomes natural and normal. This is one subtle way that the cult works on people. People don't think they are giving up anything by going to the meetings and not listening. But they are making that behavior normal. And it isn't possible to never listen at all. Things seep in. You get to know people and things start to matter. And then when you don't go one day, you feel... off. Because you disturbed your new normal.
This is muscle memory. Your brain is a muscle and you are creating a new pattern in it. You should be very careful about creating new patterns that you don't want to create.
Also, respecting your mother does not mean doing what she tells you to do. You can respect your mother and still create appropriate boundaries. You can respect her wishes by listening to them and accepting them as her wishes. But in order to respect her wishes, you don't have to fulfill them. That is not how respect, healthy respect, works.