Giving Thanks to Watchtower (page 2)

dedalus

I came on this website, looking for fellow believer's ? I am sorry that these things I have read are sad :-( I have been a Jehovah's Witness since I was nine, and I am now thirty one .

I was a Witness from 2 to 24, and am now 28. Nice to meet you.

I have been through my ups and downs with the " Truth" but never have I been compelled to blame fellow witnesses for their faults, and the things as we may see is not right? The main thing is not to judge ??

This is a good attitude for a while. But if you keep this attitude for too long, you're a sucker waiting to be taken advantage of. Sometimes you do have to judge. Action is predicated on judgment; if you never judge, you lapse into the paralysis of complacency. As the Watchtower rightly points out, there's nothing wrong with questioning the religion in which one has been raised -- and judging it accordingly. Of course, your "main thing is not to judge" is sort of disingenuous. Don't you judge every time you shun a person who was disfellowshipped for reasons utterly unknown to you? That sort of judgment is ignorant.

But as we all know that we are human, that is the first thing that we naturally do? as well as blame. Loving is to look beyond, and to understand that we are human and so far from imperfection, that we will see things and not understand them?

Good advice for an organization that rips apart families over minor disagreements and incites members to spiritually stone those who have left without ever knowing why they left.

My thing is to hold fast and to stay close to Jehovah. I have had several brothers and sisters go to the "WT" and serve there and have loved it, and they are not of the "anointed ones" and they have not been shunned.

Because they are serving the Watchtower.

We have to ask ourselves why dwell on the things that can go wrong, when in this time everything is suppose to be going wrong, that we know is suppose to be the path of the devil , to make us see things happening and to be judgemental.

Sure, you expect Satan's world to mess you up, but you don't expect it from the loving brothers and sisters. Read some more experiences. See the gross miscarriages of justice, the sexual molestation cover-ups, the hypocritical UN affiliation, the see-saw doctrine changing that has resulted in nothing less than senseless death. Shame on the person who doesn't dwell on these things.

We are to leave those things up to Jehovah, because only he can make the right decision.

That's fine, but what about these buffoons who claim to speak for him? They can't really be speaking for him, because if they are speaking for him, then Jehovah's a liar, and that's not possible, is it?

I myself have not made all the right decisions in my life so far, but I pray everyday that things will get better :-)

Keep educating yourself and you'll keep modifying your views on "right" and "wrong" decisions.

Life is to short to sit around and wonder why this person is doing this or that person is doing that.

What if "this person" sexually molests "that person" and "another person" who happens to be an elder tells "that person," a child, and her parents, to forget and forgive and not utter another word about it, and meanwhile "this person" is active in the congregation? Leave the world of generalities behind if you want to actually mean something when you talk.

Everyone knows that life isnt perfect, but it will be.

When? Soon? Very, very, very soon? Any day now? Honest? For real?

Wether we choose to be there or not , it will exsist anyway, Jehovah didnt create life to just be and to be violent and ridicule others, He created it to be peaceful and loving and giving.

Then why is his organization back-stabbing and cruel and selfish?

Call me blind or what may ? But I know in my HEART , JEHOVAH is the one thing that has got me through life thus far, and gives me hope to continue on.

The bible itself tells you how treacherous the heart can be. Unfortunately, intellect often gets slighted by the heart.

People may say it's not true, but i say that for some of the non-believers, Life has been grand for me for something that isnt so true :-)

I'm glad you've enjoyed your life, but having enjoyed your life doesn't prove anything about the rightness or wrongness of a religion.

I am not blind and I am not snookered, I am who I am and I choose to believe in Jehovah because he chose to believe in you :-)

Choosing to believe something doesn't make you right about that choice. You need to be informed.

Why doubt the good things in life ? Concentrate on the good not the bad. I will pray for all to have happiness when they lay ther head on their pillows tonight, because I will :-)

For too many people, these words have been a euphemism for "shut up, ignore your pain, forget about people who have ruined your life, and place more magazines with a smile on your face." Like I said, read around more. Learn. Dedalus

gumby

My spiritual beliefs have become clearer because of an intense self-examination

And you still believe in the bible?

I too am glad in a way I have went through what I have as it is a learning experience many others never have had. At the same time I wonder how my life would have been if I had never known the dubs.

I examined things too when I left the dubs and started in with orthodox christianity. Then when I examined the bible after a few years.....I found I was dupped twice.

Gumby

BluesBrother

Welcome! alwayshopeful, having successfully hi jacked Thinkers thread

You may have gathered that you wont find many fellow believers around here . But Please stop a while , read between the lines and see the reason for the angst and sometimes bitterness.

We have all been where you are , at the "I can see problems but i will stick with it and wait on Jehovah " stage.

Believe me , waiting and hoping achieve nothing. The problems remain and get bigger . We all came to question more and more. In my case the questions just would not go away no matter how I tried to suppress them . Eventually the scales fell from my eyes and it hit me like a thunderbolt "Its just not true!"

Now that you have made contact , accept the challenge to really examine your beliefs , not from WT material but here on the net . There is a wealth of scholarly material to chose from .

Do not be afraid to think the unthinkable . As Paul said" Keep testing whether you are in the faith". Best of luck in your voyage of discovery and drop in here as often as you like.

thinker

Thank you all for the kind replies.

To Gumby: "And you still believe in the bible?" No, I do not believe it's inspired. I think every religion twists and interprets to suit their own preconceived ideas.

To Always: Good luck to you.

Thinker

larc

Always Hopeful, I think you should really think about the implications of what you wrote. You said that men are imperfect and you put your trust in Jehovah. In that case, you do not need a religion to act as a middle man between you and Jehovah. You can have a personal relationship with him. Since all men are imperfect, then, all religions are imperfect, and you don't need any of them. I think that answers the question: but if I left the organization, where would I go? You don't have to go anywhere.

larc

Thinker, I miss the days when you posted often. I enjoyed your writings very much and appreciated the dialogue we had back and forth. I especially liked our long thread about starting a new religion (if was humor folks), and the JW dictionary.

thinker

Thanks Larc,

I miss those days too. Remember when this was just a small forum and every name was familiar?

Thinker

gumby

Hi Thinker,

No, I do not believe it's inspired. I think every religion twists and interprets to suit their own preconceived ideas

I also do not think it is inspired as you probably know. What puzzels me is how a person in knowing this.......can still live by it's principals as if it were inspired. By this I do not mean moral principals as the bible contains excellent advise in this area.

What I mean is peoples hopes and trust in the bibles god. That Jesus is who they said he was. That there exist a reward from god in heaven for those who love him ( and I hope there is myself, but do not know ) That we must do as the bible says in many matters.

My point is.....many believe the bible isn't inspired but in many ways act as though it is.

I do not imply that you do, but I thought that you did with your first post on this.

I am glad that you also are free from this Organisation and feel as you do that the Organisation is destroying itself................................thank god. ( no pun intended )

Gumby

peacefulpete

I feel I must add that members of high control groups/cults are ordinary people, good people,smart people,hopeful people. Arrogance, stupidity,cruelty etc, are not prerequisites to being mislead. Anyone is vulnerable to cults. A few people have learned, usuallly thru experience, to recognise unhealthy or unethical methods or policies. These do then have a responsibilty to further develope these critical thinking skills and assist others to protect themselves from the attraction of cults and high control groups. It is not helpful to make unfounded generalizations about what "type" of people become or remain victims of these groups. This also promotes a more healthy self opinion. Many mistakenly feel shame or guilt for having participated in these groups like the JWs, this reveals a lack of understanding about how and why cults work. I read an interesting line that said, " Noone joins a cult." No person would knowingly attatch themselves to a destructive group. Rather, people seek friendship, security, certainty, comfort, community and things like these that cults promise and for many within the cults appear to provide.

kilroy2

NO SURRENDER, never give thanks to the enemy. the only good dubber is an EXDUBBER, so we go forthe and create exdubbers.

Giving Thanks to Watchtower

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