Nope, I don't think I ever believed it. It really pissed me off that the world would end in 1974? 75? 76? and I wouldn't ever get the chance to hold a drivers license. Fark I still love driving and riding, don't miss the hype.
Steve
Were You Ever A Bible Student???
by minimus 25 Replies latest jw friends
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rocketman
Yes. For me, that was supposed to be the hwole idea of being a jw. And, when I was appointed an elder, I thought it a great opportunity to get further involved in teaching God's word. That's what I thought being an elder was mostly all about. Seems I was wrong. There was so much crap involved that if anything, it hampered me in getting to know the bible.
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minimus
Rocketman, You obviously were an elder who was looking to do the right thing and let the Bible be your guide. But you can't do that if you're going to be a good organizational man.
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simplesally
Yes, I was a Catholic, became a "bible study" and then got baptized after about 2.5 years of studying. I got baptized in 91 and df'd in 2002. During the time "in" I was a regular pioneer for 5 years, auxilliaried from time to time when I was not a reg pioneer. I had up to 7 BS at a time and one did get baptized. Yes, I firmly believed the things I was preaching about. I cut down on work hours to preach more, I studied for all the meetings but eventually all the "rules" really became tiresome and burdensome. Living life just didn't seem normal, serving God the WT way was no longer joyful but extremely fatiguing and disappointing. The self righteous smug ones get to you after a while, people preaching about how "easy" the truth is when they have no clue what it's like to have to support oneself instead of living off their parents or on welfare.
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minimus
Sally, I think that if YOU truly believe what you are teaching, then you'll be a "successful" JW. Thankfully, most of us weren't that good.
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peacefulpete
Yes, I was the "go to guy" for difficult calls. I studied and studied but kept hitting a wall. Finally I peeked at the other side of the wall and read some sources of the quotations in the WT in context. I read the books at the 124 library in bethel at night. Hoping to find confirmation that the WT was right, instead I found the sources to be dishonest, nuts, or out of date. When I and my wife were the only ones in our hall to recognize "new" interpretation of scripture in the WT we wondered why. Didn't others do research and check past references? Immediately I recognized this was taking me in a dangerous direction.
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simplesally
Mini, Keyword was "believed" not believed.
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minimus
Whatever you say, Sally. (I was thinking in the past tense).
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simplesally
Can I change my profile pic to one with blonde hair? You know what I meant, thanks....ugh, with this Apple computer I cannot edit.....
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drwtsn32
I thought I was pretty good with the Bible, but that was false pride. The WTS kept telling dubs how educated they are about the bible compared to everyone else.
All I was good at was repeating WTS doctrine.
By JW standards though I had very poor study habits. I rarely studied for meetings because I found it so utterly boring. I hated hearing the same things over and over again. My wife though studied like crazy... easily 10 or 15 hours per week.