What other religions background do you have?

by Pinned Blouse 25 Replies latest jw friends

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  Pinned Blouse

  Hello All,

  I was wondering what if any other religious background any of you had other than being a JW and if you have any comparisons. I was brought up as a 7th Day Adventist. Once I was on my own as an adult, my former sis-in-law started studying with me and the rest was history. I read somewhere that SDA's had similiar backgrounds with JDubs. I realized later that I went from one restrictive religion to another. As a SDA we had to observe the Sabbath and keep in holy which meant no t.v. on Saturdays until sundown! Do you know how many cartoons I missed as a child??? Child abuse!

  As a SDA we could not wear jewelry, eat meat, no caffiene, etc. I missed out on a lot in life. Anyone else?
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  iiz2cool

  I was raised as a Roman Catholic and joined the JWs at 25. The JW meetings were almost like business meetings compared to the Catholic masses. They were similar in one way. Both could put me to sleep. But being Catholic didn't restrict my life in any way as the WTS did.

  Walter
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  Pinned Blouse

  That interesting about Catholics, they seem to not have any restrictions except that they do monitor their tithing, especially if their child attends a Catholic church.

  Can someone tell me how I include the reply in an e-mail that I am responding to?
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  franklin J

  Hi pinned,

  I married a Catholic girl from a very liberal, intelligent, educated family. They are very open minded progressive people. I have learned much from them about what a religion should be---and what it should not be.

  I attend a family mass with my wife and kids at the local Catholic Church. The family mass is not held in the main nave of the church. It is held downstairs in a multi purpose room with folding chairs arranged in a semi circle and a small table in the center serves as an alter. There is no pomp, ceremony or pious music. There is a simple 30 minute mass said with a very dynamic, likeable priest who relates to all the young families who attend this mass.

  There is coffee and cake served afterward. It is a very likeable, social group. They know that I am not Catholic and do not care. Myself and my children do not kneel or cross themselves, most other people there do not either. I attend with my wife and kids in tow to show family unity. It works for us.

  What I have seen of this mass and attendees is that it is a support network; for individuals and the community. There is no condemnation or shunning of anyone. They literally help the poor in the community with food and shelter--irregardless of any differing faiths. True love of neighbor and help of fellow less fortunate humanity. Is not that what religion is all about?

  It is unlike ANY of the teachings the JWs taught me about the Catholic Faith. I can live with it ;to give my kids some degree of religion; without getting into any of the doctrines, without overwelming them and their little lives with religious "overload" ( the way I grew up).

  Not a bad deal. And they do not come after you the way JWs do.
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  Markfromcali

  Hi Pinned, welcome to the board.

  I think like many, I looked at different religions after leaving but did not join any. There are some organizations where there is actually nothing to join, no membership of any type, you just go if you want to go. The last of these for me was Buddhism I suppose, and even though this is a religion that emphasizes (well, depending on the sect) your own investigation, direct experience as opposed to belief, there is still that element in there. There's a saying on the board that you can take the dub out of the Watchtower, but you can't take the Watchtower out of the dub. While I don't believe this is an absolute, it certainly makes the point about how hard it can be and how that basic mindset stays with you even after you leave, even if you don't join any other religion. This is why I eventually just dropped the whole belief oriented approach to spirituality altogether. This would be another discussion, but your question is a good starting point. Enjoy your time here.

  Mark
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  GentlyFeral

  My parents both left their parents' religions (stepfather raised Assemblies of God, mother raised Catholic) at an early age. They raised me with no formal religious training at all, so I was ripe for the jaydubs when they quoted Ps. 37:11 and Matt. 5:5 to me; I was that desperate to see social justice.

  The rest of my religious exposure came post-jaydub: Unitarian Universalism and paganism. I did read - not too deeply - in non-Christian religions after I unjaydubbed.

  GentlyFeral
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  Pinned Blouse

  Thanks Mark
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  Gordy

  I didn't have much of a religious background. My father was Church of England, but never went to church. My mother was connected with the Salvation Army, but only went occasionally. Any religious teaching came from attending morning assembly at school. Which in my latter school years I never bothered going to. The one a week religious education class was scheduled in such a way that by the time you had registered in your form you had about 5 mins of it left before change of lesson. Yet at home I would read the Bible and wonder why this book had such an influence on people. After leaving school and starting work used to have big discussions with my friends on "God, universe and life" looked at Islam and Buddhism. But always came back the Bible and Christ. Then friend who worked wth a JW told me what he was being told, I asked to meet JW. It was arranged for me to meet and it seemed to me at the time that here was a group of people that could explain the Bible to me. As the say, the rest is history, I spent the next 30 years as a JW. Till events made me take a real hard look at them. Now for the last four years i have been a Christian.
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  NeonMadman

  I was raised largely without religious training, by the time I was 12, I had been in a church maybe 3 times and never the same one twice. At 13, I took one of the SDA's famous "Bible Correspondence Courses," and started attending their church. Shortly after that, the JW's showed up at the door, and after 6 months or so arguing about the Sabbath, the rest is history. I was a JW for about 30 years. Now I consider myself just a Christian, though I am a member of a Baptist church.
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  ApagaLaLuz

  My father was Jewish, after a long struggle with his faith he eventually became a witness when I was a young kid. I do still remember some of the prayers and songs he taught me in Yiddish though.