Do born-agains dominate EX-JW's? (page 2)

CeriseRose

I based my comments from yours:

"I remember from being a witness that the general view of apostaes was that they had become born again christians.This was probably because so many actually do."

I'm not going to be pedantic, but the way you've phrased this, you are drawing a conclusion that may or may not be so, and doing so with "proof" from what you've seen on websites. Again, it doesn't necessarily support the conclusion you're drawing, for the reasons I said in my last post. However:

I agree that perception can be different from reality. (Isn't that what life as a JW is all about?!?) So based on that it could very well seem that ex-JWs become born again and then feel the need to continue "witnessing." Again, my point is still valid...you're only going to hear from those who are passionate about their subject and you don't have any way of knowing the situation of those who aren't talking.

So your subject question "Do born-agains dominate ex-JW's?" is perception and can only be answered by perception, not fact, unless you actually research it (and using statistical analysis, not by looking at a few webpages). Otherwise you're just speculating just the JWs do when they say that "most ex-JWs become apostate born-again Christians." Right?

Personally, my perception of *this board* is that it's a fairly well-rounded bunch...I see Christians or those who've retained some spiritual faith in a deity or system of worship, some agnostics, and some athiests. I would have to say that what the JWs believe about ex-JWs isn't correct. My opinion.

Country Girl

These two probably do:

Bad "habits" have to be broken. <grin>

Country Ghoul

Love, Me

Well, I wouldn't call myself a 'Born Again' but I did become a Christian after leaving the WT. I don't know if many xjw's who are now so-called born again are like me but I still deeply loved and believed in Jehovah - just hated the WTS. I was troubled and felt worthless until a Christian aunt started talking to me about Jesus and grace. It really was a special experience - the feeling of all that weight lifted off my heart.

Anyway, I'll never be one of those bible-thumper types (again LOL). I'm mostly quiet about my faith and I didn't trade slavery to one thing for another. And honestly, I found some of those XJW Christian groups to be just as harsh and judgemental as JW's -if not worse. Most of my xjw friends are agnostic or are exploring alternative religion.

Satanus

Some xjws become born again christian. The one that do often make jws a target of their conversion efforts taking the initiative. Xjws who become athiest, agnostic, buddhist or befuddled don't do that. The latter groups are practically invisible to jws, while the former get all of the jws' attention. And so, it appears to jws that all x's become born agains.

After i left, i was in the born again category for about 2 yrs. I helped other born again pentacostal types who were preparing to evangelize the jws.

S

Narkissos

LOL @ CG...

In my mind "born-again" was not limited to Pentecostal or charismatic churches, rather including all kinds of "Evangelicals". Here in France they may be found in any Protestant church but are mostly identified to "professing" denominations, especially with some anglo-saxon influence, in which "new birth" (as well as membership) is linked to conversion rather than child baptism (this may include Baptists, Apostolics, as well as other free churches).

sleepy

Cerise Rose you read too much into too little.

I could have asked "are most ex-JW's born again christians?"
Instead I asked "Do born-agains dominate EX-JW's?"
To Dominate means to have a "the most influential or conspicuous person or thing"
I could have said "I remember from being a witness that the general view of apostaes was that they had become born again christians.This was probably because MOST actually do."
In fact I said "I remember from being a witness that the general view of apostaes was that they had become born again christians.This was probably because SO MANY actually do."

My post consisted of a few sentances , don't draw too many conclustions from that little bit of information.

Dawn

I'd agree with your assessment that a JW who is thinking of leaving would probably not be as willing to read information from a christian site. It's such a "taboo" as a witness that even when trying to break free it holds some power.

I was much more comfortable reading info on sites like freeminds and JWD, I also read Crisis of Conscience. I was probably closest to agnostic thinking for quite a few years because it was the safest place for me at the time.

After I was a more comfortable distance from the JW's I found the christian sites to be helpful in counteracting a lot of the JW doctrine that still held me. I especially liked the book Reasoning from the Scriptures with Jehovah's Witnesses - it took slant the JW's put on scriptures in the reasoning book and then showed other scriptures that brought about a clearer understanding. Helped me realize where the JW religion had misinterpreted or completely made-up doctrine that wasn't bible based.

So - even if you're not interested in being joining another church or faith, I think these sites do hold some value in helping one disect the JW doctrines with a different point of view.

LittleToe

I can only reiterate what has already been stated on this thread.

My observation would be that most ex-JW's have become agnostic.
The more voluble ones have likely taken some kind of fundamentalist / evangelical stance.
In the context of John 3, all Christians are "born again".

Now I have to ask YOU a question, given that I'm a "born-again Christian" (not pentecostal, but having a wide range of experience with "charismata") - would you say that I'm in the majority, or dominant???

Narkissos

Most people cannot change all the parameters of their thinking and life at once.

In spite of the obvious differences, there are many common features between JWs and Evangelical churches:

- they have the same "realistic" type of belief (not taking their faith as symbolical or metaphorical: "God" is "for true");

- they have the same Bible (Protestant canon);

- they have the same theoretical approach to the Bible (it is God's verbally inspired Word on which any doctrine is supposed to be based);

- they have the same general idea of God as secretly leading history (which may include some eschatological perspective);

- they have the same emphasis on "evangelism", or proselytism; which implies that the JWs' "zeal" is often regarded with some fascination, or even envy...

One side-effect is that an xJW entering an Evangelical church is often the center of attention, or even an object of admiration (which may be very important emotionally in the aftermath of df'ng). The same in a mainstream, "liberal" church would hardly be noticed, and his JW past wouldn't be any subject of pride... I still remember a dignified old man from the Church of England saying to me: "I really wonder how any educated person can be a JW". He was right, of course, but that may be hard to hear when you have just left...

sleepy

"Now I have to ask YOU a question, given that I'm a "born-again Christian" (not pentecostal, but having a wide range of experience with "charismata") - would you say that I'm in the majority, or dominant???"

Neither.(but I don't know what you get up to at home).
The dominance refers to Born-agains as a group.
It may be that many of the Born -again type thingy christians have never been JW's themselves but have used the testomony of them on their sites or in their literature.They certainly seem to been the main force in trying to convince Jehovahs witnesses they are wrong.

Do born-agains dominate EX-JW's?

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