hi all. i am new here. just found this site yesterday. my story is quite long so i will probably post it another time. just a lil background...i learned the "truth" through a friend who was disfellowshipped & studying to get reinstated...i was 22 when i studied...baptised when i was 23 (im 31 now)..."drifted away" due to depression..& later learned i was disfellowshipped without my knowledge a couple years ago...i have been in & out of deep depression & am still trying to heal...so please go easy on me...i am trying to find my way in this world as well as have a relationship with God and His Son...anyone who has left the org knows how hard it is out there & i am sure understands my feelings....
basically i have been reading the Bible lately & doing extensive research on the web and have come across many things in my search...any imput put on various scriptures or sites i would appreciate....
first of all i found more than a few religions that resemble the teaching of the JW's...so can they HONESTLY say they are the only ones with the "Truth"?
scriptures i came across in my studies this week (if you have any other translations of these same scriptures please quote them in ur response i have 2 KJVs as well as the NWT that i am using...thanks!) :
Ecclesiates 12:11-14 NWT....vs 12:as regards anything besides these, my son take a warning: TO THE MAKING OF BOOKS THERE IS NO END, AND MUCH DEVOTION [TO THEM] IS WEARISOME TO THE FLESH. vs 13: the conclusion of the matter, everything having been heard is: FEAR THE [TRUE] GOD & KEEP HIS COMMANDMENTS. FOR THIS IS THE WHOLE OBLIGATION OF MAN.(see vs 14)
KJV ...vs 12: my child i warn you to stay away from any teachings except these. THERE IS NO END TO BOOKS & TOO MUCH STUDY WILL WEAR YOU OUT. vs 13: EVERYTHING YOU WERE TAUGHT CAN BE PUT INTO A FEW WORDS: RESPECT AND OBEY GOD! THIS IS WHAT LIFE IS ALL ABOUT.
what are your thoughts on these scriptures...my thoughts as i prayfully studied made me think of all the magazines...books published and required to study....i had always looked to them as bible aids...but when i read this scripture i felt different...shouldnt God's Word be enough?
another scripture was of not forsaking the gathering together....Hebrews 10:24,25...gathering together was to be of encouragement not to discourage....so when you see someone is having trouble or is down why arent they reaching out to encourage those ones? it seems the meetings have become (unless they always have been) a place in which you are constantly being told what & what not to do & you are constantly being scolded for feeling any other way...i hope what i am saying makes sense...
and again during my studies this week i read....that we should pray for one and other...love your enemy....keep without spot from the world....etc..... should we not being praying for others then to have a relationship with God, to follow His Commandments ( not those made by men ) as well as for ourselves....& that we should watch our own step....
a woman i had been baptised with messaged me a week or so ago (after 3 yrs or more)...she was telling me how she now had a great home and was finding herself becoming materialistic & not wanting the end to come yet...but then she did a big turn around and began to put me down becuz i had not returned to the org...she said she has been and is loyal to Jehovah....and when i told her of my research & my experience she said for me to stop having a pity party and that everyone has been misunderstood some time or another...as far as the research part she said to me .."i am of the 'learned ones'...i did research...they just want to pollute Jehovah's org...he is a God of orgnization...if this isnt the Truth then what is there is no truth"....well i pointed out the false prophesies... her reasoning was that they made mistakes and admit them....the new light theory etc(more of excuse)...
but if thats so then shouldnt we believe that all "christian" religions has some form of truth to them then...and that they just havent come to the new light?
i have more i would like to discuss...but would like others opinions on these
thanks!
