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MrsElmo253

Hello!
I've been reading the forums for a while now, as a guest, and have decided that I need a counterbalance to the indoctrination I am recieving. Here's my story (as short as I can make it):

I was raised Pagan, hearing the Witnesses were a cult like Morminism and Islam. I "experimented" with Christianity when I was about 16 but made the decision that I was following rather than making my own decision. At age 19, I found my biological father, and discovered he was a Jehovah's Witness. So is his wife, my other mother (and she really is like a second mom to me), and 3 of my very young siblings. At 20 I married a lapse Methodist who recently renounced his faith in all Christian religions. At 21, I started reading some of the propaganda my father continually sends me and it piqued my intrest. Today a pair of older sisters showed up on my doorstep to do a Bible Study. Not wanting to be rude, I entertained them. And thus the indoctrination begins. They will be returning next week for another study and I am positive that I will once again entertain them.

I am firm in the belief that Jesus Christ didn't die for MY sins, therefore alienating me as any form of a Christian. I also hate the idea that one dies and that's the end, as the Witnesses teach. I like the idea of an afterlife.. a heaven if you will.. where I will go to rest a bit before being reincarnated again. I question the obsessive teaching of all Christians that we are in the "end times." If my research is right, we have been in the end times for about 2000 years now. But God is coming.. soon.. and has been coming soon for the last 800+ years.

I'm a student of Anthropology (About to get my BA and considered one of the prize thinkers in my department at my university) and made the sisters uncomfortable when I posed the probability that creationism and evolutionary theory can co-exist peacefully via the archaeological evidence we HAVE. My trust in Anthropology as a science further eliminates the possibility of me becoming any form of a Christian. One could say that I am on the fence for the most part. I retain some of my deeply held Pagan beliefs that I learned as a child, along with theories from the buddhists, catholics, and Baptists I learned about as a child. I'm monotheistic, very spiritual, and appear to be sitting on the fence with regards to picking a lone path of religion. (My husband jokes that we go to the church of ATM and worship the almighty dollar so our religion is capitalism.) But lately I have been trying to get back to a way of life that was how God intended it to be. I am planning a Home Birth for when we decide to get pregnant, I am starting to return to a more natural diet.. and my spirituality seems to be following hand-in-hand. I just don't want to become a follwer again. I would like to maintain my originality.

I keep hearing about all the lies the Witnesses teach, both on this board and from several ex-witnesses I know in real life. So it's about time I asked for an in depth explanation. Personally speaking, I like reading the Watchtower and the Awake when they present articles I actually care about. Being that I'm 21, with no kids and none planned for some time, I could care less about how to deal with a rebellious teenager. But I like reading about animals and how the Bible is now being printed in an Eskimo tongue. I like reading about how God didnt say we COULDN'T be rich. But I need a counterbalance so I don't fall victim to their teachings involuntarily.

Hope I will be well recieved and I hope to gain what I seek.
-Katlin

qwerty

Welcome to the board MrsElmo253. You say...............................

I like reading about how God didnt say we COULDN'T be rich. But I need a counterbalance so I don't fall victim to their teachings involuntarily.

There are some good articles in the Awake mags. I could still read them, because my wife still goes to the KH. I don't though I never know if they are steeling info from others work and miss using it too. When I first was a JW it always puzzled me why some articles seemed to be the same or similar to Reader Digest or National Geographic. Same with the Kingdom Melodies, why some tunes are like National Anthems.

Stick around it will counter balance you here. Besides we want to know more about how your "Bible" study goes with the JW's.

Qwerty

Golf

Greetings and welcome Katlin, great name. You said, "I would like to maintain my originality." Then, just be yourself. Be curious, ask and then make your own decision. The best.

Golf

purplesofa

Welcome to the board MrsElmo....keep coming back, you will learn alot here.

purps

glenwoodswoman

Welcome Mrs Elmo....this board will give you what you are looking for...and lots of fun, too

watch out..its addicting

Gww

El blanko

Hi !

It seems as though you are questing for truth, like a lot of us here.

I have also found that there are essential and universal truths to be found within many schools of knowledge and I think that is heathly.

kls

Welcome Mrs Elmo,glad you decided to join and hope you find some answers here.

DevonMcBride

Welcome MrsElmo,

Since your not a Christian and don't believe Jesus died for your sins, take a look at this site www.jesusneverexisted.com

poppers

Hi, and welcome to the board.

'I'm monotheistic, very spiritual, and appear to be sitting on the fence with regards to picking a lone path of religion.'

Where does this idea come from, that a 'lone path of religion' must/should be picked? Perhaps the answer to your desire for finding truth lies outside the confines any philosophy or religion, which only ties you to the beliefs they espouse. That which can be acquired can be lost again. However, that which is always here can never be lost. May I suggest that you discover what's always here and then see if anything else is needed to feel fulfilled.

Sparkplug

welcome...

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