It was definitly " man " that prompted my leaving but it has been the " spirit " world that has confirmed in my darkest moments that my decision to stay away was the only option to preserve my mental health and to continue my growth into a healthy, functional adult of any kind.
Could the Spirit world have helped your exit from the religion?
by free2beme 20 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
mad max
Was announced just recent that i am no ...blah blah.
But small sister still talks to me, she went to a meeting with her family last Thur after a very long time about 1 year, because she thinks its time she started going back. (pray God no). That night she had this most horrible dream about the demonds attacking her, throwing her against the wall, can't breath talk and all the rest that goes with this. This I know well because we were taught to always fear this sought of thing and that it is because she has not gone to the meetings and satan wants to keep her in the "world". Satan does not care if you in the "world" or a JW, to him they are both the same thing as long as you don't try and find out about all the liars and nonsense the society has put out all these years he is quite happy for you to keep on thinking like this. This is how he controls the JW.
I said to my little sister that satan keeps her thinking the above for the very reason he does not want her to really know about the real God and Jesus the real Spirit that lives in us.
I know I went off the track a bit about the main theme of the tread, but yes I am starting to also think OUT of the box regarding the Spirit world. God has his angles that minister to us,k if they ministered to Jesus they can help us as well.
Yes the Spirit world can help us get out and stay out.
-
LouBelle
After being a bit wishy washy with the so called truth for 2 years I suddenly felt the need to find the truth - the real truth - this spurred me into deep prayer and serious soul searching & doing research on the Jehovah Witnesses. I felt that I was being led out. Not a physical leading of course but a spiritual leading out.
I have recently being doubting if there is a God. But we can't prove that there is or isn't. I'm happy to believe that there is - if anything I'm a better person because of it - sure I suppose I could be the same person without this belief but it works for me & it harms no one.
So yes I feel that God can direct you into something & through something. Reason I say this because so many many times I've had no strength of my own to keep going. There have been a couple of times I've even thought death was better than continuing with life. But I always found that little bit of strength or faith.
I wouldn't have gone to my last judicial committee & yet I feel I was promted by God to go and be a witness to them, that no matter what they say or do - if you find God, you are willing to give up everything to follow him. You are willing to be called a liar, you are willing to be hurt by your family, you are willing to be condemed. I can't endure this on my own!!!!!
-
free2beme
I understand the thought of, "give yourself more credit," and I do . At the same time I have experienced more times then I could count, wanting something to happen so bad and mentioning it to people alive and then when they died it suddenly happened. Enough to make me think, "what if?" Not that I want to start some religion around that, but enough to make me not close that door of thought entirely.
-
tetrapod.sapien
welcome damselfly!
-
tdogg
I myself am very much a skeptic. I would congratulate you however on your desire to explore, and ask questions. You are now free to do so and it is the only path to knowledge. Isn't it wonderful?
-
jaffacake
I believe this is all superstition, but I am not sure. I am quite sure that so called spirit creatures do not exist except in the imaginations of JWs, whom I suspect invented the term.
-
Rod P
Well, I do believe there is a God of this Universe, as well as spirit beings on different levels or dimensions.
But when I left the JW's (1966) I converted to Mormonism. It was more a sense of being convinced tha the JW theology was illogical- full of holes, inadequacies and inconsistencies. The logic of the Mormons filled in those gaps with better explanations, as far as I was concerned.
It wasn't until a number of years later that I discovered a whole lot of lies and cover-ups in Mormonism that I began to question Mormonism for their inadequacies, inconsistencies, failed prophecies, and questionable theology.
I must also mention that as a young lad having Bible studies with the JW's I did feel something that was a kind of warm, glowing feeling after a Bible study. I asked why I had that feeling, and I was told it was Jehovah's Spirit.
When I was studying with the Mormons, I was told to read the Book of Mormon and pray about it. Again, I felt this warm, glowing feeling come over me. I left it alone for a while, due to moving to another city. I then asked my Mormon friend (by mail) to send me another Book of Mormon, which he did. I opened up the Book and wham!! it hit me like a bolt of lightning, like something came over me that this Book was True! The Mormons have a scripture that describes this as a "burning of the bosum". This praying and getting this feeling of the "burning of the bosum" is what Mormons call being led by the Holy Spirit.
Looking back at what I discovered about Mormonism and especially the Book of Mormon, I remain decidedly unconvinced as to the authenticity and inspiration of that Book. There hundreds of reasons to question the whole basis for claiming this book is the Word of God.
So now I am left with the memories of these two "emotional" or "feeling" experiences, both of which are supposed to be the influence of the "Spirit of God or Jehovah". What then, do I make of this?
Years ago I was listening to a radio talk show driving down the highway. The host was interviewing a guy who used to be a child preacher. He had one of those "popular personalities" who could preach and convert many people, kind of like a Billy Graham. He described how, in his preaching, he could look out at his audience and see how he was affecting them. (Look at some of those televangelists today like Benny Hinn, and look at the audiences and you can actually see their mesmerized states, tears streaming down their faces, arms extended to God, etc. They definitely are in some kind of altered state.)
Anyway, this fellow told of often seeing little old ladies sitting in their chairs in the front rows, watching him preach. And as they got caught up in his preaching, he reported that they were undulating back and forth in their chairs, like they were having orgasms. Having grown up, he left his ministry, and was revealing his skepticism about the Holy Spirit being present and all that. He thought that this was more about the group atmosphere, the dynamics of his speaking and body language (sexy image, like an Elvis), the background choir and orchestra- the entire ambiance, all of which was capable of putting people into altered states.
I am reminded of runners who go on long jogs, and get this "runner's high". I also note that when people, especially women, eat chocolate, they get this sense of well-being that they often say is "better than sex". I personally have found myself in a kind of altered state in the wee hours of many mornings, when I am wrapped up in a kind of "cosmological puzzle", and it all fits together like a beautiful puzzle. I get really excited, being on a "high". I notice that the feelings I get are quite similar to the ones I experienced studying with JW's and Mormons.
So now, I have a theory. I think that just as endorphines are released in the brains of joggers and those who eat chocolates, people whose minds are totally immersed in religious environments and sermons and thoughts, the mental and emotional triggers and responses may, in fact, be the release of these same endorphins. I think this may also be similar biological responses to sexual orgasm, except it may not necessarily be experienced in the genitals. It could be a "total body" or "total mind" or "total emotional" response, or even experience holistically at all levels simultaneously, that is interpreted as being "spiritual" in nature. Then again, if there is a God, perhaps this is all part of "Spirituality" at the physical level. Who is to say for sure. If that is the case, then I would have to say there is something Universal going on, and is not exclusive to any one religious or spiritual group claiming to being the One Right Religion.
In the end, I think I was converted by logic, coupled with emotional responses that may or may not have been "spiritual" in nature. The only way I could be sure this was from the Spirit World would be if I knew I was in the presence of "spiritual beings" that were guiding me. Since I cannot attest to having experienced that personally, I must then revert to my theory as described above, until a better explanation comes along. The last chapter has not yet been written.
Rod P.
-
zen nudist
ROD P, for the most part I agree with you completely, however there are these spooky events which have crept into my life and the life of just about everyone I have ever met which prevents me from seeing things in a completely materialistic way.... there are bizzarre events which are rare and hardly ever repeated which are woven into the fabric of our existances and these may never be fully explained and after many meditative contemplative sessions I have come to the conclusion that somethings will never be explained and that is just the way it is and I am ok with it now. There was a time when I believed an answer could be found for any question and that is how people like JWs swayed me... and then there was a time when I thought I had it all figured out and spooky $#!+ happened which made me reailze there are still many mysteries
-
free2beme
I would congratulate you however on your desire to explore, and ask questions. You are now free to do so and it is the only path to knowledge. Isn't it wonderful?
Yes it is, and I find myself exploring things once labeled evil and seeing that in many cases what we were warned against is nothing short of a "nothing!" Here is an example, ever hear of this man named John Edwards? He is this man who says he speaks to the dead. His entire way of doing things has been disproven time and time again as cold reading. In which men have taken about 20 people, put them in a room and did this. People were crying, feeling touched, etc. At the end they explained how it was done and when you think about it, they're right. Basically, if you take 20 people in a room, someone is going to have a dead relative with the "S" sound and I see they gave you something? Hello, easy connection. I also see they had something to do with your childhood. A relative that knew me as a child, how shocking! Anyway, goes on like that time and time again and the Witnesses warn against this man. Saying he is doing evil demon work and the devil is behind this. No he isn't, he's a scam and the same greed behind this is behind their desire to fool people into accepting their religion to get more hours worked and numbers in the hall. So the other day my Witness relatives are at my house (we never stopped talking and doing things together), and this guy is mentioned. They were all, "so sick, etc." I speak up and start to explain that it is nothing and say, "hell, I could teach you how to do this." Want to see some scared people, you would think I offered to introduce Satan to them. They did not even hear the intro to my comment, in which I stated that it was disproven and a scam. All they heard was, "I will show you something evil" and I did not even say that. I had to spend the next few minutes explaining the scam and then I used an example of how I could take that small group of eight and make it work. Even though they knew I was showing them a scam in action and told them in detail how it worked. They got scared when I did it and told me to stop. Is that weird, or what.
My idea of the Spirit realm and spiritual energy, does not favor this dog and pony show. Not even close