Posts by evergreen

79

What is the true Christian religion / faith?

by evergreen in

i,m going to cut to the chase here .i am not long viewing this website and am fascinated at much of what i have read.currently i attend meetings, but sit there and think of what i now know about the society and its past.i just feel so confused at the moment with religion.. its a bit like who shot jfk ,did man really land on the moon etc .. except it involves all of us( just wish i knew the truth).

the only thing that is keeping me there right now is that all my family are in the "truth" ,,and i cant just stay at home and be shunned which i have recently experienced ( was inactive for a while) .. if i knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that i have found the true faith and discern that it is definately the true faith, i would then make a stand and nothing would stop me .

already i am reading the scriptures without the aid of wt publications and what i am reading is amazing .i am starting to feel that i am now getting closer to god by simply doing this coupled with prayer.. there must be one true faith as there was in the first century.

evergreen

Littletoe-

Have you read "The Art of Fading" by Expatbrit?

I will certainly lookup the above and see if i can take some ideas from it.

cheers

126

Does the Bible scare anyone else here sometimes?

by missy04 in

maybe i'm just messed up, but i get really freaked out sometimes.

i can't understand the bible,.....in some places it seems like it's saying all you have to do is one or two things, then it seems like it's saying you have to do different things to be saved.... so many different people and religions have so many different takes on the bible.

i don't know which to beleive, and it scares me that if i beleived the wrong thing that i could go to hell, or just go to sleep forever as the witnesses say.

evergreen

Hi Missy , i know where you are coming from in connection with your question.

Recently i have started reading the bible without all the WT publications and i came across a number of things that made me think.(i,m not telling you shouldnt read any of their publications as there is a lot of infomative information in them.But there is also alot of stuff that would make your mind boggle- so i will remain neutral when it comes to WT publications)

One eg and to be perfectly honest with you, i lead my life daily by this one portion of scripture coming straight from the mouth of jesus.

At matthew 18:16-19 tells us how a young man wanted to know what to do to get everlasting life?

Jesus replied by saying observe the commandments continually!....which ones :the man asks

Jesus says: why,you must not murder ,steal ,commit, adultery etc...and then in verse 19 finally says honor your father and mother and you must love your neighbor as yourself! // But then Jesus stops at that point ....He didnt go into a huge amount of detail ...Just the basics of living a peaceful life .

Of course Jesus did mention many things throughout the scriptures and of course the most important commandment is that we must love God with our whole heart ,soul and mind. We would do this by applying the basics of the above mentioned and praying to him to keep these commands that we can be at peace with ourselves, our neighbors and most importantly with God.

It was only after that he pressed Jesus further in verses 20-24 by saying that, he was doing these things what was he lacking. jesus said to him if you want to be perfect (note he didnt say he was lacking but if he wanted to be perfect) go sell your belongings and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven and come be my follower.The young man was grieved at this as he had a lot of possesions .Then Jesus went on to say about it being difficult to be a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven etc

But the point i take from this scripture was that this man was sincere and that he was keeping the commandments . If he had not asked what am i lacking Jesus would probably not have mentioned to him if he was to be perfect.Yes if he had done exactly as Jesus had said ..sold his belongings and followed him ..His reward would have been great and clearly that would be the case.

But did that mean to say that he wouldnt gain everlasting life by not selling his possesions etc.

The very fact he was asking Jesus what he had to do to gain everlasting life showed he believed Jesus was the messiah .He was keeping the commandments and as far as i can see he was on the way to everlasting life by keeping the commandments and believing that Jesus was the way ,the truth and the life.

So to cut a long story short .I base my life very much around the principles of this portion of scripture .Although i do have my weaknesses like everyone else , i still try to live in accord with what Jesus simply said here.I also read the Bible Daily and love much of what Jesus says .I find that i can approach God Jehovah/Yahweh through Jesus and speak to him as a friend as well as being my God.

Put simply i just try to lead as good a life as i can and enjoy every moment to the fullest and treat people of all sorts the way Jesus would have,with respect and dignity as far as a person can .

I hope this hasnt been to long winded for you.But dont be afraid of the bible .There are things hard to understand .But just look at the simple message it is trying to give ie to show love to your neighbour (everyone) and to love God with all your Heart,soul and mind.

79

What is the true Christian religion / faith?

by evergreen in

i,m going to cut to the chase here .i am not long viewing this website and am fascinated at much of what i have read.currently i attend meetings, but sit there and think of what i now know about the society and its past.i just feel so confused at the moment with religion.. its a bit like who shot jfk ,did man really land on the moon etc .. except it involves all of us( just wish i knew the truth).

the only thing that is keeping me there right now is that all my family are in the "truth" ,,and i cant just stay at home and be shunned which i have recently experienced ( was inactive for a while) .. if i knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that i have found the true faith and discern that it is definately the true faith, i would then make a stand and nothing would stop me .

already i am reading the scriptures without the aid of wt publications and what i am reading is amazing .i am starting to feel that i am now getting closer to god by simply doing this coupled with prayer.. there must be one true faith as there was in the first century.

evergreen

Littletoe- you actually got up onto the platform and disassociated yourself ! That must have been something .You were obviously absolutely convinced in your own heart and mind to do that.

I always felt that elders did not have a life .Even the average JW is tied to all the meetings ,field service and what not.But when i look at the Elders i just used to think ,how do they find the time to spend quality time with their families!

I never once had the inclination to be one .The very thought of being an elder just put me off. I always felt that they have no life to themselves.

John 20:28 changed everything for you. For me it seems to be a gradual process .Reading crisis of conscience , 607bce etc.The more i read about their past etc the more i am convinced that God cannot be using this organisation.

One of these days i will leave ,but i will probably just fade away rather than take the step you took.( my mother ,my wife , my sister in law are all zealots and id rather gradually bring them round to my views in time) .

In saying that i admire the stand you took and at least everybody knows that you no longer believed in the WTS any more.

Thanks for answering my questions.

79

What is the true Christian religion / faith?

by evergreen in

i,m going to cut to the chase here .i am not long viewing this website and am fascinated at much of what i have read.currently i attend meetings, but sit there and think of what i now know about the society and its past.i just feel so confused at the moment with religion.. its a bit like who shot jfk ,did man really land on the moon etc .. except it involves all of us( just wish i knew the truth).

the only thing that is keeping me there right now is that all my family are in the "truth" ,,and i cant just stay at home and be shunned which i have recently experienced ( was inactive for a while) .. if i knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that i have found the true faith and discern that it is definately the true faith, i would then make a stand and nothing would stop me .

already i am reading the scriptures without the aid of wt publications and what i am reading is amazing .i am starting to feel that i am now getting closer to god by simply doing this coupled with prayer.. there must be one true faith as there was in the first century.

evergreen

Highlite the text and click on the Quotation Marks next to the Emoticon Face. Also, if you want to UN-DO something, highlite and click on the symbol that looks like a can tipping over between the clipboard and the paperclip.

Flash - ive cracked it thankyou for your advise.

For a brief bit of bio, I was raised a JW, and served as an Elder here in Scotland. I finally saw the light in my thirties and left about three years ago.

Littletoe ( not littlejoe sorry!) How long were you an elder and what finally made you decide that enough was enough. What was that defining moment where you said "thats it..finished"?

Also whilst being an elder, did you find that your life was completely taken up preparing talks and items, and did you feel that there were too many meetings and too much irrelevant information crammed into each of the 5 meetings per week? ( being a servant for some 6 years i found that this was hard going enough ,let alone the responsibilities an elder has to shoulder)

ps

Welcome to the board evergreen

Cheers Heathen

79

What is the true Christian religion / faith?

by evergreen in

i,m going to cut to the chase here .i am not long viewing this website and am fascinated at much of what i have read.currently i attend meetings, but sit there and think of what i now know about the society and its past.i just feel so confused at the moment with religion.. its a bit like who shot jfk ,did man really land on the moon etc .. except it involves all of us( just wish i knew the truth).

the only thing that is keeping me there right now is that all my family are in the "truth" ,,and i cant just stay at home and be shunned which i have recently experienced ( was inactive for a while) .. if i knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that i have found the true faith and discern that it is definately the true faith, i would then make a stand and nothing would stop me .

already i am reading the scriptures without the aid of wt publications and what i am reading is amazing .i am starting to feel that i am now getting closer to god by simply doing this coupled with prayer.. there must be one true faith as there was in the first century.

evergreen

Hi Littlejoe,I,m an Irishman living in England for some 15 years now .Thanks for the welcomeslainte

Its great to be able to at last say what i feel about the religion i have now been in for about 12 years .All those niggling little doubts that i had about my new found faith are now beginning to surface .I could never get my head round Jesus being Michael the Arch angel. That probaly was one of the first, but there are so many !!!!

Flashes point about the anti typical and typical were to say the least mind boggling at times.

I strongly feel that the GB have to try to and explain every single scripture ,after all they are the channel of communication between God and his people.This is where it all comes back on them , the flip flopping ,the prophecies etc etc ( If they were the channell ,God must be very fickle.//////..yes it is ...no it isnt / yes it will ...no it wont / and on this date ...no, correction not on that date!!!)

There are as Flash mentions truths that i do agree with that they do mention as they are clearly there in black and white in the bible. But a lot of what they say is so obscure that it would even baffle Einstein.

But thanks for your views ,at least this way a person has the freedom to speak what they feel.

Evergreen

79

What is the true Christian religion / faith?

by evergreen in

i,m going to cut to the chase here .i am not long viewing this website and am fascinated at much of what i have read.currently i attend meetings, but sit there and think of what i now know about the society and its past.i just feel so confused at the moment with religion.. its a bit like who shot jfk ,did man really land on the moon etc .. except it involves all of us( just wish i knew the truth).

the only thing that is keeping me there right now is that all my family are in the "truth" ,,and i cant just stay at home and be shunned which i have recently experienced ( was inactive for a while) .. if i knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that i have found the true faith and discern that it is definately the true faith, i would then make a stand and nothing would stop me .

already i am reading the scriptures without the aid of wt publications and what i am reading is amazing .i am starting to feel that i am now getting closer to god by simply doing this coupled with prayer.. there must be one true faith as there was in the first century.

evergreen

Hi folks,I havent managed to read everything yet on this topic ,but what i have has been very interesting.

Gumby- good point about being in a muslim country re suddenly reading the bible!!

Flash- I am at the moment thinking along the lines of your view on things and also view the organisation as very narrowminded on a lot of things although they have got a lot of things that seem to relate to what is said in the bible.But you are right about all the typical and antitypical stuff-Whats that all about? Its like they have truths and half truths(also stuff they have just plain got wrong) and then all that flipflopping thats been going on. I,ll have to read about the 3rd heaven stuff -not read it yet.

I still have to read the rest of this message board as i have been away and at work etc but thanks for all the info and i will mull over everything that has been submitted.

Ps how do you box a statement sent in by someone so as i can bring up that point on the messge board????

79

What is the true Christian religion / faith?

by evergreen in

i,m going to cut to the chase here .i am not long viewing this website and am fascinated at much of what i have read.currently i attend meetings, but sit there and think of what i now know about the society and its past.i just feel so confused at the moment with religion.. its a bit like who shot jfk ,did man really land on the moon etc .. except it involves all of us( just wish i knew the truth).

the only thing that is keeping me there right now is that all my family are in the "truth" ,,and i cant just stay at home and be shunned which i have recently experienced ( was inactive for a while) .. if i knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that i have found the true faith and discern that it is definately the true faith, i would then make a stand and nothing would stop me .

already i am reading the scriptures without the aid of wt publications and what i am reading is amazing .i am starting to feel that i am now getting closer to god by simply doing this coupled with prayer.. there must be one true faith as there was in the first century.

evergreen

Hey every one thank you for all your replys.I am grateful for your views on this topic.

Right from the beginning i thought things were not right about some of the teachings of the society.I always hated the fact that we are so aloof from the rest of society.My 2nd year of being in the "truth" i suffered terrible depression. I will always remember all those lonely nights ,weekends ,months,years that i simply sat in my flat not going out as i couldnt mix with my old worldly friends. Of course ,i was a real party animal before i unfortunately got involved with the witnesses.

I remember going to a going away party for an elder and his wife in which the"brothers" hired a community hall.I was talking to an interested one and asked if she would consider getting baptized.Her response was that she wouldnt because we dont socialise and she said look ..wheres the music .I remember saying to her i,m sure they will play some later."They didnt"!! and believe me it was one very boring party ( perhaps seminar is more appropriate)

About 4 years later i decided to buy a book in a shop against the beliefs of jehovahs witnesses. I remember paying about £7 for it . I went to my car and browsed through the book,,,but then the programmed guilt factor came in and i decided to chuck the book immediately viewing it as apostate and bad...went home and prayed to jehovah about how sorry i was for getting this book. Boy was i controlled.

I could go on and on about different things but im sure most of you have been there .Years went by...got married ..ended up in a very unhappy marriage and drifted away from the "truth" for about 2 years.

It was only then when i was at a low point that i came across the year 607bce on a website and decided to read alittle further on the subject Knowing that what it would say would be total rubbish.

I was intrigued and printed about 12 pages of evidence that seemed to show that jerusalem wasn,t destroyed in 607bce.

This was where i started to see the beginning of many falsehoods by the society.I remember only 6 months ago finding the book crisis of conscience at my local library and my heart was pounding with excitement to find out the societys past and all the goings on at Bethel.It truly was an eyeopener and nothing surprised me at what i read.But some of the things mentioned astounded me.

Any way i will read some of your threads Corvin and have clicked your link (re books to read )to my favorites Blondie.This sight is fantastic in that i can express myself freely and get so many answers that help people to know the real truth.

Thanks again

Evergreen

79

What is the true Christian religion / faith?

by evergreen in

i,m going to cut to the chase here .i am not long viewing this website and am fascinated at much of what i have read.currently i attend meetings, but sit there and think of what i now know about the society and its past.i just feel so confused at the moment with religion.. its a bit like who shot jfk ,did man really land on the moon etc .. except it involves all of us( just wish i knew the truth).

the only thing that is keeping me there right now is that all my family are in the "truth" ,,and i cant just stay at home and be shunned which i have recently experienced ( was inactive for a while) .. if i knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that i have found the true faith and discern that it is definately the true faith, i would then make a stand and nothing would stop me .

already i am reading the scriptures without the aid of wt publications and what i am reading is amazing .i am starting to feel that i am now getting closer to god by simply doing this coupled with prayer.. there must be one true faith as there was in the first century.

evergreen

I,m going to cut to the chase here .I am not long viewing this website and am fascinated at much of what i have read.Currently i attend meetings, but sit there and think of what i now know about the society and its past.I just feel so confused at the moment with religion.

Its a bit like who shot JFK ,Did man really land on the moon etc .. except it involves all of us( just wish i knew the Truth)

The only thing that is keeping me there right now is that all my family are in the "truth" ,,and i cant just stay at home and be shunned which i have recently experienced ( was inactive for a while) .

If i knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that i have found the true faith and discern that it is definately the true faith, i would then make a stand and nothing would stop me . Already i am reading the scriptures without the aid of WT publications and what i am reading is amazing .I am starting to feel that i am now getting closer to God by simply doing this coupled with prayer.

There must be one true faith as there was in the first century. I find it hard to believe that God would use a mish mash of various religions that put out different views about God and his purposes.

I also believe that Jesus has a much more important role than the way the society paints him although i dont agree with the belief that jesus is God ,that really does not make sense to me what so ever.( hope i dont cause any one offense by what i believe)

I know that this is perhaps something that most people on this Board perhaps would love to know because it definately is something i want to know.I must admit that i find it annoying that the true faith just simply doesnt stick right out, why so much confusion? Devil of course!

But maybe you can submit your views and why you may think so ;perhaps you already feel you have found the faith you believe is the truth . Please tell me why you personally think so.

Perhaps maybe i will now find that treasure i have always been looking for !

21

Is the Bible Opposed to Celebration of Birthdays?

by Kenneson in

yes, says the watchtower society.

because, they inform us, only pagans celebrated birthdays per the bible and in each case a death occurs.

let us examine the two passages they use to support their conclusions.

evergreen

I am in agreement with you there, even the angels sang in heaven at the rejoicing of jesus birth. I often think that although birthdays are mentioned in the bible ,they are not specifically condemned by God neither in the hebrew scriptures ,the mosaic law or new testament.The governing body of the first century didnt ban birthdays simply because one wicked individual killed john the baptist on a birthday celebration.

What is remembered there is that Herod and Herodias committed this terrible act even on what should have normally been a joyous occasion thus emphasising how bad they really were , not that there was anything wrong with celebrating a birthday in itself.

The very fact that whether it was 4000 years ago or 2000 years ago ,birthdays seemed to be and were part of everyday life .

7

"Captives of a Concept" --book online

by bebu in

on another thread, mj and garybuss recommended a rather new book to me, which, it turns out, is available online as a download as well as a paperback that can be shipped.

i think it is an excellent resource, and believe it could be recommended to many people, jw or ex jw, because it uses wt material and doctrines as its criteria for discerning if the wt really does have all the authority they claim.

(if you are a jw, do you know what proof you supposedly rely on that the wt is the faithful and discreet slave?

evergreen

It looks like a fascinating book.I hope some of the bookstores start selling it in the uk.Cant order it in case the wife saw it. May have to download,,,Definately in mind though!