Posts by AshtonCA

14

how to pray

by megaflower in

jw
friends

i no longer know how to pray.

who do i pray to?

i no longer worship the god of jw's, jehovah.

Hi Mega, For me, a feeling of having a true father/child relationship is what I have experienced since leaving the WT, and one day I decided to no longer say dear Jehovah, but actually say Father instead. Then I realized oh, I guess that's fine because how many kids do you know who call their father by his first name, anyway? I just believe the relationship between us and God is that of a familial one, and I am now much more comfortable saying father rather than Jehovah. I pray to both the Father and the Son, so depending on whom I'm praying to, I will direct it as Father or Lord. Ashton

18

Interesting thing happened today with my father the PO.....

by oneairhead in

my father and i had lunch at a local restaurant.

before we eat we always pray.

before we were about to leave a man comes up to our table.

AshtonCA

I remember being embarrassed when my mom would mention the name Jehovah in public. She was a very loud person when she talked and I used to cringe when she'd say something about the watchtower or whatever in public. We never prayed in public as my mom said that it was wrong to do it as a show. We hardly ever prayed as a family at home either, and she was anointed and my dad was an elder. Go figure lol I guess I had parents who didn't act like all the other parents who forced their kids to act a certain way.

Now I am excited to share my faith in public. I actually have a Christian fish on my car and a Cross hanging on my mirror. We do pray in public and we are working on being a praying family. I guess the difference for me now is that I LOVE being a Christian because I love Jesus and finally understand who he truly is and what he truly means to me in my Christian life. I'm no longer embarrassed and actually kinda wanna shout it from the rooftops if I could get away with not being thought of as a nut :)

Ashton

49

Other Than For "Apostasy", Should You Have Been Df'd By Now?

by minimus in

jw
friends

i wonder how many persons there are that had they got caught, would've been disfellowshipped for what they were doing.

by jw standards, should you have been disfellowshipped by now??

?

AshtonCA

Frequent Fader Miles said: "Yep, married a "worldly" man and had sex with him before marriage." ME TOO! But I had to ask them to DF me. They told me that I could keep dating him as long as I stopped having relations with him and they would not DF me. I told them I had no intentions of stopping my relationship with him, and that they probably should go ahead and DF me. I used this poor guy to get out of the org and out of my family. He knew it going into the relationship because I told him I needed help getting out. We didn't plan on getting together, but it did happen. I'm now married to him and have been for 15 years. We are both Born Again Christians and very happy and in love.

62

WELCOME NEWBIES - all of you! Check in here, I'm losing track of you.

by AWAKE&WATCHING in

jw
friends

i just saw the eighth post by botheyesopen.

i noticed aliciaj, dogaradodya, chicken little, cognac, hypnotic, mochalatte.. some have been welcomed and some have not.. .

we have so many i can't keep up so.... .

AshtonCA

I joined back in 2005 but I haven't been on the board since, but decided to come back and join yall since I'm more stable in my beliefs after leaving the org and my mom's crazy beliefs behind. Now I can handle talking about my JW past and not get sick at the thought of it :) I've posted my testimony in my bio if you wanna take a peak at who I am. Am glad to be here with yall... Ashton

46

Would you go to the Memorial?

by freedomfighter in

jw
friends

since i was raised as a jw i have never missed the memorial.. now since i have been df'd i"m not sure whether i will go or not.

my wife is still a jw.

should i go for her sake or not?.

AshtonCA

You know you don't have to go to a KH to commemorate the Memorial. You can do it right in your own living room, just look on a Hebrew calendar for Nissan 14 and partake of the emblems yourself after sundown. I'm not sure if the JW's have the memorial on the right night this year anyway. They many times do not because they use the wrong calendar to find out when Nissan 14 is. You can buy wine and matzah bread at the store and have a field day knowing you are actually partaking of something Jesus said to DO in remembrance of him, not just watch others do it. Just a thought :) Ashton

51

As a Witness I Hated Personal Study- How About You ?

by flipper in

jw
friends

i started a serious thread on cult mind control- so i figured i'd start a sarcastic funny thread, or serious, your choice how to explore it , on personal study !

i got so sick and tired as a witness with that expression being crammed down my throat !

" personal study " they told us !

AshtonCA

LOL RE: Note taking! My mom would not let us have notepads because all we would do is doodle on them and not "pay attention" to the talks. If we didn't pick up our bibles and turn to the scriptures, my mom would know we were spacing out (which was easy to do when it was one of those droner oner elders who just would not shut up!) I'm now a note taker though. I've actually learned that it helps me concentrate way better, but then again, It's easy when you are sitting before a Baptist preacher who may let loose with a little spittle during his sermon (woohoo I love a yeller! Preach it Pastor!). No more dozing off due to sheer boredom. Ashton

51

As a Witness I Hated Personal Study- How About You ?

by flipper in

jw
friends

i started a serious thread on cult mind control- so i figured i'd start a sarcastic funny thread, or serious, your choice how to explore it , on personal study !

i got so sick and tired as a witness with that expression being crammed down my throat !

" personal study " they told us !

AshtonCA

My parents didn't make us study before the Study. I did it because I wanted to, or actually because I wanted to answer a question during the study so I'd just highlight a few answers. Also, my friends were all forced to study theirs so I didn't want to be the only one with no yellow highlighter in mine, so I'd underline, even if it wasn't really the answer lol. I was one of those who basically underlined everything hahaha oh well, at least it looked like I was studying. I remember I'd go to the KH with my friend but we'd have to spend an hour or more studying before we went because her mom would make her study every Saturday night. I guess there is nothing wrong with that. I enjoy my personal study time now, but I'm not doing it out of some magazine either. I enjoy studying the bible and doing my daily readings. I actually look forward to my morning study time. Who'd have ever thought I would enjoy studying something, and actually look forward to the next time I could do it? Ashton

22

How many Memorials have you attended and missed?

by JH in

jw
friends

since 1987, i must have went to about 16 memorials and missed about 5.

AshtonCA

Hi, it's been ages since I posted on here. I probably should just say I'm a newby since no one would know who I am anyway. But I just wanted to say that I don't attend memorials in a KH. My family celebrates the Lord's Supper in our home, and we do so according to the Jewish calendar, not the JW's idea of when the Memorial is because many times they have it wrong anyway. We also keep Passover as well. I believe the Last Supper and Passover are actually not the same nights. The Last Supper we keep on Nisan 14 at sundown and the next night on Nisan 15, begins passover. This year we will be eating unleavened bread for a full 7 days, if I can convince my family of that fact lol I've only missed 2 memorials since leaving (being kicked out of) the JW's. I should probably post my testimony at some point so yall know where I'm coming from. My entire family now shares in the Last Supper. We also do communion many times during the year, either in our homes or at Church. We just did communion on Christmas Eve at a friend's house during the Christmas party. What a great way to remember Jesus' birth and life. God bless, Ashton from CA

21

WTBTS and the Cross

by Honesty in

.

does anyone have any idea why the cross is such a stumbling block to the wtbs and the jehovah's witnesses?

1 corinthians 1:18 describes their belief system to a "t".

AshtonCA

Sorry to double post, but I was thinking about John 20:25 where it talks about Thomas wanting to see the marks of the nails in Jesus hands before he'd believe, well I noticed the plural nails in the KJB and decided to see with the NWT says and look at what it says below.

KJB: John 20:25 says The other disciples therefore said unto him, We have seen the Lord. But he said unto them, Except I shall see in his hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into his side, I will not believe.

NWT: John 20:25 Consequently the other disciples would say to him: ?We have seen the Lord!? But he said to them: ?Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails and stick my finger into the print of the nails and stick my hand into his side, I will certainly not believe.?

If Jesus were indeed crucified on a torture stake, as the WTS teaches, this scripture should not have had "nails" as plural because the way they say that he was killed was hands over head with hands on top of each other and a single nail driven through both hands. So, this word should be singular "in his hands the print of the nail" not nails.

Ash

21

WTBTS and the Cross

by Honesty in

.

does anyone have any idea why the cross is such a stumbling block to the wtbs and the jehovah's witnesses?

1 corinthians 1:18 describes their belief system to a "t".

AshtonCA

I have not read all of the posts here, so I am sorry if someone already said this, but when Russell formed the org, his original symbol was a Cross inside a Crown, so at one time, the cross was used and its members actually wore them as symbols of their faith.

The reason I have heard is that who would want to wear something that a family member died on or by. I.e. if a family member was shot, who would want to wear a gun as jewelry.

I have also heard it said that wearing a cross is like worshiping an idol, and this one I find absolutely ridiculous.

My mother is deadset against wearing a cross or having one in her house at all. I find this type of logic still mind controlling and trying to take the Christian out of the religion. After I was saved a few months back, a friend of mine that we had shunned for many years because she had left the org and then went back into a church and my mom said she had stepped back into babylon the great, so we shouldn't have anything to do with her (remember my parents and family left the org 10 years ago, but my parents still hold the beliefs and customs). So once I was saved and out from under the org's hold, I contacted this family friend and apologized to her for my own actions toward her and she sent me a cross made out of silver and I LOVE IT, it is so pretty!!! I wear it to church!

Ash who was saved and is now born again and goes to a Baptist church (wow how things change!)