Posts by NowImFree

24

They upset me and depressed me :~(

by Spectrum in

i tried to show the nature of jehovah to my mother and neice by using the story of the levite and the concubine and the awful carnage of the innocents jehovah santioned as a result of one rape and murder (judges 19-21).

they were both supporting jehovah's sanctioning of the murder of thousands of men, women and children.

at one point they said that i was getting too precious about the murdered children, that they would inevitably become like their parents, 99% of whom were innocent in this story anyway, and that what good would it do to leave them alive if the bread provider was dead in battle, better to finish them off too.

NowImFree

Well J,

I guess we will just have to agree to disagree. Your beliefs would never satisfy me and my beliefs would not satisfy you. Do you think I am happy with the thought that based on what the bible says and what God promises, many will be saved but also many won't? God himself says he wishes that none would perish. No, I would wish that all would be saved. But I am not God and it's not my place to judge. I just believe that what he says will come to pass. That is why we are all individuals, we can either believe or not believe. And no, I am not a prisoner of my thinking any more than you are. You have researched and have come to your own conclusions about God and the bible and I have come to mine. Christianity is not a cult, the JW organization is a cult. I have been in both and believe me, there is no comparison. I am free to read whatever I want and talk to whoever I want and research whatever I want and be friends with whoever I want. I am free to follow my God given conscience instead of having to listen to the authoritarian demands of a bunch of old men in Brooklyn. I am free and don't feel the heavy heavy burden I felt as a JW, the burden of always slaving for a manmade organization and never feeling like I was good enough. That was a prison. Now I do things because I want to, not because I have to. I have gotten involved in missions for the homeless and teaching migrant workers to speak English so they can get better jobs. To me, serving others is the most rewarding thing, just like Jesus said. He told us to feed the hungry and help the poor and the suffering. To me, this is freedom and the most wonderful thing I have ever been involved in, because I have realized the truth in the saying it is better to give than to receive. This sums up Jesus and his exampe of how he wants us to be. To reach out and serve people in need and to be able to show them caring and love is the most freeing thing I have ever experienced. I was suffering depression all the time as a JW, but now that I am out of that, I have not been depressed since that time and it has been almost 4 years.

Take care and bless you,

NowImFree

24

They upset me and depressed me :~(

by Spectrum in

i tried to show the nature of jehovah to my mother and neice by using the story of the levite and the concubine and the awful carnage of the innocents jehovah santioned as a result of one rape and murder (judges 19-21).

they were both supporting jehovah's sanctioning of the murder of thousands of men, women and children.

at one point they said that i was getting too precious about the murdered children, that they would inevitably become like their parents, 99% of whom were innocent in this story anyway, and that what good would it do to leave them alive if the bread provider was dead in battle, better to finish them off too.

NowImFree

Shootist and J,

I have a question for you and I am asking it in all sincerity. I truly do believe that God somehow came in the flesh in order to save us from the harsh curse of the judgement of the law which we could never fulfill or follow. I have done research and based on it, I believe that the old fashioned Christian doctrines most line up with the new testament. But regardless of these things, I have to ask you and I am not doing this to be arrogant or anythig like that, I am truly asking. If you don't believe in God's promises of eternal life for all who believe in Jesus, what hope is there? What hope do you have for the future? Do you feel alright with just believing this is all there is and when you die, that will be the end of it and you will never see any of those that you love? I am just truly curious because without my faith and hope in the future and believing God's promises, I would be extremely depressed. I don't think I could handle life if I believed this was it because I have had a hard life in a lot of ways and it would have been unbearable if not for my hope in the future. I have children so to think that someday when I die, I would never see them again and they would never see me, and that this short life as all there is, I wouldn't even care to go on. I am being totally honest so hopefully you will be totally honest. How do you face the prospect of death for either you or the people you love? I know these are hard questions but I am curious and really wondering. I have always wondered how atheists handle death because I couldn't handle it wasn't for my faith. And if you are not an atheist, what do you think happens to people at death?

NowImFree

24

They upset me and depressed me :~(

by Spectrum in

i tried to show the nature of jehovah to my mother and neice by using the story of the levite and the concubine and the awful carnage of the innocents jehovah santioned as a result of one rape and murder (judges 19-21).

they were both supporting jehovah's sanctioning of the murder of thousands of men, women and children.

at one point they said that i was getting too precious about the murdered children, that they would inevitably become like their parents, 99% of whom were innocent in this story anyway, and that what good would it do to leave them alive if the bread provider was dead in battle, better to finish them off too.

NowImFree

J,

I detect a hint of anger in your response which I don't understand, because you asked me about my beliefs. If believing in Christ annoys you, then why ask about it? I have a right to what I believe and you have a right to yours. Every person needs to come to their own conclusions, including if they believe the the bible is the word of God, and who you believe God is or isn't. You shouldn't be angered by someone because they choose to believe in Jesus and I won't be angered by you because you don't.

NowImFree

24

They upset me and depressed me :~(

by Spectrum in

i tried to show the nature of jehovah to my mother and neice by using the story of the levite and the concubine and the awful carnage of the innocents jehovah santioned as a result of one rape and murder (judges 19-21).

they were both supporting jehovah's sanctioning of the murder of thousands of men, women and children.

at one point they said that i was getting too precious about the murdered children, that they would inevitably become like their parents, 99% of whom were innocent in this story anyway, and that what good would it do to leave them alive if the bread provider was dead in battle, better to finish them off too.

NowImFree

J,

If you believe the bible, which I do, it says there will be both a resurrection of the righteous and the unrighteous. One group will be given everlasting life and the other group will be given everlasting judgement. Of course I don't know what exactly hell is or what it entails nor do I want to know, but I do believe that those that do not want God in their lives and do not think they need salvation will have their wish and will live eternally separated from God and without his Spirit, which would bring despair. If you look around in the world, there is definitely good and evil going on. I believe those good and evil forces are very real. And people who claim to be religious many times aren't following God at all, look at the pharisees, or the crusades, or what is going on in the muslim world right now. All of that stuff is from Satan and many times he uses religion in the name of God to instigate people to do evil.

NowImFree

30

I just sent my JW family packing

by unbeliever in

jw
friends

my mom asked me if some of her jw relatives from ca could come and stay .

with me for 2 days and see some of the sites.

mom told them all about .

NowImFree

Oh this reminds me of when my sister insisted that I let my JW niece and her husband stay with me and my kids for a week. I was still a JW at the time, I was moving and they were supposed to come about a month after our move, which I figured would be OK and would give me enough time to get unpacked and settled. All of a sudden my sister calls and tells me that the neice and her husband needed to change their plans and that they would be coming the day after we moved! I was horrified and I told my sister it wouldn't work but she kept telling me how they would be no problem and that they would help me and stuff. Then, it turns out they brought my nieces' husband's niece and nephew so there was four of them in my two bedroom condominium with me and my two sons. It turned out to be a nightmare. They were all sleeping in my living room and my house was trashed the whole week they were here. I was exhausted and I had to go back to work on Monday. They made a huge mess, didn't help me at all and when I would get home from work they would be laying around with my living room and kitchen in shambles, with dishes piled high and they would expect me to make dinner for them. I was furious and I thought it was the rudest thing for my sister to talk me into that. I would never think of asking someone if I could stay with them right after a move.

NowImFree

24

The Chinese torturing cats and dogs by the millions

by greendawn in

it is strange that in this day and age a country like china with a tradition of civilisation going back to ancient times treats cats and dogs as if they are nothing.

it's not just that they eat them or kill them for their fur but the cruel inhumane way in which the kill them, believing that if they die a painful death their meat will be more tasty.

not to mention that often they skin them alive as they don't care to wait until they die.

NowImFree

I just watched the video about how chickens are treated at the KFC slaughterhouses. I don't think I will be able to eat chicken again after seeing that, and definitely not from KFC. How horrible.

NowImFree

24

The Chinese torturing cats and dogs by the millions

by greendawn in

it is strange that in this day and age a country like china with a tradition of civilisation going back to ancient times treats cats and dogs as if they are nothing.

it's not just that they eat them or kill them for their fur but the cruel inhumane way in which the kill them, believing that if they die a painful death their meat will be more tasty.

not to mention that often they skin them alive as they don't care to wait until they die.

NowImFree

This is horrible. I didn't see the show and I'm glad, I would be so haunted and upset by it. I am sure I would have had to turn off the show and couldn't have watched it. I'm an animal lover, I have 4 cats of my own and I grew up with both dogs and cats. They are pets, and they normally love people. For someone to torture and cruelly kill helpless pets is sick. Somebody needs to do something about this.

I know we have slaughter houses, which I don't like that either. But that is livestock, they are different than pets. It is hard to make a loving pet out of a cow or chicken.

NowImFree

24

They upset me and depressed me :~(

by Spectrum in

i tried to show the nature of jehovah to my mother and neice by using the story of the levite and the concubine and the awful carnage of the innocents jehovah santioned as a result of one rape and murder (judges 19-21).

they were both supporting jehovah's sanctioning of the murder of thousands of men, women and children.

at one point they said that i was getting too precious about the murdered children, that they would inevitably become like their parents, 99% of whom were innocent in this story anyway, and that what good would it do to leave them alive if the bread provider was dead in battle, better to finish them off too.

NowImFree

I am a Christian since leaving the JWs and my faith is in Christ now, not the JW organization. But I have to tell you that when I read the old testament I got very disturbed. I have had a hard time reconciling Jehovah of the old testament with Jesus of the new testament. I felt drawn to Jesus, but I felt more terror of Jehovah. I see some mercy in the old testament but not a lot, and I see I ton of killing which I don't understand. I even heard the pastor at my church say that this is mysterious and that sometimes it almost seems like to different Gods. Since the bible says Jesus is the exact image of the Father, what Father are they talking about? Since Jesus never calls him Jehovah, but he calls him Father and says we should call him Father, he never said to call him Jehovah which I find interesting. Only time will tell what that means. But I see the true God in Jesus.

NowImFree

88

Seriously, they`re burning down our embassys now.

by Hellrider in

the cartoon-rage continues.

in syria, protesters have now burned the norwegian and danish embassys to the ground.

the latest news is that they are rioting in copenhagen, denmark, where 200 moslems have stormed the sentral station (the railwaystation), and throwing bricks and rocks.

NowImFree

I feel guilty for my previous post because I think it sounded prejudice. I want to hopefully clarify it a little more. My son has a friend who is muslim, and he is the nicest kid. I shouldn't say kid, he is 21 now and going to school to be a doctor. But, he grew up here in the U.S. and he is kind and accepting of other religions. I think the danger is in the militant, radical islam. It does seem to be some type of brain washing. Just like we saw the lack of love in the JW organization, these people should start to see that there is something very very wrong with this militant and violent type of islam that wants to chop off peoples heads, do you know what I mean? Anyway, I just wanted to clarify because I know not all muslims are the radical violent brand. And I do think the newspaper was stupid for printing the pictures, but the reaction to them is just ridiculous. I believe in freedom of speech, but I also think you shouldn't intentionally insult someones racial, ethnic, or religious beliefs. But like I said, the reaction is insane. What about the things the president of Iran has been saying about destroying Isreal? You don't see all the Jewish people in the world joining in violent protests againsts Iran or the arab world, and what he said was much worse in my book than a bunch of cartoons.

NowImFree

16

To Those Who 'Believe' In 'Jesus'.

by SpannerintheWorks in

jw
friends

.

tell me, what is it that happens to you when you ' know' you have the 'holy spirit'?

NowImFree

As a JW I never really gave Jesus a second thought. About 4 years ago, I started feeling drawn to Jesus and I wanted to learn more about him. All of a sudden I had this curiousity about him and I wanted to read his words in the gospels. I had never had that feeling before when I was a JW, but now I was inactive and searching for God, because I didn't see evidence of God in the organization anymore. I had this feeling I was being lead away from the organization to find God. I don't know how else to explain it. Anyway, I couldn't put the bible down for weeks and it was like someone had taken the blinders off and all I could see when I read the gospels and the new testament was Jesus, and something came over me and I realized who he is and that he is my only salvation. After reading the gospels, I felt compelled to pray to Jesus for salvation and to repent for my sins and unbelief. Nobody told me to do this, I just knew from reading his words. It was very personal and the most important thing that has ever happened to me. Inside, I have not been the same since, I know I am different and that I had a spiritual birth at that time. I realized that everyone is invited, but not everyone accepts the invitation. I felt different inside but it is hard to put into words. It is an inner peace and contentment that I did not have before. I felt forgiven and happy, not empty and weighed down as I had as a JW.

NowImFree