Posts by Dawn

9

What did you miss out on most, because you were stuck in JW land ???

by run dont walk in

jw
friends

.

could of been as a child, teenanger, adult,anytime in your life, did you feel that being a jw (or jw parents) prevented you from doing things you really wanted to do.

why does the watchtower find it necessary to "rob" people of being human and enjoy things in life ??

Dawn

It's about what I make of my life now - very good comment!

I'm definately making up for lost time now. My kids are very involved in extra-curricular activities so that keeps us busy doing the things we couldn't before.

I enjoy doing things with people that I choose as friends and not people that have been chosen for me. I like the freedom of being out with friends and not having to worry about stupid things like "what if someone sees us in a bar" when we're not doing anything wrong. Or whether the people I'm with are considered "good association". Now I just go do things with people because I WANT to and I come home feeling recharged. It's a nice feeling.

27

Are you REALLY sure?

by Dawn in

jw
friends

when i was one of jehovah's witnesses i was absolutely sure i had the truth.

so sure i would have been willing to sacrifice anything for my beliefs.

i worked hard at study, meetings, service - even aux.

Dawn

When I was one of Jehovah's Witnesses I was absolutely sure I had the truth. So sure I would have been willing to sacrifice anything for my beliefs. I worked hard at study, meetings, service - even aux. pioneered while working full time.

Now - many years later I know that I was fully deceived.

I became a born again Christian a few years back. I have spent my fair share of time studying the scriptures and researching history of JW's as well as christianity and other religions. I believe in God and I believe that Jesus was his son. I am much happier now. But I have to be honest with myself and admit that I am "deceivable". I was deceived once - it would be much harder to deceive me again - yet - it COULD happen.

So what about you. Regardless of your belief system now - do you admit that you can be deceived?

30

I put my burden on Jehovah, but he gave it back

by Nosferatu in

jw
friends

remember all those times that you waited on jehovah for help?

remember how he didn't help?

tell some of your experiences of how jehovah didn't help you in your time of need.

Dawn

Uknowitsthetruth - That's like telling someone you can travel through time if you close your eyes hard enough and concentrate - then if it doesn't happen it's because they didn't concentrate enough. I have heard your reasoning before for unanswered prayers and it did not sit well with me.

I am a born again Christian and I do believe in Jesus and in prayer. Why are some unanswered? I don't know. One thing I have learned as I've grown from my JW past is that sometimes we just don't know the answer. And to try and pull one out of the air just to always have an answer isn't the way to go either. There is a christian rock song with lyrics along this line that I like "Sometimes he calms the seas, sometimes he calms his child" - the idea behind it is that for some reason God will sometimes remove the pain, and other times leave the pain yet give us the strength and support to deal with it.

I'm not saying that is THE answer - just one of many possible reasons.

I find that now I don't necessarily pray for THINGS from God all the time - but I find it is a sort of meditation that helps me work through problems, plan for the future, that kind of stuff.

44

Doubting the Trinity and Paradise

by ClassAvenger in

i don't doubt the trinity, but again i had a talk with one of my jw friends and he gave me several bible passages which he wants me to explain, most deal with the trinity, and others deal with the belief in heaven.

he says that they show that jesus was less than his father, and was a separate person, and the others state that paradise will be here on earth.

argument: how come no one has seen god, not even jesus?

Dawn

I won't try to argue the trinity part because I'm not sure where I stand myself on this issue. I believe it is a doctrine and can be argued either way using scriptures - at least, that's how far I've gotten in my own studies. It may be impossible for us to explain with our current understanding of living beings - for example, how could you explain to a person in 300BC that time and space can be manipulated by speed? Yet it's possible.

As for the paradise on earth - that one is fairly easy:

The old testament (Psalms) was written for the Jews prior to the Messiah's coming - at that time NOONE had the hope of a heavenly life, they only looked for the Messiah and a resurrection.

When Jesus came and was resurrected he opened the way to a heavenly hope. You will note that in the new testament there is no scripture that states that the dead are "unconscious" or anything like that - it always speaks of an afterlife.

As for the meek inheriting the earth - John answers this one at the end of Revelation. This is a scripture the JW's are very familiar with and yet seem to not really SEE - Revelation 21:3 "Now the dwelling of God is with men and he will live with them".....how will God live with men if he is in heaven and men are on earth??? Verse 2 tells us "I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God..." - if you read the entire chapter 21 it seems clear that EVERYONE will live on earth, including God. Verse 1 tells us that this is the "new heavens and earth".

Read Luke 16:19-31 and ask your friend to explain this one - if the dead are just DEAD then was Jesus lying about this?

26

Have you or have you known someone disfellowshipped more than once??

by anakinsrise in

jw
friends

i cam close to being disfellowshipped once,i was a servant so they only took awy all of my duties,and priv's.but i know a sister even dated her for 10 months who has been disfellowshipped 3 times.it was kind of funny because her 2 fleshly sisters got disfellow'ed around the same time and they all didnt seem to care and went to jamaica for 3 weeks.1 of them even came back pregnant.

Dawn

Geeez Lisa - sounds like we could of had a lot of fun as dubbie friends

I was DF'd twice. Only because I didn't learn the first time.

Actually - I went back the first time because I thought it was my only option for salvation. But I didn't want to be there. After about 4 years I just couldn't do it any more so I got in trouble on purpose the second time - I guess I'd say on purpose because I didn't have to tell them what I was doing - they would have never found out - but I ratted myself out. Looking back on it I think I just wanted a way out.

By the way - I think I made a pretty good trade - the JW's for my husband. Yep - he's a much better deal!

7

Any legit JW DB sites left on the net???

by blackout in

jw
friends

i want to read what jw's are saying about themselves, what boards/chat rooms are still pro jw or have they all been closed by the org.

?

Dawn

I checked some of those sites out a while back but became so utterly bored with the mindless dribble conversation. Almost as boring as the Watchtower study!

11

I'm truly sorry

by KGB in

jw
friends

there has been some post made here to this discussion board that have been completely out of context to this discussion board, some of them had really irritated me to an extent that i said some pretty bad things to certain individuals.

it has weighed on my conscience for some time amd today especially.

i attend a baptist church and i am a man who has turned his life over to christ but found myself indulging in conversation that led me to act as if i were of the evil one.

Dawn

KGB - this just proves that you're normal like the rest of us .

Only one man ever walked this earth that didn't screw up somehow.

21

Stopping smoking - any suggestions?

by be wise in

jw
friends

hi, i smoke, not loads, but i would like to stop.

i think i will find it really hard though and was wondering how you stopped if you were a previous smoker.

i also suffer from asthma which obviously doesn't make things any better.

Dawn

I quit this last December - I also went cold turkey. I tried the patch and the gum but neither really worked for me. Cold turkey was hard but it worked. I also started exercising a lot more during that time and made a conscious effort to eat really healthy. Images work well with me so I imagined what my lungs looked like after smoking for so long - and then what my heart and lungs would look like once I had healed. That encouraged me to keep going and to eat healthy.

I also think it helped me not to tell myself I was NEVER going to have another cigarette. I'm one of those people that MUST have whatever she's told she can't. So I made a deal with myself, I would go one week and then I could have ONE cigarette (the corner store sells singles). Then I had to wait another week and I could have ONE. Then it was 2 weeks, then 3...and so on. I still occasionally want one - but the urge is not as strong as it used to be and if I get busy with something else it will pass before I know it.

Also - it helps to know that nicotine will leave your body within 4-7 days. So after a week without cigarettes, the physical withdraw is over and it's just a mental battle from there on. That info helped me a lot.

Good luck!

19

not sure what I think about this--yet.........

by Ravyn in

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http://www.beliefnet.com/story/127/story_12772.html

ravyn.

Dawn

This is great news! Now I can live in sin, worship satan, and still get to heaven! Rock on! I'll go a head and rob that bank on the way home and attend the Swinger's Party on Friday night. I think they have a special "room" for trouble makers like you!

71

Why Was Adam Blocked From Tree of Life?

by AGuest in

because... the leaves of such tree... were for curing.

curing what?

had adam reached the tree and ate... he would have been cured of his sins and once again become sinless.

Dawn

Why did God put the "tree of knowledge" there in the first place if he didn't want them to eat from it?

Good question! I wondered that myself - I've never heard a response that really made sense to me.