Posts by digderidoo

44

Personal experience of accepting Jesus as God, how was it for you?

by digderidoo in

jw
friends

i have decided to start another thread to the one on jesus...god or god's son?.

the reason for this is that i started a thread really looking for personal experiences, looking for reasons those with a jw background would change their opinion on this.

i wanted to know why those that believe that jesus is god now feel this, whereas years ago they didn't.. i think it's a shame the other thread has descended into a debate between trinitarians and jw apologists, whereas only a couple of posters responded to my original post.

digderidoo

I have read all of the posts with interest, sorry that i cannot respond to everyone but my time is limited today.

I want to pick up on Jaguarbass -

I have been through AA. I had the best 5 years of my life in AA.

I have heard you say this before, so do not understand why you don't try again. AA is always there, the door is always open. You are correct in keeping it simple, i have complicated the program. But now i am looking into aspects of Christianity because i no longer have the anger against God and biblical techings that i had 18 months ago. I feel comfortable with my progression through the steps, but those steps are always evolving and changing. If i can take something from a Christian perspective then in my view that would only add quality to how i work the AA program. I have considered visiting a church, i am curious as to why ex JW's who once felt so strongly on that Jesus is God's son have taken up the concept of Jesus as God.

This thread has given me a great insight into people's experience.

As regards the Reniia comments, i feel that she has respected the fact that i have asked for no debate on this thread. It seems as though when she posts a comment that many want to respond to her, which in turn makes her respond back. I saw this on the other thread and felt as though it wasn't just Reniia hijacking that particular thread. I do read her posts on here, it kind of reminds me what i used to believe, which is a good thing for me. But i do see many that use her as a bit of a punchbag for post JW anger. I admit that i am in the minority in that i enjoy her posts, maybe it's because i let go of my JW anger by working the AA program and appreciate that there are many here that still have that anger that i harbored for many years.

Paul

44

Personal experience of accepting Jesus as God, how was it for you?

by digderidoo in

jw
friends

i have decided to start another thread to the one on jesus...god or god's son?.

the reason for this is that i started a thread really looking for personal experiences, looking for reasons those with a jw background would change their opinion on this.

i wanted to know why those that believe that jesus is god now feel this, whereas years ago they didn't.. i think it's a shame the other thread has descended into a debate between trinitarians and jw apologists, whereas only a couple of posters responded to my original post.

digderidoo

Thanks for the posts on this. I find it interesting that ex JW's have done a U-turn on this issue, it intrigues me as to why years ago we so valiantly defended Jesus as God's son, yet some now have done a 180.

Blacksheep, I will have to look at that Moffat's translation, i didn't realise it existed.

Narcissos, i am not a Christian either. I do see what you are saying with reference to 2 Cor 5:19

sspo, i agree that this board is not going to settle the issue. There are varying view points, but alot can be learned from here i feel.

Chalam, i like that write up, it seems comforting. Thanks for that. And thanks for your experience.

Satanus, thanks for your input. the question of God is something that's been unimportant for me for many years. It is only of late that i have been looking into this.

Deputy Dog, short, but to the point.

Amazing, i didn't realise that the Trinity doctrine was documented so far back. Thanks for your experience.

BTS, the Holy Spirit being a person is maybe something i will look into at another stage lol

Snowbird, I was like you in that i had the know it all JW beliefs. I always remember being 14 years old and knocked the door to a vicarage with my 15 year old friend. We spent a good half hour talking to the Vicar about John 1:1 and the Trinity doctrine. As we left he told us to place more emphasis on Jesus, but we felt as though we'd done ourselves justice. I will look at John 8:58 when i've finished here, thanks.

The research lady, Amazings post was a good read.

Lurker, i think i will bookmark this too.

Sacolton, i came to the conclusion to drop the WT filters, i think however after years of indoctrination, it still lingers.

Reniia, thanks for your input, i am one of the few here who actually welcome your posts and respect the fact that you are willing to engage. You will find previous posts where i have said that, in fact i was only talking to someone by email a couple of days ago about how i welcome your posts. I also repsect the fact that you show your photo. I do not agree that other religions have threw away the name Jehovah, as a more correct rendering is Yahweh which the NWT in it's foreward admit. you are correct that i have asked for one type of experience, due to the fact that i wondered why people have made a u-turn on this issue. I am only interested in this one issue, which is why i posted it, so i'm not really interested in other experiences. For instance if i posted a thread about marijuana experience, i wouldn't really be interested in people's experience of alcohol. I will not post my thoughts on another forum, as i want to know about an ex jw experience so i will post it here.

Thanks all so far for your posts, i would like to ask again that debating the trinity doctrine be left to the other thread as it is good to read about experience, rather than doctrine. I think it's good for others to see too, and would hate to see this thread get swallowed up in debate.

Paul

44

Personal experience of accepting Jesus as God, how was it for you?

by digderidoo in

jw
friends

i have decided to start another thread to the one on jesus...god or god's son?.

the reason for this is that i started a thread really looking for personal experiences, looking for reasons those with a jw background would change their opinion on this.

i wanted to know why those that believe that jesus is god now feel this, whereas years ago they didn't.. i think it's a shame the other thread has descended into a debate between trinitarians and jw apologists, whereas only a couple of posters responded to my original post.

digderidoo

if you want to promote a purely themed debate on one religion I recommend you use the forum for that religion.

But i don't and you'd have read the OP properly you would have seen that i don't.

Paul

55

Is There Anything Good About The Jehovah's Witness Religion?

by minimus in

jw
friends

anything??

?.

digderidoo

I learned how to clean a window without leaving smears! (and still can)

Paul

44

Personal experience of accepting Jesus as God, how was it for you?

by digderidoo in

jw
friends

i have decided to start another thread to the one on jesus...god or god's son?.

the reason for this is that i started a thread really looking for personal experiences, looking for reasons those with a jw background would change their opinion on this.

i wanted to know why those that believe that jesus is god now feel this, whereas years ago they didn't.. i think it's a shame the other thread has descended into a debate between trinitarians and jw apologists, whereas only a couple of posters responded to my original post.

digderidoo

I have decided to start another thread to the one on Jesus...God or God's son?

The reason for this is that i started a thread really looking for personal experiences, looking for reasons those with a JW background would change their opinion on this. I wanted to know why those that believe that Jesus is God now feel this, whereas years ago they didn't.

I think it's a shame the other thread has descended into a debate between Trinitarians and JW apologists, whereas only a couple of posters responded to my original post. That thread has re-enforced to me that Christians just can't even agree on the most central of doctrine. The handful (well less than a handful) of decent posts in the thread have been swallowed up between the arguments amongst Christians on this site. Had i have posted the other thread on a site like JWS where the OP can lock the thread i would have done, as the majority of responses had nothing to do with the OP. I accept that the OP cannot control how a thread goes here, but i would ask for any debates to be kept to that thread, not this one, as i am asking for personal experience of how you came to this decision.

Please do not debate on this thread, i am asking for your personal experience of this, NOT trinitarian doctrine VS non-trinitarian doctrine. I have found the personal experiences of Christian friends interesting to me whilst i define my own spiritual path, but would like to hear those Christians with a JW background.

For those that don't know here, i am a recovering alcoholic and using AA. The AA program is based upon spirituality, which 18 months ago was a massive issue to me, previous threads will show. I enjoy growing along a spiritual path now, love to learn from different philosophies and there is part of me that wonders whether i can take something from Christianity, rather than reject it outright as i did years ago. I now have a great respect for the bible, can learn from it and can live by many of the principles within, the thing however that does stop me attending a church is that i don't accept the divinity of Christ, even though i think he was a great teacher and a great man.

So what CONVINCED you that Jesus is God?

Paul

55

Is There Anything Good About The Jehovah's Witness Religion?

by minimus in

jw
friends

anything??

?.

digderidoo

I learnt from an early age how to do a tie.

Paul

280

Jesus.....God or God's son?

by digderidoo in

following on from a post of sacolton's on a recent thread.

i hope he doesn't mind me cutting and pasting it as i want to examine it.. was jesus our god?

consider these two scriptures:.

digderidoo

Thanks Sylvia for your response to my questions on original post.

It's a shame that this thread has descended into a lengthy debate between Renaii's official WT position and those that believe in the trinity. Whereas only one or two posts have responded to the question on the original post.

I already know the WT scripted response and as nobody other than Sylvia and another poster (sorry can't remember who) has attempted to answer my questions on Acts and Ecclesiastes, i am outta here. In fact in some forums the OP has the power to lock the thread, i wish that was the case here.

Paul

60

Ex jw wife

by sspo in

i find it interesting that i posted about 16 days ago concerning whether i should write a letter and.

allow my ex wife to be free and marry.. saturday night she called out of the blue ( maybe there is a god upthere looking down) after 3 years of not talking to her and she wants to meets.. we met last night and after small talk about how we are both doing and family stuff, she asked me if i would write a letter.

freeing her or releasing her from our marriage without admitting adultery, since i don't believe in the bible anymore,.

digderidoo

My ex got remarried without a letter from me. I did go through the stage of her wanting a letter though. She just basically convinced the elders that i had committed adultery, the reality was that she had, which i only recently found out 10 years on.

If you do write a letter and end up getting d'fed, you then have the potential of losing your daughters who are still JW's.

Paul

280

Jesus.....God or God's son?

by digderidoo in

following on from a post of sacolton's on a recent thread.

i hope he doesn't mind me cutting and pasting it as i want to examine it.. was jesus our god?

consider these two scriptures:.

digderidoo

Wow...just logged, didn't realise there would such a big response.

There have been some good points made. I particularly like the way BTS sees it, in seperating divinity to Jesus humanity.

I would be like to draw attention to the original post though, in that what got me thinking about this is Sacolton's proposition in Acts 7:59, that Stephen was refering to Jesus as God. How are the surrounding contextual verses reconciled with such a proposition?

Paul

280

Jesus.....God or God's son?

by digderidoo in

following on from a post of sacolton's on a recent thread.

i hope he doesn't mind me cutting and pasting it as i want to examine it.. was jesus our god?

consider these two scriptures:.

digderidoo

Following on from a post of Sacolton's on a recent thread. I hope he doesn't mind me cutting and pasting it as i want to examine it.

Was Jesus our God? Consider these two scriptures:

Acts 7:59 While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my spirit."

Ecclesiastes 12:7 and the dust returns to the ground it came from, and the spirit returns to God who gave it.

Spirit returns to who?

Stephen cries out to who?

The questions i have on this is to do with the context of Acts 7:59. Examining Acts 7:55-60 (NIV),

55 But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God,

56 And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.

57 Then they cried out with a loud voice, and stopped their ears, and ran upon him with one accord,

58 And cast him out of the city, and stoned him: and the witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet, whose name was Saul.

59 And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.

60 And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

Verse 55 states that Stephen could see Jesus 'standing at the right hand of God', which surely contradicts the proposition Stephen saw Jesus as God? This confirmed in verse 56. The NIV translation here also shows that stephen in V59 called out to both God and Jesus.

So my question, not just to Sacolton, but to those who believe Jesus is God, is how do you reconcile these surrounding scriptures?

With reference to Ecclesiastes 12:7, v1 states,

1 Remember your Creator
in the days of your youth,
before the days of trouble come
and the years approach when you will say,
"I find no pleasure in them"-

The context of this scripture to me shows that v7 was refering to 'your Creator'. Now a JW would believe that Jesus was with God at creation according to Colossians 1, but placing of the word 'other' in that chapter does give a whole new meaning. But with regards to v1, it seems to me that v7 is refering to the Creator, God, Yahweh, Jehovah, YHWH, call him what you will.

My personal view is that these two scriptures do not show that Jesus is God, but that is my personal view which is not rigid (one thing i've learned post JW is not to set your beliefs in stone). So my questions is to those here who believe Jesus is God is why do you believe this? Do you believe that Jesus was the manifestation of God? Or do you see him as divine because he was sent from God or a part of God?

Paul