Posts by NanaR

121

Mom Died -- and I found out from an old friend!

by BrendaCloutier in

ok, i'm writing this thru tears as i just found out in the last 5 minutes.

my dad died in august, and they had been together just 1 or 2 weeks over 70 years married!

i didn't expect her to last without him, and visa versa.. i just tried to call my sister, and no answer there.

NanaR

Brenda,

I'm so sorry. I lost my mother in April 2005. I was with her when she died, but only because at that point I was being careful to keep my "no longer a Witness" status to myself.

{{{{{Brenda}}}}}

Cyberhugs to you,

Ruth aka NanaR

14

A new experience

by NanaR in

last wednesday evening i attended a catholic mass for the first time in my life.

being raised as one of jehovah's witnesses, i rarely ever saw the inside of another church (maybe the occasional wedding or music recital), but catholic churches were particularly off limits.

i am now exploring my spiritual horizons.

NanaR

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!
HAVE A GREAT DAY.

Thanks!!!

Ruth

14

A new experience

by NanaR in

last wednesday evening i attended a catholic mass for the first time in my life.

being raised as one of jehovah's witnesses, i rarely ever saw the inside of another church (maybe the occasional wedding or music recital), but catholic churches were particularly off limits.

i am now exploring my spiritual horizons.

NanaR

I was raised Catholic, and was unaware of this blessing alternative. What a nice option for those who are not Catholics, who want to participate.

The lady who took me is a newly converted Catholic. I don't know if this is a new thing, or just something that a "cradle Catholic" might not be aware of.

WELCOME to the board! And that was a very interesting post!

Thanks Bebu!!

*smiles*

Ruth aka NanaR

14

A new experience

by NanaR in

last wednesday evening i attended a catholic mass for the first time in my life.

being raised as one of jehovah's witnesses, i rarely ever saw the inside of another church (maybe the occasional wedding or music recital), but catholic churches were particularly off limits.

i am now exploring my spiritual horizons.

NanaR

Being shown unconditional love takes a little getting used to, does it not?

Yes, it does!

A dear friend of mine used to say "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear". I don't know who he was quoting, but I am starting to believe what he said.

There is so much good in the world. It's going to be fun looking for it.

And I'm finding teachers everywhere :-)

Ruth aka NanaR

14

A new experience

by NanaR in

last wednesday evening i attended a catholic mass for the first time in my life.

being raised as one of jehovah's witnesses, i rarely ever saw the inside of another church (maybe the occasional wedding or music recital), but catholic churches were particularly off limits.

i am now exploring my spiritual horizons.

NanaR

The quest for spiritual freedom just feels so good

Yes, Balsam, it does :-)

After living my entire life on the principle of "enduring" the present for "paradise", I am now living my life with a view to both enjoying it and HELPING OTHER PEOPLE in a concrete fashion. When I was growing up, we had a dear Baptist neighbor lady who lived 2 doors down. When the neighbor between us (our next door neighbor as well as hers) lost her husband, the Baptist lady "adopted" the elderly neighbor; that is, she checked on her at least twice a day, she took her food, etc. Now this wasn't easy as the elderly lady was very cantankerous and could be exceedingly rude and never once said thank you. And the elderly neighbor lady DID NOT go to the same church (I don't think she went to any church at all). But our Baptist neighbor just ignored all that and continued helping until one day she was the one who found the old lady dead.

In all that time, my JW parents never did ONE THING to help the neighbor.

Who do you think was demonstrating "fruits of the spirit"?

But WHY did it take me SO LONG to be able to see these things in their proper context?

I don't really know, but I am so glad to now be FREE TO THINK CLEARLY.

*smiles*

Ruth aka NanaR

14

A new experience

by NanaR in

last wednesday evening i attended a catholic mass for the first time in my life.

being raised as one of jehovah's witnesses, i rarely ever saw the inside of another church (maybe the occasional wedding or music recital), but catholic churches were particularly off limits.

i am now exploring my spiritual horizons.

NanaR

I think that if you've grown to the point where you can even step foot in a Catholic church, let alone actually appreciate some of the experience, You're gonna be JUST FINE!

Thanks Gordon :-)

I know it has taken me a long time to get to this point. I hated the feeling of never being quite good enough; that feeling impacted my whole life.

I appreciate the privilege of being able to read and comment on this board. I don't want the whole rest of my life to be about who I WAS, but it is important to know that there are others who can understand where I've been because they've been there too.

*smiles*

Ruth aka NanaR

14

A new experience

by NanaR in

last wednesday evening i attended a catholic mass for the first time in my life.

being raised as one of jehovah's witnesses, i rarely ever saw the inside of another church (maybe the occasional wedding or music recital), but catholic churches were particularly off limits.

i am now exploring my spiritual horizons.

NanaR

Last Wednesday evening I attended a Catholic mass for the first time in my life. Being raised as one of Jehovah's Witnesses, I rarely ever saw the inside of another church (maybe the occasional wedding or music recital), but Catholic churches were particularly off limits.

I am now exploring my spiritual horizons. I have several good friends who are Catholic, one who is newly converted Catholic. I decided I wanted to find out more about this religion.

First thing I noticed was that Catholics do not go to church to talk to each other, they go to church to talk to God. They begin praying the minute they enter the door of the sanctuary.

I found the service, with its sung and unified prayers and rituals, to be a very moving experience. When the time came for communion, my friend said, "You can stay in your seat. Or you can go to the front and ask the priest for a blessing (by crossing your arms over your chest and bowing slightly)". I thought, I'm here so I might as well experience what I can. So I went to the front.

I can't describe the feeling I had when the priest touched my forehead and said, "The blessings of the Lord Jesus be with you now and always." It was an amazing feeling.

I've been digesting this experience for the past week. It has made me think about how, my whole life, I was taught to categorize people: in the truth, out of the truth, good association, bad association, opposed, apostate, weak, disfellowshiped, disassociated, etc. etc. ad nauseum. We read scriptures like "Judge not that you be not judged" and then they were dismissed with, "This means that we do not judge any person's final outcome with God". But there certainly WAS a lot of judging going on...

And this man whom I had never met, who had probably never even seen me before, who certainly knew NOTHING about me, called down a blessing for me JUST BECAUSE. JUST BECAUSE all it really takes is TO ASK.

"Ask and it shall be given. Knock and it shall be opened." Doesn't say anything about some committee of old men having to decide that you're good enough for God to bless you.

God decides.

No, I'm not jumping into joining any church right now. I'm still searching and trying to decide what to do about my spiritual life.

But I don't believe that I have ever felt unconditional love before last Wednesday. And that has to mean SOMETHING.

*SMILES*

NanaR

37

Apologists--and your perspective of them

by The wanderer in

jw
friends

apologists and your perspective of them every so often on this discussion board an individual who.

is a devout supporter and defender of the watchtower.

society makes there appearance known.

NanaR

Why Do They Do It?

To start their time of course. If you do your first posting at 8:00am, that'll keep you going till you meet the group at the Hall. Hopefully, they'll be doing country territory till 11, then it's coffee break time, then some half assed return visits that you know full well aren't home, till noon. If they come back on here by 12:30, post another insane rant or two until 1:00pm or 2:00 pm, that's 6 hours they got in!

ROFLMAO!!! I think you've got it :-)

9

Paradise Lost--Paradise Found--The Adventure Begins

by The wanderer in

jw
friends

paradise foundparadise lostthe adventure begins one of the main attractions about the organization was the.

thought that one day god would restore mankind to perfect.

peace and harmony on a paradise earth.. paradise lost to think about my participation for the last 14 years "selling".

NanaR

Hey Wanderer,

Your topic caught my attention for several reasons. One is that I learned to read on my Daddy's knee as he read to me from books like "Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained".

How am I dealing with "paradise lost"? I'm looking within first. I'm owning and acknowledging all the good things about my life as a Witness. The biggest is that I met my husband (my lover, soul mate, and best friend for more than 32 years) while at a JW convention. He lived 400 miles from my hometown. I don't know how we would have met without the JW connection.

I learned to stand up for myself and cope with being different. Now this is helping me cope with suddenly being different from my only sister, old friends, and other family members.

I have adopted a life view of "first, do no harm". In all my dealings with others, I endeavor to be kind, compassionate, and openminded. I accept that others have value and that their value is not dependent upon their agreement or disagreement with me.

Heaven, paradise earth, reincarnation, resurrection, immortal soul, hellfire, etc., etc.,

Among those things I find myself simply unable to believe in hellfire. A paradise on earth seems equally unlikely. Have JWs really thought through what it would be like to live under a geniune Theocracy? I recommend reading The Handmaiden's Tale for a chilling take on that.

Right now I'm leaning toward somewhat of a Buddhist view of life, and reincarnation makes a lot of sense to me. It allows for justice (if you live a bad life, your reborn life is worse than your previous life). And it gives value to all forms of life on earth. Also it is peaceful...

I have a sense inside myself that God, whatever he/she really is, truly does love me. I can't explain that, I just feel it. I feel it as clearly while watching a blazing sunset as I ever did in a meeting or convention. Just recently, I felt it very strongly while attending a Catholic Mass for the first time.

I believe that "hell" can be very personal. Perhaps "paradise" is also personal (that is, that part of our lives that feeds us with love, beauty, and grace).

Maybe,

But I'll be interested to see the opinions of others,

NanaR

51

What planted the seed of doubt that lead you to leave or think of leaving?

by NanaR in

i've been thinking of this a lot lately.

the following experience ties my first doubt in with my present life.

as a backdrop to this, you should know that i was a 5th generation "raised in the truth" jw through my mother (her great-grandfather got "the truth" from pastor russell).

NanaR

Thanks for all the warm welcomes and thoughtful replies.

Your posts also sent me in search of more information about 607 B.C.E. Reading the information reminded me of some of my teenage musings about the differences between secular history and what was presented as "Bible" history. I think it was the Babylon book that confused me the most. As I haven't been regular in attending meetings for several years, I apparently have missed some recent "new light" proclamations and had missed the whole 607/587 controversy entirely. I just had some very interesting reading.

Writing my experience down and posting it here was a help to me from this standpoint: It made me realize that, at my core, I HAVEN'T CHANGED. (This is important to me because my dear husband seems to be greatly threatened by my recent declaration that I will NEVER return to the KH under any circumstances.) I realize that doubts and questions had been lurking in my mind for decades. My parents had a very old "Theocratic" library -- years ago I picked up the Harp of God and read part of it and asked my parents questions. Of course I got the standard replies.

Lack of love and treatment of DF'd persons -- that is such a HUGE thing to me. It was an experience with this just this past Saturday that finally set me free. I have to get to work now so can't write about it -- but some things are just not right. And seeing them clearly reveals the "cognitive dissonance" that individuals are accepting and living with.

*smiles*

NanaR