Hello, I just wanted to introduce myself to everyone here - as I will be posting here.
First, a warm welcome to you Mr. Price. Notice I did not call you by the title "Father" as I am still a believer very much in Matthew 23:9 for the stand against religious piety. I hope this is not offensive, but I am still a believer in some basics. I do only have one Father in Heaven that I believe in. I left the org in the spirit a long time ago, although I occasionally still show up at a meeting every once and a while in the flesh, mainly to see friends and family. I suppose you could say I am a drifter that has done independant historical study, and just see too much contradiction in a great deal of the canonized bible.
I grew up a JW and pioneered, was a ministerial servant, ect, I was in the organization for 17 years. I left and naturally my family did as they were told and cut off all communication with me. This left a horrible taste in my mouth for not just JW's, but any religion for that matter.
I can sympathize with the first part, but I have yet to "leave" the organzation and experience cut off. I may not have to, if possible, but if that day comes so be it. I know ultimately in my heart that I am serving God with spirit and truth which requires no presence of the flesh or those who think in the flesh.
The desire to serve god eventually overwhealmed me and I started searching for a church, found catholicism, long story short, studied and was ordained a priest on aug. 11th. at which point my family went above and beyond the call of duty and started spreading exagerated and some untrue things to people around them about me - even non-JW's.
This is the part that I will probably have the most difficulty understanding how or why you did this. The most recent studies I have been conducting in my own spare time have shown me that there is no need for an assembly of "believers" that need to "meet" somewhere for any reason really. I am sorry to hear about your family, but I guess they are not really a family after all? Jesus did bring a sword (Matthew 10:34) I suppose didn't he? The untruths are spread by ALL religious institutions is something that I am learning quite quickly. It's best to avoid em' all. It is not flesh and blood we are against, but those sticky principalities in the high places of the religious institutions.
I am an apologist for the church and currently run an ex-jw meetup group locally, and am in the process of making a website for my ministry, which is running a support group for ex-jw's and the evangelization of current members. My site is www.exjwsupport.com.
It is great to expose the lies of the organization, but I would seriously reconsider trading them for new ones, or at least, to be polite, new questionable doctrines. I think a lot of people here are going to benefit more if we just start with pointing out the false prophecies of the org, the hypocrisies of our time with the org, and the experiences we can share that ultimately show us where we are at.
Twice cooked pork is not the answer. In other words, "reevangelizing" a JW might not be the best route to help people.
Sorry to be blunt this morning, but I am in a bad mood for some unexplainable reason.
Matt
