Posts by gold

16

IGNORED ONE' BIRTHDAY !!!!

by mattnoel in

jw
friends

.

its ignored one' birthday he is 25 - lets all wish him a very happy one !!!.

happy birthday !!!

gold_morning

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!

YOUR LOVED BY ALL!! GOLD_MORNING

39

HELP US CELEBRATE PLEEEEEEEEEEASE....

by nightwarrior in

jw
friends

our son ben is celebrating his 15th birthday on friday 11, but actually it is his 1st birthday aswell.. so please help us celebrate with him be sending him some cool messages.

he is really excited, and he is getting some cool pressies.

he has been really funny, but it is lovely to see.. we would really appreciate it.. thanks everyone.

gold_morning

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BEN!!!!!!!

WISHING YOU THE BEST!! GOLD_MORNING

27

Then & Now

by RAYZORBLADE in

i think this post may be an absolute: no brainer

personally, when i was an active naive jw, i studied the bible and could rattle scriptures off, left right and centre.

real good fundie.

gold_morning

Razor

I think there comes a time when we all begin to search again. Maybe not all of us...... but for sure, some of us.

I know I spent 16 years away from God. I did not read the bible and felt much anger inside. For some reason, about 5 years ago I got out my old NWT version of the bible and began to read it one night. I remember feeling soooooooo bad at how much I had forgotten.

What really amazed me was forgetting so much was to my benefit because I was reading it differently. First off......I was reading it minus all those Watchtower bible aids. I was reading it fresh. Mind you, allot of old JW teachings would pop up into my brainwashed brain.....but it slowly became a learned skill to read the bible for what it was.

I could not believe how different that things were that I was reading from what I had been taught. It sort of became a quest for me to put the whole religious mess together. It took three years of really reading, but honest!!!!!!.... it happened. It was October 1999 that I became a born again christian. I was finally free. I finally had freemind and had God in my life again. For me, it made a huge difference. I thought I would never be right in the head again.

I guess what I am saying, somehow we have to seperate God and his word the bible from the cult of JWism. We are so brainwashed to think there is this one and only correct religion to get saved by........when really there is NO RELIGION that can save you. It is only your friendship with Jesus.

I too struggled with all those memorized scriptures. I guess if you don't use it you lose it. But, remember......it is good you lost it, because they had it all wrong and used those scriptures to prove "untruth". You would be surprised how fast you would learn scripture again.

To anyone reading this....please don't knock it till you try it.

If any of you have any questions.....please feel free to e-mail me anytime. I been there and understand completely.

[email protected]

12

I finally let her have it...

by Wolfgirl in

my sister made me incredibly angry yesterday.

i sent her a politely worded message asking for her why she had waited 4 days to give an important message to my gran (who doesn't have email, and i don't have a phone line for long-distance).. among other things, this is what i got back:.

"i am tired of you treating me this way.

gold_morning

Wolfgirl,

They just don't get it, because they don't understand. I too worked so very hard.....earning my love and salvation.

Ephesians 2:8

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith.... and this not from yourselves, IT IS A GIFT OF GOD... NOT BY WORKS, so that no one can boast."

Titus 3:5

"he saved us, NOT because of the rightious things we had done, but because of his mercy."

I recall reading Matthew 23:4 and it really hit home with me........"They tie up heavy loads and put them on men's shoulders.......what a contrast to Matthew 11:30......"Take my yoke upon you.....for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. My yoke is EASY and my burden light."

She is acting the way she does because she is carrying a very heavy burden. Remeber that phrase????....having a monkey on your back?

Take heart....everyday JW's are seeing the light.

agape love, Gold_moring

If you need to talk wolf feel free to e-mail me at [email protected]

11

MYSTERY ILLNESS OF ME NOW HAS A NAME!!!!!!

by wildfire in

.

hi gang..... i havent posted for quite a while but i thought you would like to know that all the tests and brain scans ( not the brain washing kind... already done that ) have revealed that i have fibro my algia,,,,, and not multiple sclerosis like i thought i had .... bo y am i glad those tests came back negative........ .

so as many of you know there is no cure for this disease ,,,, except pain meds and exercise....... its symptoms are fatigue,,, sleeping problems...many sore spots on your neck and legs...... and so everyday i go for a walk at our local mall and it seems to be helping me alot .... i am trying to keep a positive attitude and stay away from meetings and soo---called friends i used to have....... now i have all of you...........one way leads to diamonds ,, one way leads to gold... another way leads toeverything youre told... in your heart you wonder which one of these is true...when you find the answer in you.......so in all your journeys you may travel far ,, pilgrim its along way to find out who you are.,...........

gold_morning

I'm surprised how many of us have fybro and chronic fatigue!!

I have it likewise. In the early 80's (after getting disfellowshiped) I came down with a bad case of chronic fatigue. This past year it flared up again pretty bad and they said it was fybro. I too take vitimans,

I find it interesting that they now feel this is caused by chemicals in our enviorment and STRESS!!

I hope you all feel better. I know that being stress free is of even more importance than extra rest.

agape love, gold_moring

23

How many of you belong to another religion now, and if so, which?

by berylblue in

i've always wanted so much to know the true god and to do his will, but it seems i struck out at the kh.

my deep spiritual need is not being met, but i don't want to jump from the frying pan into the fire, you know?.

beryl.

gold_morning

Beryl and all,

Most people of different religions, especially witnesses, have a difficult time seperating God from religion. Chatholics believe they must be baptised Chatholic to go to heaven. Baptists believe they must be baptist, mormans believe they must be mormans. We were no different. We felt we must be baptised as one of Jehovah's Witnesses to be saved. Look at where the bible says we must turn to be saved.

Acts 4:12....."Salvation is found in NO ONE ELSE, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved."

Here it shows our salvation comes from Jesus. It does not say salvation is found from religion to be saved (or found from jehovah's witnesses)... but found in NO ONE ELSE but Jesus.

1John 5:12.."He who HAS the Son, HAS life..."

Again, it does not point to a religion or code of ethics from a group of men to be saved, but merely the Son, Jesus.

Look what it says in Ephsians 2:4-8. ...."But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made US ALIVE with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions.........IT IS BY GRACE YOU HAVE BEEN SAVED.....(verse 8)..."For it is by grace you have been saved, IT IS A GIFT FROM GOD.. NOT BY WORKS so that no none can boast."

So we are made alive with Chirst because it is a GIFT from God. A present. See, we don't have to do anything for a present. IT is a gift. To make that clear he said that it is NOT our works that save us. All those countless hours in the door to door, and all those meetings we could not miss does not save us!! We cannot earn our salvation. It is a gift because of the great love of God. It is knowing Jesus personally. It is accepting that it was He who died for us so that we could be righteous before God to receive the gift he gave us....namely everlasting life. Remember that scripture we just read.... He who has the son has life.

Titus 3:5 backs this up. It says...."He saved us, NOT BECAUSE OF righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy."

There is no acts we can do religiously that can save us. Religion makes us "self-righteous". Only being saved thru Jesus makes us righteous before God. We can't give oursleves life..... a religion cannot give us this gift. It takes away from Jesus. When he died, Jesus said..."It is finished!!" He bought us life forever. Who does the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society think they are? They think they can grant us life thru them and take it away thru disfellowshiping. They are taking the place of Chirst.

How about Romans 3:22..."This righteousness from God comes through fiath in Jesus Christ to ALL who believe."

Notice again that we become righteous from faith in Jesus and that it is open to ALL who believe in Him. Not a select few from a particular religion. But ALL!! It is there for Jew and Gentile. Not just Jew and Jehovah's witnesses.

Does knowledge get us life? Not according to the bible. Jesus himself says in John 5:39..."You diligently study the scriptures (like we did as witnesses) because you think by means of them you posses eternal life. These are the scriptures that testify about me.Yet you refuse to COME TO ME TO HAVE LIFE."

So it is not knowledge that saves us either. There is nothing wrong with knowledge, but that is not where our salvation lies. We must come to Jesus to have life. It is the love of God and knowing him that saves us. A few verses down in 41 Jesus says "I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts."

The key to salvation is knowing Jesus and having a good heart, just like Jesus did. As witnesses we knew "all about Jesus", but never knew him personally. You can know all about President Bush. You can know what school he went to, his grades, who he dated, what year he married, how many children he had, where he lived, when he quit drinking, about his political life and his presidency. But can you say you personally know him? Have you talked to him? Are you a friend of his? Do you talk on the phone? No. So you know all about him, but don't know him personally. That is how it is with God and being a witnesses.

I remember fearing Jehovah. He was this God exacting exculsive devotion that I just could not measure up to. No matter how many works I did, no matter how many years I pioneered. I never knew if I would survive armegeddon. My salvation was not assured. Would I survive Armegeddon??..lurked on my mind. Now I know that he is a God of great love, mercy, kindness and patience.

Don't let them fool you. They are taking on the role of judgement that is reserved for God only!! He loves all his children here. Jesus came to save the world.. not condemn those in it. Why on his deathbed on the cross he saved a criminal that deserved to die. Why, because he read the criminal's heart. He knew that this criminal accepted him as savior and was sorry. He did not do good preaching works. He had no knowledge, yet this gift was given to him.

If you would like to talk... e-mail me at [email protected]

agape love, gold_morning

14

In Case You Have Ears to Hear... But Have Not Yet Heard...

by AGuest in

(simon, please forgive me... and if you can, accommodate me... as i have not yet surpassed my new post "limit" for this day.

to the household of god, israel, that is on jw.com, and all those who 'go with' them:

may you have peace!

gold_morning

Consider these scriptures about heaven.

1John 5:12
"He who HAS the son Has life."

Notice the present tense here. It does not say that he
who has the son will have life someday in the future.
You know as a witness they teach that when you die,
you are dead. You are not conscience of anything at
all. You turn to dust. You are in God's memory to be
ressurected someday. Yet, it says here..... we have
this gift of life now as long as we have the Son. We
(HAVE) LIFE.

John 5:24,25
"I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and
believes him who sent me HAS eternal life and WILL NOT
BE CONDEMNED: he has passed over from death to life. I
tell you the truth, a time is coming and has now come
when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God
and those who hear WILL live."

Prior to Jesus coming the dead could not go to
heaven and be with God because they were sinners and
imperfect. A debt had to be paid. The debt was death.
Jesus paid the debt for us. He did the penalty that we
should have paid. When he died, he said.."It is
finished."
We now became righteous before God becasue of him.
Nothing we can do will make us righteous. No amount of
good deeds or works. Jesus did it. WE just need to
really believe in Him. That is why the above scripture
says if we believe in Him we have eternal life and
will not be condemned (which was death). When we
believe in him we cross over from death to life. We no
longer have to pay that penalty.
When Jesus says a time is coming and it is now when
the dead would hear his voice and live he wasn't
kidding. He had arrived to pay our price and he bought
us. He bought Jew and gentile alike. The dead were
now able to live in heaven and those after him are now
allowed to go to heaven because we are now righteous
thru the blood of Jesus. He bought us....we now are
owned by him. We are now protected by Him. It was a
gift as I will show you later.

Remember, He came not to condemn the world, but to
SAVE THE WORLD. Save us from what? It was to save us
from death. He was successful. If we really still die
when we pass on, then his death is in vain. He really
did not save us from death if we still continue to
die. That is why 1Corinthians 15:13 says...: If there
is no ressurection of the dead, then not even Christ
has been raised. Then our preaching is in vain.

It is impossible to touch on all the scriptures but I
am giving you some of my favorite. Remember, I am
quoting Jesus words. This is not my interpetation. The
witnesses use their interpetation. I want to show you
these things from the bible only. Lets consider
another of Jesus own words at John 8:51 where he
clears this up further.

John 8:51
"I tell you the truth, if anyone keeps my word, he
will NEVER SEE DEATH AT ALL"

NEVER means NEVER. He did not say maybe you won't
see death....or you will see death until I ressurect
you lster. He said you will NEVER see death.

John 11:25
"Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the
life. He who believes in me WILL LIVE, even though he
dies, and whoever lives and believes in me will NEVER
DIE."

Hence, we WILL LIVE and we WILL NEVER DIE.

It is evident the apostles felt the same way.
Including the beloved apostle Paul. Note Pauls words

2Corinthians 5:8
"We are confident. I say, and would prefer to be AWAY
from the body and at home with the Lord.

Philippians 1:23
"I am torn between the two: I desire to depart and be
with Chirst, which is better by far. But it is more
necessary for you that I remain in the body."

This brings up the topic of spirit, soul and body. See
how he wants to give up the body and be home with
Jesus? The body is just needed to live here on earth
It is not needed in heaven. But the spirit resides in
the body!! The spirit lives on. The spirit is the
real you. Wow..... consider this scripture. It will
knock your socks off.

Acts 7:59 tells us where Stephen is being stoned to
death. It says...
"While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord
Jesus, receive my spirit."

How about the famous Matthew 10:28 scripture that says
to fear those that can kill the body.... but NOT KILL
THE SOUL!!!!

1Thessalonians 5:23..
"May your WHOLE SPIRIT, SOUL AND BODY be kept
blameless."

Ephsians 2:4
"Because of HIs great LOVE for us, God, who is rich in
mercy, made us ALIVE WITH CHRIST even when we were
dead in our transgressions... it is by GRACE YOU HAVE
BEEN SAVED."

Can you begin to see how they only showed us what they
wanted us to believe? How they had books called
reasoning with the scriptures, but only reasoned their
way.

Isn't it funny we preached in the door to door work
challenging people to examine their religions to see
if it was the truth, but we were not allowed to
examine our own!!! If we did we were labled
apostates!!... and disfellowshiped!!

We are loved by God very, very much.
What he did and offered us was for you too. You are
worthy of this gift. Don't give up. Question and then
question some more. Pray and read. Read the book of
John. Read it for what it is. Read it without the
Wathctower glasses on. Let your heart guide you. Most
of all ask God to help you with this.

Much agape love, gold_morning

9

Damage Control

by gitasatsangha in

i had a close friend who left the borg before i did.

when it he made his choice, i was still having my own doubts.

but, the way he left was so abrupt, i did about the worst thing i ever have.

gold_morning

Please don't feel too badly about it. We were very confused about what a REAL conscience is. The Borg tells us what our consciences should be. We just didn't see that is was one dictated by fear and not free will to think for ourselves.

I have a regrett also, so this post hit home with me. I wish I could have the opprotunity to make it right like you. I had a very best friend that I grew up with in the organization. I was disfellowshiped in the early 80's. Many years went by and I heard she had been disfellowshiped too. I did not know if she had gotten herself reinstated and I suspose she did not know if I did either.

Many years had passed and I went into a jewlery store and who came up to the counter? Yes, my old dear friend. Each one did not know if the other was still disfellowshiped or reinstated. We both acted like we had never seen each other before. She asked, "May I help you?" and I repliled.."No, I'm just looking."

That was it. I have regretted not talking to her for many years!! After all those years, I still felt quilty and unworthy enough not to dare talk to her. They taught us to be soooo cruel to oneanother!! Neither one of us, I'm sure, really knew why we did not great eachother.

Maybe someday I can make it right. Thanks for sharing!!

agape love, gold_morning

48

HAVE YOU COMMITED A SIN AGAINST JEHOVAH.?????????

by nightwarrior in

the first question is whom do you show your loyalty to ????????????.

1 ) the organization....... 2 ) or to jehovah........... you have five seconds to decide,prove it to yourself by answering these questions,.

whom do you pray through,?????.

gold_morning

Night warrior,

Can I add this question to the list?

Why you need the organization to be saved when the scriptures say.................

Acts 4:12.."Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (hmmmmm the name of Jesus, not an organization?)

1John 5:11.."He who has the SON has life." (hmmmm, can that possible mean that you don't need the organization to have life?)

Titus 3:5..."HE saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy." (hmmm, you mean all those righteous works attending meetings didn't count?)

Ephsians 2:8...."For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and NOT FROM YOURSELVES, it is the gift of God--NOT BY WORKS......." ( hmmmmm can that mean works of door to door ministry and counting hours wasn't a requirement to be saved?)

John 14:6.."I am the way the truth and the life." (hmmm, you mean something else can be labeled the "truth"?)

Matthew 15:9

"THEY WORSHIP ME IN VAIN; THEIR TEACHINGS ARE BUT RULES TAUGHT BY MEN."

Thanks warior for letting me add a few thoughts!! :) :) agape love, gold_morning

11

My old JW best friend is talking to me still. What do I do?

by NaruNaruChan in

i need some advice!!

my old best friend in the truth is talking to me again, and it bothers me.

she was really mean to me when i was dfed and now she started to talk to me again because she misses me, but i feel bad cuz obviously im dfed and although i don't feel like i'm spiritually bad for what i am, i cannot be myself around her because i feel odd.. its like the last attachment to that bastard religion keeps hanging on!

gold_morning

Naru,

Perhaps her REAL CONSCIENCE is bothering her and not the Watchtower conscience she is told to have. Remember that old addage??? "Actions speak louder than words"

Be friends with her. Show her the real unconditional love that Jesus taught..... and not the phoney love based on conditions that we had been brainwashed with. Don't talk religion as she may want to win you back over to the "cult". Instead be prepared to defend why you no longer want a part of this man made organization. Plant real seeds of doubt in her mind. Her "real conscience" will do the rest.

Do you homework about how false they are. Rany watters sight is great. freeminds.

Wishing you the best, agape love, gold_morning

gold_morning

Posts by gold_morning