Posts by gold

39

HELP! How do you answer the Elders without incriminating yourself?

by stichione in

i?m due soon for a shepherding call from my congregation elders for a variety of reasons: being irregular in service, s poradically attending meetings, and o h yes, writing in a letter to the society asking for clarifications on the blood ban.

i?m sure that one question that they will be asking me is: d

o you believe that jehovah is using the organization as his only approved channel of communication?

gold_morning

Stich,

I think there comes a time, at everyones own individual pace, where we make choices. Where our conscience does the job it was ment to do. I know many here have reasons to do the fade.. or avoid disfellowhiping to save family members from hurt. I also know many aviod breaking away because of a deep fear ingrained in us that says..."What if it is the truth"

Once that fear is gone....of it being the "truth" the freedom of leaving comes naturally.

I remember them wanting me to write a letter of dissasociation and I told them that I believed in God and I would not denouce him. If they had to disfellowhip me, then the burden was on them, but I in no way would write a letter. They called and called on my house. It was summer time and the doors were usually open. They would knock and I would not answer. Then they would go to the back of the house and pound on the back door. As if that was not enough.... they would call my name thru the windows.

At the time, I was in my early 30's and yet like a scared child I hid, sitting on the floor in my bedroom hiding and waiting for them to give up and leave. This went on for a while. I never even answerd my phone in fear of it being them. Finally they did make their decision and disfellowshiped me one Thursday evening. I knew it had happend as I was in a Friendly's resturant. In walked some relatives and lifelong friends. They walked right past me with eyes focused straigt ahead. I knew that was the night Jehovah had left me forever. AT THEIR INTERPRETATION!!

Now I know that God never left me as they "blindly" deceived me to believe. Rather, because of them, I left HIM.

I don't mean to get to personal about things that hurt you inside..... but it would be good for you to find out why you don't want to leave, and what you do and do not believe. What keeps you there. Is it their doctrin.... fear of the unknown......the guilt that comes from shunning.... or knowing you will never be able to find a replacement for that "true religioin".

Know that I hear you!!! I recall all of the very real feelings you have right now. Every situatioin is so very different. One thing I do know, is that you must be true to yourself.

You have all my love and thoughts thru this struggle.

agape love, Gold_morning.

if you need to talk you can reach me at [email protected]

25

Are You JW/ Inactive/Fading/Gone.........?

by ScoobySnax in

jw
friends

"sitting on the fence" "leading a double life" or just a fader.

its strange i envy both jws and exjws, after all each have a clear direction of where their lives are headed.

they have a definate view of how they feel, what they think, where they're going, what they are.

gold_morning

I spent 16 years like that. I did not go to meetings, but I knew I would never take blood. on and on and on.

I finally did something about it. I decided to really read the bible without the watchtower glases on. Whoa and behold the truth was there and more shocking .... I didn't need the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society to tell me how to understand it.

Now I am a Christian and all I have to worry about it loving and accepting Jesus as the only one who forgives my sins (not elders) and gives me life. No more living on the fence... no more guilt and best of all... no more trying to earn my salvation.

I wish it for everyone.

agape love, Gold

29

Questions regarding the Cross/Torture stake

by truthseeker1 in

this was brought up by my journey and they requested information regarding it.

this is a quote from the page below regarding how the wt takes other's words out of context to fit their own agenda.

quote..........misquote:.

gold_morning

You are all extremely knowledgable and I enjoyed the reading.

Just a little tidbit.....

John 20:24

"Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the NAILS were, and put my hand into his side, I wil not believe it."

Notice the plural in the word "NAILS".

agape love, gold

24

Plan's for this Memorial weekend?

by kls in

jw
friends

what are you all planning on doing this weekend ?

i was planning a cook out with my family but as usual here in wisconsin it is going to rain ,some thing it does almost daily.

so what are you all planning ?

gold_morning

Ahhhh some time off from work. I am using some well deserved vacation time to extend my holiday.

Being that I love the outdoors.........I think I will hike Watkins Glen State Park with my daughter. We both love that kind of stuff. The gorges are just beautiful!! What awesome sceenary here in upstate New York. I don't think it will beat last years hike at Mt Rainer and the Oregan trail.... but it will have to do.

agape love Gold_morning

63

What first gave you doubts ?

by rick1199 in

we all know the big problems with the wts, but what was the first thing that made you realise there were problems with the organisation ?

with me it was realitivly small stuff like an 8 year old getting baptised and a comment my best mates made about another of our friends asking if we should be hanging round with her as she might be bad assciation (she had just been reproved, but they had been mates 20 years).. .

how ever the first time i ever thought something was really wrong was when i was about 11 and my grand farther died, and mu mum wouldn't go to the funeral, i remeber thinking that surely it was better to say good bye properly than worry about if the service was in a church.. .

gold_morning

Happy Dad,

It sounds as if you have come to the same understanding as I about Christ. Knowing him personally not only as your savior, but you best friend brings about that peace that transends all understanding.

You can e-mail me at [email protected] or find me on yahoo messenger. I am glad you are a happy dad. How long were you involved in the Organization? How long have you been out. What is your story? I would love to hear it.

I have not read the book you mentioned, but read non stop just about anything. Have you read, "Learning the Bible in 24 Hours" by Chuck Missler. Awesome reading!!

agape love, Gold

4

Methodist Bible

by keeshah in

i was shopping at the thrift store today and ran across a methodist bible dated 1901 and 1929. i opened it up and saw "jehovah" all thru it.

does anyone know what to make of this?

i thought jws were the only ones that put the name in there so many times.

gold_morning

There were many uses for the name Jehovah and it carried different meanings for different verses and what it's intended use was. Here is some examples.

Yahweh Lord (Jehovah)

Jehovah-jireh the lord will provide

Jehovah-rapha the lord that heals

Jehovah-mekoddishkem The lord who santicfies you

Jehovah-shalom the Lord of peace

Jehovah-sabaoth the lord of hosts

Jehovah-raah the lord my shepherd

Jehovah-tsidkenu the Lord our righteousness

Jehovah-shammah the lord is there

Elohim the creator

ElOhim the everlasting God

Jehovah means many different things.

agape love, Gold Morning

17

What Happened to Romans 3:34?

by Dolllie in

i was reading a "bible teaching sheet" printed of the cbn website this morning.

i went to look up a scripture they refered to, romans 3:34 in my father's black j.w.

bible, and it was not there.

gold_morning

Dollie,

There are some verses that are omitted in some bibles. Some of them appear in the King James Version, but not in the NIV versoin or Tyndale version, along with the NWT as you saw. The reason is bible scholars question the authenticity of some of those verses as not being in the orginal manuscripts. Some bibles put them in but italizies them.

If you have a NIV bible and look at the bottom of the pages in the footnotes it will show you some of the places that things have been omited or things that are found in early manuscripts.

For instance... Matthew 21:44. It is in my NIV version, but the footnotes tell me that some ancient manuscripts do not have verse 44 in them.

The NWT has no footnotes what so ever!! They don't acknowledge any variations from their version at all. Where they did add things to uphold their interuptatiaon you will see it italizised. For instance at Colossians 1:16 they added the word "other" in brackets to prove that Jesus was created first. They put the other in brackets to show they added that word. NO other versions have the word other.

Hope this helps.

agape love, Gold (sorry about my poor spelling, LOL read it by phonics

15

What Ramifications would there be if The WBTS went out.....

by ohiocowboy in

i as much as anyone would love to see them fall flat on their hypocritical behinds, but what would really be the outcome?

there are those who have spent their entire lives in the org.

and many of these are elderly, and basically have only the org.

gold_morning

Ohio,

I think they would look high and low for a replacement. They cannot seperate religion from God. They think they worship God thru the organization, but in reality they worship their own religion. That is where their loyalty really is. They would scatter, finding themselves another place to belong. Hopefully a few of them would find Christianity.....which is worshiping Christ. Then they would have the real "truth".

agape love, Gold

63

What first gave you doubts ?

by rick1199 in

we all know the big problems with the wts, but what was the first thing that made you realise there were problems with the organisation ?

with me it was realitivly small stuff like an 8 year old getting baptised and a comment my best mates made about another of our friends asking if we should be hanging round with her as she might be bad assciation (she had just been reproved, but they had been mates 20 years).. .

how ever the first time i ever thought something was really wrong was when i was about 11 and my grand farther died, and mu mum wouldn't go to the funeral, i remeber thinking that surely it was better to say good bye properly than worry about if the service was in a church.. .

gold_morning

All your posts brought back so many memories!!

I was disfellowshiped in the early 80's and felt I had been weeded out. Yes, I too hated the clicky gossipy groups in the kingdom hall. I had been a faithful sister and pioneer. I too married so very young and dared not go to college.

Still.... I was away for 16 years and thought I had been weeded out by Jehovah. I didn't measure up. I still thought it was the truth. For some reason I picked up the bible one day and just read it. It was difficult to read it without all the old JW lingo going on in my head. Still.... I was amazed at how different the bible was from what i had been taught my whole life. It was then that i had serious doubts. It is like..... where Have I been? These scriptures were so plain to see.

I spent over three years trying to figure it out and then on October 27, 1999 I became born again. It just hit me bigtime what it meant being saved by grace and it being a gift from God. What a relieve to know I didn't have to earn God's love and my salvation was a gift from HIM. I love Jesus and that has brought me such peace. I never thought I could be free from the brain washing. All those 16 years the stuff lurked in the back of my head. I was finally free from the guilt the Society had put on me.

So for me.... the doubts came when I read the bible for what it was and used my head for a change.

agape love, Gold

6

your experiences with the exjwmeetup

by Junction-Guy in

jw
friends

i have signed up since january and every month it was cancelled due to not having 5 people, it can get discouraging.

i live in a county with nearly 1/2 million people and yet there dont seem to be at least 5 people that can meet for coffee.

anybody on here from nashville tn and do they have quite a few show up there?

gold_morning

I know the feeling.

I wait every month and am dissapointed each time. I too live in an area with a large population. I live in the burbs of Rochester New York.

Anyone out there?????

Gold

gold_morning

Posts by gold_morning