UPDATE;
I met with them, as promised, at the local KH, the one I met my wife in, the one I was married in, the one we've attended with our children, the one I attended for 17 years. The 2 elders who met with me were very sincere and they told me that they respected my new found beliefs, but that I'd left the "teaching of Christ" etc etc. I went back and forth with them on this point until they admitted that they actually meant the JW interpretation of the teachings of Christ. They both had tears in their eyes and were genuinely emotional and sad about our choice to leave. I didn't get the scope to give a full testimony although I did hit a couple of homeruns re. the FDS teaching.
Gail had given me a DA letter to give them. They asked me for one, but I said I wouldn't give them one and they asked if I realised that I had DAd myself by what I was saying to them.
I told them I had prayed for them both by name before coming to the meeting and that I would do so afterwards. One of them thanked me with sincerity, which surprised me. They both hugged me, wished me and my family well, asked me to pass their love to Gail and the kids.
All in all I was touched by their love and kindness, it's just sad that they're blinded by a publishing corporation as to the truth of the Bible.
We're now free.
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JoinedPosts by passwordprotected
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As of tomorrow I will no longer be a JW
by passwordprotected inafter my last post where i asked for advice on how to handle whether i should tell an elder that we've been going to church, i decided to tell a local elder who's related to me through marriage.
this was to save my dad having to 'report' me (i'd told my dad we go to church).
anyway, i had an interesting chat with him and he said some very personally revealing things re.
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Any "Born Again" Christians here?
by sacolton inwould like to see how many have accepted jesus christ as the only way, truth and life..
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Raised JW, "in the truth" for 36 years, discovered Christ September 2008, born-again October 13th 2008.
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Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 10-26-08 WT Study (ELDERLY)
by blondie incomments you will not hear at the10-26-08 wt study (august 15, 2008, pages 17-21 (elderly).
review comments will be in red.
older christians--only jws.
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Paragraph 3 of this study article is particularly offensive to Christians where is says "Jehovah and the "faithful and discreet slave" deeply appreciate all their past and present contributions to the kingdom work."
The "faithful and discreet slave" are put on the same level as Jehovah? Where does Jesus fit in? Is He or is He not King of Kings and Lord of Lords? Was He or was He not given all authority in heaven and on earth and a name above every name? -
73
As of tomorrow I will no longer be a JW
by passwordprotected inafter my last post where i asked for advice on how to handle whether i should tell an elder that we've been going to church, i decided to tell a local elder who's related to me through marriage.
this was to save my dad having to 'report' me (i'd told my dad we go to church).
anyway, i had an interesting chat with him and he said some very personally revealing things re.
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Thanks for the comments, the well-wishes and support. To be clear, if I don't meet with them, Gail's mum will be required to write a letter testifying against her. We've not desire to put her through that, even though we know she'll cut us off from her no matter what happens. Our desire isn't to be obstinate or obtuse or belligerent. If through our peaceableness and calmness we can give them a witness to our Christian faith, you never know what seeds may be sown.
Also this meeting is a full-stop to our lives as JWs. As Bob said, it's not about the Baptists (it's a Baptist church we go to), it's about Christ. And while the atheists may not understand this, acknowledging Christ before men - particularly your accusers - is a privilege I'm looking forward to very much.
The outcome is inevitable, but what happens down the line to those still 'in' who have heard of our conversion, well, you never know. There is a local prayer group who have been praying for JWs who attend the KH we used to attend. They've been doing this for 3 and a half years. They actually go to the street where the KH is and pray for the JWs inside. Those who know the congregations that use this KH will recognise I'm talking about will recognise that over the past 3 years there have been more and more JWs waking up to the truth about the truth. -
73
As of tomorrow I will no longer be a JW
by passwordprotected inafter my last post where i asked for advice on how to handle whether i should tell an elder that we've been going to church, i decided to tell a local elder who's related to me through marriage.
this was to save my dad having to 'report' me (i'd told my dad we go to church).
anyway, i had an interesting chat with him and he said some very personally revealing things re.
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After my last post where I asked for advice on how to handle whether I should tell an elder that we've been going to church, I decided to tell a local elder who's related to me through marriage. This was to save my dad having to 'report' me (I'd told my dad we go to church).
Anyway, I had an interesting chat with him and he said some very personally revealing things re. his feelings on certain WTS/JW theology. Here's hoping....I was away with work for a few days and returned to find out that the local PO has asked to meet with us re. our conduct. I phoned him this morning and he stressed that he respects my choices and decisions but that it puts the local BOE in a bit of a spot. It would appear they don't want to have to disfellowship us. It would make it easier for them if we just wrote a letter and that would be the end of that. As we're not prepared to do that (anymore), they've asked my mother-in-law to put it in writing what my wife - her daughter - said to her about going to church. I've checked in the Flock book and that's standard procedure when someone has DAd themselves through their actions; if they can't get you to write a DA letter, they get those who have either witnessed your actions or whom you've 'confessed' to to put it in a signed letter.
How legalistic!
So, I said, "ok, I'll meet with you guys". I'm not going to DA myself and I'm not giving them a letter. Instead I'm going to give them my testimony about coming to faith in Christ. I know they'll brandish 1 John 2:19. But, v18 makes it clear that John was referring to anti-Christs, not Christians. I know that they'll also hit out with the Organisation book's reference to DAing through affiliation. So, I've got all of the UN-related material I could find on the 'net, highlighted the relevant portions and I'll pass it on to them.
At the end of the day I'll be making it clear in front of two elders/Witnesses that I no longer wish to be a JW, so it'll be announced pretty soon at the KH. However, they still need something from my wife....What will they do?
I'm Mark, by the way. Pleased to meet you all. -
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Learning As We Go....
by Farkel ineveryone has something to teach us.
station in life, wealth, position, power, or lack of all of that, everyone has something to teach us.
even the watchtower society, and the homeless and the druggies.
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Great story.
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The new book study arrangement...what it could mean
by undercover ini've heard mentioned in a couple of places the admonition from the society about how the new void left by the discontinuing of the book study night should be filled with spiritual study or family worship instead of tv or just viewing it as a "night off".. this is the new spin on the society dropping that meeting night; "just because we gave you a night off from meetings doesn't mean you get to relax.
you should use this time for family study.
if you don't, then you invite satan into your home through your tv set or dvd player or cd player or internet connection.
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What's funny is that the WTS have abolished meeting in private homes while, conversely, local churches are encouraging the congregation to meet up in private homes. Why? It develops a sense of belonging, community and closeness.
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Shorter WT Studies?
by passwordprotected inanyone else think that the wts will be rolling out shorter wt studies on sundays?
i noticed in the latest kool aid wts that some of the study articles were around 15 paragraphs in length.
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@finally-free - that'd be awesome!
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The new book study arrangement...what it could mean
by undercover ini've heard mentioned in a couple of places the admonition from the society about how the new void left by the discontinuing of the book study night should be filled with spiritual study or family worship instead of tv or just viewing it as a "night off".. this is the new spin on the society dropping that meeting night; "just because we gave you a night off from meetings doesn't mean you get to relax.
you should use this time for family study.
if you don't, then you invite satan into your home through your tv set or dvd player or cd player or internet connection.
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The church we attend is wonderfully chilled out. Between services on Sunday they serve coffee, people mill about chatting, drinking their coffee, before settling in for the mid-morning service. Street clothes are extensively worn, I've only ever not worn jeans once, and even then I wore chinos. My son wore 3/4 combat-style shorts this week. Its regularly mentioned in the service that we're at church to relax and enjoy being in the presence of God.
It's great. -
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Shorter WT Studies?
by passwordprotected inanyone else think that the wts will be rolling out shorter wt studies on sundays?
i noticed in the latest kool aid wts that some of the study articles were around 15 paragraphs in length.
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This was the articles which will be studied next Feb/Mar/Apr