not a captive - I thank you for your coments and sincerity in which you've expressed yourself about how important a personal relationship is with God. I quite agree, but I also find it a little condescending in assuming that it isn't possible for Cathlolics to have a "personal relationship" with God because they submit also to the Authority of the Church. As far as leaders being an obstacle in that relationship with God, I should tell you that I have struggled trendously with the issue of "Sola Scriptura" as being tenable in light of the fact that it the the "Leaders of the Church" which discerned what books/letters would be included in the New Testament Canon. The very book which the Christian world regards as the "Written Word of God". The selection and preservation of those books/letters was not left in the hands of every Christian seeking a personal relationship with God, but rather with the leadership of the Church. This fact is irrefutable. So, as I continue my own discernment as to what kind Authority God has empowered to lead the faithful, I want you to know that I do appreciate your comments none the less...
SAHARA
JoinedPosts by SAHARA
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21
This is my story
by SAHARA insorry about the mishap on my previous post.
anyway i've been a member on this board for quite a while but mostly just lerking.
i've given just a tease about what my deal is on a previous post but this will be a little more in depth.
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21
This is my story
by SAHARA insorry about the mishap on my previous post.
anyway i've been a member on this board for quite a while but mostly just lerking.
i've given just a tease about what my deal is on a previous post but this will be a little more in depth.
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SAHARA
ziddina - Thank you for your suggestions. My son is attending a very good community college in our area that I am paying tuititon for, not too expensive, and it is tough budgeting that in, but I made a very conscious decision to encourage him to be some what ambitious and to get educated. However, his JW uncle was in computer aided drafting and because he seems to be a teenager himself trapped in a 35 year old body who has always tried to influence my son, my son was taking drafting classes. However, he wants to drop that class now because he says it's just not what he wants to do. He isn't working now either because the economy is pretty bad here too and there just isn't enough work. I've told him not to stress himself out with that right now because it's education I want him to focus on right now and I help pretty much give him a little cash now and then to go to movies with friends and stuff like that, not much, just enough. All of your suggestion I pretty much am already doing. I've had many conversations with him about the realities of life and what it takes to not only provide for yourself, but also for a family that he wants to have some day. I'm an insurance agent in California and I make a decent income but he sees that even with that, we are by no means well off, just doing ok. He has no clue about the Anti-education stance the Watchtower teaches. Even my wife has said, in so many words, that he better keep it up and continue his ed, but I don't know if she just says that because she knows that's what I want, even though the Watchtower teaches otherwise. To be perfectly honest, I've studied the teachings of the Society so hard the last couple of years, that in my gut I truely believe I know more about the doctrines and their history than she does.
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Do you still believe in the doctrines of the Watchtower
by SAHARA inman, i did it again in messing up my post.
anyway, after reading many exjw responses to questions from posters, i see there is a wide variety of opinions on faith and religion in general such as still believing that there is a god to no belief in god at all.
for those of you who still believe that there is a god, i'd like to know whether or not you still believe in the doctrines of the watchtower, but you just don't believe that it is gods "only true religion"?.
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SAHARA
Terry - I think I got it but not sure... Are you saying that a true believer doesn't follow a set of doctrine, rules or belief systems developed by "men" that are recognizable and then categorized to fit a mold of what most people would assume are believers? Or is is something else? Hmmm
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Who really are JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES......really.....?
by Terry injehovah's witnesses don't expect to convert the world.
they expect to educate the world about jehovah's kingdom and his christ.. before: nobody knows about it.. after: everybody knows about it.. how would you measure what people "know"?.
how well informed is the average citizen in 2010 vs 1879, for example?.
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SAHARA
My observations of Jehovah Witnesses are that they are a group of people who have been decieved by the decieved (I beleive that Ray Franz says that they are victims of victims), Organized by a group of decieved men determined to maintain a self proclaimed Authority over them and who have developed and refined a "turn key" system of tearing down the "faith of the theologically uneducated with half truths and deception, thereby converting and indoctrinating the truth seeker by manipulating and embelishing upon their psyche a dillusional parallel world of their own creation that includes a perception that this created world is the world of the 1st Century Christians which holds the truth seeker hostage through fear and guilt.
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Do you still believe in the doctrines of the Watchtower
by SAHARA inman, i did it again in messing up my post.
anyway, after reading many exjw responses to questions from posters, i see there is a wide variety of opinions on faith and religion in general such as still believing that there is a god to no belief in god at all.
for those of you who still believe that there is a god, i'd like to know whether or not you still believe in the doctrines of the watchtower, but you just don't believe that it is gods "only true religion"?.
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SAHARA
Man, I did it again in messing up my post. Anyway, after reading many EXJW responses to questions from posters, I see there is a wide variety of opinions on Faith and Religion in general such as still believing that there is a God to no belief in God at all. For those of you who still believe that there is a God, I'd like to know whether or not you still believe in the doctrines of the Watchtower, but you just don't believe that it is Gods "only true religion"?
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21
This is my story
by SAHARA insorry about the mishap on my previous post.
anyway i've been a member on this board for quite a while but mostly just lerking.
i've given just a tease about what my deal is on a previous post but this will be a little more in depth.
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SAHARA
cyberjesus - Paragraphs, got it...
jamiebowers - My son, who's now 18, has been made aware and agrees. However, I believe he's been told to beware that others may try to discourage him from learning the truth. I played right into that. I talked to him some about how mom and I just disagree about some things but it's very very difficult trying to keep him out of the religion without bashing it.
MMXIV - You hit the nail right on the head. Once I left no doubt how I really feel about this religion, they dropped me like a hot potato. It's strange in a way because my wife has tried many times in the past to go to meetings, and I have a couple. The very first meeting I went to was about 15 years ago and it just seemed so strange to me. Everyone seemed like programmed robots, and it was quite boring. Afterwards everyone came to shake my hand and greet me. I use to be involed in a multi-level marketing business years ago and we use to do the same thing to get the new recruits to think how wonderful everyone was to make it more attractive. I saw through this when it happend to me. There seems to be a lot of similarities in me Multi leven marketing experience to what the JW's do to gain recruits... Sometimes I think that God allowed me to go through that Multi level business to see through the smoke screens that I see with the Watchtower, so many similarities. I think I post some of those some time...
JIM_TX - I haven't given up my faith in the Catholic Church, although I'm sure many here have their reasons for rejecting it, but for myself I'm still in the process of discernment. I've made it clear that our summer vacation will be as a family, just us, and I kind of got a blank stare from my wife although she agreed but I could tell I struck a cord.
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21
This is my story
by SAHARA insorry about the mishap on my previous post.
anyway i've been a member on this board for quite a while but mostly just lerking.
i've given just a tease about what my deal is on a previous post but this will be a little more in depth.
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SAHARA
Quandry - That's exactly what happened with her parents. Not only do they realize that I'm not converting, but one thing I forgot to mention was that my wife's sister and her husband were trying to study with my son over the phone behind my back. When I confronted my wife about it and said to her "you know how I feel about this, and if I wont accept this for myself why would you try to do this behind my back by allowing your sister to study with him by phone". My wife apologized and said that she should have told me. I talked to my son about it and asked him if he wanted to study it and he said maybe later. I was outraged that this was being done and you can believe that once my sister-in-law was told to stop, the word went up to my wifes parents. There has definitely been a change in what her family's attitude towards me. They now see me as an opposer and don't look too kindly at me anymore. I just can't believe that after everything I have done for them and my wife, they would drop me like this. I knew that would happen once I finally stood my ground and made it clear how I felt.
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21
This is my story
by SAHARA insorry about the mishap on my previous post.
anyway i've been a member on this board for quite a while but mostly just lerking.
i've given just a tease about what my deal is on a previous post but this will be a little more in depth.
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SAHARA
Quandry - That's exactly what happened with her parents. Not only do they realize that I'm not converting, but one thing I forgot to mention was that my wife's sister and her husband were trying to study with my son over the phone behind my back. When I confronted my wife about it and said to her "you know how I feel about this, and if I wont accept this for myself why would you try to do this behind my back by allowing your sister to study with him by phone". My wife apologized and said that she should have told me. I talked to my son about it and asked him if he wanted to study it and he said maybe later. I was outraged that this was being done and you can believe that once my sister-in-law was told to stop, the word went up to my wifes parents. There has definitely been a change in what her family's attitude towards me. They now see me as an opposer and don't look too kindly at me anymore. I just can't believe that after everything I have done for them and my wife, they would drop me like this. I knew that would happen once I finally stood my ground and made it clear how I felt.
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21
This is my story
by SAHARA insorry about the mishap on my previous post.
anyway i've been a member on this board for quite a while but mostly just lerking.
i've given just a tease about what my deal is on a previous post but this will be a little more in depth.
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SAHARA
ziddina- Yeah, I believe in her heart of hearts, she doesn't want to be in this religion either but I also think that she is so against anything else that she may feel this is her only option. Through my researched, I've learned and read others say how careful one should be in confronting or just dealing with loved ones who are JW's but I've been dealing with this for a long long time and it really is draining. I have kids to teach, which I do and my wife doesn't try to indoctrinate them, "yet". You see, I understand that faith is a very personal thing, even between and husband and wife, and I've done my best in walking that tight rope in allowing her some space and not feeding into the Persecution complex, while trying to let my kids learn about life. I have them playing in sports and other activities in school so that they can be exposed to people and ideas outside of the comfort zone of just being around people who think and look like them. It's a real challenge but I'm doing my best.