halcyon

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Posts by halcyon

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  108

  Any "Born Again" Christians here?

  by sacolton in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  would like to see how many have accepted jesus christ as the only way, truth and life..

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  halcyon

  I'll repost here as this seems to be the more active thread:
  
  You can't exactly call me "born again", but about a year before I attended my last meeting, I was sitting in my house doing a bunch of bible reading out of various translations. NOT WT publications, straight bible reading. And I remember it occurred to me at one point that I needed to thank Jesus for saving me, because I was so not deserving of salvation. So I prayed a very non-traditional, non JW type prayer, very personal, that to me felt sorta like a born-again moment, and ever since then it really feels like that moment in my life was a turning point. From that point forward I felt more blessed than I had ever felt before in my life. I felt an assurance of salvation inside me that I'd never felt before. And I felt God's presence in a very positive way. It seems my fear of displeasing God was washed away, and truly, I've held on to that feeling ever since.
  
  I have since read literature on Born-agains, and I didn't say the words they say you're supposed to say, but I feel like for all intents and purposes, I stumbled across the "action" behind the words.
  
  And since then I started feeling a growing obsession with finding and taking communion somewhere. It felt growingly urgent and necessary, due to my previous beliefs surrounding partaking (which I could NEVER do at a KH, and be SEEN and TALKED ABOUT and leave my LIPSTICK on the glass and be COUNTED for it!). I have no idea if feeling a conviction of a heavenly future is a born-again thing as well. But it's all part of my own spiritual journey.
  
  I guess I'm so used to something being labeled, "yes, that IS" or "NO, that isn't" ... can anyone tell me if this is sorta along the lines of born again? And how would I know if I was born again?
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  77

  Make a statement you have found to be TRUE.

  by gaiagirl in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  jw's like to refer to their body of beliefs as "the truth", even when those beliefs are adjusted or even reversed, giving rise to the question 'if this is "the truth", then what were the beliefs which were promoted as "the truth" until the change'?.

  state something you have actually found to be "true", in the sense that, in your experience, it agrees with what is observed in the real world.. .

  i'll start: knowledge is power

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  halcyon

  Your first sniggling little ant-sized worry about an attribute or quality you notice on a first date, is what will later turn into one of the biggest problems between you.
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  4

  Anyone "born again" who was a born in JW?

  by startingover in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  just curious.

  from my experience there are lots of born ins that become atheist, whereas those that came in from another religion seem to be more likely to go that direction again.

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  halcyon

  You can't exactly call me "born again", but about a year before I attended my last meeting, I was sitting in my house doing a bunch of bible reading out of various translations. NOT WT publications, straight bible reading. And I remember it occurred to me at one point that I needed to thank Jesus for saving me, because I was so not deserving of salvation. So I prayed a very non-traditional, non JW type prayer, very personal, that to me felt sorta like a born-again moment, and ever since then it really feels like that moment in my life was a turning point. From that point forward I felt more blessed than I had ever felt before in my life. I felt an assurance of salvation inside me that I'd never felt before. And I felt God's presence in a very positive way. It seems my fear of displeasing God was washed away, and truly, I've held on to that feeling ever since.
  
  I have since read literature on Born-agains, and I didn't say the words they say you're supposed to say, but I feel like for all intents and purposes, I stumbled across the "action" behind the words.
  
  And since then I started feeling a growing obsession with finding and taking communion somewhere. It felt growingly urgent and necessary for my future. I have no idea if that's a born-again thing as well. But it's all part of my own spiritual journey.
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  31

  The Reasoning Book is Inspired

  by Thirdson in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  that is what 2 jw ladies who came to my door recently told me..

  to start at the beginning, periodically, these ladies have called and spoken to mrs thirdson but always on a week day.

  mrs thirdson is always very polite and has accepted the mags saying that i might be interested in reading them but making it clear that we are christians and not interested in joining their religion.

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  halcyon

  well it depends on the definition of "inspired."
  
  There's "God will kill you if you don't believe that he breathed the words of the bible into people's ears" inspired, and then there's "Really Good Men Who God Loves figured these things out because God Loves Them Most Special, and so even though they're 'just men' who God doesn't yet trust with the absolute truth (I guess they have to kinda 'grow up' first before God gives them ALL truth, or something), God made them smarter than us because they were able to figure out things we can't really even understand properly, which proves that God Loves Them Most Special and we should believe what they say" inspired.
  
  Remember, every word has a double meaning in JW. Its dictionary definition, and its ethereal definition.
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  17

  Do you have a need to prove JWs wrong?

  by LouBelle in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i remember when i first left i wanted to tell every one i knew how bad/wrong/indoctrinated the jws were.

  i was angry at having been deceived for so many years.

  now they are just like every other religion if you get to the core of it.

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  halcyon

  I have the need to present a very strong and non-arguable case to present to my "in" relatives, something that they don't already have pat responses for. I haven't come up with anything (not that I don't have a strong case, but that they don't have pat answers for. "Oh, you're just looking at it from a fleshly viewpoint." "They're only men." etc.)
  
  I don't have a need to prove all of them wrong. I just have a need to erase the hurt from my relatives' hearts. If I had an argument that even caused them to say, "oh! Well, okay, we can accept your decision as your own personal decision, and be fine with it," then I'd be overjoyed.
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  11

  Why am I so lucky...Please help with this teaching ...

  by Iwonder17 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  ok, here is something that i have struggled with for years !!

  the question is in multiple parts that i will state in no particular order.. how can it be that only 6 million people are right and 6 billion are wrong?.

  how is it that i am luchy enough to be "born into the truth", cuz if i wasn't, i know that i would never give a jw the time of day if they came to my door.. what is i was born in india or china,, chances are that i would not be a jw.

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  halcyon

  The answer I was given made much more sense to me: "God reads hearts, so even if someone has a good heart but doesn't hear the truth, God will still save them."
  
  Which translated, to me, into "God is Just, and will save the good-hearted everywhere. He will also destroy JWs who are not good-hearted. The only benefit to becoming a JW is that it can't be a bad thing to have high standards, so you won't experience so much heartache like other people."
  
  
  That's apparently not the Party Line, huh? Looks like I've been an apostate since age 13.
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  11

  Men & Women - what do you desire from the opposite sex?

  by LouBelle in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i happend to be scanning through the channels the other night and that movie "what women want" was on.

  wonder if there'll ever be a "what men want" version.. so what do you women want & what do you guys want?.

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  halcyon

  he should be intelligently witty, thoughtful, open, calmly rational, humble, and devoted to me. And I have to find him attractive. He doesn't have to be handsome, but we have to have chemistry. Kind eyes, gentle hands, moderately fit, outdoorsy ... not lazy soft, but not aggressively hard either. Mild mannered. A reader. A thinker. Playful in a mature way. Curious. Adaptable.
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  20

  Can you provide WT references for me of the use of the term,

  by halcyon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  "current truth", please?

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  halcyon

  I totally don't mind if understanding changes over time.
  
  
  What CANNOT co-exist with it is dogmatism.
  
  
  You can be dogmatic about a concept as long as you never change it. (You WILL be proved wrong, so it's hardly a wise course.)
  
  Or you can change your understanding of a concept as long as you were never dogmatic about it. (sanctions for not believing.)
  
  
  THIS is my argument, if anyone asks why I left.
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  37

  Would you legalize Polygamy?

  by sammielee24 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it appears that so far almost 300 of the cases from the texas raid have been investigated and dropped.

  one girl - the one who has wed to jessop, was placed in foster care.. removing the isolationist tendancies of the mormon group and that specific religion - if the state wanted to legalize polygamy, would you agree or disagree?

  the issue of gay marriages has come up and been voted on - but if people could legally wed as adults and have more than one wife, complete with the responsibilities that legal marriages come with - what would the objection be?

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  halcyon

  women need communal support for emotional issues. They need to talk things through in order to feel better. Men don't traditionally share this need; instead men try to solve whatever problem women talk to them about, then get frustrated when their efforts are rejected. Men also don't suggest improvements to each other for the purpose of drawing closer; men often feel criticized and rejected by the very same efforts that a woman makes in order to draw close to her man. Women get frustrated and feel rejected by this as well, so they turn to the only people who understand them: other women.
  
  
  In my experience, most women would PREFER the company of multiple men, as long as the men were not domineering. The whole problem is with communication differences.
  
  When men and women learn how to address their different communication needs, and learn how to correctly interpret what the other one is REALLY saying, rather than approaching it from their own gender's standpoint, then they can make a success of their communication and enjoy being with each other.
  
  
  
  
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  20

  Can you provide WT references for me of the use of the term,

  by halcyon in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  "current truth", please?

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  halcyon

  so are you saying, s.JWex, that "present truth" has been removed from the 2008 CD rom?