Posts by Piercingtheveil81

5

Challenge #4 (INTELLECT) ~ to Greg Stafford / Jason BeDuhn / Serious JWs / Fred Coulter (CofG)

by 4examp in

personality is expressed, demonstrated & manifested by: emotion, intellect, will.. challenge #4 ~ do you agree scripture proves the holy spirit can / does manifest intellect?.

1. entunkano (g1793,5x) = primarily to fall in with, meet with in order to converse, then to make petition, especially to make intercession, plead with a person.

- rom.8:27 ~ the spirit ... is pleading in accord with god for holy ones.

Piercingtheveil81

This is exactly why I left Christianity because of this confusion. The bible contains many different and contradicting views of God as well as other doctrines. Be careful and take heed.

"Say,"O People of the book! Do not exceed the limits in your religion going beyond the truth, and do not follow the useless desires of people who went wrong in old times who misled many, and wandered from the even path" Quran 5:77

"They surely lie who say, "Allah is one of three in a trinity". There is no God except One Allah. If they do not stop from their word, a painful penalty will surely fall upon the liars amongst them. Why do they not turn to Allah, and seek His forgiveness? For Allah is often Forgiving most Merciful. Messiah (Christ), son of Maryam (Mary) was no more than an messenger, (and there were) many messengers that passed away before him. His mother was a woman of truth. They both had to eat their (daily) food. See how Allah does make His signs clear to them; yet see in what ways they are misguided far from the truth" Quran 5:73-75

Lets stick to the path and religion of Abraham (upon whom be peace)!

49

Can't believe I am doing this

by rockmehardplace in

jw
friends

i am shocked i am even writing this.

for about a year or so, i have hid in the darkness peeking at this site and following everyone else's story.

i have learned more than i expected from so many.

Piercingtheveil81

Hello and welcome,

I totally and completely understand your situation. I finally worked up the courage to DA myself about 4 months ago. Like yourself I also held a positition in the cong with overwhelming duties. (public talks, bookstudy conductor, TMS conductor, accounts servant). Having doubts with many statements from the revelation book I started doing investigation about the societies past doctrines up to the present. Being honest with it all I had to admit that I just didn't believe I was in the "Truth" anymore. I knew that there would come a point when I would eventually leave which took me a year and a half to do.

I feared the loss of friends I had come to be very close to, none of whom even knew of my feelings up till a week before I DA. My wife was also another difficult situation. While I came to the organization, for her this is all she knows since she was raised as a JW by a strict JW mother who doesn't say a greeting to me anymore. That upsets me because I was always considered one of her best son-in-laws and form one day to the next she completely turned on me all because i believe some things differently. What can you do?

Although I was scared I had to tell my wife. Although it initially didn't go well, over the course of a year she started to pierce the veil of ignorance and now sees some clear falsehood in their doctrines and reasoning. Maybe some day she will find the courage to leave also.

I don't know if you consider yourself to be religious or not but for me this was the strength for finally taking a stand to leave despite the consequences. I knew that no one can allow the loss of friends or even family stand in the way of ones worship to God since He is worth every bit of sacrifice that can be made.

I didn't leave the organization to seek more freedom to indulge in my own selfish desire. I left for the freedom of worshipping God as I saw to be correct. If you are religious then build on that strength to help you through. Remember you may lose family and friends but it isn't anything that God cannot replace which I've experienced personally. Besides why would we want friends who would turn their backs on us if they knew how we believed.

I hope things work out for you.

" Let there be no compulsion in religion, truly truth stands out clear from error: whoever rejects evil and believes in God has grasped the most trustworthy hand-hold (bond) that never breaks. And God is all Hearing, All Knowing." Quran 2:256

"Surely with every difficulty there is relief" Quran 94:6

Piercingtheveil81

27

Regarding Elders Snooping On Facebook, MySpace & Other Sites

by minimus in

jw
friends

i was reading the thread of how an elder parent was snooping on his daughter's facebook.. i believe that many jws, not just elders probably snoop around to see what some witnesses are doing, whether they be inactive, disassociated or active.. do you think jws "snoop" on the internet or if they have access to your computer, do you think they'll try to uncover something about you?.

Piercingtheveil81

I know for sure some of them snoop. Some years back the elders wanted to talk to me but didn't tell say what about. We met one night at a coffee shop that had wireless internet access and they pulled up about 20 different myspace pages from kids in our hall as well as others. needless to say there were some pretty incriminating evidence on a number of teenagers. Girls had provacative pics of themselves and there was a lot of bad language used.

While looking through one page there was a picture of some friends and me rockin' out in our punk/metal band at graduation party we played. All I could think was "Oh Crap!". But they didn't seemed to be to bothered. One of those elders was a punk enthusiaist himself. At the hall they put all the teens in the front rows and gave a local needs talk about myspace and told parents to interrogate thier children to find out.

The reason why they involved me was because some of the individuals who had pages were coming out in my wedding. In the end half of the wedding party was not allowed to participate in the ceremony including my brother and sister in law (Friggin' Bastards).

14

Our Paradise Lost

by MidwichCuckoo in

jw
friends

don't know if i'm posting this on correct forum, but has anyone else received an email enititled 'watchtower!

' - i have zero idea how they obtained my email address, as i've only subscribed to ex-jw sites (even then, my email address would only be available to admin?

)- this and one other - (and this appears to be pro, indeed casting aspersions on 'conference call')?.

Piercingtheveil81

I just read it right now. I'm planning some kind of response.

67

Why do you think Jesus never wrote anything down?

by journey-on in

jw
friends

if his message was to be followed like a rule book, wouldn't he have written down some things with his own hand?.

Piercingtheveil81

Q Document is believed to contain the original saying of Jesus recorded by his followers during his earthly ministry. Many scholars believe this document was the source that the writer of mark used in his gospel and then just filled in the narrative by himself and by what others had said.

I don't believe that Gospels to be accurate reliable sources of Jesus life and teachings. The books themselves do not contain the writers names. And they are written from a second hand perspective. Their stories do not fit with a Jewish prophet living under such conditions.

67

Why do you think Jesus never wrote anything down?

by journey-on in

jw
friends

if his message was to be followed like a rule book, wouldn't he have written down some things with his own hand?.

Piercingtheveil81

I agree with you onthewayout. In recent times they have been discovering many writings that were viewed as authentic by the early believers. These just didn't fit the image of the Jesus that the Church wanted to portray.

Many are now suggesting that Jesus was probabely a revolutionary type being the main reason why the romans tried to kill him. Considering the time in which he lived it is ridiculous to think that Jesus as a God fearing, Law upholding jew would have acted like some sort of hippie that just loved everything. For him to say that there was only one God worthy to be worshipped and obeyed was in direct conflict with roman belief in regards to cesar. That church, wanting to appease the romans, made it look as if Jesus got along with the them and didn't care about their ruthless occupation of Judah. May God deal justly with those who have created lies about Jesus, the Prophet of God and upholder of the Law.

Has anyone heard of the Q document said to contain the original sayings of Christ?

Piercingtheveil81

47

Have you joined a new religious organisation since leaving the JW's?

by Wee John in

since leaving the jw's did you actively seek out another organisation, or did it find you?.

.

have you found yourself apathetic to all religions?.

Piercingtheveil81

I accepted Islam and am now Muslim. The Belief of Tauheed (absolute oneness of God) appealed to me greatly as well as other aspects. Although I didn't believe many of the crazy teachings of the WTS I also didn't feel that the trinity doctrine was correct either I also had many doubts about the inspiration of the NT in particular (Bart Ehrman's books are awesome). All of this lead me to investigate Islam which I accepted.

24

After you left JWs, did you join another organized religion?

by Albert Einstein in

jw
friends

if yes, how did you choose it?.

if no, why?.

albert.

Piercingtheveil81

When I left I embraced Islam and am now a muslim.

Once I knew that I was going to leave the organization I began to be more open about considering mainstream christianity. I found that there was much that I felt had a good biblical basis for belief. However the trinity doctrine was hard to accept so I started studying different viewpoints and I read books from persons like James White and R.C. Sproul that give detailed explanations about the trinity. I felt that their arguments were very weak. I really tried hard to accept it I even prayed to God to help me accept it but I just couldn't.

around the same time I read material from Bart Erhman and others regarding the trustworthiness of the new testament writings as being inspired of God. I read a book from Douglas Del Tondo "Jesus Words Only" which proved that Paul was indeed himself a false prophet twisting the old testament writings to fit his theology much like the WT Society has done. I felt at that point that I couldn't trust everything that was in the current bible. I did However believe in the God of Abraham and all the prophets including Jesus( Peace be upon him).

While taking a course on religious studies in college we considered Islam so I made a visit to a local mosque. After doing more study about the beliefs of Islam, the Qur'an, and the Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) I made the decision to embrace Islam.

It's clear to me that God through Muhammad(pbuh) was reestablishing the monotheistic faith of Abraham to all humanity. The reason why there is much similarity in both Judaism and Islam. Just as God gave specific laws through Moses(pbuh) for the nation of Israel God has also given laws to all humanity through the Prophet Muhammad(pbuh) for all that would accept it.

This is of course a short version of how I came to Islam.

Piercingtheveil81

41

Have any of you just handed the book COC to a jw friend or relative?

by cawshun in

jw
friends

if so, how did it go over, good or bad?

.

Piercingtheveil81

When I DA'd myself an inactive friend called my up wanting to know what happened and he didn't mind talking to me even though they had already made the announcement. We talked for a few hours afterword he agreed to read COC. He sent me a text message the next week saying that he was shocked and now knows why the Org. is afraid of apostates. Although he is already inactive he is not going back for sure now.

70

How long were you a member of Jehovahs Witnesses?

by Quirky1 in

jw
friends

me, about 7 years...

Piercingtheveil81

I was not raised a witness. I started studying at 15 and was baptized 9 months later. I spent 11 in the org. was a pioneer and MS for 8 of those till I was awakened to their falsehood and dillusions while I was the book study conductor in the revelation book. DA'd myself a month ago.

I'm so glad to be out!

Piercingtheveil81