i have never been a jw.
in fact, i've never set foot inside a kh.
my parents began studying in the early 70s, before i was born.
Welcome JesseS!
Personally I have found spirituality, faith and the "Good News" lead in the opposite direction to religion.
At any rate, please keep posting and in time you may have a much clearer picture about what direction in life is best for you.
many of us know where we were during 9/11 or when john kennedy and martin luther king were killed.. it seems that when faced with ttatt, real truth is dismissed as "ol' light" or "an imperfect group of men" but from what i gather, many of you, at some point, were hit with a component of ttatt that shattered all of those cliches that allowed you to brush off the obvious reality that something was very wrong.
some of you may remember the hours following your earliest exposures to an undeniably true tatt.
did you zone completely out?
Shocked, and more...
i came across this concept a few days ago.. it is is the story of your life or some part of it told in just 6 words.. you can check it out here.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/six-word_memoirs.
thought it might be interesting to connect with life as a witness.. my thoughts:.
From apostate religionist, to Jesus follower.
i ask this because i was considering rejoining and the stories i have read only remind me of what was done to me.
is there any clean place to go where good people and fellowship can be had.
it sounds like maybe the people here should get together and start there own thing, like the reorganized latter day saints.
Hey Jeff!
Whilst following spiritually blind humans one becomes lazy and passive.
It is hard work to transition to an authentic and active life and spirituality where one is challenged by others and their beliefs. This is how we grow and develop instead of stagnating.
This is how we outgrow irrational thinking and unreasonable expectations of ourselves and others.
It is the better path with better outcomes.
Become a giver who gives time, attentiveness, a listening ear, friendliness, compassion, smiles and caring to others and to their needs - you'll eventually be rather popular.
many times at the kh i heard the various brothers boasting how the kh had good numbers in attendance and the churches of christendom did not.. i 've just worked out why this is; you cannot leave.
you either fade, get df'd or da yourself.
talk about hobson's choice.. talk about me seeing the light!!!.
What about the PEW stats that 2/3rds of those brought up as JWs leave?
we get plenty of company men passing through our circuit, often filled with misinformation and lugging around a suitcase of guilt, they bring more guilt to the weak while praising the braggart pioneers and slapping the "righteous over much" elders.
why are the wrong people getting praise in this distorted community?
i know for a fact many of the elders i served with have issues with alcoholism, when "brother guilt" brought his emotional hurricane through our circuit, i had the chance to eat and help pay for his "seven shots of tequila", both him and his wife were not immune to over-indulgences.
One imagines Cognitive Dissonance must be high on the list.
Plus being "filled with misinformation and lugging around a suitcase of guilt".
Being a "spiritual prostitute" and "spiritually drunk" from drinking the "wine" of legalistic, moralistic and sectarian religion can't help either (Rev 14:8).
It seems a heavy detox program is needed when exiting this messed up group of "whitewashed graves", "gnat strainers" and "camel gulpers".
b) teach conditional salvation based primarily on faith in christ?.
c) refuse eternal torment in a literal fiery hell?.
d) refuse the immortality of the soul?.
Thank you Crazyguy.
Yup, it sure is refreshing when folk are able to hold (peripheral) doctrines lightly and not get preoccupied with them at the expense of the liberating and transformative gospel message (of grace, love and peace).
i get a winning powerball ticket and then the fun begins:.
i set up a scholarship for a nearly 'free ride' in any academic field (except liberal arts, for god's sake!
) for any jw who has maintained at least a "c" average and who is disfellowshipped or disassociated during the period of education.
Never underestimate the difference one person or idea can make.
Great idea.
Does the idea really have to wait for a winning lottery ticket?
Why not CSR, philanthropy, or similar in the meantime?
b) teach conditional salvation based primarily on faith in christ?.
c) refuse eternal torment in a literal fiery hell?.
d) refuse the immortality of the soul?.
The apostate preoccupation with supremacist dissecting of (peripheral) doctrines, known as "ethnocentrism" was born at Nicaea and perpetuated by most religions including the Watchtower.
The end result is always a drawing away from the explicit and unabridged gospel.
This is exactly why WBTS followers call themselves "publishers of the Good News" whilst ignorant of the "Good News" according to Paul, Moses, Isaiah and Psalms.
As one old pyramidologist correctly observed:
"The endeavor to compel all men to think alike on all subjects, culminated in the great apostasy and the development of the great papal system, and thereby the gospel, the one faith that Paul and the other apostles set forth, was lost - buried under the mass of uninspired decrees of popes and councils. The unity of the early church, based upon the simple gospel and bound only by love, gave place to the bondage of the church of Rome ... Each new reform movement (like Protestantism) has made the failure of attempting to make a creed just large enough for its prime movers ." --WT, Sep. 1893, p. 1572
o had some jws call on me and they didn't know me.
.
one of them said she 'found the truth(tm) but i knew she was a born in.. i wonder how many born ins pretend they 'found' the 'truth(tm) but actually mean when they were 'baptised(tm)' just to sucker people in?.
In Watchtower lala land "The Truth" has nothing to do with "The Good News".
Not so in the Bible...
