Fernando

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Posts by Fernando

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  23

  Ex-Jehovah's Witnesses and the irreversible decision

  by Celestial in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  some business opportunities unfolded sometime back that required my full attention and excessive work hours that ended up putting a strain on me.

  i started taking the edge off by drinking alcohol, too much alcohol.

  the cycle of working and drinking ended up destroying my spirituality and i eventually completely quit attending meetings and every other aspect of kingdom service.

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  Fernando

  Hey Celestial!

  Congratulations on trying to "rebuild" your spirituality.

  The only scriptural way to do this is to yield to and embrace the priceless, generous, full, and unabridged gospel message from the "God of Abraham". This is however not something that the "god of religion" will tolerate.

  This is why Watchtower religionists refer to themselves as "publishers of the good news" whilst totally ignorant of the "good news" according to Moses, Isaiah, Psalms, Paul and others.

  The scale of the problem becomes evident when we consider that more than half the Bible's 152-odd references to the "good news" are by Paul!!

  Best wishes on the journey to becoming a simple Jesus follower rather than a follower of men and their inane organisations, ideologies and dogma.
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  53

  Why did you become one of Jehovah's Witnesses?

  by Celestial in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  any other reason than the arbitrary explanation that you were brainwashed or seduced by a millenarianist doomsday cult?.

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  Fernando

  Welcome Celestial!

  Presenting a compelling picture of how we can be right with God, I guess would appeal to many especially at a time of crisis.

  Not knowing the gospel which invites us to accept IMPUTED righteousness, holiness, sinlessness and perfection (as free unmerited gifts) we are vulnerable to the false and apostate alternative reality presented by all religion:

  self-righteousness by means of pursuing the "right" rules (legalism), morals (moralism), doctrines (ethnocentrism) and knowledge (Gnosticism). This necessarily leads to spiritual captivity, blindness, confusion, inebriation, insanity and abuse.

  BTW I was a third generation born-in with no prior alternate reality to refer to.
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  18

  Got some Street Encounter Questions for JWs?

  by Vanderhoven7 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  suggested street encounter questions:.

  perhaps you have a question or two that might prove effective.. .

  1. is it true that you believe that only jws will be saved at armageddon?

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  Fernando

  Great question WontLeave, and excellent thread Vanderhoven7!
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  40

  Miraculous news about my daugher, Ali

  by coffee_black in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it's a little over a year since my daughter was diagnosed with end stage congestive heart failure due to a virus.

  her dr. was talking heart transplant then.. i almost lost her 3 times over the past year due to complications.

  2011 was a tough year to put it mildly.

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  Fernando

  Congratulations to you both coffee_black!

  www.exerciseismedicine.org.au

  And what about "juicing is medicine"!
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  35

  An Introduction

  by tornapart in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  well.. i've been here for a few weeks but still feel like a relative newbie.

  i just wanted to introduce myself as much as i'm able to.

  i'm still 'in' so to speak although mentally 'out'.

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  Fernando

  Welcome tornapart!

  Great that you and hubby have peace and maybe even some doubts in common.

  As our spiritual journey continues we are becoming less conservative and more liberal (live and let live).

  Best wishes for you both on your journey.

  Greetings and blessings
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  36

  What do you think of AOG church?

  by shallbefree in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  hello friends, i am a fading jw and i am thinking of attending sunday service at a local aog church here, just for fellowship.

  i have lots of friends but none of them are spiritual minded.

  not that i am complaining but it would be nice to meet some spiritual minded people.

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  Fernando

  Hey shallbefree!

  It may be worth a look as part of the journey, if you can sidestep any Pharisees that may demand to know "where do you fellowship" meaning "when can we sign you up as a member and live in your pocket".

  The spirit of religion is at work in all religion. In some cases it can be hidden in others quite pronounced and venomous.

  In time however you may come to conclude, as we have, that the "god of religion" and the "God of Abraham" are enemies.

  All religion focuses on externalism which is antithetical to authentic and meaningful spirituality. Religion focuses how we can be right with god through our own efforts at following the "right" rules, morals, doctrines and knowledge. This is a Matthew 23 situation (esp v15).

  The gospel or "good news" is opposite to religion. It teaches that righteousness and holiness are IMPUTED to all believers by grace (undeserved) kindness, as a free gift. This is a Romans 3 situation.

  Religion leads us to religion. The gospel leads us to Jesus - in a living, dynamic, active and authentic spiritual relationship.

  We now identify as SBNR (Spiritual But Not Religious). We fellowship in organic (natural) faith communities outside organised and institutional religion (falsely referred to as the church of the Bible). To avoid doctrinal squabbles since we come from very different backgrounds and traditions we pursue "unity in Christ" rather than "unity in doctrine".

  This video may be of some interest: http://www.site.house2house.com/about-us .

  Best wishes on the journey!
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  5

  Are there higher dimensions? If so, what is in them? (Part - 1)

  by Fernando in

  1. watchtower
  2. bible

  carl sagan's cosmos - tesseract (7 minutes)he was a well spoken genius with a gift of making it plain and simple.... .

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwl_zi9jnke.

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  Fernando

  Carl Sagan's Cosmos - Tesseract (7 minutes)

  He was a well spoken genius with a gift of making it plain and simple...

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwL_zi9JNkE
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  52

  How many people on here have low self-esteem?

  by Chemical Emotions in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  i do, so i was just curious.. i know the org tends to attract/cause/contribute to people having low self-esteem, so i figure a lot of people must have it as bad or worse than me..

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  Fernando

  Reestablishing the normal healthy boundaries violated by a cult would seem to be a neccessary part of healing.
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  5

  The hereafter and the herebefore

  by Fernando in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  where do we go when we die?.

  we go back to where we came from.

  i dont know, i cant remember.

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  Fernando

  Where do we go when we die?
  We go back to where we came from
  And where was that?
  I don’t know, I can’t remember
  Virginia Woolf, “The Hours”

  I don’t remember much of this life, and like Virginia Woolf, nothing of the herebefore. How then, could I expect to know of the hereafter?

  (From http://www.pimco.com/EN/Insights/Pages/Life-and-Death-Proposition.aspx )
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  11

  What a pious and sanctimonious organisation!!! GROAN!

  by TimothyT in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  just having a rant.. it has been over 6 months now since i was disfellowshipped for being gay or whatever it was, and i still do not give a damn.

  it hasnt fazed me one bit.

  we even went on our first holiday to italy the other week.

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  Fernando

  Hey TimothyT!

  Good to read a post of yours again.

  It seems we all take some time before we are ready to see, hear and face the facts.

  All the same you may want to ask your "sister" friend if she agrees that "legalism" is a denial of the Christian faith (as it says in the Watchtower).

  You may then want to keep asking her to explain "legalism" and its opposite from the heart!