After I left Bethel, I grew a beard. I think that bothered some of the JWs in my congregation.
Jeff Schwehm
jschwehm
JoinedPosts by jschwehm
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48
Did YOU Ever "Stumble" Anyone? ....Anyone Ever "Stumble" You???
by minimus inthe elders and the organization always put us on alert to make sure we never "stumbled" anyone.
of course, someone was always be counseled for this offense.
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Explain you religion/beliefs in a nutshell
by devinsmom inlately i have been pondering my lack of a belief system.
i think that being a jw really turned me off to believing in anything since it was all crammed down my throat.. i have been feeling a need to believe in something.
i think i believe that something created us but not sure if it was one god or many.
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jschwehm
Hi April:
As a Catholic Christian here are my beliefs in a nutshell:
I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and earth;
and in Jesus Christ, His only Son Our Lord,
Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried.
He descended into Hell; the third day He rose again from the dead;
He ascended into Heaven, and sitteth at the right hand of God, the Father almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Sprit, the holy Catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and life everlasting. Amen.The above confession of faith is known as the Apostles Creed. It is one of the oldest in the Church and was used to teach me about the Catholic faith.
Jeff Schwehm
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22
Did you ever hear "Congratulations" from dubs. when you were expecting?
by sweet tee init still amazes me how lacking jw's are in social decorum.
i had 4 children while in the b0rg and not once did anyone say congrats.
to me or my husband.
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jschwehm
When I was leaving Bethel to get married, the JWs gave me an envelope filled with information on different methods of birth control. The message definitely was do not have too many kids because that will distract from the preaching work.
Jeff Schwehm
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38
Can any one tell me ?
by Angry inwhy the hell did this crap make me like i am?
all the years of abuse going on.
i'm angry and very confused.
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jschwehm
Hi Angry:
One of the first things that happened to me when I left the JWs was the extreme amount of anger that I felt towards them, God, and myself. It does get better with time.
You will find lots of support here and you are embarking on a very exciting journey believe it or not. It will not be without some emotional pain and some fear but in the end you will be stronger for it.
Jeff Schwehm
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149
Do you hate the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses?
by logansrun in.
a simple question: do you hate the religion of jehovah's witnesses?
feel free to elaborate on your answer.. b.
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jschwehm
Hi
I do not hate Jehovah's Witnesses as people. However, I do believe the religious system is spiritually abusive and so I hate the bad things it does to people.
Jeff Schwehm
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54
So I'm at the meeting tonight.............
by JV ini'm looking through the new awake magazine (great article on shoplifiting by the way) and this older sister comes and sits beside me.
she started talking to me about this great little piece in the magazine about fish or something that should be on my dinner plate, something that i don't really care about, then she turns to me and said and i quote " where else but jehovah's organization can we learn such things?
i sat there with a dumbfounded look on my face thinking " are you kidding me?
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jschwehm
Yep....
Our congregation was very anti-college. When I left Bethel and started college I got the looks and the attitude. In any case, I know what you mean.
Jeff Schwehm
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6
My daughters prayer to the holy spirit
by jaffacake inmy 11 year old daughter goes to a catholic school.
although i no longer despise that religion as the anti-christ, as i believed it was when i was a young aventist many years ago, i still do not participate.
i will let my kids make up their own minds.
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jschwehm
"It is a long time since I was a catholic. I would be genuinely interested in your thoughts about the rightness of praying to Mary mother of God, or saints etc, and whether there are any scriptures to support this?"
Hi Jaffa:
The Catholic Church believes in what is known as the communion of saints. As Catholics we are in communion with the saints in heaven and on earth. Death does not separate us from our brothers and sisters who have gone before us. That is why Jesus always told the Saduccees that they the Lord is the God of the living and not of the dead. Those Saints from the Old Testament are alive in heaven with the Lord.
In Hebrews the 11th Chapter, the author of Hebrews talks about the examples that the Old Testament Saints set for us in living faithful lives devoted to God. The image that this author draws for us in the beginning of Chapter 12 is interesting.
"Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us."-Hebrews 12:1, 2
The Church interprets this verse as meaning that the Saints in heaven surround us with their prayers for us and cheer us on to heaven through their prayers for us. They are hoping and praying that we will make it to heaven just as they did. When a first century Christian would read this, they would think of how these individuals are in heaven with the Lord and are praying for our salvation.
Notice also that some of the Saints seem to be aware of our persecutions. (It is interesting that in the Catholic Church we refer to someone who has been canonized as a Saint to have been "raised to the altar". In fact it is not uncommon for Churches to have imbedded in altars relics that used to belong to Saints.)
When he broke open the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been slaughtered because of the witness they bore to the word of God. They cried out in a loud voice, "How long will it be, holy and true master, before you sit in judgment and avenge our blood on the inhabitants of the earth?" Each of them was given a white robe, and they were told to be patient a little while longer until the number was filled of their fellow servants and brothers who were going to be killed as they had been.-Revelation 6:9-11
Another thing to remember is that in the Catholic perspective, when one worships at Mass, one is not merely mimicking the worship of God that occurs in heaven but one is actually taking part in the worship of God that occurs in heaven with all of the Saints and Angels present. Since we are in communion with the Saints in heaven and since we actually participate in the same worship that they participate in, then asking them to pray for us (which is what we are actually doing when we pray to the Saints in heaven )is the equivalent, in a sense, of asking any of our Christian brothers sitting in the pews next to us to pray for us. The difference of course (and it is a big difference) is that our brothers and sisters in heaven who are Saints are closer to God than we are and therefore their prayers are very powerful.
One of the great things about being Catholic is having access to the Saints that have gone before us. It also shows us how Jesus has really conquered death even now.
I hope that was helpful.
Jeff Schwehm
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What are the odds of a non-religious spouse becoming a J.W. convert?
by hubert inif a spouse never practiced the religion he/she was born into, are there less chances of them becoming a jehovah witness if their mate studies to become one?
does it make a difference?.
has anyone experienced this?.
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jschwehm
I think Randy Watters has a study cited by an evangelical Christian group on his website that says that people who have some nominal connection to some Christian faith are more likely to be attracted to the JWs than those who do not.
Jeff Schwehm
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My daughters prayer to the holy spirit
by jaffacake inmy 11 year old daughter goes to a catholic school.
although i no longer despise that religion as the anti-christ, as i believed it was when i was a young aventist many years ago, i still do not participate.
i will let my kids make up their own minds.
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jschwehm
Awesome prayer Jaffacake:
I also have a special devotion to the Holy Spirit, too.
When I was converting to the Catholic Church, I used to pray at this chapel that was operated by the Holy Spirit Adoration Sisters. These nuns wore pink habits and their number one job was to pray for people. In fact, you could right down what your needs were and the nuns would pray for you.
I am not so sure that it was an accident that I was finally confirmed in the Catholic Church on the feast of the descent of the Holy Spirit on the Apostles (Pentecost Sunday 2003) since I spent most of my time in that chapel asking God to make it possible for me and my wife to become Catholic.
Tell your daughter to keep up the good work. And, as the proud papa you keep up the good work too. :)
God's blessings to you,
Jeff Schwehm
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I Voted!
by the_classicist ini voted for the first time in today's british columbia provincial election.
what an honour and what a priviledge to elect one's own representitive in the legislative assembly.
here's how i voted: raj chouhan, new democratic party.
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jschwehm
For the first time in my life I actually assist with two campaigns last year. It was very interesting and quite fun. I am planning on volunteering for one of the guys running for Governor next year but I have not made up my mind which campaign to volunteer for.
Jeff Schwehm