Sin is, like, not believing that the governing body are the custodians of the benefits of Christ's sacrifice. The mediator between Christ and the human race.
hehehe
as jw's we are constantly reminded that we sin each day due to imperfection.
but when bringing up the specifics, i have never gotten a good answer.. several times i have even mentioned to others of my getting up on a sunday morning, reading the daily text, studying the watchtower for the afternoon meeting, driving to the meeting (under the speed limit), answering at the meeting, (not using more than one towel in the restroom), going out in service later in the afternoon, coming home, having dinner, and then in the evening preparing for a part for the ministry school.. i didn't recall scheming in my heart about doing something bad or anything like that.. so, specifically, where does the "sin" come in?
and if what i did was sinful, how can i improve on it?
Sin is, like, not believing that the governing body are the custodians of the benefits of Christ's sacrifice. The mediator between Christ and the human race.
hehehe
my vicar asked me if i and another lady would like to say a few words about our faith journey.. she said my story was a particular powerful one, what with the da'ing and subsequent shunning.
i can also choose a hymn or christian song.. i was thinking of romans 8:38, 39 to highlight the shunning and the other scripture ne of how true christians will be indentified, if they have love among themselves etc.
i need to look that one up exactly.. any ideas for content for further content??.
That's wonderful! I recently joined a church and they see my "conversion" as a victory for Christ, a soul being saved from false religion - a mind-controlling cult. Several of the people there have told me I am an "encouragement" to them.
i live in a rural area; in field service we had to drive from house to house.. i have not had any desire to visit any church for several years now.
saturday i was doing chores in my yard - washing the car, etc.
- and 2 ladies drove in, dressed like witnesses would be dressed.
mgmelkat, yes I have had pastors/deacons/members of other religions say the JWs are a "dangerous" and "mild-controlling" cult.
i live in a rural area; in field service we had to drive from house to house.. i have not had any desire to visit any church for several years now.
saturday i was doing chores in my yard - washing the car, etc.
- and 2 ladies drove in, dressed like witnesses would be dressed.
I'm in Florida, USA.
Yeah I'm not interested in joining, just visited. I've visited other churches too. It's interesting to see women on the platform. One church I visited had a female pastor and she was an excellent speaker. Many churches have one or several persons playing instruments, others singing in groups or solo. I think having that variety keeps the services interesting. The service might be, say, an hour long, but it's broken up into different presentations. The sermon, a soloist singing, someone making announcements, a piano solo, a group singing and playing guitars, a child reading a portion of the scriptures, and so on. Whereas with the JWs, it's just one brother talking, then another brother talking, then another brother talking, then another brother talking....maybe a sister talking to another sister....
i live in a rural area; in field service we had to drive from house to house.. i have not had any desire to visit any church for several years now.
saturday i was doing chores in my yard - washing the car, etc.
- and 2 ladies drove in, dressed like witnesses would be dressed.
I live in a rural area; in field service we had to drive from house to house.
I have not had any desire to visit any church for several years now. Saturday I was doing chores in my yard - washing the car, etc. - and 2 ladies drove in, dressed like witnesses would be dressed. They were from a small local Baptist church around the corner from me, inviting neighbors to their Easter Sunday service. I never even knew that church was there, less than 1 mile away. They were handing out printed invitiations. I saw that there was an early service followed by breakfast, then another service later on at which time the children would be putting on a play. The ladies said they are just a "small, country church". I didn't have anything planned for Sunday, and the thought of the children putting on a play caught my curiosity. You'd never see that at a Kingdom Hall! So I told the ladies maybe I will go.
I did go and it was really nice. Less than 50 people there. Casual dress. The children re-enacted the scene where the women came to roll the stone away from the tomb and the angel told them, "He is not here; he has risen..." and the angel then tells them to go tell the other disciples. The play was very enjoyable. I could tell the parents were proud of them. Then there was a short service. I was actually impressed that the preacher used many scriptures; I could not disagree with anything he said. They use the King James Bible. He stuck to the message of Jesus having risen from the dead. He didn't bring up that the congregation needs to do this or that or we must show our obedience to God by obeying his representatives or anything like that. He stuck to the one topic and he let the topic speak for itself. Afterward I had to tell him what an effective teacher he is, and that he knows his bible. It was a pleasant experience. The complete opposite of what you'd experience at a Kingdom Hall.
i am not hot linking to jw borg, but they have a whole section for obviously very small children (become j's friend, with a whole array of caleb-related stuff).
i have actually never visited the site, today was the first time, because i wanted to check a technical information about their websites architecture and came across this sh*t!.
the way they are targeting small kids is nauseating me (i have a 5 year old, still in with her mother).
ha ha funny but creepy
click here to become Jehovah's friend
i have used meetup.com and it seems like a really cool site!!
i am liking that i can meet people who have the same interests as me... it can be lonely in the cities and specially after becoming an exjw.. .
i already signed up for spanish, french, salsa dancing, bachata dancing, and photography!!
Yeah meetup is cool. Lots of groups in the Tampa Bay FL area. I guess the concept of connecting with strangers may not appeal to those in very large cities as it does in other areas.
after leaving the cult of jw's or waking up to ttatt, it is a struggle to trust people again.
i am personally starting from scratch although i am still in.
each moment i spend with my current jw friends, i know they are all smiles and loving towards me because of my good status with the wt.. outside a cult you still find fake people and it is also a struggle to find true friends and it is even worst when we've been hit hard from people we used to trust and care for.. .
LongHairGal said it very well!
A true friend accepts you for being yourself. Therefore in order to be a friend you have to be yourself rather than who others expect you to be. A true friend is supportive of you following your own dreams/goals/agendas, and vice versa. This is the opposite of what we're conditioned to do in the WT organization. Those friendships are based on both parties adhering to a particular belief or standard.I have some great friends now. The friendships started because of a common interest, and then as we gradually learned a little more about each others' lives we became friends. We simply enjoy each others' company, and have many (but not all) of the same values.
A true friend does not exert "peer pressure" on you, but instead, respects your individuality.
in the uk, this sunday is mother's day!
ask a jw why they don't celebrate holidays and they'll tell you it's because of some nefarious pagan connection.
but this is really just a cover.
Ha Ha! I remember when I was new and just started going out in service, was working with an elder. When it was my turn to take a door, the householder asked why we don't celebrate Mothers Day. The elder told him I (yes I, not him) would look it up and get back to him. As we were leaving, the elder told me, "See? Now you have a return visit!" I did research in the publications but never found an answer...so I never went back to that house.
life is tough when you've spent your best years in the borg...how do you reconnect when kids are grown and you're close to retirement age?.
You're right about the baggage thing, cultBgone. And you're right, this site is our meetup group.
Here on this site we all have at least one thing in common...we will never run out of things to talk about!