Posts by tornapart

10

I'm not religious I'm spiritual?

by Joliette in

jw
friends

how do you guys feel when you hear people say this?

whenever i tell people that i'm not religious, a humanist, they said i'm not religious either, i'm spiritual.

i consider myself to be a humanist, and i can't tell you guys how happy i am being a humanist.

tornapart

I agree with Oubliette and Xanthippe... to me spirituality is a deep connection with nature, beautiful things, a beautiful piece of music. Something that touches the soul and moves me. It doesn't have to be related to God or a spirit world. Spirituality is very much a personal thing. Religion is something that is forced on people and used to control them. I think they are two very different things.

JWs idea of spirituality is totally wrong. it's all about 'doing', working hard and putting on a show. Someone who goes to all the meetings, pioneers, goes to bethel, underlines their watchtower, answers at all the meetings, gives great talks, does construction work for new KHs etc... is spiritual. I can't think of anything less spiritual!

12

Buddhists and Jehovah's Witnesses

by tornapart in

recently i have just started looking into what buddhism is all about.

i rather like the idea of a personal spirituality.

of trying to be a better person and an acceptance of the reality of life and trying to find an inner peace and contentment.. anyway, i came across this today.

tornapart

Thanks for that OTWO .... I thought exactly the same as you about the JW mum.. LOL

As for embracing some of it but not all... that's how I see it. There's a lot of valuable ideas within buddhism but it doesn't mean you have to believe everything that's taught or engage in endless rituals but just to take what appeals to you individually to use in your own journey.

12

Buddhists and Jehovah's Witnesses

by tornapart in

recently i have just started looking into what buddhism is all about.

i rather like the idea of a personal spirituality.

of trying to be a better person and an acceptance of the reality of life and trying to find an inner peace and contentment.. anyway, i came across this today.

tornapart

Cappytan- Secular Buddhist... I like that

Bonsai- That really appeals to me! Sounds idyllic!

12

Buddhists and Jehovah's Witnesses

by tornapart in

recently i have just started looking into what buddhism is all about.

i rather like the idea of a personal spirituality.

of trying to be a better person and an acceptance of the reality of life and trying to find an inner peace and contentment.. anyway, i came across this today.

tornapart

Kate, yes I agree and there's no way I want to get into any of that. I'm just interested in the philosophical and ethical side of it.

I believe spirituality is very much a personal thing, and I don't mean as to whether someone believes in the existence of God/gods or not but from purely how one feels connected to the world and the universe and everything and everyone in it and being able to find an inner peace and contentment which after being ripped to shreds by a high control religion, we all need to find in our own way.

12

Buddhists and Jehovah's Witnesses

by tornapart in

recently i have just started looking into what buddhism is all about.

i rather like the idea of a personal spirituality.

of trying to be a better person and an acceptance of the reality of life and trying to find an inner peace and contentment.. anyway, i came across this today.

tornapart

Thanks Rebel. yes I'll do that... and that's a great quote!

12

Buddhists and Jehovah's Witnesses

by tornapart in

recently i have just started looking into what buddhism is all about.

i rather like the idea of a personal spirituality.

of trying to be a better person and an acceptance of the reality of life and trying to find an inner peace and contentment.. anyway, i came across this today.

tornapart

Recently I have just started looking into what Buddhism is all about. I rather like the idea of a personal spirituality. Of trying to be a better person and an acceptance of the reality of life and trying to find an inner peace and contentment.

Anyway, I came across this today. A buddhist who met his girlfriend's mother who happened to be a JW. It wasn't so much his account that interested me as the comments afterwards.

Also, I wonder has anyone else dabbled with the idea of buddhism? Not as a replacement theology but as wanting to be a more contented person.

anyway, here's the link....

http://newbuddhist.com/discussion/13260/an-evening-with-a-jehovahs-witness

71

Doing the Right Thing, Making a Choice (shunning)

by Simon in

jw
friends

continuing a topic that is dear to my heart because of my experience as both a shunner and a shunnee .... some people seem to get very agitated when i talk about the responsibility people have to make the right choices and that despite all the wrongs within the wts, people themselves have a role to play and some personal responsibility for the experience.. notice i said "some" responsibility, not "complete" - this doesn't absolve the wts for the things they do wrong in any way shape or form.

so please don't get argumentative about possible meanings and absolutes - of course the wts has a significant role to play but we need to decide what we're trying to achieve here and why the personal choice is so important.. i'm also not talking about actual crimes that the wts should answer for.

if they cover up child abuse for instance, they absolutely should be reported immediately.

tornapart

Nicolau:- It's no defence to say God and/or his representatives must be obeyed, obedience is a choice

The thing is they believe that if they don't obey God they will die at Armageddon and lose out on everlasting life.... the big stick and the big carrot. In their eyes it's not much of a choice. We can see straight through it but they have been brainwashed.

71

Doing the Right Thing, Making a Choice (shunning)

by Simon in

jw
friends

continuing a topic that is dear to my heart because of my experience as both a shunner and a shunnee .... some people seem to get very agitated when i talk about the responsibility people have to make the right choices and that despite all the wrongs within the wts, people themselves have a role to play and some personal responsibility for the experience.. notice i said "some" responsibility, not "complete" - this doesn't absolve the wts for the things they do wrong in any way shape or form.

so please don't get argumentative about possible meanings and absolutes - of course the wts has a significant role to play but we need to decide what we're trying to achieve here and why the personal choice is so important.. i'm also not talking about actual crimes that the wts should answer for.

if they cover up child abuse for instance, they absolutely should be reported immediately.

tornapart

I think it depends on how much the individual believes that the shunning rule comes from God or not. How they perceive the GB and elders... do they speak from God and therefore should be obeyed. Or are they just imperfect men and we should follow what we believe ourselves to be right or not.

I've seen it in my own family, those that question what the elders say and do and are quite critical of them and their processes don't shun their df'ed family members. The ones that believe God is working through the elders, then they must be obeyed, as disobeying them is tantamount to disobeying God.

43

So sick of the abuse...

by iwasblind in

i am still serving as an elder but just hanging in there.

i think their quandry is that they don't see me out in the field, but when they need encouragement and decent prayer they come to me.. i just got off the phone to this poor sister who i have only met twice.

she is not even in my congregation (her sister is).

tornapart

What a shame there are not many elders like you iwasblind, that's why they come to you for empathy and kindness and understanding they get nowhere else. But you have to think about what is important for you, it's hard to maintain a front, you can end up losing your own identity.

I hope you can find a way forward, and maybe make those who come to you feel the love you are showing them so that when you are gone they will wonder why and be able to make their own way out.

Really hope it all works out well for you!!

112

Did an EX-JW wake you up to TTATT or did you put the effort to wake up yourself?

by John Aquila in

how many of us were woken up by some apostate yelling false prophets at a convention?.

how many of us were woken up by someone holding a sign and yelling, what happened to 1975.

how many of us were coerced to investigate the wt because some ex-jw pulled up a bunch of old watchtowers magazines and told us to read the false predictions?.

tornapart

Raymond Franz woke me up. Although it was my own choice to read it.

I'd always had 'questions'. Although I believed in 'Armageddon', I never believed the prophecies of when it would come. I never believed in 1975 and thought (as a young teen) that people selling their houses were stupid. I married a man who had been to university, never pioneered and had a good job (even though now he's an elder). We happily got a mortgage and had kids. I always derided the 'Revelation Climax' interpretations.. ie the Cedar Point Ohio stuff being the 7 trumpets. 1918, 1919 dates, the 2 witnesses being the governing body in prison etc. I always had a few doubts even about 1914. Come 2010 and the 'overlapping generation' and my doubts were making my head spin. I'd read the bible and tried to see it in a different light.... I found it interesting. Then quite by chance I read about Raymond Franz on Wikipedia.... I found his book online and read it in 3 days.(CoC) The rest as they say is history. One cannot read that book and not wake up to TTATT.