peaceloveharmony
JoinedPosts by peaceloveharmony
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6
Is it Biblical to Shun??
by charlie inthis is a duplicate.
aol was having some trouble.. edited by - charlie on 17 january 2001 23:12:34
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Is it Biblical to Shun??
by charlie ini'm not a witness, but i know one very well and we have had many discussions on various topics.
we would both like to know, however, if it is biblical to shun the disfellowshipped/disassociated?
where in the bible does the society base the practice of shunning or groveling back for a long period of time if a person is sorry and wants to return to the church?
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peaceloveharmony
hi-on H20 they are talking about disfellowshipping.
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better or worse??
by peaceloveharmony inhi-i have a question for everyone.
i was just wondering if your life has improved since you've left the org?
for me i left when i was 17, went to college, met a great guy who i live with now and have a ton of great friends.
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peaceloveharmony
hi-i have a question for everyone. i was just wondering if your life has improved since you've left the org?
for me i left when i was 17, went to college, met a great guy who i live with now and have a ton of great friends. i'm very happy right now with my life. i'm in the process of starting my own online business and my future looks bright! the thing that gets me is that according to what i learned growing up a jw, anyone who leaves the org is setting themselves up for failure and has fallen into the hands of satan. but that is not the case in my situation. of course right after i left, i went a little crazy--drugs alcohol and sex but after a year i started to gain balance in my life. also right after i left i was a little emotionally unbalanced. i cried all the time because some of my family shunned me. but thankfully mom was always there and eventually dad came around too. i also lost my best friend. she shunned me for 6 years but i saw her at my brother's wedding two years ago and she did some detective work and figured out where i live and got in contact with me. now we hang out all the time. and i've gotten to know her wonderful 6 yr old son. so things i'd say have worked out pretty well for me. of course it still sucks that my sister and brother shun me but i'm starting to write them letters, i fugure i'll be the bigger person and contact them.
all in all though, things are BETTER for me now than before. i feel much better about myself--no more shame or guilt about every little thing. i am truly a happy person. and i feel more spiritual now than i ever did as a witness.
what about all of you?
curious,
love harmony
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Is it Biblical to Shun??
by charlie inthis is a duplicate.
aol was having some trouble.. edited by - charlie on 17 january 2001 23:12:34
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peaceloveharmony
i have to say that by shunning me; my sister, brother and the other witnesses in the cong have only pushed me further away from ever wanting to come back into the fold. i found my "worldly" friends really loved me and cared about me. i found out what unconditional love is. i have friends that are my friends because they like me for me-even though i smoke, curse, and sometimes get really drunk and make a fool out of myself. they still love me! of course my friends that don't smoke don't want me to smoke but they would never shun me about it because friendship and love is more important to them.
i don't care if shunning is biblical--it is not right for family to shun. yes i'm a sinner according to christians but just associating with me is not going to make you commit the sins i commit. unless of course, you want to commit those sins, then it won't matter if you're talking to me or not. i recently wrote a letter to my sister. i told her that i would never ever be a jehovah's witness again, it's been eight years, get over it. i just want my sister in my life. i would love it if she left the jws but i would never overtly try to get her to leave. i just want my big sister back:(
Edited by - peaceloveharmony on 18 January 2001 11:15:24
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Living A Lie
by MoodyBlue ini am sick of living a lie, yet afraid to change it.
married to a man who refuses to listen, who would rather plug his ears and shout "nooooooo" is taking it's tole.
i am afraid to speak my mind about my doubt, my thoughts, and what i'm learning, as i'm not ready to cross that point of no return.
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peaceloveharmony
hi moodyblue-
here is a big hug from me too- (((((((((MOODYBLUE))))))))
i think you should read the thread "are you EX's still christian" if you haven't already.
i also just have a few more suggestions for you:
find out what spirituality means to you--not what the borg says it should be.
learn about other religions. this one helped me a lot. after i learned about other religions it put the jehovah's witnesses into perspective for me.
know yourself and learn to love yourself! i'm 25 and i think that from the age of 18-23 i did the most growing. i learned who i am and that i control my life. i'm still learning and even when i'm 60 i'll still be learning more about myself. it is a life-long process.
trust yourself.
just my two cents
love harmony
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Visiting a KH...
by ianao ina 'friend' of mine keeps telling me that everything i am reading here on this board is a packload of lies from people who have no respect for god.. he also tells me that if i would just go to the kh for once, that i would see for myself that jws are not the bad people that they are portrayed to be.. while i have my own convictions about this subject, i was curious to know what others' opinions would be on the fruitfullness of taking up this man's offer and going to the kh to see for myself.
so, what do you think?
what should i watch out for?
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peaceloveharmony
ianao,
along with everyone else's advice i have the following to add.
if you do decide to attend a meeting, arrive right at the start time. that way you will not be love bombed until after the meeting. sit in the back and OBSERVE!
i recently attended a service meeting with my mother and my situation is different than yours but i sat in the back and observed the witnesses throughout the meeting. many were talking to others during the talks. those not talking didn't seem to be paying attention-seemed like most were daydreaming. the messages from the platform to me were funny: full of paranoia and fear of the "world". they also kept harping on bad associations. i felt like hadn't been away for 8 years--same message i remember. another thing was some of the reason they used to prove their truth. one talk was on Adam and Eve, real historical figures? it was two sisters presenting the material--you know how they have one as the jw and the other as a non believer? anyway--the girl used only her bible to prove adam existed. now my college educated mind is screaming out--you can't just use one source!!!!!
all of these observations don't really tell me if the jw's have the truth or not but they do tell me that they are not logical in their thinking, they are ruled by fear and they don't really seem to me to be closer to god than any other religious group i've encountered.after the meeting you will find yourself surrounded by people who want to draw you into their world. be on guard! as the others have explained, life is grand when you are studying but once you are baptized, the fun is over.
love to all!
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Are you Ex's still Christian?
by joel inwhassup guys.
i've spent most of my web time over the last 2 years at another site full of ex-jdubs...i'd say about 50 people post there on occasion...many of that number regularly.. what struck me from the beginning, as i got to know the people posting there was...how many were now atheists...non-believers in god...the bible...pretty much anything they once held sacred as jw's!.
i dare say...90 some % do not consider themselves christian now!.
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peaceloveharmony
well, i'll jump in here with my thoughts on religion, christianity etc.
first off, i am not a christian. i don't believe the bible is inspired. i believe the bible was written so rulers could control their followers. look at the old testament, the isrealites needed something to hold them together, something to lift their spirits--so someone decides it would be a good idea to write down their history into a book and say it was inspired by god--viola! you have the beginning of the bible. this is my interpretation--i don't have anything on hand right now to back this up but in a class i took at the university, the professor (and the books we had for class) believed the first 5 books of the bible where written years after they were said to be written.
i do believe that people can learn from the bible and it does contain useful information on living a good moral life. it does stress selflessness and genorosity and love--all important but to me the bible is no more inspired than my favorite dean koonz novel.
as for being a christian--i think jesus' message is a good one but i can't be a follower of him. for one thing, according to the bible i'm a huge sinner because i live with my boyfriend and we engage in premarital sex aka fornication. i don't feel this is a sin. we are in a commited relationship, in love and we just don't want to get married yet-we see no reason for it. since i feel i'm not sinning and i have no reason to be repentant, wouldn't jesus condemn me?
here is what i do believe in:
I believe in a supreme being who i think of as "the all"
i believe in gods and goddesses
i think the gods and goddesses are our connection to "the all" and "the all's" connection to us.
my main belief system is "AN IT HARM NONE, DO WHAT THOU WILL"
and i believe in karma and that what energy you send out, either negative or positive, will come back to you three times as strong.
i believe that we need to protect the earth
i believe that everyone should strive for higher enlightenment. life should be a journey filled with learning experiences and you should be improving yourself after each experience.
i believe life happens here and now--not after you are dead--that is the afterlife, so while you are alive you should be striving to make it the best possible life for you and for those around you.
i believe in love
i believe in respect
i believe in honestyhere is what i question:
evolution vs creation
i lean more toward evolution but don't know for sure and don't really care--because this is my life here and now and i've got to live it no matter if i was created or if i (meaning humans) have evolved to this state.this is getting long and i hope i'm making sense:)
one more thing--i have a major beef with christianity. my main problem is that they teach that god is going to come down and destroy the wicked and then everything is going to be a-ok, but i think that is bulls*it. that just allows people to not try and change things. they say, "oh woes me the world is so full of evil and horrible people and things keep getting worse. i can't wait for the day that god takes care of this for me." but i don't think god is going to do that for us. i think we need to do it for ourselves----ENLIGHTENMENT---eventually maybe we will get it right. that is what christianity took from people. the will and the want to make change in the here and now. christianity says rely on god and he'll take care of things for you. well i for one think we need to rely on ourselves. "the all" or as some would call it GOD really does not have time for all our little problems--he is running the universe!
ok i could go on for hours and hours. but i'll stop. i do have one suggestion, a book, it's called "the mists of avalon" and it is by marion zimmer bradley. it is about king arthur and told from the woman's perspective and it talks a great deal about the clash between christianity and the old religion (ie paganism, witchcraft). a good read!
ok--hope i haven't offended too many out there--my non belief in christianity by no way means that i have a problem with individuals who are christian. respect is also something that i believe in. i only have problems with hypocrits!
with love to you all!
harmonyEdited by - peaceloveharmony on 16 January 2001 12:47:17
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Sickening abuse case in the UK
by Simon ini'm sure anyone in the uk will have heard about the poor little 8 year old girl who was subjected to appalling abuse and killed.. i just feel so angry right now...how could so many police, doctors, social workers let her down and fail to act when the signs were so clear and pointed out to them?.
what are they there for, for goodness sake?.
they should all be sacked for incompetence and failing to do what they get well paid for.
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peaceloveharmony
i know what you mean--i get so angry when i hear how the system that is supposed to protect children fails. that is probably one reason why abusers feel they can get away with what they do--because the system in place to protect children does not work so great most of the time. poor children who are abused, my heart breaks for them all.
the million dollar question is what can we do to stop the abuse of children?????? it is such a complex and emotional issue....
harmony
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When should you Disassociate yourself?
by happytobefree ini have been having discussion with my sister (relative), who is an active witness, about writing a letter of disassociation.
the reason being is that i have not attended the meetings in over a year and it's been 4 years since i have went out in the jw ministry.. i going to try to sum this topic up.
my sister think that i should not da myself because i have not done any immoral act in her thinking.
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peaceloveharmony
tw-
your disassociation letter sounds very much like mine. i said something like "i Harmony R..... no longer wish to associate with Jehovah's Witnesses" i signed my name,handed it to my father and left to attend a homecoming football game with my worldly friend. my dad made me write the letter if i wanted to attend the game. how lame! so i was coerced into getting baptized at 15 and coerced into disassociation at 17.
what a mess~
harmony -
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Confessing
by STRUGGLE inhello, i was reading judical com.
was really suprise to find out how some of jw's feel.
some have, like the single mom, have such a negative experience with them.
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peaceloveharmony
tw-
email me at [email protected]
thanks for the kind words!
wouldn't it be weird if we did know each other!
love harmony
Edited by - peaceloveharmony on 12 January 2001 14:30:5