Posts by IWant2Know

45

Isaiah 40:29-31 and Being Gay

by IWant2Know in

i'm new here and i have perhaps an unusual question.

it's just something that i would like to know from ex's or formers rather than from other jehovah's witnesses.

but i would like to know what your experience and your struggle was for former jws who were gay when they were jws.

Isaiah 40:29-31 and Being Gay

by IWant2Know in

i'm new here and i have perhaps an unusual question.

it's just something that i would like to know from ex's or formers rather than from other jehovah's witnesses.

but i would like to know what your experience and your struggle was for former jws who were gay when they were jws.

KalebOutWest said:

Those verses are not actually applicable to this situation or even about individual application, as Jehovah's Witnesses believe.

I'm guessing that you are the person who said that he knew Hebrew and that his parents were Jewish. Because this is another time that I've been explained how certain Hebrew scriptures actually have a meaning that is not the meaning that Christians and Jehovah's Witnesses put upon those scriptures. For example, I understand that the well-known verse at Ecclesiastes 1:15 is supposed to have a different original Jewish meaning compared to the way that JWs apply it. And then there's the whole thing about the way many Hebrew scriptures have been applied 'differently' to Jesus, however, I do not want to go into that.

KalebOutWest said:

Over a century had passed since the prophet Isaiah who penned the first section of the book had passed. Cyrus the Great had come on the scene and liberated the people from exile to Babylon. While the Jewish hope of the Messiah was not fully formed yet. . .

Interesting. So, when did the Jewish hope of the Messiah actually form and became fully formed? Because I thought that Genesis 3:15 was the first prophecy about the Messiah. Although, I suspect that Jews have a totally different meaning for Genesis 3:15.

KalebOutWest said:

But the text does not mean that young men today can literally hope in God to gain strength so they do not stumble, as in the case of "falling into sin." The "stumble and fall" that is being described is not sinning but comparing the strength of "Jacob/Israel" of verse 27 to being stronger than young men that don't have the power to cross the desert like Israel does.

KalebOutWest, I think that you may have broke my brain... Or you may have fixed it. Or perhaps helped to fix it. But I have to let all this sink in.

KalebOutWest said:

To use this same text as an encourgement for young people facing "sins" is not only taking it out of context but shows a deep lack of Biblical history and an inability to just read the context.
The context is about the Creator being the real Savior, the true Liberator, greater than any power found among the nations--it is not about how youths can find help when faced with sexual temptations.

I've always found it helpful to get answers about the Hebrew scriptures from people who speak Hebrew and who have a Jewish background. However, unfortunately, there have been some questions asked to Jewish people that they seem to evade.

45

Isaiah 40:29-31 and Being Gay

by IWant2Know in

i'm new here and i have perhaps an unusual question.

it's just something that i would like to know from ex's or formers rather than from other jehovah's witnesses.

but i would like to know what your experience and your struggle was for former jws who were gay when they were jws.

IWant2Know

Kosonen said:

Hi, I would answer your question by saying that everyone has to struggle with sinful inclinations. Hetrosexual people might have a hard struggle with constant thoughts about fornication or adultery.

Well, even though heterosexual people might have a hard struggle with constant thoughts about fornication or adultery, I would say that 'many' people who are homosexual actually do have a hard struggle with constant thoughts of being attracted to the same sex. And even if they don't act upon those desires.

However, I can't imagine that too many heterosexual JWs have that hard of a struggle with sexual thoughts considering 1 Corinthians 7:9. Unless 1 Corinthians 7:9 is in reality useless for Christians. Although, one thing that I know for sure is that 1 Corinthians 7:9 is useless to the homosexual JW who is struggling with their sexual desires.

Also, I've read many anecdotal stories on the internet and jwfacts.com about the experiences of gay JWs. And many of them had such bad experiences, they ended up leaving the organization.

However, I figure that the responses by successful PIMI gay JWs are either by people who are bisexual, or whose libidos were to a degree where they could nip their desires in the bud. Because it's true that humans have different levels of libidos... Even 1 Corinthians 7:9 tells you that.

Also, before I started posting on this board, I looked and found quite a few threads about homosexuality, however, I didn't read them and thought I'd get a more current perspective of the topic by members.

11

Manners and Respectfulness

by IWant2Know in

i would like to know if there are any ex's or formers who still appreciate good manners and respectfulness?

.

IWant2Know

LV101 said:11 hours ago

There are many well-mannered JWs and XJWs. A few ill-mannered ones/experiences seem to mar the good in our minds. I'm always impressed with manners/respect displayed by young people -- most parents are doing a good job.

Do you mean in the organization, or in the world? Because a whole lot of the parenting in the world is the pits.

11

Manners and Respectfulness

by IWant2Know in

i would like to know if there are any ex's or formers who still appreciate good manners and respectfulness?

.

IWant2Know

moley said:

15 hours ago

Sorry but what are you getting at. Are you implying that because we are no longer part of that hateful cult that we won’t have good manners and be respectful, personally I find that offensive.

I know. And that's why I added: "But I hope this question isn't offensive to this forum" in the duplicate thread.

Manners and Respectfulness (jehovahs-witness.com)

Also, I added a little anecdote in that thread where I said:

Well, with all joking aside, sometimes it seems as if ex-JWs are playing the role that they think they should play... Kind of like a self-fulfilling prophecy from what scriptures says about people who stop serving God.
I've even had a friend who was disfellowshipped and he seemed to be, or tried to act as ornery as he could. And I had even faded at the time that I saw him, but he was very mean-spirited and kind of surprised me.

Take care now.

52

Manners and Respectfulness

by IWant2Know in

i would like to know if there are any ex's or formers who still appreciate good manners and respectfulness?

but i hope this question isn't offensive to this forum.

.

IWant2Know

MeanMrMustard said:

12 hours ago

Don't listen to these guys. It's well known that all exJWs, upon leaving The Truth, adopt a cavalier attitude toward manners.

Well, with all joking aside, sometimes it seems as if ex-JWs are playing the role that they think they should play... Kind of like a self-fulfilling prophecy from what scriptures says about people who stop serving God.

I've even had a friend who was disfellowshipped and he seemed to be, or tried to act as ornery as he could. And I had even faded at the time that I saw him, but he was very mean-spirited and kind of surprised me.

52

Manners and Respectfulness

by IWant2Know in

i would like to know if there are any ex's or formers who still appreciate good manners and respectfulness?

but i hope this question isn't offensive to this forum.

.

IWant2Know

NotFormer said:

You can only post two new threads every 24 hours. Trying to do it again will only create another identical thread that will appear when the 24 hour curfew expires.

Ohhhh. Thanks.

74

Doctrines and Bible Interpretations

by IWant2Know in

i would like to know if ex's and formers who are not church christians, believe that many of jws' doctrines and bible interpretations are correct, or do you feel that they aren't?

.

IWant2Know

Vanderhoven7 said:

The unique doctrines of Jehovah’s Witnesses are the ones that only Jehovah’s Witnesses teach. Here is a list that I’ve compiled…and perhaps Witnesses will be glad to demonstrate that they are found in the Bible.
1. Only Jehovah's Witnesses teach that there were less than 144,000 faithful Christians that existed prior to the 20th century They alone teach that from all of humanity, there will be exactly and exclusively 144,000 faithful born-again Christians whose destiny is heaven.

I'll have to get back to the rest of your post some other time, Vanderhoven7, because it's getting late and this is an old forum and it takes me a long time to quote and compose replies. However, I did want to say that if I'm being totally honest, I would think that a group who claims to have exclusive truth from the Bible, would have a different interpretation of scripture compared to mainstream Christians. However, perhaps the governing body may eventually have new light about all the Christians who ever lived since the first century only being of the anointed, and that perhaps many of them could have been of the great crowd class.

74

Doctrines and Bible Interpretations

by IWant2Know in

i would like to know if ex's and formers who are not church christians, believe that many of jws' doctrines and bible interpretations are correct, or do you feel that they aren't?

.

IWant2Know

slimboyfat said:

JWs are much closer to the biblical texts than other Christian groups in key teachings including: the importance of God’s name; that Jesus is the firstborn of all creation and subordinate to God; that Christians should be separate from the world and not take part in wars; that consciousness ends at death; that humans will be resurrected to a restored earth; that anointed Christians comprise the ‘Israel of God’; that all Christians must preach; and so on, this is not a complete list. The things they are wrong about are relatively minor and mainly to do with the end times, such as the Gentile Times ending in 1914 and the identity of the ‘faithful slave’.

I basically agree with most of what you said. So, are you still a JW, slimboyfat ?

74

Doctrines and Bible Interpretations

by IWant2Know in

i would like to know if ex's and formers who are not church christians, believe that many of jws' doctrines and bible interpretations are correct, or do you feel that they aren't?

.

IWant2Know

ElderBerry said:

Religion comes from a need for hope

I agree.

ElderBerry said:

On Reddit many PIMOs are turning to agnostic so they can still have hope.

Could you elaborate... or as JWs used to say, expound on that?Also, they need a sticky here so that people can understand all the PI acronyms. I know some of them, but I'm going to go Google the rest of them.

ElderBerry said:

I think most PIMIs think the GB maybe wrong on some things otherwise there would never be new lite ever again.

But I would say that they are pretty steadfast and don't really care about that.