Posts by Jumba123

12

Confused in career choice :( Please help!!

by will-be-apostate in

jw
friends

i am new here as a member who posts.

i am a 18 years old boy, born in, baptized.

i read regularly the posts here on jwn.

Jumba123

80

What apostates fail to recognize is...

by nananana in

you can cut & paste all the excerpts from articles you want...you can leak all the boe letters, you can pretend to be witnesses and come to the conventions and meetings...but.

no other organization can begin to rival the success and magnitude of the prophecy found in mt 24:14. so apostates....don't waste your time spending countless hours digging up articles and reading books to convince yourself to turn away from jh's organization.

no matter what "evidence" you find you cannot ignore the obvious fulfillment of matthew 24:14.. .

Jumba123

Hi :)
Matthews 24 14 (NIV) states :'' ..and this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come''
Correct me if I'm wrong but many non-jw christians preach the gospel of the kingdom of God, we may not go door to door or hand out magazines saying that armageddon is near as often as witnesses do..but we do preach the kingdom of God.
And yeah I do agree that the end is near, we are closer to the end now then when i started writing this message, each second that passes us by brings us closer to the end. we should be prepared but should we really be afraid? If you are serving God in spirit and in truth and following his ways should we really be afraid?
Matthews 24 36 tells us that noone knows the day or the hour only God the father, verse 44 then goes on to say that jesus (the son of man) is coming at an hour that we do not expect.
As much as we want to know or try to predict the second coming of Jesus, the truth is noone knows and noone will know until that day actually arrives when we see him coming on a cloud!
Jesus also tell us not to be troubled and that these things ( the signs he pointed out in matthews 24) must come to pass but the end is not YET.

Look I'm ranting a little bit (lol)
I know that Most if not all (?) JW's mean well but can you not see the damage that this organization is doing to many? Yes I do believe that the Devil is a liar and he tries to decieve many and tries to take people away from the truth but instead of labelling people and making them an ''outcast'' shouldn't you show mercy and love? Shouldn't We let Gods love shine through us?

If these ''apostates'' have commited a grave offense by no longer believing what the organization believes/preaches and are lost and consumed with sin or what have you, then don't you think that you should love them deeply anyways? 1 peter 4:8 tells us that love covers a multitude of sin
and oh remember, you can do great things but if you have not love...you are nothing.

Now, I know that there are many other denominations under the christian umbrella other than the JW's that practice things that are not really loving or God-like but at the end of the day your organization or denomination will not save you, When jesus returns to judge us which he will, he will not gather all the JW's and put them in one corner and catholics in the other etc and then judge you guys as a group, you will be held accountable for your own actions. People (leaders and what not) who mislead others may get punished a little bit more for misleading people who knows but remember 2 corinthians 5: 10 my friends :)

Oh Dear, I've rambled on more than I wanted to, forgive me I tend to get a little bit too excited at times (okay a lot of the times)and go of topic
All this thinking has made me hungry

Have a good weekend all!

Love JUMBA

18

What has helped you avoid the doctrine roundabout and forever chasing your tail?

by Fernando in

i was a third generation born-in with no alternative reality, reference points or framework.. for more than forty years i was taught that the highest stakes (eternal life) main game is played on the doctrine playing field (supremacist ethnocentrism).

my eternal future apparently depended on which side of the trinity, hellfire and immortal soul doctrines i played.. apparently if i believed the watchtower way, even if it changed, i was in "the faith" and "the truth".

the same for legalism (supremacist self-righteousness attained by following the supposedly "right" but ever changing and inconsistent rules).. around 6 years ago, and for the first time in my life, one person asked me to explain what "the gospel" is in one word.

Jumba123

black sheep :hehe, that friend is not a future partner, we have been friends for many years and I am a female I have however fallen in like with a JW male, but that is a different story.
Prior to researching the JW doctrine and what they believe I thought that the 'do not be unequally yoked'' passage did not apply to us ( him and I)
I assumed that because they believe in Jesus and God that it would not matter, the only thing that i thought was different was the fact that they do not celebrate christmas or birthdays or recieve blood transfusion.
But this site has given me a deeper insight on the religion so i've taken two steps back 1) because I don't want to make his life difficult (even though he pursued me) and 2) I don't want to make my life difficult.

18

What has helped you avoid the doctrine roundabout and forever chasing your tail?

by Fernando in

i was a third generation born-in with no alternative reality, reference points or framework.. for more than forty years i was taught that the highest stakes (eternal life) main game is played on the doctrine playing field (supremacist ethnocentrism).

my eternal future apparently depended on which side of the trinity, hellfire and immortal soul doctrines i played.. apparently if i believed the watchtower way, even if it changed, i was in "the faith" and "the truth".

the same for legalism (supremacist self-righteousness attained by following the supposedly "right" but ever changing and inconsistent rules).. around 6 years ago, and for the first time in my life, one person asked me to explain what "the gospel" is in one word.

Jumba123

Hi Fernando:)
Thank you for your warm welcome
I hope to that I will continue to learn about JW's on this forum even though it will be second hand information, it will help me to understand my JW friend, to understand what they may feel or go through.
One thing i will not do with that friend is discuss religion because I value the friendship and love that friend so very much, I don't want to do anything that will cause her to distance herself from me. All i can do is pray and be a supportive friend.

Hi and Thank you Black sheep :)
I see where you are coming from, that's why I said up till the age of 15 my faith was borrowed :) Since then I have come to know God personally, on my own. So yes, I take what God has done in the lives of my family members as something to be thankful for to to remember, however, Jesus is my foundation and with that I can't go wrong. I fix my eyes on him because he is the perfector of my faith.
I realise that there may be a lot that i do not know or that are not as true as i grew up to believe that's why I ask God each day to direct my path as I do not want to lean on my own understanding of who he is because honestly, I don't think anyone can ever grasp his fullness.
The hurt and the pain that JW's who have left or are no longer active feel i can never understand because I have never been in that position, but God can and does :)

Love Jumba!

18

What has helped you avoid the doctrine roundabout and forever chasing your tail?

by Fernando in

i was a third generation born-in with no alternative reality, reference points or framework.. for more than forty years i was taught that the highest stakes (eternal life) main game is played on the doctrine playing field (supremacist ethnocentrism).

my eternal future apparently depended on which side of the trinity, hellfire and immortal soul doctrines i played.. apparently if i believed the watchtower way, even if it changed, i was in "the faith" and "the truth".

the same for legalism (supremacist self-righteousness attained by following the supposedly "right" but ever changing and inconsistent rules).. around 6 years ago, and for the first time in my life, one person asked me to explain what "the gospel" is in one word.

Jumba123

Hi, Everyone!
I'm new here, i've been a lurker for a few weeks, i actually found this site accidently.
Here is a little bit about myself, I'm 18 years old, I'm from the UK and I am a christian (non-jw).

I wanted to reply to 'exwhyzee' :)

This is my first post so i'm kind of scared, I don't know how people will respond to my post haha.
From my observation, many of you guys know a lot more than I do in terms of doctrines and their origins etc. Anyways about me..

My mother is a christian and from a young age she taught my siblings and I the bible using a childrens bible. She would read it to us at night during our bible study, it wasn't like the typical adult bible study, it was more like She'd read us the stories and ask us questions to see whether or not we understood the stories.

I guess for me because of that I believed (and still do believe) that God is real. Back then I believed because it was what I was taught by my family.
My mother never taught me about specific doctrines, she just taught me about God, Jesus and how much they love us ( people in general). She told me quite simply what it meant to be a Christian and how to accept jesus as my Lord and Saviour.
My mum came to know God through experience, to many it would sound like a typical testimony where you are in need and suffering and BAM God shows up but that's exactly how it was. Since then God has continously poured out his love to her and us (her children) and it is quite evident ( for us anyways) that God is a faithful God.

So from that young age till the age of around 15, My faith was almost borrowed ( from My mum).
I won't go into too much detail as it is personal and I don't want to post it online but I am more than happy to explain it to people individually via email or whatever if you'd like.

When I reached the age of 15, I realised that I needed God ( He was and is all I know, I suppose if i were brought up as a muslim for example i'd turn to allah) I remembered all that I was told about him, I remembered that He loved me just as I am because he created me. I remembered hearing that only he could save/help me. So i gave it a shot, I prayed and read a few verses from the bible here and there. If I am honest, I didn't really know the bible very well, I was able to recall bible stories and parables etc but those where the things I learnt at sunday school in the town we lived before. Even now I don't know the bible as well as many of you guys or as your sons/daughters who may be younger or a little bit older than me, but I am slowly learning.

I guess i've come this far by faith as cheesy and naive(?) as that sounds. But its true, my walk with God is strengthened by experience. After reading some of the posts on here I am finally able to understand why on earth James 1 v 2 tells me to count it all joy. If it wasn't for personal circumstances and difficulties I know for sure that I would have given up on God ages ago or would have continued to say that He is real without actually believing it whole heartedly.

I've read many things on here that has made me want to reply or to comment or whatever, but when push came to shove I couldn't mainly because I don't know as much as many if not all of you guys, In fact I've come to learn a thing or two here ( always checking my bible first though).

Before I knew Jehovah witnesses personally, I thought that they were ''weird'' people but then when a friend converted and told me that what they believed is actually backed up by the bible, i was shaken and thought that they may be telling the truth after all. I agreed with some of the things JW's did/say, I mean I could see where they were coming from you know, if Birthdays and Christmas really are of pagan origin I could understand why they did not want to celebrate it etc. For me personally I thought that It's up to people how they want to serve God because at the end of the day we will all be held accountable for our own actions and how we chose to live our lives.
I think and believe that 'Christianity' is a personal relationship with God yes there are rules that we should follow and those are Gods commandments which all sums up to loving each other and God. Other things are just guidlines and that it's up to you and your God as to whether you follow them word for word or not, His spirit that lives in you will direct your path.

I feel like I'm preaching haha sorry. But exwhyzee, your post on here for some reason as weird and stupid as it sounds to you and to others reading really broke my heart especially when you said that you are calmer and more peacefull now since leaving the organisation,I'm glad that your free and feel more at peace. You also said that if there is a God,you will do whatever it is he want you do to. That part made me smile because it sounds as if you are still open to God.

I am not writing to convert anyone or to tell anyone that i have the answers or whatever because I do not know everything. But I am fully convinced that I have and know the truth and that is Jesus Christ, you cannot and will not find the truth in any other thing or person but Him. To me he is the definition of the truth (John 14:6). And he himself said '' take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light''
Learn from Jesus, him and him only and you will find peace ( philipians 4:7)

I agree with what you said about God not being clear about the bigger picture, I mean he is God after all right?
But you can find out if God is real or not yourself if you wish to do so, jeremiah 29:13 says that you will seek Him and you will find him IF you seek him with all your heart. Reading this and reading that to understand Gods ways and stuff is good but try praying, a simple prayer. Pray what is on your heart.

The God I know is Love, yeah he has his angry side but he is slow to anger,there is nothing you can do to make him love you more or less as his love is unconditional. He doesn't like sin but he love us . You don't have to do anything special just come as you are and he himself will transform you. That's what I know and have experienced.

It just saddens me that the organisation teaches that they are the only truth and so when people find out that it is not they turn away from God, i mean who could blame them. It's almost like they have no choice but to not be in the truth whether they are inside the org or have left the org.
No Christian church be it Baptist, catholic etc is perfect I'm sure they all have Doctrines and ways that do not please God or that are not True thats why you should test everything with Gods word.

It's taken me forever to write this, I'm sorry for the long post

Love Jumba!