I live in Troutdale and am a ex JW. Its been 5 years of being free from this false teaching.
Gena
Posts by Sozo
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9Ex-Witnesses in Oregon?
by CatholicGuy ini voluntarily disassociated from the jws in 1980. i was actively involved in ministry to jws and ex-jws for the next 10 years.
the past 10 years or so i've moved on with my life and lost touch with much of what was happening with the watch tower society and ex-witnesses.
of course, growing up in the witnesses leaves its imprint on you.
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More Wondering and Self doubt
by Vitameatavegamin inhello friends, this is your vitameatavegamin girl.
by the way, don't forget to watch the i love lucy marathon on tv land starting october 15th, it should be a hoot.
50th anniversary of the show.. anyway, lately i have been doing more thinking about everything.
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Sozo
I too was very scared and wondering what would become of me during the "end times". I figured all my sins would come to haunt me and most likely God would strike me dead. What really brothered me was my kids.......
What I would like to share with you is that Jesus can take that fear and worry from you. All you need to do is confess to Him that He is Lord and Savior - ask Him into your heart and he will. Once you do that all your sins will be forgotten and erased. Most importantly, you will be adopted into God's family and when Christ returns you will go to heaven and not be among the tribulation.
The JWs teachings of God's Word is soooooo twisted and denies the importance of who Jesus is.
If you are wanting to know who God is get ahold of a bible that is non JW and begin reading Matthew through Revelation. The book of John describes Jesus and His purpose.
No church, religion, pastor, elder, family can speak for you before God nor can they save a person. Get informed and read the Word for yourself - God will reveal himself to you.
Email me if you would like to discuss further.
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just one question
by beepers ini am an inactive witness.
the problem i'm having is that i have a 1 year old daughter.
not that she's the problem, but jw's believe that only jw's will survive armageddon.
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Sozo
I experienced the same fear and I was getting ready to run back to the organization until I was shown grounded facts that the organization was false. Once I accepted that fact I was able to ask what or who is truth was when I began reading the New Testiment and Jesus says there is a free gift from God and that is salvation. It is ours if we want it. If we want it then we must ask Jesus into our heart by confessing to Him that He is Lord/Savior.
The first step is to know and accept that the JWs organization is false. The next step is to ask God to reveal Himself and He will show you the way -
The most incredible thing to me is the freedom, experiencing the joy of life and accepting the fact that I am a sinner, I do make mistakes and I don't go to any elder or pastor to confess I go only to God to confess. If I go to a pastor because of a struggle its done by choice of my conviction and the pastor I go to will be one that I know is a safe person who will encourage me.
Everything the JWs have taught is so opposite of God's truth. Once you accept His love for you and His promises your life will never be the same far beyond any JW experience you could imagine.
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I'm Scared
by FriendlyFellaAL inbefore i get started on what i'm afraid will be a lengthy post, i just want to say a few things.
this may not be the appropriate forum for me to post what i need to say, but i hope that all of you will be understanding and supportive of how i feel.
i've been lurking here for quite some time and have even been brave enough to make a few posts, so i feel somewhat comfortable expressing this here.. perhaps i should discuss my background a bit before getting to the heart of the matter so you all can understand where i'm coming from.. i am a late 20-something former jw, never disassociated myself but completely stopped attending meetings about four or five years ago.
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Sozo
Welcome to this board!
I felt your anxities during the Gulf War and was in a similar situation. I figured that the end was coming then and me and my kids were gonna die. I was preparing to go back to the Kingdom Hall but God has other plans instead he got ahold of my attention by sending a cult researcher across my path where this man showed me many false JW teachings.
Needless to say, I never went back but instead I heard truth just how much God loved me and what I needed to do to be saved.
The events that occurred this week is a wake up Call, not just for Amierca but for the world - the call is is that Jesus is coming back and we need to be ready. He loves each and every one of us and desires no one to perish. If we receive Him, we will not fear of the things happening in the world.
Read the New Testiment (not NWT) and ask Him to reveal himself to you - He will do that.....he may use someone to speak to you, or he may use His Word or use circumstances to speak to you.
Through all of this ugliness God will prevail and use it to His glory. The feelings you are encountering are normal so allow yourself to process and in the same moment seek Him.
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Our American Flag
by Vienna indoesn't it feel good to not be a jw at this point in history?
through the fear of the last few days, i do have comfort from scripture about my eternal salvation through jesus (as a witness you never felt secure with god--don't miss a meeting or field service for long or you're out), but also because my husband and i can display our american flag on our cars and in front of our house to support our country!.
as americans, we will not stand for terrorism and i'm proud to be in this country.
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Sozo
Amen to your posting!
I too am comforted and have no fear of believing that I may or may not live because I didn't work hard enough for my salvation.
I am proud to be an American and am proud to raise the flag because it represents FREEDOM - It gives us freedom to make choices in life and to live life in a peaceful manner. To continue the freedom and for everything this country stands for we are responsible to pay our taxes and vote. We are responsible to be involved in what the government does - we as a nation should rise and be apart of laws being passed.
People who don't vote and have given up on the government or don't vote because it is againt their religion, or be apart of the military.....well, then they should stripped from being a citizen. But because this country is great it allows this type of foolishness to take place and you get to reap the goodness.
I wonder if this country lost its freedom and everything it stands for what the people who didn't vote or fight would say then......maybe if live in a country that dictates how you live and what you wear and who to worship will give you a better appreciation of this great nation.
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Do you still believe in paradise promise?
by GoingNuts inone question that i have is does anyone still believe in the promise of perfect paradise on earth?.
i just got done reading "emperors new clothes" forgot what link i was on.
anyway the brother did some comendable exhaustive research into the subject.
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Sozo
I've always believed in God and when I came out from under the JW docterine - besides the anger I was experiencing and reflecting all the year living a lie I was never angry towards God. The question was now WHO is He? What is the truth? I began to read the Bible and started reading the New Testiment - - from beginning to finish. I actually read the Bible as I would a book. My quesitons were answered and the everything I was taught about my destination was a lie!
Everything we were taught it is the total opposite of what is truth. The fact is there is a God who loves us and created us in His image. He died for our sins so that we can ask Him into our hearts so that our names will be written in the Book of Life and will be reigning in the heavens with Him after He comes here to call us Home in heaven. Living here on earth now is temporary. Our choice is to accept if the Bible is real or not, if God is real or not.
Knowing Him is so much more than just going to church and listening but becoming saved and asking Him into our hearts just as the scriptures say.
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Question re: REVELATION
by Amazing inrecently i read some information that state the catholic church now admits that the apostle john definitely did not write the bible book of revelation.
also, another source stated that revelation may not be an 'inspired canonical' book.
rather, revelation may be the work of a raving lunatic imprisoned on patmos, who had illusions of grandeur, and may have been on drugs as he invented this fantasy we call also call apocalypse.
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Sozo
Any teachings or comments coming from Catholics I personally don't think about - they are in the same category with the JWs and Mormons. Reason I say that is because Catholics practice things that are not of God, i.e. praying to Mary and other saints..
I don't know what Friday's comments are all about but I don't look to others views about what the bible is or isn't saying.....The JWs have shoved that method of me being stupid and not knowing what God is saying without an elited person telling me because I had no brain or God did think I was special.
God says that if we are His and seek Him, He will give us the Holy Spirit who will minister to our hearts and mind so that we can understand. Of course, we can dig dipper and learn what the Greek and Hebrew interprations were at the time of Bible writtings.
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Is Jehovah is still creating? #73
by OlderTom ini thought jehovah is on his rest day.
he's done with working and creating things, well that is what i was taught anyway.. tell me this then.
every year we get a new variety of the influenca virus.
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Sozo
God is never done working - there are galaxies and stars that are produced. He doesn't create disease - man does.
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Indoctrinated at "church camp"
by d0rkyd00d inman, i can't believe how gullible people are.
my friend was an atheist, but recently went to a "church camp" for four days.
now she's back, and she said she's a new person.
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Sozo
She will be a changed person! Why would that make you mad? If someone desires to serve God and allow a transformation of love, kindness, comfort, consideration, compassion to take place within and touch those who need a touch why would that make you mad?
She is not harming anyone or doing anything that could cause harm. Receiving God is an absolute change and transformation of the heart - that is what He wants to have.
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regret my "former" life as a Witness
by Richie indisassociating yourself slowly or quickly is a matter of perspective; think about it: you lose either way, i.e.
the witnesses will treat you like you've become part of the "bodysnatchers" of the world and no matter how you rationalize it, there is no honorable way out in the eyes of the witnesses.. i was df'd about 1.5 years ago (as they said that i left the organization so it was entirely my fault, but little do they know that their organization left me, as i appealed the gb's decision), and the sudden break-off of family and friends in the truth is always devastating to say the least - it's an emotional explosion which in your wildest dreams would normally never ever happen....i can now understand what death means, at least in the beginning....yes i was dead though living - even though when i went back to the meetings afterwards, i could feel the lonely emptiness, the non-existence of myself.
yet when by accident i would be gazing straight into the eyes of one of my (former) friends, he would just stare past me as if i didn't exist at all even though i attempted to smile at him in indicating respect to him....how convenient for them to ignore a fellow friend and instead make me feel like the lowest person on earth - but then..of course they were taught to respond in this manner to anyone who is df'd.... then i though to myself...what would happen when eventually i would be re-instated: yes, then after the announcement most would want to see me at the end of the meeting all happy and oh so loving and wanting to be my best friend all over again - in a heartbeat they'll change from zombies to angelic like mortal creatures of love.... for this very reason i cannot return to the meetings in the hope of wanting to be re-instated and have this hypocrisy again heaped upon me like tentacles.
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Sozo
Dear Richie,
Reading your post just brought back many memories when I left the organization and the thought of my mom looking the other way as though I had committed the ulimate crime.
I was raised in the organization and knew no other possibility of truth about God, there was things taught that I didn't agree with but went along with it because I was told that Bethel knew best. When I left the organization I realized that I was not serving God but my mom instead. All of these years I was going to the hall to appease her.
4 years ago, I had a hunger to seek God and after research I came to the conclusion that the organization was false....I was angry and hurt because I felt all those years were lies and the toll my family endured. I began to read a bible (not the NWT) and so many things made perfect sense. All of this took time to process and the pain took time to go away but after reading scriptures that when a person asks Jesus into their heart, they are automatically apart of His family and NO one can take that person away. God wants us to look to Him and lean upon Him for all of our stuff -
God doesn't want anyone to be torn down or hurt in His name. He wants a relationship with all of us, he doesn't want us to be ruled by an organization that is why He wrote the Word. Its the only source a person needs to go to for anwers.