lriddle80

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Posts by lriddle80

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  13

  I had an encounter today...

  by lriddle80 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so, i had an unexpected encounter with a jw today.

  she was the caregiver who came to work to relieve me and she pulled out a jw.org tract and i told her i knew all about it because my family were part of it and i see it everywhere on their fb.

  i, without thinking about the consequences, told her that i used to be one and now go to a baptist church.

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  lriddle80

  Thanks so much for your comments! Very encouraging and some things to think about, too!
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  13

  I had an encounter today...

  by lriddle80 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so, i had an unexpected encounter with a jw today.

  she was the caregiver who came to work to relieve me and she pulled out a jw.org tract and i told her i knew all about it because my family were part of it and i see it everywhere on their fb.

  i, without thinking about the consequences, told her that i used to be one and now go to a baptist church.

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  lriddle80

  Oh, and after she was talking about the paganism of christmas, I told her that our days of the week and calendar were of pagan origin, but she didn't mind writing the days on her papers. She said she'd have to look that up.
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  28

  What would you do if JW's lifted the shunning policy?

  by bsand20 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  have you guys asked yourself that question?

  what if the gb decided that "new light" revealed to them that disfellowshipping was wrong and they would do away with it for current dfd members as well...... .......16 years of my life.

  would i welcome my family back?

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  lriddle80

  I would disassociate myself.
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  13

  I had an encounter today...

  by lriddle80 in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  so, i had an unexpected encounter with a jw today.

  she was the caregiver who came to work to relieve me and she pulled out a jw.org tract and i told her i knew all about it because my family were part of it and i see it everywhere on their fb.

  i, without thinking about the consequences, told her that i used to be one and now go to a baptist church.

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  lriddle80

  So, I had an unexpected encounter with a JW today. She was the caregiver who came to work to relieve me and she pulled out a JW.Org tract and I told her I knew all about it because my family were part of it and I see it everywhere on their FB. I, without thinking about the consequences, told her that I used to be one and now go to a baptist church. We got into an intense discussion where I told her that we, at the foundation, believe that the only way to salvation is Jesus and he is the truth and with that we can worship shoulder to shoulder and Jehovah would accept us both. She kept going back to celebrating Christmas, believing in the trinity. I asked her if Jesus forgives her when she lies everyday or lusts everyday and she said she saw where I was going. I kept bringing Jesus up as the only way to salvation. And she kept pushing him aside and I kept mentioning that that is the most important thing and he shouldn't be pushed aside. I said that serving Jehovah shouldn't be put in a box and that I am so happy to have the freedom to express my worship to him any way that I wanted. I had this conversation: So, the only way to lose weight is through diet and exercise, correct? Yes, she said. Ok, the only way to salvation is through Jesus, right? Yes. Is there only 1 way to diet? No. Is there only 1 kind of exercise? No. Ok, then there are many ways to worship and many ways to serve, not just going door to door. Helping the poor, clothing the needy. If I even give a cup of cold water to a child in Jesus' name, that is worship. I told her that serving others is our work and she was so quick to point out that we have to serve Jehovah and I quickly said we serve Jehovah by serving others and she admitted that was the commandment. I told about different scriptures and she did not. But she did wish she had her bible.

  Now, admittedly, I felt attacked (from the years of my family attacking my faith) and so I became defensive probably to the point that she felt threatened. But she would laugh at me and say "WOOOW" I can't believe you knew the truth (which I quickly said Jesus is the truth) and are choosing a different path.

  I hated it because it was like talking to brick wall. I hated it because I couldn't convince her that my worship was acceptable also. I liked it because I spoke the gospel with boldness!

  I left there, running, saying to myself that I hate them. I prayed today that God would transform my mind to start to forgive them. But to forgive a species that will not change and will always see me as inferior, that's going to take some effort and a lot of prayer. I did realize that I spend half my energy thinking I am inferior and trying to prove to people that I am just as good as they are.

  So 2 things happened from it: I am going to accept that I am good enough, and that I need to forgive them. Once and for all!! And, also, don't engage a brick wall.
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  23

  The epitome of cognitive dissonance

  by sir82 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  it is rare to get such a startling, sparkling, perfect example of this.. here is a snippet of a conversion going on at jwtalk.net regarding israel/gaza:.

  http://jwtalk.net/forums/topic/16268-peace-security-news/.

  every one who is in the world today and dies tomorrow is in line for a ressurection.this is their best way of being in the new world.

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  lriddle80

  This is what I don't understand, if all you had to do was die to get resurrected, then what was the purpose of Jesus dying?
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  15

  The Truth About The Truth goes way way way back before Watchtower?

  by Island Man in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  here's an interesting excerpt from forged by bart ehrman (pay particular attention to the last sentence):.

  "a number of the books of the new testament were disputed already in early christianity, among the christian scholars of the second to the fourth centuries, who were arguing over which books should be included in scripture.. the most famous instance is the book of revelation.

  a third-century christian scholar of alexandria, egypt, named dionysius, argued that the book was not actually written by jesuss disciple john, the son of zebedee.

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  lriddle80
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  42

  Well, what can you say???? I am speechless.

  by DATA-DOG in

  1. watchtower
  2. beliefs

  exhibit a:.

  awake!

  "if you are a young person, you also need to face the fact that you will never grow old in this present system of things.

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  lriddle80

  The problem with that is that they claim to be "Jehovah's mouthpiece" or whatever and are the only ones who Jehovah communicates with. Ok, so if Jehovah is communication with them, why do they keep getting it wrong? Are they just too imperfect to listen correctly? It makes no sense. They tell the people what to believe and say it is from Jehovah, then when it doesn't happen, they say they are imperfect. No. That's not right. That's not the truth.
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  21

  An interesting encounter with some sisters today.

  by quellycatface in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when i got up to leave, i went over to their table and said "nice to see you", their faces were a picture.

  gemma obviously told them i was da'd.

  all i got were tight smiles, so i said to gemma "i like your hair like that" and left......

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  lriddle80

  I was talking to my husband about how sad I am going to be when my mom starts to shun me all the way. Unfriend me on facebook, etc. There really isn't much communiciation other than occaisonally she'll babysit my son and I'll hang out there when I pick him up. I really am so sad to think about it. I cried. So, he suggested that if something like that happens, maybe we could go to their "church." Of course, I told him that if I was DF'd, it would take 6 months before anyone could talk to me if I showed signs of repentence that were good enough for them and also, their religion isn't true. But then we talked about changing it from the inside and maybe my family would listen to me since I was doing it too, pointing out crazy lies from the WT. But then, they'd end up DF me again for apostasy, so it really wouldn't work out. I would just be have to be sad. A song line goes "it's just a broken heart son, this pain will pass away"
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  38

  Relationship with Jehovah?

  by Batman89 in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  when you were a devout jw.

  did you feel that you had an actual "relationship" with jehovah/god just from praying to him and reading the wt or bible?.

  or that this was actually even possible deep down?.

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  lriddle80

  I only had one "moment" with God when I was in. Then I left and blocked my self off from noticing his work in my life. Now that I am paying attention and interested in a relationship with him, I see him all over my life. The specific things I talk about with my friend to help her and especially what I am learning about God is how much he loves me and tries to cheer me up. A few examples: I was upset about a contest that I entered and didn't win. The next day a girl brings me a medal for a 5K that I walked in 2 weeks prior...it was 3rd place, but I was just so excited to win something that it didn't matter and I knew God did that. Another example (and these are small examples, but it doesn't take much for me) I went to a party with my husband and I was upset because there wasn't anything there that I knew and people didn't want to talk about things I wanted to talk about (like recipes, exercise, God, etc) and I got really sad (also I had drank too much) and wanted to leave. I felt all alone. The next day my husband and I were talking about a christmas party for my work and how the owner of the company loved my husband and liked him a lot better. So, at Sunday school later that morning, the owner of my work that we were talking about came up to me and mentioned how she loved sitting with us at the christmas party because we were so cute and then she started talking to me about food because she remembered I liked to cook and gave me a health tip that someone shared with her. And there are some stories that I have about conversations that I have with my friend and then the sermon at church was just about word for word what I had shared with her the day before. I have a relationship with him for sure! But before, I just didn't know to search for him like that!
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  12

  My JW Mom came for an impromptu visit yesterday. It went great! :)

  by Faithful Witness in

  1. jw
  2. experiences

  it is so nice to start actually believing that my mom wants to have a relationship with me and my kids again.

  there was awhile, where it was in question, and she wasn't sure if she was supposed to associate with us or not.

  i think the stand that my sister has taken against me, is actually causing my mom to start doubting whether it is a good idea to follow this cruel example of "love" as defined by the watchtower.

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  lriddle80

  This made me a little jealous seeing as how my mom is heading for the shunning road. But then again, you are studying, which would make my mom and dad have sudden approval for me. Like when I went to the memorial, my mom hugged me so tight and told me she loved me and then wanted to invite us over for dinner...

  I am glad you were able to give her some things to think about. It gives me hope that I could do that one day with my mom.