i am a regular pioneer in my cong reading crisis of conscience.here goes...

by MsGrowingGirl20 206 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  punkofnice

  MGG20 - Welcome to the forum. Good choice of reading material. It wasn't CoC that got me out but I had been an elder and seen the organization as just a big business posing as a religion. It was a real wake up call and a terrible time to go thru. I made it though, and so will you.

  The final straw was the 'overlapping generations' thing, I smelled a rat!!

  You firmly believe god will answer you. Some here don't believe that but I'm sure those that beleve this will likely agree with this. God might not answer your prayer in the way you think he should there are stages of realization and growth you will experience.

  Jumping from putting your whole effort into serving god to then be searching for the real god or real truth can be an overwealming task.

  Please take your time. Relax. Breathe!

  There are possibly 6 stages you'll go thru' Vexation, Revelation, Hesitation, Resignation, Verification and Exaltation. As you believe in the Bible here are 2 examples you might identify with:

  Moses: Exodus 1-15

  Vexation: Experienced in Egypt (killed an Egyptian)

  Revelation: the 'Burning bush'

  Hesitation: Moses admitted he was slow speech

  Resignation: Decides to go anyhoo

  Verification: Miracles before Pharaoh

  Exaltation: Joyousness after crossing Red Sea

  Gideon: Judges 6

  Vexation: Threshing wheat; pours out vexation in verse 13

  Revelation: Angel appeared in verse 12 and 14

  Hesitation: "Family poor, I am the least" verse 15

  Resignation: Verse 17 Nuff said

  Verification: "Show me a sign" verses 17 through 23

  Exaltation: Verse 24. Builds an altar and praises God.

  Wherever your journey takes you we're with you. Keep in touch.

  Regards Paolo
• 

  Qcmbr

  Hi I'm an inactive Mormon- take a look at some ex-mormon sites. Once you see the ex(iting) mormons saying almost exactly the same things, expressing the same doubts and sharing the same frustrations as you might do then you can safely critique your faith without triggering too many hidden defense circuits. This site helped open my eyes during my faith crisis whereas a site for ex-mormons was often too near the knuckle for me to easily accept what I was being told, it hurt too much initially.
• 

  Bonnie_Clyde

  Hi there - when I first read the book, I was afraid to tell my husband - for a different reason. He had already been slowly fading for his own reasons, and I was afraid that when he found out about all the things that went on in Bethel and the hypocrisy of the WT teachings, he would get so livid that he would get himself disfellowshipped. But one day he found the book that I had been reading, and we began some long long quiet discussions.

  Later we talked to our two adult sons and our daughter-in-law, and we were surprised at how easy it was to convince them that things were wrong in the organization. Then I made the mistake of talking to our daughter and son-in-law. Long story short--she won't have anything to do with anybody in our family--hasn't talked to me or anyone in our family for almost five years. And she only lives 10 miles away! None of us are DF'd.

  You just don't know how people will react. I grieve every day about our daughter but am so thankful that the rest of our family is intact.
• 

  WTWizard

  Keep on reading. After that, review whether you still want to stay in full time field circus. Review whether you are actually getting any joy out of it, or if it is just to keep the hounders off your back. At this point, you should be in a better position to determine why you are still doing full-time field circus, and if it is because you are worried about commitment or because of rote habit, you might wish to determine when a good time to discontinue full-time field circus would be.

  And, eventually, when it would be a good time to discontinue everything altogether. Do you wish to remain Christian? If so, you might wish to get a good Bible and use that alone with as few accessory publications as possible. Or, you can do more research on whether or not you wish to join another church. If you decide Christianity is not for you, that's your decision too. And, if you investigate Christianity farther and later wish to discontinue it, you are free to do that too.
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  MsGrowingGirl20

  i've noticed that alot of the comments have nothing to do with God.....Have u became bitter? do u all still believe in God? How do u worship Him if at all? Have u found Jehovah's true followers if not witnesses? Do u feel at peace with God? Are u happy? Do u have any doubt that u made the right decision? If this is not the truth then why are some of u still 'fading'? why condone untruth? Would God be happy if this isn't the truth and yet u still atempt to condone and fade?
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  Mad Sweeney

  Welcome! I LOVE seeing new people here! Keep on reading and you'll be ok.

  This group has members with ALL SORTS of beliefs and non-beliefs. Some still believe in God. Some do not. As for finding the 'true' organization, there isn't one. God doesn't need one. The scripture isn't, "where shall we go away to?" but rather "to whom shall we go to?" and the answer is Jesus himself. He isn't an organization of men or a corporate body. Non-conformity is OK. Uncomfortable at first but you'll grow to accept that God doesn't want everyone to be exactly the same.
• 

  Doubting Bro

  If this is not the truth then why are some of u still 'fading'? why condone untruth? Would God be happy if this isn't the truth and yet u still atempt to condone and fade?

  In many cases, including my own, the price of leaving is greater than the price of staying. If I were to leave, it's highly likely that my wife would divorce me, my kids could be potentially turned against me and my entire family and much of my social circle would shun me. I have thought quite a bit about your question regarding truth and I really don't think there is a "true" religion out there today. I do understand that appearing to support something you don't believe in is hypocritical and I freely admit that. But, my keeping my wife is more important to me than what others think.

  If she were to say that she wanted to quit today, I'd be gone.

  I was an elder when I came to the conclusion that the WTS doesn't have the truth. I served for a few years before resigning. Now, I still attend, rarely comment (its hard because I can't worship the GB and that's where much of the discussion seems to be these days) still make an appearance in service.

  My wife is aware of my thoughts and agrees with many of them. She simply sees this as the religion of her birth and a social circle. She thinks that Jehovah judges us on how we act not on our religious affiliation. I agree.
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  St George of England

  Hi MGG20

  I am in my late 60's and was born in as was my wife. When the 'Group Study' was abandoned in 2009 we were encouraged to do more personal study, family night etc. The more I studied, the more I prayed for direction in my studies, the more I realised 'The Truth' is anything but that. I have also read CoC which I found to be very revealing to say the least.

  Currently I am trapped in due to family especially an Uber-JW wife who I have no desire to lose. If I were your age I would be out at the speed of light. I wouldn't relace this cult for any other either.

  All the very best to you.

  George
• 

  wallsofjericho

  Post 6 of 6
  Since 1/23/2012
  i've noticed that alot of the comments have nothing to do with God.....Have u became bitter? Not bitter, just many of us our past needing someone or something to pat us on the back and validate our existence

  do u all still believe in God? How do u worship Him if at all?- many here still do, I personally don't believe in a god of any religion. My investigation into the WTS lead me to an objective examination of religion and god. I am happy to accept and fully believe that there is no true religion - without a doubt in my mind I believe this. If there is something out there bigger than humans we've never found it in any religion. Religion is about rules and control, not spirituality.

  Have u found Jehovah's true followers if not witnesses? there are no TRUE followers of Jehovah. JW's like to laugh at people that search for meaning in life - ie: "find themselves". As far as I am concerned this is the only journey that any person can take that transcends our physical existence (eating, sleeping, sex). I repeat - religion has absolutely nothing to do with spirituality or existential enlightenment

  Do u feel at peace with God? Are u happy? Do u have any doubt that u made the right decision? I am at total peace. I am happy that I know the truth about the WTS and god. I know my decision to not obey or be controlled by the WTS is 100% right

  If this is not the truth then why are some of u still 'fading'? why condone untruth? because we will lose our entire family and freinds to a lie if we walk cold turkey. For many (myself included) a big part of meaning in our lives is our releationships. This is extremely difficult for one to abondon. The WTS knows this and thus why they use disfellowshipping as a way to force the R&F to keep obeying

  Would God be happy if this isn't the truth and yet u still atempt to condone and fade? If god existed, maybe not. But again, religion is not about any connection with God. Individuals can find 'god' in themselves regardless of what church roster their name is on. Can a christian live in a country that is by fiat expressely muslim? does that conflict with their faith or must they move out of the muslim country to a christian one?
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  MsGrowingGirl20

  if it's a cult----then it's from Satan....then Jehovah is not happy nor would he ever be happy if we stay...if its loyalty to God and not an organization that compelled you to step down then i CANNOT BELIEVE that this is the point to which loyalty to God has brought u. to me, loyalty to Jehovah would be seperating oneself from anything that defames His name or anything thats devilish,trying to help others also but doing all these despite the cost.....

  'the price of leaving is greater than the pice of staying'

  how could that be true if leaving is out of faithfullness to Jehovah? obviously the motive is not faithfullness to Jehovah....what's your motive?

  i have not reached the point where i'm sure that this isn't his organization....i'm shocked at what i'm learning though