I'm not buying it! That people left the Witnesses and became Christians. (page 7)

oldflame

Just because I left a cult does not mean that I left God. It is not Gods fault that I was foolish enough to be duped into the JW cult. I have continued my search for faith and I attend a church. One thing I can do that I could not do in the society was that if I had a question about doctrine, I could freely ask the pastor without any reprocussions from the questions. I could not do that in the cult faith as they would say, "Don't you believe" ? or "why do you question Gods organisation"? I attend a Baptist church now and I have confronted the pastor on many issues and without any bitterness he will answer my questions.

Now today because of the JW society has caused me to not want to join any church, I can not seem to become a member because of the borg, but atleast I have a freedom to question without hesitation. The church I attend teaches that the true faith is in Christ and nothing more. I cannot spit God in the face for something that man had done to me and myself to me. I personally hold myself responsible for getting involved and thinking that the JW's had something more than other faiths. I am over it now and happy to be apart of Gods family.....I wish you all the luck in the world.....

AuldSoul

I agree, but in many ways they are. I think the biggest problem with Organized Religion, is the Organized part. I am in a less organized philosophy now. More about thought and less about instructions. I see Christianity as way to much instruction, rules, judgement, etc.

free2beme, you sound like C.T. Russell here. He believed the exact same thing. He said that those early ones should never become an organization because all organization become corrupted and rule-oriented. He said no man should have religious authority over another man.

Christianity does not necessitate organization, and this is where you are missing the point of an awful lot of posts in this thread. Christianity does not equal organization. You are treating them as one and the same. I am still nominally one of Jehovah's Witnesses, but whether they know it or not they have NO authority over me. None of their rules, instructions, or judgments apply to me.

From what jgnat has said here and (aghast!) other threads (cue dramatic music), it seems the same is true of her in her religion.

...as I find such post pretentious and annoying.

Yeah, that is pretty much my feelings about your posts in this topic. Especially the post that I pulled this quote from. Wasn't my quoting this from your previous post pretentious and annoying ?

If you are bringing your work stress here, please stop. Vent some other way, as a favor to me personally, if you must think of it that way. You come across as unreasonable when you do not read what others say in response to your own thread topic. You admitted to not having time, well if that is true who is pretentious? The one raising an issue and then admittedly not reading the discussion of the issue, or the one considerate enough to think it through from various angles and post according to their reasoned thoughts on the topic at hand?

You post responses on this thread without reading, and not caring, what has been said by others. Then you accuse someone of pretentiousness. Bad form, in my opinion.

Lighten up. Your life may be stressed, but that is no reason to take that stress out on strangers who've done nothing to add to your stress.

AuldSoul

jgnat

Now, this, I can go along with:

I think the biggest problem with Organized Religion, is the Organized part. I am in a less organized philosophy now. More about thought and less about instructions. I see Christianity as way to much instruction, rules, judgement, etc.

I, too, have been affected by my brush with the JW's. I have trouble concentrating on the sermons at my church. My poor brain is picking up all the logical fallacies. Besides, I have honed my tuning-out skills to a high art. But I will not abandon my Christian faith, because that is an essential part of who I am.

My dad will have nothing to do with churches or with God. The betrayal runs deep. He was molested by an Anglican music leader over 40 years ago. I don't blame him at all, so I don't pester him about his choice.

Can you at least see, free, that others might choose a different path than you, and they are not necessarily illogical or stupid people?

AK - Jeff

I did.

I don't go to a church - but I follow Jesus Christ.

Mostly organized religion is man-originated I think - but there is far more sincerity among the non-witnesses that serve Jesus that I have met. Most of them do not fantasize that they have the 'whole truth', but the structure of a church gives them commune.

I don't see what it wrong with that.

I left the dubs because they are controlling, deceptive, and arrogantly assert they are the single mouthpiece of God. I did not leave because I thought someone else had it right - except one - the Christ.

Jeff

LittleToe

I became a Christian and because of that left the WTS (which I had been raised with, incidentally).

I regularly attend church services of a variety of denominations because I can. I'm not blinded to their faults, but neither am I blinded by the bigotted viewpoint I once held as a JW. I enjoy socialisation and debating theology as well as the "spiritual exercise" that it affords in a communal setting. It's a useful tool, but not something to be relied upon in a braindead fashion.

Maybe your post has more to do with your inability to be moderate in your beliefs. The WTS cultivated that in us, so don't beat yourself up about it. You can take the first step towards change, however...

AK - Jeff

Free2beme -

Seems like you are indeed taking the old watchtower trail here. Everything is black/white. All or nothing type thinking.

Agreed - religion, that is organized religion, has problems that cannot be ignored. I don't see that most here ignore the problems with religion at all. Some see that it has benifits to be taken away from it -others are so jaded by them that they avoid religon altogether. And all places in between are represented here.

The problem is when we want to clump it altogether in a right or wrong position.

An analogy would be places of employment. All have a major flaw or two. Some are far worse than others. Some I would not ever consider working for, others I would. Someone may elect to never work again because of the corruption in business - but is that sound thinking? Same with Christianity - some sluff off Chistianity with the dub religion - most retain some sort of spiritual side and that may mean joining a religion for them.

I would not reject the idea of Christianity based on the corruption of one or even many of it's parts. To place all religion in one single catagory is so much like Watchtower thinking - those that do so have just created an alternative environment to nurture previous predudice I fear.

Jeff

upside/down

Of those people in mental institutions who stated a religious preferance, JayDubs are Numero Uno.

I need sources...

u/d(of the agrees...but needs sources class)

Alfred

fascinating points of view on this thread

reneeisorym

I'm a Presbyterian. I like that they tell you up front: "We require you to believe in Jesus, but you don't have to agree with us on the rest." I like the fellowship and meeting friends that churches give. I couldn't handle a chuch that requires me to believe what they say 100% of the time or the shunning if I decide to leave. I like feeling the freedom to read the Bible and decide what it says myself and not feeling like I need to look up a Watchtower to explain it.

Azazel

I am a Free Bible Student now. Kind of a Back to the future as its the base beleifs of the early 1900s minus the kooky Russel ideas and just plain freedom to read the bible without a man made doctrine confusing the simple text.

Az

PS good work alfred recycling past threads is good way of getting interesting topics back on the active list

I'm not buying it! That people left the Witnesses and became Christians.

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