Relationship with God

by dozy 40 Replies latest jw friends

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  jgnat

  I'm a regular Christian, never a JW. I'd like to comment on the source of those blank stares. It's an "of course" look. As I worship the Son I also worship the Father. I freely pray to either, and in my worship services we have many songs of praise to our heavenly Father, including the divine name "Jehovah". My JW husband accuses me of not properly understanding my final destination, of following the trinity, and not believing in the paradise earth. But he rarely hears me when I tell him he has been misinformed about my beliefs.

  There are many bible examples where Jesus our Lord is worshipped and prayers are said in his name. But I don't pray in exclusion of the Father.
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  FreedomFrog

  Although some had "found Jesus" , none of them had maintained any relationship with the Creator and many even had atheistic and / or agnostic feelings.

  Hmmm, are you basing this on just their viewpoint? Many that I know of have actually became closer with their "Creator". And that "true" closeness.

  I've read a few of your disassociation letters which often include phrases like "I still love Jehovah" and equivalent. Have any of you managed to maintain a strong relationship with the Creator (whom you may or may not still call Jehovah , Yahweh or similar) externally from Jehovah's witnesses. If so , how?

  In answering your question:

  For me, I went the Eclectic Pagan with Native American beliefs. When I was a JW for close to 30 years, I tried hard to have that connection and prayed for hours through tears for that closeness but it never came. The relationship was a "fake" feeling. Partly because I felt it was a "one-way". I went to other Religions in search of that "close relationship" that everyone talked about, but the same, I couldn't "feel" the closeness with the Creator. Once I started down my path as a Pagan, I started to feel that "warmth" feeling. In my belief system I can do a "shamanistic journey" ritual if I want a one on one "chat" with my Higher Power/s. Rituals and journeys are basically "prayer" in my belief. But with more of an action instead of just bowing and talking to what feels like empty air for me.
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  dozy

  
  I can only speak from my experience in talking to Christians who found it very difficult to establish what their views were concerning the Father. The average "born again" or church-going Christian is very vague about the Father. My experience is backed up by numerous conversations , both in the door-to-door ministry , chats with workmates and debates with several church ministers.

  It would seem that some ex-JWs have carried over a healthy fear and love of the Almighty from their JW beliefs into a "Jesus -centered" belief structure , although they may balk at calling him Jehovah. If so , this is simply a residue of their former beliefs , in the same way as many Catholics who become JWs still have a fascination with Mary.

  I haven't spoken to many Eclectic Pagans with Native American beliefs recently so I can't really comment there!
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  FreedomFrog

  The average "born again" or church-going Christian is very vague about the Father. My experience is backed up by numerous conversations , both in the door-to-door ministry , chats with workmates and debates with several church ministers.

  IMHO, they may be giving you "vague" answers to your questions because they are afraid to get into a "debate". Or at least that was the view my neighbors and friends have told me when talking with them. Most of the ones I've come across have strong feelings about their Creator that they worship. But then again, it may be just where we live.
• 

  JamesThomas

  Welcome, Dozy.

  Have any of you managed to maintain a strong relationship with the Creator (whom you may or may not still call Jehovah , Yahweh or similar) externally from Jehovah's witnesses. If so , how?

  It was only after painfully stepping out of the Bible's limited and circumscribable deities paradigm, that I can say there was a deeply felt "relationship".

  But it's not so much a relationship, as a growing realization that there is no individual "me" who can truly be separate and apart from that which has no beginning, and no end. In other words: a lot of beliefs and baggage that restricted, diminished and belittled our Source and Sustenance had to be clearly identified and seen through. There was required a radical surrender of the individual "me" that was for so long cherished and believed to be.

  There continues to be a dying to what is small and fragmented, to make room for what is infinitely vast.

  j
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  jgnat

  The average "born again" or church-going Christian is very vague about the Father. My experience is backed up by numerous conversations , both in the door-to-door ministry , chats with workmates and debates with several church ministers.

  That has not been my experience. I have attended churches of this kind for over twenty years, in congregations numbering in the hundreds. Regardless of your experience, I think your conclusions are based on too small a sample.
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  tetrapod.sapien

  There continues to be a dying to what is small and fragmented, to make room for what is infinitely vast.

  yes, beautiful.

  ts
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  greendawn

  I believe in God but obviously not in the JW context, I don't like using the word jehovah because it sounds too judaic and associated with the obsolete Mosaic law, plus of course christians should be Christ centred and connected to Him and His Church. There is no connection with an impersonal organisation of Jehovah but with a living Church.
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  Poztate

  We should always make time for the Creator. Without Him we would not exist.

  We ought to spend time in prayer. Praying for world peace.

  BlessedStar

  And that is why I bow down to Mecca every day.I pray you will come to know the only true god...ALLAH And if you don't I will have to KILL YOU.....Just kidding..
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  collegegirl21

  Personally, I think that I have just been so confused and things have been thrown at me that after I figure out my messed up life that I am going to start searching for God (as weird as that sounds). Because I think there is a god and I might even try going to different churches and whatnot... I guess it all just depends on what you want to think.