Hi Gang:
I thought you guys might like to read this:
http://www.catholicexchange.com/vm/index.asp?vm_id=2&art_id=32083
Jeff S.
The Church of the Authentic Back Room
by jschwehm 4 Replies latest jw friends
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hubert
Thanks for this, Jeff. I hope many other ex-jw's read this. It's a very good authentic history of the back room.
Hubert
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johnny cip
jeff: i allways enjoyed listening to your radio show and t.v. spots about the jw's. i went to catholic school till 6th grade. and still go to mass once an a while. i think your going over the top about confession, and telling your sins to a priest and him telling you to say 10 hail mary's and 5 our fathers. to cleanz your sins. i just don't see it. telling your sins to a priest , is no better in the eyes of christ, than writing to dear abby and asking for advice. we all know our own sins, and the lord will know when we change in our hearts. no priest or elder can cleanz your soul. only you can do it yourself. john
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jschwehm
Hi Johnny:
The reason I wrote the article was because of something that happened to me the other day when I was at Church. Our priest was giving a homily on the mercy of God and was telling us how we can experience that mercy through the Sacraments.
At that moment, for whatever reason, I looked at the back of our Church and there was the back room with the sign "Reconciliation Room" on the door.
I then remembered the times people at the Kingdom Hall were taken (usually against their will) into the back room of the Kingdom Hall to be condemned and accused and controlled.
I then compared that to my experience since becoming Catholic of voluntarily going to the back room of the Catholic Church. In this room, I accuse myself of my own sins and the goal of the priest (acting in the person of Christ) was not to condemn me or to threaten me with shunning but to tell me that Jesus wants to forgive me and wants to reconcile with me and restore me to God's Universal Family.
I know of numerous individuals who went to the JW elders for assistance only to be DFed, shunned and condemned. This never happens to me in the confessional. In the confessional the priest (acting in the person of Christ) prays over me and with me and consoles me and reminds me of God's unconditional love.
Jeff S.
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johnny cip
hi jeff; i see were you are coming from. and agree. most times when you go to a priest . they will discuss your problems. and not , got you the high pressure that the jw's would. again i agree, it seems the catholic are a more forgiving group. and it is rare for them to shun or df a person. 2 different worlds. i still don't agree in confession to a priest. but i get your point. john