praying to Jesus - an analogy

TheListener

For those who are christians,

As a witness I never prayed to Jesus and would have felt icky and evil had I done so.

As a christian who is no longer a JW I still haven't prayed to Jesus. I feel I should. I feel I want to. But, the old dread is somehow still in me.

I have come up with an analogy that I think fits the situation of whether or not we should pray to Jesus (I like this specifically because it relies on common sense and not arguing Bible verses)

If you have a job chances are you have a boss. In all likelihood your boss also has a boss.

If you were to take all your work issues to your boss' boss and skip over communicating with your direct supervisor how would that be viewed by these two individuals?

You would be viewed in a negative light.

How is ignoring Jesus and talking directly to God any different?

OR

I've asked a dub this "who's your leader?" The answer of course was Jesus.

I then asked "have you ever talked to your leader?" They looked at me funny and said "no, but I talk to my leaders representatives." I

said "No, you have talked with the local representatives of your leaders representatives (governing body) and you talked to your leader's leader; but you've never actually talked to your leader. That's odd."

Any other analogies or arguments you've used to discuss this with a dub?

bernadette

As a christian who is no longer a JW I still haven't prayed to Jesus. I feel I should. I feel I want to. But, the old dread is somehow still in me.

I have found the above to be true in my own case. I am presently working on simply keeping aware of Jesus and what he portrayed - as a sort of heart thing rather than a mind thing. Thats quite liberating and expansive.

The talking to rather than a praying to is good analogy. My daughter (she is now fading too) and i were discussing about talking to Jesus rather than praying to him. We both agreed that we found it difficult because trying to articulate is nigh on impossible because of our indoctrination.

Hope the above makes sense.

Bernadette

Pubsinger

I can see where you are both coming from.

If you feel happier talking to Jesus than praying to Jesus then do that.

In Christian circles this next statement is a bit of a cliche, but it's been said that Christianity is not a religion, it's a relationship.

And I've never known a relationship that didn't involve talking.

JamesThomas

Do you honestly feel that the true Source of an indescribably wondrous, beautiful and infinite universe is so childish and small as to be influenced by what you call it? If you have a heartfelt desire to pray, then pray. Religion is messing with your mind.

JamesThomas

the old dread

The disease of religion brought on by shrinking and reducing the Divine to some conditional circumscribable entity which you now need to appease and keep happy. Why belittle God to some object or thing that has a propensity of being a pain in the ass? Throw the tattered and mildewed baggage of religious beliefs out the door, and be present with your genuine desire to know and befriend your Source. You already have what you need.

Be still, and know...

j

purplesofa

Who's on first?

JamesThomas

Is that an invitation. dear?

lovelylil

Dear Listener and Bernadette,

I talk to a lot of ex JWs in my ministry work and I can totally understand how and why you feel it is hard to pray to Jesus. The thing you need to know if that the Watchtower Society has perverted the true Christian faith to keep people away from Jesus Christ. In this endeaver they are really "vessals of Satan". Think about it - if they lead you to Jesus like real Christians would, than you would have no reason for their organization. They could not have set up the governing body in Christ's place and would not retain the power they have in the lives of over 6 million of its members. Who would want to slave for an organization if they could go to Christ and carry his very light and loving load?

The goal of all false religions is to take the place of Christ. And the WT has been very good at accomplishing this. They even changed over 200 scriptures in the NT to hide who Christ really is and the importance of him in Christians lives. Listener, you gave a great anology about why go to the Boss when we have the supervisor right ahead of us? Another thing is that the Boss would have placed the supervisor in this position right? That is true with God and Jesus. God has approved of Christ as our head, this is his arrangement and he wants us to go to him. He put Christ is charge of the church and subjected all things under his feet. Here are some scriptures for you to look up. Please use a bible other than the NWT.

Luke 9:35
A voice came from the cloud, saying, "This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him

Luke 10:22
"All things have been committed to me by my Father

John 6:40
For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day

John 5:23
that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father, who sent him

Matthew 28:18
Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me

1 Timothy 2:5
For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus

John 14:6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

John 5:39-41

39 You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, 40 yet you refuse to come to me to have life

God's arrangement with the son includes prayer to Jesus and worship of him:

John 14:14
You may askme for anything in my name, and I will do it

Acts 7:59
While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "LordJesus, receive my spirit."

Acts 1:24
Then they prayed, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which of these two you have chosen

Matthew 28:9
Suddenly Jesus met them. "Greetings," he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him

I myself was very afraid to approach Jesus at first. I even prayed to Jehovah to please forgive me if I am praying in error. Once I went to Christ and accept him as the truth and life and my ONLY way to God, I received the promised Holy Spirit on me and have been progressing in true Christianity ever since. My honest hope and prayer is that you both someday experience the joy and hope I have in Christ and that he be present "in you" as he is "in me". Please pm me if I can help you in any way. And please do not give up, I'll be praying for you both, Peace, Lilly

SirNose586

Last Tuesday I was subbing for the regular conductor. We are in the prayer part of the book. One sister said, "I try to think about Jesus' role in prayer this way: if you have a letter, it needs to have a stamp to get where it needs to go. Jesus is like that stamp."

......

I didn't really know what to say about that part--I felt like shaking my head in disgust. However, I had a little comeback; I had one sister read John 14:13, 14. 14 says, "If you ask anything in my (Jesus') name, I will do it." She couldn't even FINISH IT. She started, "If you ask anything in my name..." and then trailed off.

"...I will do it," I said for her. I didn't go about making any point that Jesus is one we can communicate with---WAYY too dangerous--but I just sort of let that point sit for a few seconds, then moved on. You know, I remember reading something about how jdubs can read any scripture and just imagine whatever words were given them by the GB. Somehow you've got to get them to look at scriptures and read them aloud, and see how they take it.

lovelylil

SirNose, you are brilliant! Lilly

praying to Jesus - an analogy

John 5:39-41

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