by cognac 216 Replies latest jw experiences
Welcome cognac,
As you can see and have read, the knowledge and experience the members of this JWD board have is impeccable. You've landed right in the middle of the largest conglomerate of people who have been, where you are now. The best thing you can do to help you with your new found conumdrum is spend time here. Read Read Read.
BTW: I know many from Tewksbury.
Dismembered
Hi Cognac
Been quite a night for you hasn’t it….?
Just wanted to say hello. Like has been said, you might be in for some difficult times ahead with regards to your faith. I am sorry that you are going to have to go through it.
It is better the other side of it though. But as the others have said, just take your time and try not to let it overwhelm you too much.
My thoughts are with you over the coming days, weeks and months.
Wishing you the best……
Take care of yourself.
PS You might at some point bump into a “big hollow”. Don’t worry. That is perfectly normal. Good luck
Hi Cognac - 3rd generation Witness here - many, many family members still in.
I can't look up your scripture cause I don't own a bible nor have the inclination to input it into google. All I can tell you is that I had no problem leaving the WTS when they promised me Armageddon was coming the year I turned 18 years old (1975) and it didn't. Now, they will deny that now, but on this site you will find plenty of proof that they DID, IN FACT, prepare all of us for the end.
Having been out many years, imagine my shock to find out that the Witnesses use to celebrate Christmas (found a picture of my mother holding my brother under a CHristmas tree and asked her about it - oh! She says, didn't you know that? They found NEW LIGHT in 1958? that we can no longer celebrate) Imagine my shock to find out that smoking, blood issues, organ transplants - all these things have changed in just the few short years I have been out.
I asked myself, SELF???? If in fact, the JWs are the ONLY religion that God speaks to, why on earth are they getting NEW LIGHT all the time? Why sisn't God make it clear in the beginning when he set this all up? Why have they thought the end would be here in 1914, 1925, 19??, 19??, 200? and now they decide that they better not name a date in the future? COME ON!!!! Let's all get real!
Anyway, that is a part of my story and I am so happy for you! Sounds like your husband is beside you and has had doubts for a while, too. You are in a great position. You will not need to go this alone like many of us have!
Welcome to the board, and now that your eyes have opened, you are going to be amazed at the things you see.
Hi Cognac:
I was very sad to read you questioning whether Jehovah just didn't love you because you have all these questions, and everything seems unclear. QUITE THE CONTRARY! He loves you so much, He wants you to realize that you have been deceived by false teachers! He wants you to read the Bible with open eyes and see what His Word really says, not how it has been twisted by the men at Bethel. He wants you to know that you too can have a relationship with Jesus Christ, not just 144,000 mysteriously selected "annointed". I "studied" for a year with the local elders, and the more I did so, the more I saw that they were twisting the Bible to suit their own preconceived doctrines (which had changed so much over time that it left me dizzy. How can "truth" change so much?)
I will be praying for you and your hubby in the days ahead...send me a personal message if I can be of any help or encouragement at all.
hugs,
TS
About Matt 24:14. In order to "preach the good news" you have to have the good news.
As a pioneer, I'm sure you have used this line of reasoning with Bible students and others: "If you find that what your religion teaches is not true, than it's a false religion"
Apply that to what you are discovering about JW's and what "good news" have you got to preach?
changeling
COg..I'll just leave you with this simple phrase that a woman has said several times:
"Many people know religion, but many people don't know God."
What she means is that people get so caught up in doctrine, which in most part really dosen't line up with Bible teaching, that they would rather believe the doctrines of the Church or Org over then what the Bible really says.
The body of doctines that JW's have are mostly non-doctrines: No trinty. No immortal soul. No hell fire. No heaven for the majority of mankind.
I have to agree with them, I don't believe these things either.
But does getting some things right make the "the truth"?
By their own words, "the truth" cannot be tainted with falsehood.
They are preaching and practicing many falsehoods.
They can't be "the truth"
They can't have it both ways.
changeling
Cognac- Matthew 24:14 has stumped many a JW I talked to. When I asked them to give me a Biblical definition of the "good news" that they are preaching they have all stumbled trying to explain what it means. JW's have put together a hodge-podge of scriptures to define the good news. I would wager to say that most JW's in your KH could not write a definition that agreed 100% with each other.
The trouble is, that Pastor Russell had his idea of the good news( we're going to heaven in 1914), President Rutherford had his in -"Millions now living will never die." ( when?-after 1925,today there might have a few hundred still alive who heard this talk) and the Knorr/Franz team tweaked it again after the failures of Rutherford.- On and on the WT leaders go continuing to reinvent the good news and just who will be saved and who will be resurrected, when it happens, how many annointed survive to the end, what the generation at the end is ( well, it was decided to not be the 1914 generation after almost everyone had died). It is hard for JW's to realize just how ridiculous they appear to the public. It is definitely not a life saving work, as every JW so far has died ( some by following the WT rules on blood/organ transplants and vaccinatiuons over the years) and most of them died poor who followed the advice of the WT leaders to forsake an education , career and a pension/retirement.
You have had a huge response with plenty to look through and I hope you are not overwhelmed.
You asked about preaching, see http://www.jwfacts.com/index_files/preach.htm, it is very interesting how the Watchtower misrepresents Mat 24:14, to mean house-to-house. I am constantly being preached to, only most religious people preach anywhere, rather than limiting it to house-to-house, which by the way in one of the incorrectly translated words in the New World Translation.
Regarding transplants, I have embedded a page which includes the Watchtower quotes regarding Transplants, and also crazy medical advice from the Golden Age.
Challenging...I can make it real simple for you...If you believe that Jesus is Lord and confess it, you will have NO issues with me. Everything else we can disagree on, but you will still be my sister no matter what.
The issue with JWs is that you must be in sync with all of their teachings or they'll disown you.
You see the problem/difference?
