by minimus 239 Replies latest jw friends
Burn, I am asking her to prove that sexual misconduct is higher in other denominations. Can you prove this? I don't think so. It exists everywhere. She was not speaking of children being molested specifically. She mentioned affairs involving adults as well.
I think the whole issue of celibacy is blown out of proportion.
It's actually a big deal to a lot of people in the church.
I can say that prior to this visit, I had no desire to belong to any religion at all, and I still feel the same way. But, upon walking into this beautiful Chapel I had an experience I cannot forget.
I felt beauty, peace, and some sort of higher power. I cannot name what it was, but I felt it. From my experience, I have come to the conclusion that their is a higher power somewhere, and I believe the same higher power that each individual religion, sect, believes in.. is the same higher power that everyone feels. Who or what it is, I do not know.. but I do now believe there is something out there. Not the God that most of us were raised to believe in, but something bigger. I truely did feel it.
This is why I attend the Episcopal Church and sometimes Catholic Mass.
When I was between the JW's and going back to church, and floundering in agnosticism, what struck me is the love we humans feel for our families. How painful it is when we see them hurt or death occurs. How that love continues until the day we close our eyes for the last time. And it's that love that I feel when I walk into a place like you did. And I believe it's God's love and spirit and perhaps the circle of Saints, or ones who are on the other side of death, who minister to those of us experiencing pain.
My Dominican Nun therapist tells me that all cultures have the basics, they just call them different things. Example: Great Spirit: God. Circle of Saints: Ancestors.
Wow this thread is still going on, It seems that this board is more accepting of people going back to meetings than joining the Catholic church, why are JW's and EXJW's hate the Catholic faith so much, people need to be more accepting and open minded to what people now believe and respect them and not forget what we are really all here for.
I'm with AK-Jeff on this. Can't say much for doctrine, but most Catholics I know are pretty respectable people.
j
One other thing that ex-JW's going back to Roman Catholic Church it is the need of the Rituals, and the Spiritual aspect of the Christian Worship. Something that you cannot find in the Protestand groups.
My dad was Christian Orthodox and my mam a Roman Catholic before they become JW's. I was born in that cult. But I was always asking both parents about their ex-religions.
They have lot in common and few things that sepperates those Early Churches. In my previous post I explained the differences between the 2 Churches and the reasons that cause the Schisma of the Early Church, and there is an effort for the union of the Church. I will talk about my experience in the Christian Orthodox Church.
Most of ex-JW are seeking for the PERFECT Church with the most PERFECT people. This is something that they will never find in this UNPERFECT World we are living. As a result they are becoming egnostics or atheists or they believe in Christ and they are not associated with any Church because they find mistakes. The point of the Christian faith is not seeking for mistakes to the people that are forming the Church, but to have holyness in our personal relation with Jesus. This is the goal of the Christian life - holyness. And this is foundamental in the Christian Orthodox faith.
While in the extreme Protestand movements our salvation was coming by preaching and reading the Bible and blindly obey the leadership of the religion, faith was a matter of knowledge of the Bible. But how was the Early Church was seeing the matter?
The Early Christians for about 300 years of persecution they had their Eucharist and Ceremonies in the Catacombs. They had Bishops, Prophets, and Deakons. They had the Holy Communion every week and all the congregation was in union with Christ with the Ritual of the Holy Communion. Protestands claim that the Wine and Bread only symbolize the Blood and Jesus of Christ. This is wrong because the Early Christians and in Orthodox Chruch this is not symbolic, and this is one of the Seven Mysteries of the Apostolic Church.
I had the privellege to attend to the Mystery of the Eucharist. I will tell you how is done in the Church because many of you don't know the Rituals of the Eastern Christianity: The congregation is waiting on line to receive the Wine and Bread of Jesus. There is a Holy Grail with Wine and Peaces of Bread in the Wine. The Priest gives the Wine and Bread with a long spoon. Every one shares that spoon. I was kind of supprised the first time I had the Holy Communion. I ask the Priest (who knew that I was ex-JW) if it is save (healthy reasons)for all those people to share that spoon? He smile and said: " Jesus Blood and Body is much more powerfull than any dissease. That is why NO ONE can get a dissease from the Holy Communion! In fact is a blasphemy to think of that!!!
In the Apostolic Church I found that there are living Saints, that God still performs miracles. I found that God is a living God and a powerfull God. I have see the dead bodies of Saints that they are preserved in a miracle way for thousands of years, showing to us that in God's kindom faithful Christians will receive an Immortal gloryfied body, similar to the one Jesus had after the resurrection.
I have see the Miracle of the Holy Fire in the Temple of Ressurection in Jerusalim, a miracle that is happening for more than 1300 years, at the Ceremony of the Resurrection. Thousands of Christians(Catholics and Armenians also) are witnessing this event when the Orthodox Patriarch enters the Holy Grave and comes out to announce the Resurrection of Jesus then you can see the candles of the faithfull ones to light from the Holy Fire that is all around the Church.
This is Christianity. Not just sitting in a Kindom hall and reading the Bible(Watchtower magazines). It includes much more than that. Because Christianity it is a miracle. If we stop believing in miracles then we are not Christians, because the foundation of Christianity is based in one of the most unbelievable miracles: Jesus reserrection from the dead. If we stop believing in the mirracles that the Early Christians were performing then we are in the wrong side of the line.
Christianity is more than knowledge. IT IS FAITH. Faith that Jesus Sacrifice in the Cross, set us free from the bondage of Sin, and believing in Him, asking Him to enter to our lifes we will be in Jesus Kindom
That was a beautiful post JustHuman.
BTS
gaigirl said: Whether or not the human Mary was divine, it is important to honor the feminine aspects of divinity.
Of course I'm divine! Kneel before me humans!!
I went to the Catholic Church a couple of times....didn't do anything for me. The bible is rarely used and there's way too much ritual for my liking. Plus I have a problem with all the idols as the bible clearly says you're not supposed to have them around. The whole Transubstitution I find really bizarre and like Minimus said, I find it creepy. The Catholic Church bears absolutely no resemblance to first century Christianity. In fact, I can't think of any religion today that does.
Bottom line is: everyone who still believes should be allowed to worship whichever way they want to, at whatever church, mosque or synogogue they want to. At one time we were all Witnesses, yet virtually no one on here is now. We've all taken different paths. Some are athiests, agnostics, Catholic, Muslim, Jewish, Wiccan, Protestant or Born Again. I figure whatever a person feels most comfortable with is what they should do.
Hi Mary,
Just curious. You say " The Catholic Church bears absolutely no resemblance to first century Christianity."? On what basis do you make that comparison?
When I read the writings of the early Christians, I discovered, to my great surprise, that the Catholic, Orthodox and Anglican churches believe and worship much more like the early Christians than does any non-Catholic church does today. That discovery made me investigate the Catholic Church, which resulted in my family and I becoming Catholic Christians. I based my comparison on historical data, comparing them with the teachings and practices described in the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
In regard to use of the Bible, if you just attend a Catholic mass, you might not realize that perhaps 40 percent of every Mass is composed of Scripture, either read or sung. In my former Baptist church, much Scripture reading was done. At every Catholic mass, scripture passages taken from the Old Testament, Psalms, Epistles, and Gospels are either read or sung aloud. While the Gospel is read the whole congregation stands up to show their respect for “the Word of the Lord.” In a three-year period, a person who attends Mass regularly would hear the majority of the entire Bible (including the Deuterocanonical books) read aloud. What Catholics do not do is cite chapter and verse, which were a relatively recent addition.
Tom
Justhuman, your post is very detailed & accurate. Excellent explanation.
Hi Mary, Just curious. You say " The Catholic Church bears absolutely no resemblance to first century Christianity."? On what basis do you make that comparison?
Several reasons really. First, their rituals (such as walking down the aisles waving smoke and sprinkling 'holy water' and chanting god-knows-what), during the services seems fairly strange to me, as is the custom of kissing the Pope's ring if you happen to meet him. I certainly don't recall anyone in the first century church kissing the ring of any of the apostles when they met. Then their bizarre idea that the wine and bread are literally turned into the blood and body of Jesus when members partake (which would be pantamount to canibalism), their practice of having idols in the churches (which I already mentioned was a big no-no in the bible) and their forbidding priests to marry cannot be supported anywhere in the scriptures. They also have a bizarre view of Mary, that she was 'born without sin'----a concept never taught in any of the Christian writings, nor is infant baptism.
The list is endless. But like I said, if someone wants to join the Catholic Church---go for it. Makes no difference to me and at least the Catholic Church finally apologized for covering up their pedophile problem and are doing something about it-----a concept that the WTS has yet to learn.
