by journey-on 51 Replies latest jw friends
I have a JW sister whose conscience will not allow her to attend a non-JW family wedding at a church or go to a funeral at a church. Then I have an ex-SIL/BIL that will go and they are JWs as well in excellent standing. Whose conscience is "properly trained"?
leavingwt: the deconstruction process is tedious but necessary.
bluecanary: when the light bulb goes off, it IS glaring, isn't it.
Quirky: You fell that quickly, uh? It took me years.
Spike ......
There are always those who are conscience trained to follow the WTS and those conscience trained to run the WTS.
following the WTS depends on accurate discernment. If one's spiritual language isn't fluent, that may not be so possible.
Spike, have you ever considered that the WTS spiritual language may be flawed and they are teaching the flawed language to others? Not trying to be argumentative, just asking if you have ever even thought about that.
Well Spike if my conscience or discernment is injurious to my salvation..... then Jehovah knows which Elders trained me as such and which 'other' Elders injured many over their perfect obedience to imperfect men who were promoting (and enforcing) imperfect erroneous interpretations.
From one professed Xian to another..... follow the lamb.
to Yknot:— the Lamb heads the true Christian body. If the local congo's BOE is out-of-line, attend elsewhere, or mark them until they stop "lording" it over others. The flock belongs to Jehovah and Jesus, not the BOE.
Journey said:
My fade was pre-Internet and believe me...it was not easy. We actually had to READ BOOKS to get information.
Pre-Google exit here, too! And it was pre-WT witch-hunt, also, so the books we all recommend now had not been written. I felt so completely alone for so many years! And went through tremendous anxiety (cold-sweat nightmares) for a while after.
What saved me is that I felt I had a better relationship with The Creator than the elders did (smug little brat that I am!) And I KNEW that EVEN if the elders' hearts were "in the right place," disfellowshipping was WRONG and DEADLY and it did not make a loving Creator happy in ANY WAY.
I knew I was right to leave. I couldn't knock on doors telling people "we have the Truth" anymore because I knew "we" didn't.
it's too bad that personal grievances interfere with the good we've been taught
Spike the ones "Lording" are those who would remove a sincere MS, Elder or Pioneer for 'promoting' higher education, the BOE (CO, DO, ZO etc)are just foot soldiers enforcing directives received from HQ. Some are corrupt but many are frustrated and spiritually torn between stepping down or staying and trying to ease the harshness of clampdowns like the one we are experiencing currently in the WTS.
I think the rest is a fine suggestion and presently my children and I attend in addition to the KH with my husband at his denomination to boost our positive worship during these once again dark days. However if I were to completely leave I would be shunned by my family in addition to the nearest congregation being over 50 miles away and the CO expressing Mother's disapproval of not respecting and working alongside the territorial provision from the Slave. KH territorial line hopping is seriously frowned upon and usually ends in marking by both congregations.
Just curious which other "Christian Body" would you suggest? Methodist, Church of Christ, Catholic, Baptist, Quaker, 7th Day, Bible Students, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episc....etc?...... Yes I am really sincere in my question seeking your opinion of other denominational Christian bodies.
I was apprehensive for a bit like you are. I did a lot of research and am now convinced
that the JW's are not the truth for me.
They tottally failed the 1975 test.
Truth is where you find it.
And can be in the eyes of the beholder.
I dont think there is any absolute truth.
For the past month I have been reading about Hinduism and Buddahism.
I like the hindu idea of not eating things that were once living. I'm not real good
on following through.
Having examined Buddah and Hindu for the past month they have bits of truth,
But they also have holes in their theories.
The hindus say reason is the perfect lawyer. You can always reason why something is true or
not true. And that fact is part of mans misery and confusion.
