to be controlled or not to be controlled that is the question!

by semelcred 12 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  yknot

  Well I figured I would chime in......as I have decided to sit in a nice unnoticable area today at my CA (feels good to rebel at such a 'important' spiritual feast!)

  Anywho..... this is what I have found in visiting my hubby's church and others when I visited my non-JW dad as a child.

  Free will and the belief that a persons relationship with God is personal is discerned in many other denominations. Sure they will give sermons and present Bible Study discussions on Xian living but it is up to the individual free of church-judicial interuption to choose that path.

  Thus finding another 'group' becomes about either agreed thinking on doctrinal matters or social structure that is beneficial to your spiritual/communal needs at the time.

  My husband originally chose his faith based on popularity social structure but now one of his childhood dominations has expanded their ministries in comparison he has been deeply contemplating switching as it's congregational autonomy is more in line with his doctrinal interpretations.

  Each week for kicks do beliefnet's belief-o-matic and find the results ridiculous some weeks and interesting the next....
• 

  hotchocolate

  Hi Semel... sorry if I sounded harsh, I get mad when I think of religion.

  I went through the same stage as you. I think for me I had started to escape the brainwashing but the remnants left me with the thought that "where else shall I go?"

  When you realise that you don't need to "go" anywhere, and that happiness lies in yourself, that's when you'll realise the brainwashing is finally starting to clear.
• 

  OnTheWayOut

  I have done my own spiritual search for truth. It definitely doesn't fit with Christianity or organized religion anymore.
  But if it did still have a "Christian" base to it, I doubt I could really feel comfortable in a church that tells me what to think.

  I know the Universalist Unitarians allow for free thinking, but they are probably (don't know personally) a wee bit "out there" in what their members believe. Still, they don't insist on strict application of beliefs from the members. Many churches might be like that, where they don't insist on strict beliefs. But if I went to one of those, it would be just like a social group of people that feel "moral." You might as well try the Humanists if that's the case.

  My rambling points to the thought that if a person is shopping for a religion, they would have to weigh all the factors and actually "shop." Not for me, but maybe you would want to do it one day.