by thraxer68 24 Replies latest jw experiences
I was first contacted by JWs 45 years ago yesterday. I started associating in 1966, out in the field service in 1967, baptized in 1969. At Bethel from 1973-1976. Voluntarily disassociated in 1980.
My spiritual journey was first among Evangelical Protestants and then I became a Catholic in 1992, a member of the Eastern-Rite Byzantine Catholic Church. Last September, I began attending an Eastern Orthodox parish and am now a member. I'm chronicling some of the journey (still unfinished) at:
I also have been reading some books by Michael Newton and info on Edgar Cayce its interesting I don't know if its true I'm a little gun shy now after my 25 yr jw debacle I'll not be jumping on any bandwagons anytime soon. Collecting & analyzing and trying to keep upbeat living w/o any real framework is my life right now.
I've begun to explore Wicca.
St Ann I'm surprised anyone can go from JW to Catholic...with all in entails...
Loz x
I'm starting my own religion -- details to follow.
i believe in God. I dedicated my life to him. nothing's changed.
To a variety of delicious scotches, each one proclaiming the glory of the peat moss.
Loz, actually, I was surprised by Catholicism. I discovered that everything I'd been told about the Church was wrong. Once I studied the Church's actual teachings, it made perfect sense.
Life is a lot easier and more joyful as a Catholic than as a JDub.
StAnn
Gnostic beleifs are REALLY resonating deeply with me right now.
While I am not interested in organized religion, and I have become a rationalist (only willing to believe in a god that shows evidence of his existence) that has not prevented me from going on a very satisfying spiritual journey.
I have learned that the first Christians were most likely mystics more like most religions around them. I have gotten a sense of belonging in the universe and looked into eastern thought. Eastern thought doesn't require a stringent set of beliefs in a god to benefit a person.
I have pretty much accepted the idea that the universe is created over and over again every moment- each second made up of several moments. I don't have to argue with others about how the universe came into being millions or billions (or thousands) of years ago since it's all fresh again this very moment.
Learning the sciences of evolution and the beginning of time, despite the lack of a need for God, has been very spiritual.
