Have you made MAJOR CHANGES since you started posting here? (page 3)

3Mozzies

Yes!

When I started posting here, I had already left the cult. So it didn't help me leave, this site helped me change.

I saw how badly JWs treated/viewed Jesus ... so I started to dig deeper into the Bible and felt like: "'now' I have become a true Christian." I bought a few different Bible translations (loved the KJV - the old English read/sounded so beautiful), an interlinear translation, Bible software for my computer etc..

Along the way (without my JW rosy glasses) I started to really see that the bible was.... well.... ummm.... how do I say this without offending anyone?.... well, I started to see the bible & religion as pure Bulls##t! THANKS TO THIS SITE!!!

I dug deep, read books that I wouldn't dream years ago.

Now I feel like I have a 'BS meter' that works, thanks to the Atheists on this site.

NowI am Agnostic. I truly believe and feel this was the way I really felt all along but due to the cult, I was walking around believing 2+2=5.

I remember reading on this site, people defame/tease Jehovah's name & that would upset me a little, now I call him Joe Hoover when I speak about the blood thirsty god of the bible.

Reading those posts from Atheist back then, was difficult but I needed to be sure of other view points that clashed with my own, it helped me open my mind and see that I was hanging onto the Bible/Religion as a security blanket & NOT facing reality.

I truly can not thank this site/people enough for helping me find 'me'.

3Mozzies

nicolaou

I just got a warm glow! Good for you 3mozzies

Finally-Free

Yes. It has little to do with whether or not I believe in a god. I don't care about that. I don't have time.

When I first began my exit from the JWs I cared what others thought - family, friends, workmates, other JWs, etc. I don't require anyone's approval any more. This is my life, and I make the rules. People who don't like me for what I am are free to move on.

W

WontLeave

For me, the changes stemmed from reading the Bible and being attacked for it, in my hall. Obeying God, rather than men and not caving or cowering to man-made doctrine and not hiding my contempt for Pharisaic behavior. Being dragged into the back room and "counselled" for speaking the truth (even having the elders admit "you're not wrong, but...") and exercising my God-given, Bible-trained - not WT-trained (1John 4:1) - conscience. Realizing the erroneous interpretation of FDS and "Be obedient to those who are taking the lead among YOU and be submissive" didn't allow men to seize control of my mind and heart was the catalyst for the distancing myself from the JW mentality (Pro 14:15). Coming to sites like this was a result, not the cause. I never intended to start any tension between myself and the people I believed were fellow lovers of God and Scripture. They picked the fights with me and attempted to coerce me into denying the Scriptures and the Christ in exchange for their "love" and approval (Mat 23:15). Fortunately, I'm not the typical loser with low self-esteem that most JWs are and didn't need their permission to feel fulfilled. I had the feeling of "Now to me it is a very trivial matter that I should be examined by YOU or by a human tribunal." - 1Cor 4:3

Repeated attempts were made - mostly by Watchtower study conductors, I realized - to force me to preach the literature, but I refused and would only base my ministry on the Bible (Psa 118:8): I made it clear "If the Bible doesn't say it, I won't preach it" (Pro 30:5-6). I quickly came to realize the main doctrine of the JWs is the hierarchy and total submission to men, which they deny exists. All other doctrines are secondary to "You have to believe whatever we tell you." It's impossible to avoid that doctrine, even on things where the Bible remains silent, because the totalitarian control exercised by the Society permeates everything. They have to weigh in on every conceivable detail and have decided there is no such thing as a "conscience matter" anymore (Eph 7:16). They have made hoops to jump through and lines in the sand to pick a side on (Eph 4:14-15), just like the Pharisees; yet they perceive absolutely no correlation. Likewise, Jesus pointed out to the 1st-century Pharisees "Isaiah aptly prophesied about you" and they still refused to see.

Just like the temples and synagogues were God's houses, even though power-hungry attention whores had taken over the leadership, I still attend meetings and consider myself a member. While I stand out like a sore thumb, have been "marked" and all but silenced from the ministry (their version, but the Internet is now my field), I feel I actually belong there. It's the vast majority of the others who I feel don't (Jer 5:29-31), so I'm not leaving. They'll have to throw me out (Isa 66:5, Luke 6:22-23), which I won't be surprised if happens very soon (John 16:1-4).

RubaDub

We totally re-did our kitchen and expanded the family room.

Rub a Dub

Simon

We moved to somewhere much, MUCH colder !! brrr ...

(no really, it's nice)

skeeter1

Simon, Love the Seven Sisters and Banff. I heard the upcoming Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition was photographed in Banff. Visited there in the mid-90s. I need go get back. But, right now, I'll stay where I am. It's warm & sunny!

Yes, I have changed.

- Gained 10 pounds. :O

- First, I wanted to tell all my JW family that it was a cult. They rejected, and decided to "save" me.

- Next, I told my non-JW family that it was a cult. They elated.

- Finally, I made peace with the JW family and found a way to set bounds on our relationship. I do not ridicule thier choice of "religion." They don't fight back, and if I am really lucky...will confide in me things they don't like.

- went mainstream Christian. Then, I figured out that the Bible is the product of "God", missing books, put together by man...and I disagree with a war-monger, killer Jehovah.

- now, I'm still evolving on my spiritual path. I think there is another world. I heard a ghost, once. I saw a UFO, once. I don't know all the answers, and I don't pretend to. But, if you had to pin me down...I'd be an agnostic Buddhist...minus the recincarnation and ban of self-defense.

-Most importantly, I love Guinness beer now. How's that for growth. (Hey, that might explain the 10 pounds..)

Skeeter (coming full circle still).

leavingwt

WontLeave: Do you partake at the Memorial? If so, does the congregation give you any grief over it?

WontLeave

That has been a source of great mental debate for me...

I don't buy into the "All 1st-century Christians were anointed" dogma, because Jesus said “Happy are the mild-tempered ones, since they will inherit the earth." If everybody there who joined him would go to Heaven, then who was he talking to? The arbitrary cutoff in 1935, prior teaching that all JWs (and Bible Students) were anointed, and subsequent reopening of the Heavenly door were all very presumptuous. We don't tell God who is anointed; He tells us.
1 Cor 11:26 says "For as often as YOU eat this loaf and drink this cup, YOU keep proclaiming the death of the Lord, until he arrives." If Jesus arrived in 1914, then isn't that requirement over?
Only the faithful apostles were present at the Last Supper (Mat 26:20) - even though Jesus had accumulated about 120 followers (Acts 1:15) - and those 11 were all anointed and going to Heaven. If the Memorial exclusively pertains to the anointed, why would I be there at all?
The JW understanding of John 6:44 being about all Christians and not just about anointed is completely wrong if the surrounding context is read.

I usually try to be conveniently "out of town" during the Memorial, so it's assumed I just attend wherever I am, but I don't go. I don't believe the JWs have any idea what's going on with the anointed, which is why they believe 7 of them can order us around like their dogs. In my prayers, I make it clear to Jehovah that I am doing what is in my conscience, according to how I understand the Bible. I ask for forgiveness if I am offending Him or Jesus, or slighting Jesus' "brothers", but feel violating my conscience is more likely to be my undoing. (paragraph formatting got a bit screwy, so I hope this makes individual points stand apart.)

nolongerwaiting

I've changed in my thinking so much it's funny. I would never believe it to be possible. lol NLW hasn't changed any as he already knew most of this stuff from a couple of years ago. He has turned more solidly into an athiest.

NLW's wife

Have you made MAJOR CHANGES since you started posting here?

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