I really want to go JW but..

by fortbethel 60 Replies latest jw friends

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  garyneal

  fortbethel,

  I was considering becoming a witness at one point in my life too. However, I felt that I had to really find out what was the 'right religion' first, well the right Christian religion that is. I think my wife was dissappointed when it came to light that I could never, in good conscious, become a Jehovah's Witness after learning everything that I learned.

  What really gets me is how she feels like something must be wrong with ME because I chose not to be one. Either I am blinded by Satan and / or his apostates (that's the people here according to her) or I just simply do not really know everything there is to know about them.

  This, in spite of the fact, that I was able to SHOW from THEIR OWN LITERATURE that Jesus is not their mediator and that their baptismal questions effectively baptize you to the organization. She says that I am not seeing this clearly. But what other way am I suppose to interpret their statements when they say, "Jesus is not your direct mediator," in spite of what the Bible says?

  How can they escape the 'false prophet' charge when they've made numerous errors on their date setting?

  How can they logically and reasonably justify their position on blood and blood fractions?

  I guess some people just don't want to see the truth about the Truth TM .
• 

  Magwitch

  Fortbethel.....

  The ... strong family bonding ect. this EPIC rage. It's sad.

  Let me tell you about my strong family bonding. My ex-husband of 20 years served as an elder our entire marriage. He lived to serve the congregation 24/7. He never, ever had a minute for me or our two daughters. He rarely did any secular work because he only wanted to be helping the people at our kingdom hall. He not only was preparing and giving parts at meeting and circuit assemblies round the clock, but he also loved to help these people paint their houses, fix their cars, take them to run errands etc. etc. On our 20 th wedding anniversary I sat at the KH listening to my husband give the Memorial talk. It would have been nice to have gotten a card, a flower anything – but he did not even know it was our anniversary. I left him and took our two daughters. He has had nothing to do with our girls since our divorce in 2006. He is way too busy pioneering with his new wife. Our girls are now 19 and 20 years old. These beautiful young ladies never had a father. For these two fatherless girls, the pain is violently deep. EPIC rage is an understatement.
• 

  Black Sheep

  Go to the library and get some books that teach critical thinking.

  Get yourself more skills in this department. You already have some, you managed to spot the flaws in a couple of doctrines, but you really need to polish up those skills so that you don't fall for faulty reasoning and poor quality research in the future.

  You've been messing with this religion for 15 years without 'getting it' one way or the other. When I was a kid, you had to be well on your way to baptism in six months or they would drop you like a hot potato and not waste any more time on you. Time was short, October 1975 was being counted down in months when the CO visited.

  There is a splinter group, in Spain I think. If you follow the tree back it goes something like.....

  True Faith Jehovah's Witnesses

  Jehovah's Witnesses

  Russellites International Bible Students (groups still exist)

  Millerites (now various Adventists, SDA, Branch Davidian, Jehovah's Witnesses, International Bible Students)

  Potestantism

  Catholicism
• 

  cuckoo in the nest

  Hello Fortbethel, from your description of yourself you and I could be twins. Both male, same age, single and both my parents are dead now. I've been semi-seriously studying with a witness couple for years too, after they started visiting my mother and then refocused their attention on me, probably thinking I was more responsive to their message. I was a lapsed Anglican (Episcopalian) with an interest in matters philosophical and comparative religions.

  I suppose it was after the death of my mother that my interest in their teachings moved from an academic level to more of a "hands-on" approach. Their take on the physical resurrection of the body has certain appeal at certain times, and they certainly knew their audience. It also seemed to agree with the words of the funeral service "...in sure and certain hope of the resurrection to eternal life". Maybe bereavement just knocked me sideways for a bit, and the old grey matter wasn't firing on all cylinders. Whatever was the case, I found myself polishing a chair with my butt in the local Kingdom Hall.

  It's only when you get beyond the warm, fluffy cosiness of the Bible Teach book, the diet Kool-aid, and get to observe dubdom from the inside that the JW's reveal their true nature. True, there are some very nice people in the org, but is it the org that makes them so, or are they just nice by nature? Certainly the burdens imposed by the seven-headed monster in Brooklyn seem to crush the spirit out of some.

  I still attend the public meeting on the odd occasion, but it's more to study them than study with them, and also so as not to offend the couple who introduced me to dubdom. Despite everything they are decent people and don't deserve to carry the can for all the Watchtower's excesses. However this is reducing, and sometimes I can't help but plant the odd seed of dissent...

  If you truly want to find spirituality, it won't be found in an airless, windowless brick box whilst some middle-manager conducts a sales seminar every Sunday. The world is full of good people, good churches. Go find them. Good luck and may your god go with you.
• 

  i_drank_the_wine

  Forbethel - you seem like a sincere and well-meaning person. Is one of the 30 denominations that you've studied Atheism or Agnosticism? Just curious.

  Personally, I do not believe that there is any almighty ancient Hebrew sky zombie, and even if there is some sort of god, I doubt he really cares too much what we do with our penis molecules. Don't beat yourself up over something so silly as porn. The fact that you are looking to try and find what you consider to be "truth" or the right path to walk shows that you have a conscience and a heart. Live life, continue to be a good person as you seem to be, and stop beating yourself up with guilt and this quest, when no one can deffinitively say they have the only 100% right answer to.
• 

  skeeter1

  The short version of the Jehovah's Witnesses:

  Rule #1) The Society (aka Governing Body, Faithful & Discreet Slave) speaks for Jehovah God

  Rule #2) Sit down, shut up, or else!

  The long version

  is for you to understand Mind Control, and the BITE model used by psychologists to help identify destructive groups. If you are afraid of looking into mind control and the BITE model and how it applies to Jehovah's Witnesses, I ask you to ask yourself "Why?"

  - Just google mind control, BITE model, and Jehovah's Witnesses. Read a bunch of sites, view a bunch of videos. Then, decide for yourself.

  Skeeter

  p.s. If you become a JW and later change, your "Friends" in the Truth will disown you and have nothing to do with you. You will be considered sick and diseased. You are about to limit your religious freedoms.
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  mrsjones5

  "the witnesses seem to be the only group cosistently warning members about it."

  So you've attended other churches and found them wanting on discouraging watching porn have you? If not then you've gotten third party info that may not be true.
• 

  fortbethel

  I drank the wine:

  Thank you for your kind words. I've had so much hell in my life I've often wondered if there was a God. 15 years ago I had some spectacular paranormal experiences that proved to me there are forces weather negative, positive or both that clearly proved to me that intellegences beyond our grasp are indeed aware about humanity's situation & are about ready to interviene. I was told I had a choice of either the New age path I was on or Christianity
• 

  mrsjones5
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  NewChapter

  There are so many warnings here---are you taking them seriously? Strong family bonds? First---test how strong those bonds are when someone doesn't walk the walk anymore. They turn to dust. If you don't think this is a big deal, then read about the suffering of our members. JW's BREAK family bonds---putting loyalty to their organization where loyalty to family should be. Do you REALLY believe what they are showing you? JW's have a high divorce rate--oh they won't show you, no they are wearing their pretty smiles--it's an act. They have no more family harmony, even less, than any other group. There are statistics that show their rate of divorce is shockingly high.

  Divorce was so common in my hall, we didn't even blink anymore. And that parent/child bond? Yeah. Parents hauling their kids into the elders and allowing this third party to interfere. And if the kid doesn't straighten up---it's as if he/she wasn't even born.

  I know a couple that had 2 daughters. One died. The other was df'd. Now they live as if they have no children. STRONG family bond!

  You need to find your center so you can think straight. You strike me as being in a state where it is not a good idea to make a forever committment at this time.

  Keep reading---keep posting. This is a serious decision.

  NC