Hold Me, Thrill Me (page 3)

Athanasius

Hi HMTM,

I too left the JWs voluntarily, resigning as an elder, and making a quick fade. But my exodus from the Watchtower didn't cause me to reject Christianity. My reasons for leaving were doctrinal and the scholastic dishonesty of the Watchtower. I went back to college, got my degree, and a good paying.

Like you I had difficulties accepting the Trinity and after leaving the JWs attended Unitarian Church services, which is non-Trinitarian. But after doing research and reading the Church Fathers, I accepted the Nicene Creed and was received into the Anglican Church.

I often refer to my religious journey as "My Spiritual Aeneid." But each person who leaves the JW religion must make their own spiritual journey and do what is best for their circumstances. The important thing to remember is that there is life beyond the Watchtower.

GrreatTeacher

I wouldn't want to be part of an imperfect organization.

scary21

Love, honesty, and truth wherever it leads you. Welcome, you sound very interesting.

Garrett

Hi and welcome :)

regarding your comment about flaws. My thoughts:

first, the Israelites didn't listen to jehovah and what happened in the end? Jehovah disowned them.

second, using jw logic, all religions other than the organization belong to satan, so does every government, thus of course they would be flawed, however, we are talking about a religion who is supposed to have gods backing 100%. Do you think we would be seeing things such as failed end of the world predictions, child sex abuse issues, new light over important issues with explanations that are very difficult to grasp, etc from an organization that had jehovahs blessing and and his holy spirits backing?

Did the apostles in the first century have new light and did they make false predictions?

lastly, you say there aren't any options out there. I ask, do you need options? Do you need religion to worship jehovah?

i wish you the best and apologize if I've repeated anything anyone has said,

Garrett

Freesoul

ust so you all know I still attend meetings. I recognize the problems but I also see that there are few options outside of the Society for a Christian who does not believe in the Trinity.

I faded 25 years ago and thought I could never step into a christian because they all believed in the trinity and that the trinity has a pagan origin.

It has taken me 25 years to actually study the trinity and work out what trinity means.

The trinity that the JW's explain is not trinity, it is modalism (the father and son being the same person). The question we have to ask ourselves is when the bible says that Jesus is the "son of god" is his nature the nature of a god or the nature of an angel?

When Jesus called himself "son of man" we know he meant he was human, but when he calls himself "son of god, does that mean his nature is that of an angel (Michael the archangel) or the nature of god?

We may not be able to explain the trinity but I know the JW's are wrong with their reasoning.

It wasn't until I could grasp this that I could step into another church.

I still call myself christian, so now I will go to a local church once in a while. But I don't think I could be part of church community like I was with the JW's.

The first time I got enough courage to go to one I decided that if I was going to feel guilty about anything the said I would run out as fast as I can, I was quite surprised, the singing was so touching it made me so emotional. You'll never feel like this at a kingdom hall.

oppostate

Welcome, HMTM.

I still attend as well, for family reasons. When I woke up I went through a lot of soul searching and questioning. I came to see the trinity teaching as not something that prevents one from being saved through faith by God's grace. Wheat grows among weeds and that's ok by me, there's a lot of good people out there and none are perfect just like me and you, and we are all searching to know ourselves better as we try to make sense of the world we live in. Wouldn't you agree?

Agape' my brother.

defender of truth

Just so you all know I still attend meetings.

I recognize the problems but I also see that there are few options outside of the Society for a Christian who does not believe in the Trinity.

Is there any organization that is without flaw? Are they not all run by imperfect men and women?

Welcome HoldMeThrillMe :)

Can I ask you..

Do you feel that Jesus requires you to belong to a religious organisation?

Does going to the meetings make you feel closer to Jesus, or make you more able to be a Christian?

How do you benefit from going to the meetings?

Only asking ;)

cantleave

Hi hold me; Thrill me, Great intro. I can't say all my JW experience was bad. My Childhood was a mess, but once I reached adulthood things were good, until I was appointed an elder and saw the hypocrisy and double standards in action.

FayeDunaway

I had my own journey with the trinity as well. I did research, research and more research and finally came to mostly believe in it. Like freesoul, I believe Jesus being the only begotten son of God makes him the same essence of God. And I believe that man begets man, God begets God. Research the kingdom interrlinear, look at how the scriptures that support the trinity were twisted by the nwt (and probably even more so by the revised nwt). Go on websites and research the arguments of people who support the trinity. Check out the scriptures especially that are in the Old Testament speaking of God, which were actually fulfilled by Jesus. I had never heard of these before. They are on online. I said I MOSTLY believe in the trinity, because I believe the nicene creed makes the issue too cut and dry. I believe the Holy Spirit is a person, but not equal to God. Tho, offending the Holy Spirit is the only unforgiveable sin, and we are baptized in the NAME of the father, son and Holy Spirit, which indicate he is a person. The nicene creed was meant to reconcile all these scriptures and also explain why there is just one God. But as freesoul said, they are NOT the same person. Trinitarians do NOT believe Jesus was talking to himself when he was praying to his father. They are distinct persons. I also believe that the father is given respect DUE a father, and tho maybe not superior in essence, He is still the father.

When Jesus says 'the father is greater than I am' read the context of that scripture. It doesn't take much. Jesus was going to be with his father again, the disciples were mourning, he said do not feel bad for me, I am going to a higher place than here on earth, the father is greater than I am, I am going back to greatness to be with my father. God wanted Every knee to bend to his son. Obeisance means the same as worship. Same greek word. They just wanted you to believe what they wanted to believe so they couldn't bring themselves to say 'worship'. A father who wants every knee to bend to his son would not be offended by worship to him.

Brokeback Watchtower

In your honor enjoy may your wishes come true maybe even get a nice affectionate hung from AM3 and rubber mouth Lett:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKturN4Beyg

Hold Me, Thrill Me

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