Did you have to try another church or religion on your way to unbelief?

by donny 26 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  James Brown

  I went the long way around also. I escaped the tower in 83, long before the internet and the information age.

  I went to a Baptist church a pentacostal church, a new age church.

  My unbelief is in the Watchtower society.

  My agnosticim is about God and the bible.

  I try to believe and make sense of God and the bible its a struggle and always requires lots of faith.

  Maybe faith and belief is foolish on my part.

  But on the other hand I am 60. The watchtower did its damage. My believing that If I trust in Jesus is not hurting

  anybody.

  It does irritate some atheist but it doesnt hurt them. And it makes me feel better.

  Today I think the bible is ancient mans 2000 year old writings telling us that when we die things will be better.

  And they will be whether your an atheist or a believer.
• 

  jgnat

  As you may all know by now, I never joined the Witnesses. My perspective might help, though.

  I was attending an evangelical church when I met and married my delightfully "weak" JW husband. I never had any doubt that there was something wrong with the JW beliefs. Figuring out exactly what was wrong with them led me to revisit mine. I would say the long journey has been an awakening for me, too.

  1. I would never attempt a trinity argument with a Witness. Not that the Witnesses are right, but the whole thing is a strawman argument. One might as well argue how many angels can dance on the head of a pin. In the dark. Of of a cave. In the Ozarks. Do the gospel dance. Run your fingers through the well-thumbed bible. Who has the more correct interpretation? Stupid.
  2. Don't encourage a doubting Witness to go to church directly after the WT experience. I first heard this from the wise heads here at JWN and then learned later by painful experience.
  3. There are phobias implanted in every Witness, and Christendom is right high up there on the list. The first time they see a CROSS or a VIRGIN MARY then all the old alarm bells start ringing.
  4. The genuine warmth from a congregation member will likely be miscontrued as love-bombing. Or heaven forbid, the vulnerable ex-Witness will run in to the smarmy concern of a died-in-the-wool evangelist, intent on washing his soul.
  5. Invitations to participate in anything as innocent as a prayer meeting or work bee will be interpreted as a call to commit. The ex-Witness has no experience with regular volunteerism, where members are free to join or go without repercussion.

  I think the very best thing for an ex-Witness is to go through a time of personal reflection, perhaps with a bit of reading. The ex-JW certainly deserves some time to establish their own priorities, hopes, dreams, and beliefs - free from external influence.
• 

  Fernando

  As a 3rd generation born-in I had never been inside a so-called "church".

  I had to take a look and contemplate with an open mind.

  I just found more religion and more Pharisees - only not quite as rabidly intense and bad as the Watchtower.

  Also not quite the same level of contempt for the "unabridged gospel". But spiritual poison nonetheless.
• 

  BreathoftheIndianNose

  All I can say is, 'Thank god for the Internt'! I have no idea how I could have ever came to this point of my life, athiest, secular humanist, without the treasure trove of information on the Internet. The Internet was kind of my way of exploring other churches, if you will, while not yet attending. I find the parallel interesting between my style of journey and that of those who attended other churches. Let me explain.

  Thanks, as well, to the organization, who spent a large portion of thier time and effort in pointing out the flaws of ' Babylon the Great', I was able, once I left the 'truth', to save my time from having to search out and try out different religions. I knew of the ridiculousness of religion in general, and what voids they try to fill in people's lives, though still found wanting. No desire was found within me to search out religions, with the goal in my mind of finding some sort of 'true' religion, or religion which is divinely inspired. I viewed it as a futile pursuit. But rather, I spent my time on the Internet, occasionally in libraries, but mostly the Internet, researching about other things that some might find to be a waste. For example, one of the many fields on the internet that i spent my time researching, were the completely obscure videos on YouTube made by unonomous posters who conjure up the most rediculous facts out of thin air to support thier wackjob conspiracy theories. The amount of very intriguing, seemingly enlightening documentaries is simply amazing. 'The end is coming this date. It was an inside job. No, he's not dead, he just wants everyone one earth to think that he's dead so he can reap the financial benefits.' All typical themes that allow yourself to feel temporarily enlightened. Finally, after taking in more false information than a person would want, I slowly started to realize how to really sift through the bullshit and find the correct, verifiable facts that help to make wise decisions. But it was after sifting, and sifting, and sifting for long periods of time to reach the point that I am at now where I feel confident in how to tell if something is right or wrong. If something is valuable or worthless. And if something is true or false. The parallel between my version of searching and the version of all those who have gone the route of religious organizations is this: We all spent time in seemingly futile pursuits even after our JW years, but they helped us to learn and appreciate truth when we find it. Going to a synagogue once or becoming an evangelical for 7 years or watching televangelists every sunday morning was not a waste of time. It has helped us to be more carefull in what we believe because we see how easy it can be to be deceived.

  We didn't waste a moment, a thought, nor a word. Every moment we spent in thought or digesting of information, gets us closer to understanding.
• 

  keyser soze

  Short answer- no.

  I began having serious doubts about the bible itself. That's what led to the questioning of my JW beliefs, and eventually my exit out of the religion.
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  Twitch

  I never attended another church per se, as I didn't see the need for an institution, ritual or history as prove of the superiority of one belief over another. Picking another flavour of god belief seemed too easy and faith is too close to wishful thinking IMO

  I did talk with a variety of people who had different beliefs about god and spirituality. It seemed most were looking for the same thing but were taking different roads to it. Since none could prove their claim more than any other, all seemed as valid as the next and paradoxically, as irrelevant. Anyone who wants me to agree with their religious views usually isn't open to hearing about mine, and that tells me a lot.
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  straightshooter

  Because I left Christendom for the WTS, I wan't going to go back to them. But the WTS did make me disbelieve in ALL religion. Now I believe like my dad, who never belonged to any religion but believed in the Bible on his own.