Did you have a "religious experience" ? (page 2)

alamb

My experiences with religion as a whole are negative and spirit draining.

I prefer "spiritual" experiences?

I stood on a bridge in 1995 and asked God to send me someone to help me out of the dark I was in. In 1995 my now-husband lived 8000 miles away, won a green card, moved to America, Texas was the plan but a last minute changed it to Utah.

I got a job in his building. One day in a snow storm he took me for a drive and we wound up........at the bridge. He was totally lost and I was totally found. The rest is history.

og

There is a quote of Alan Moore's that seems relevant here: "The one place gods indubitably exist is in human minds."

"Belief is the death of intelligence." R.A. Wilson

Beck_Melbourne

Kep...really nice story...did u keep that shell?? I know what you mean about the birds flying away....so its kinda freaky how that bird wasn't shying away from you.

Refiners I don't have any experiences that stand out...but many times after a public talk I felt like it was being addressed to me personally...it always seemed 'right on'...too many times to mention. Probably because I was always feeling spiritually inadequate...like I was never doing enough. My ex had a lot to do with that...he was a spiritual bully...he always made me feel like I was falling short of being a shining light So on reflection, I believe a lot of how I felt after a talk or discourse had to do with how I felt about myself...or how lacking I felt. Because lets face it...ALL public talk outlines were instructions for JW to "WORK" harder on one thing or another.

Beck

ps...Refiners: Yes this bbq/picnic is still on....25th May...

Beck_Melbourne

alamb

I loved your story.

He was totally lost and I was totally found.

I love a happy ending!!

Beck

Solace

I consider this more of a spiritual awakening.
When my J.W. grandfather died, I inherited my grandmothers huge, old King James Version bible. They were Lutherin before they became J.W.s. I was actually surprised that they held on to it since witnesses are discouraged from reading other translations. I always remember being intrigued by its beautiful artwork. When I was a young, I would wait until everyone was sleeping and I would lift it off the stand, dust it off and look through those dramatic, sometimes downright eerie pictures. My sister knew this and suggested that I be the one to have it when our family was taking care of the estate.
One day I was having a really hard time dealing with my grandfathers death and I was questioning many of the W.T.S teachings. For the first time in my life, I actually knelt down and prayed to "God" to please let me know the truth. I didnt care what it was, I just had to know. Something made me walk over to the closet and pull out that bible. Maybe I just wanted to reminisce, who knows. I had forgotten how heavy it was as I dusted it off and started looking through the pictures. I flipped to the back and noticed the huge concordance. I didnt even know this existed since as a witness, I only used watchtowers and J.W. books as references to the bible. It never occured to me that I could have just flipped to the back and looked up any topic in the index.
I looked up "Heaven", "Condition of the dead", "Angels" etc.
I started noticing differences between the KJV and the NWT in key scriptures, only slight differences but enough to change the entire understanding.
I couldnt believe it!
I had to know more.
I started comparing any bible I could get my hands on.
There were times when I had three or four bibles in front of me. My husband must have thought I was losing my mind.
I believe that to be my very first spiritual experience.
throughout my entire witness life I had never felt as spiritually enlightened.
I believe there is a reason I have this bible.
I trust it before any other.

gumby

Kep.."I like to think that God was saying something to me, helping me see that I wasn't the worthless piece of sh*t I felt I was".

That was cool dude...you moved me.

I, never had "an experiance", when a dub or now that I am christain. No feeling...just understanding.

Yerusalyim

Yep,

Every time I hear a "Public Talk" at the Hall, or read a WT article, God speaks to me and says, "THIS IS SO MUCH BS, and NOT MY WORD!"

LDH

I am enjoying this thread.

Lisa

gold_morning

Heaven, Your spiritual experience was very moving. I am new here so excuse any errors I make. I was raised a JW since I was a little girl and was a pioneer off and on for years. I left in the 80's and was away from God for many years. I just did not think about it. It was too painful. I had lost everyone. My family and friends. I just could not go back. I believed what they taught that God leaves you and will not hear your prayers. About 4 years ago I began trying to read my NWT bible. I had tears in my eyes as I felt unworthy to do so. I was amazed at the things I was reading. It really did sound like there was a heaven. I kept finding other things that were very different than what the JW's taught. I am sure God had his direction in working with me. I met a christian out of nowhere at work and he asked me to attend a calvery chapel service. I felt so guilty going there but felt even more guilty becuase I liked what I heard. I tried to get it right for 3 years. Then one day I read a scripture in Genesis that God's heart was so hurt in the days of Noah because the people had left him. It hit me like a ton of bricks!! God never left me, I had left Him!!! I was born again the next day on an airplane, of all places. I beg forgiveness for my sins and told Him how much I loved Him and how sorry I was for hurting His feelings. The tears flowed down my face the whole flight home. I kept reading my bible I had brought with me and talked to God the whole trip. I knew I was touched by God in a big way. I don't know if it was a coincidence or not, but out the window toward the end of the flight was a beautiful rainbow. I remember thinking to myself, how appropriate to see this, as it was the scripture about in the days of Noah that finally made me understand that to be saved was a "gift". I did not have to earn my salvation as the witness taught. How wonderful it was to finally be rid of the watchtower guilt and aweful unworhty feelings I carried for so long. It changed my life. I want nothing more than for other hurting Jehovah's Witness to experience how light His yoke really is. Not the leagelistic burden the witness throw on you. Agape love to you all!! gold morning

Pierced Angel

When I could almost hear Jesus repeating the scripture "For my yoke is kindly, and my burden is light.". I heard it and knew that I wasn't coming to another meeting at the kingdumb hall ever again. I was sitting in a meeting, arrived a few minutes late ( due to car trouble and arguing about going with the hubby) with tired cranky children, and exhausted and miserable about having to be there just to hear some young brother struggle through an extremely boring bible reading.
That was God's way of helping me out I guess.

I do regret being so immersed in the "truth" when my brother died. My sister and several close relatives all had unbelieveable experiences that has made them feel that they were "touched" by my brother's spirit and I was the negative one who didn't believe in that "satanic" stuff. If it's true (who knows for sure) then I was skipped because my mind was so negative and closed to such an experience. I feel so sad when I think about the lost moment I could have had.

Anne

Did you have a "religious experience" ?

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