by VioletAnai 60 Replies latest jw friends
Has anyone heard of the Worldwide Church of God? It was the Armstrong religion. A friend married one of their disfellowshipped apostates, and we had dinner with them. It was eerie how similar they were to the dubs. Really eerie!! They had apostates and sects (two different branches of the same religion). I wonder if that is where the dubs are heading.
Marilyn (aka Mulan)
"No one can take advantage of you, without your permission." Ann Landers
Mulan,
Two very good friends of mine (they are a couple) were long time members of it. I talked to the wife and she could relate her experiences with what you all experienced with the JWs.
Last I heard, they were becoming more MainStream, but my friends said that they will never go back to them after being burned badly.
Hi Violet,
I'm a walk-away, inactive JW for the past year. I do not accept labels, such as "apostate." I am simply a person who intellectually disagrees with the JWs and the Bible. I was a JW for 28 years and read the Bible, with lots of research, straight thru 6 times. In fact, i don't know many people who studied as much as i did.
I don't believe the Bible precisely for its internal DISharmony, cruelty, and injustice. I also can't believe it because of there being so many scientific facts that disprove it.
You can, of course, believe what you want and sling derogatory names around. Good luck.
Hi Vi. I grew up in the Assembly of God and we were regularly treated to sermons demonizing Catholics. Since they are an off-shoot of Pentecostal, they can get pretty radical. Of course, any that were not of the Protestants were doomed to fiery hell for eternity. All of this is one reason I no longer believe in religion, but try to learn of God and His will on my own. All the religions attacking each other is insanity and has caused much bloodshed over the centuries.
Like I have said before, I agree with a lot of JW beliefs, but not all. What I disliked was their propensity of arrogance, but that is apparent in all religions. I still think they all pay too little attention to John 13:34, 35. That, and the way they go about shunning others, just for deciding to no longer belong to the group. That goes well beyond scripture.
Does that make me an apostate? Apparently so. Yet I do not attack their beliefs. Just their lack of love.
If God's Spirit is filling a Kingdom Hall, how is it that Satan can manuever the ones within that Kingdom Hall at the same time?
I think this is the stage called grasping at straws. When all else fails, you look for something to cling to:
"Who cares about all the wrong/vaccilating teachings, wacky history, needless blood deaths, etc etc. All these apostates *must* mean it's the truth no matter what!!! PHEW!!!!"
It can also be:
-growth proves it
-everyone is so nice proves it
-uniform beliefs prove it
-a feeling I get in my heart proves it
-a random scripture says something that seems to match JWs perfectly, that proves it..
-etc etc
I had an old roomate who confronted me when I was leaving, so I told/showed him everything I had read. He almost left too, then did a complete 180.. His reasoning was simply "I don't care. I just know somehow it is the truth. <reactivate blinders>" (oh and by the way my parents will kill me if I leave the 'trufe')
Sorry Violet.. as everyone has pointed out, look at any group with similar characteristics to the JWs, you will find 'apostates' who make web pages, publish books, have discussion forums, you name it.
In fact if you ever get the chance, hang out with the active folks from one of the other groups. I had a Mormon friend once, and hung out with his family sometimes. They acted just like witnesses. Sometimes they would even talk about various teachings, they would act just like JWs, referring to publications and talks they had heard, etc. They never decided anything for themselves, they would always look answers up.
Violet, I think that in asking this question it leads to more questions and the need to do more research.
The first question that came to m mind is "are there any other denominations or sects that treat those who choose to leave with utter contempt, to the point of thinking of them as walking dead?"
I am a lapsed Catholic, yet all of my Catholic relatives treat me no differently than they do one another. Occasionally my Aunt reminds me that its never too late to go back, but she always says it and then drops the matter.
I think the high emotion you see on this board and other like it comes from the utter rejection, contempt, and disgust displayed towards those who have done nothing more heinous than find another way to worship their God, or another way to understand their purpose in the universe. Yet they are treated like lepers, like murderers or thieves by people who falsely claimed to love them at one time.
This sort of treatment of others makes the WTS members Pharisees, not the harbingers of truth. Remember from your bible studies, the Pharisees had so much arrogance because they thought that they were God's chosen also. yet Christ despised them and made fools of them at every opportunity. He showed more hatred and virulent resistance to them than to murderers, thieves, etc.
Please think about this.
Unless you have personally experienced the rejection that some members of this community of apostates have experienced, I do not see how you can judge the WTS, which has caused their pain, as the truth.
Hi Violet:
When people are hurt deeply they often react with anger. The deeper the hurt, the more anger is displayed, and for a longer time.
I have found this to be the case with my situation - for many years I absolutely hated anything and everything to do with JW's. Over these years, however, I have begun to heal and the anger has dissipated.
So when people react with strong anger - keep in mind that they have probably been hurt deeply and are not yet at a healing point where they are able to let go of the anger.
As for whether you should be a JW or not? All I can do is encourage you to read the bible, and research the doctrines of the religion. Pray about it and make your decision. Just be sure that you are basing your decision on the facts that you have researched yourself, and not on what someone else has said (either here on this board or through the JW literature).
God Bless.
JuliG, your point was well made when you asked the question, "Are there any other denominations or sects that treat those who choose to leave with utter contempt, to the point of thinking of them as walking dead?"
Unless you have personally felt this for yourself you cannot even fathom the idea of how hurtful it is! This utter rejection by those who claimed to love you, those who were your friends, those that you THOUGHT you wanted to "live forever" with. Because one now sees things differently, they are shunned, shunned as if they are "walking
dead." In fact, that is what we are told. We are dead! They say this because they tell us that once the label of disfellowshipped is stapled to our foreheads, Jehovah God will leave us to the "world" with NO ONE, but Satan, who will swallow us up. Does that sound like the words a true religion would utter to its memebers? At a time
when one is spiritually weak, why aren't they encouraged and helped?
Instead the second you ask one question that goes against the JW teachings you are looked down on and "marked." Then everyone starts excluding you and pulling away and eventually you become marked as
an "apostate." JWs love to "label." It seems to make them feel justified in their actions towards their fellow man. Then this "love that identifies them as the true religion" becomes CONDITIONAL.
So, Violet my words to you are to really, really think and research what the "truth" really is. Ultimately it is YOUR life and YOUR decision...but remember it is also OUR own lives and OUR own decisions as well and we may not happen to agree that becoming a baptized JW is in anyones best interest. It's painful!
Apostates are everywhere, ask Jeannie Mills.
Oh, you cant, Jim Jones had her and her husband MURDERED because they wrote a book about his church.
Asahara, leader of "Ohm",well he just strangled and burnt his apostates.
If you wanna talk to an Apostate drive over to Flemington in Melbourne and have a chat with Cyril Vosper. He was one of L Ron Hubbards key men in the 60s, he keeps a low profile these days, though hes written extensively about uncle Ron.
Nah, apostates are in every movement. They develop after they get sick of being shafted.
Violet,
Do you want to see apostates from other mind controling religions? Check out www.freedomofmind.com
And yes, regardless of what you've been taught, the JW's are considered a destructive mind controling religion.
Devon
