Are there too many EX-JW Born agains?

by sleepy 33 Replies latest jw friends

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  sleepy

  I dont wish to offend anyone but this is what I think.A large number of people who leave the Jehovahs Witness movment become Born again Christians or join other religious groups.But is this a sign that many who have learnt that "Gods chosen organisation" is wrong have not learnt anything at all?

  Maybe the prospect of facing a future without a God , a divine purpose , and a faith just too much for some people to bear.But in joining another religious group are they not making the same or similar mistakes as before?They are still putting their trust in a ancient book written by people they have never met, interpretted by other people or by themselves, they have not maybe learnt to be analytical in their thinking and to withhold trust until reasonably solid evidence is provided on an issue.

  Although other religious may or may not be more harmful than jehovahs witnesses if lessons on thinking and reasoning have not been learnt then we could be open to many more errors of judgment in our lives.

  So does the fact that many Jehovahs witnesses join other religons show that they are just moving on rather than understanding why Jehovahs witness are wrong and learning from it?

  Maybe they dont fully grasp that the fudamental flaw to Jehovahs witness , is belief in the Bible as Gods word only the second being following that through an organistation .If the Bible is not Gods word then ALL religions who follow it are flawed.

  Of course what other people choose to think or follow is none of my buisness and I fully respect other peoples right to believe what they want, but if this world is to progress and mankind to improve in thier dealings with one another then we can not all go round living in our own little fantasy worlds , we must be brutal with ourselves in checking why we believe the things we do and trying to align our minds with reality not fantasy.

  This apllies to all aspects of our lives.But if we are not honest or open minded and reasonable enough to see there are some massive problems to the Bibles authenticity and Divine declerations how will we be able to make reasonable decisions in other areas of our lives?
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  DakotaRed

  Speaking solely for myself, I opted for no religion at all. I still believe in God, or at least a God, but am still digging seeking more information on who He really is. Lately, I've been leaning more towards the idea of God being a supreme alien being more than a mystic spirit. Many things in the Bible can be interpreted to mean some sort of aircraft.

  To me, leaving the Watchtower and opting for a BA religion would be like jumping out of the frying pan into the fire. I was raised in a Born Again religion and see many similarities between the control both have over there followers.

  No more fanaticism for me, I've had enough of that.

  Lew W
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  gumby

  But is this a sign that many who have learnt that "Gods chosen organisation" is wrong have not learnt anything at all?

  Yes.

  The fact is....many have not even considered the fact that the ...BIBLE ITSELF....is a myth. This hasn't entered many peoples minds yet. We are fortunate here sleepy. We at least have an oportunity others have not had to see the other side of the coin from others.....who have been there done that......and share it with us. Here we get websites to check out, books recommended to us, verbal relations,........ that others who have jumped into feet first in religion, have no idea of what we know.

  For all those that do know and still WISH to put their hopes and trust into something.......I can't relate.

  Some are just like the dubs when you say...."look what I found out about....read this.....did you know that....., There ears go shut, a smile comes on their face, and they are 'WORRIED ABOUT YOU".....all over again! "Satan has got you and he ain't gonna get me."

  For those of us fed up on religion but believe in God.....the question remains......where is he? Do we search for a reason how he displays himself or give up on believing in him entirely? Big decision!
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  happy man

  Lew.

  Wery good point Lew, fore mee it is totaly unbelevebel that someone can go from JW to born again, i have listen to soem of this tapes who are out there, and listen to peopel who say thaey have been lojal, JW and now arew so happy BA, and thy tell a lot of crapp from the JW religion and tell how happy they now are, sound hyppocritikal fore mee. when i find a EX BA site, i see that they have the same problem widh peopel who say they have been foold, and not to forget, this heaven and hell stuff, who they belive inn. talking about going from smoke to fire.
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  donkey

  Lew,

  I've been leaning more towards the idea of God being a supreme alien being more than a mystic spirit

  In case you haven't heard of it I would suggest that what you are proposing coincides with the beliefs of a movement called the Raelians. For moe information check this site out. The movement has 60,000 followers now and is continuing to grow.
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  DanTheMan

  Happy Man I have seen some ex-BA/ex-fundamentalist discussion boards too. And you are right, the tone is very similar to ex-JW sites such as this.

  Most of the ex-JWs in my area are BA. Nice people, but really not too much different in their mindset from JW. When I was still JW they were the only "apostates" that I actually knew of, so I wrongly assumed that all ex-JWs were BA Christians.

  The book The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuseaddresses a lot of the dysfunction in the evangelical churches. Reading the book you'd think the author was talking about JWs, the similarities are unmistakable.

  I think that fundy religions like JWs and Born Agains offer a sense of absolute certainty, which once experienced is very difficult to live without, as I am experiencing.
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  Pleasuredome

  Dantheman

  i couldnt agree with you more. i realised that the mindset was the same when i met a group of them earlier this year, just another group of religionists. i have yet to meet a christian who tells me that their way of interpreting the bible might not just be the only way and ALLOWS for others way of interpretation.
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  GeddyLee

  One rule of thumb everyone should follow is "whatever emotionalizes you, controls you" Whether its the Born agains, with their outrageous rock concert sunday morning sermons, or the believe us or die Jws, or the nagging spouse who can upset (emotionalize you) its all the same. How do you think Hitler got fifty million Germans to follow him and his plan to take over the world...... Emotionalization.
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  mouthy

  Being Mouthy I want to add my 2 cents. If you dont want to have another religion, I agree. I do think the WT had that right. "Religion is a snare & a racket."But I must add ( O.K. dont you dare pitch that stone at me) I am born again!!!!! I was a very zealous JW..... I wanted to kill myself as( I have said before) when they ousted me. I was 2 years going to differant churches to Find GOD!!!! But I felt discouraged at the lack of teaching I thought was being done. I wanted so much to NOT believe in God.....Then sitting at my breakfast table & looking out my window- Very pretty birds, blue & orange, were flitting around, squirrels running up the tree- Rabbits sitting under my window. I cannot be stupid enough to think POOF!!! they just come into existance -Even the imitation birds I have on my mantel -I know took a couple of weeks for the girl who makes them to do,,,,

  I went to Pennsylvania -I listened to all the stories of what the WT had done to so many- Then I heard the testimony of so many-who did ask Jesus to come into their lives...( thinking how stupid) but then I heard a fellow Alton Pitts! who opened my heart ,by his life in the watchtower-talked about the peace he now experienced , I wanted that peace ... So felt I may as well ask their "so called savior" Jesus to come into my life...I did, !!! No one has to believe it. (" convince a man against his will- he is of the same opionion still")On that day Oct 20th 1989 I was born again.. I dont go to church I dont constantly read the bible. But Jesus is my friend, comforter,I do talk to him about everything. ( ducking-O.K. pitch the stones)I now have that PEACE he promised......
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  JWinSF

  I'll respond from my personal experience in the San Francisco Bay Area. I started a support group for Gay/Lesbian ex-JWs in March 1994 and also have attended another support group based in Marin County [just across the Golden Gate Bridge from San Francisco]. The later started in July 1994 and is not gay focused but is open to all. In the years of the gay group, I never came in contact with any who went to other Christian born-again religions. Of course, that's not really too surprising as most born-agains are definitely anti-gay. I say most, because Tammy Faye Baker [a very misunderstood woman after I saw the documentary "The Eyes of Tammy Faye" --- highly recommended] is born again but not homophobic.

  However, what was interesting was the Marin Group. Again, in the years that I have attended, I ran into only two individuals who'd gone into other fundamentalist religions. And, they were still just like JWs, trying to push their religious viewpoints and condemning the group for even welcoming gays. Needless to say, they didn't return since one of the primary ground rules of the group was no religious discussion.

  Of course, the San Francisco Bay Area is a liberal-minded area for the most part. Still, coming from the straight-jacketed JW religion, it was refreshing that most did not opt for other fundamentalist groups. The Central Valley [areas like Modesto, Fresno, much more conservative], however, I suspect would have a higher percentage of ex-JWs going over to born-again based fundamentalist religions.

  John W Wirtanen