curious (page 2)

rodnico

When I first left the organization I felt there was this deep black hole inside of me. And I confused the idea with the need to belong or worship. I looked around, but because of my background felt uneasy in churches. I thought for a while I should look into more pagan ritual style of worship with other women, but that fell through also. In the end when I came to terms with my athiesm, and say out loud I am an athiest the hole was gone.
I think for me coming to terms with my belief system, athiesm, was the turning point. Now like Riz I listen to my inner self what feels right, and what feels wrong.
I can't say I would never attend a church. There may come a time when I am older that I will be able to trust an organization and may change my belief system, but that would be very far in the future.
Rodnico

slipnslidemaster

Same for me Riz.

Religion is the opium of the people.

. o O (slipnslidemaster)

pamkw

I am a ex-witness that attends church. The church I go to does not stress rules, but your personal
relationship with God. It is a church full of misfits, ex-druggies, ex-drunks, ex-just about anything.
I enjoy the church because I have made some great friends there. and I enjoy the fact that if I
don't want to go I don't have too. No one watching to see how many times you miss. No dress code,
the pastor wears blue jeans, and loud Hawaiian shirts. And they have a praise band, that will rock
your socks off. It is not your normal kind of church. But if they ever started in with alot of rules, and
junk like that, I would leave in a heartbeat. I have a better relationship with God now, than I did as
a jw, and that is what really counts.

Pam

mommy

Wow You guys have some great comments.
Personally I left 8 years ago and joined the Pentacostal faith, enjoyed for the first time the closeness I felt with God and Jesus. I was in that faith for 4 years before I realized that God is not in a building, but in my heart. That religion did not really go very deep into questions I had, or doctrines to follow. Very touching, spiritual ad uplifting, but shallow. I left because I did not believe in them 100%.

So I embarked on a new journey, much like Riz's I listened to my heart and conscience. I prayed to God daily and let his love lead the way. I relyed heavily on Him and thanked Him for being in my life.

Then I discovered the internet. I read others views on religion and, my ideas have changed yet again. As of right now, I do not belong to a religion. The personal relationship I have with God has changed as well. I find that I relied on my own judgement in my life, and labeled it as God's. It is easier to call it God when so many other people do. But I am now realizing this is my inner strength that gets me through the hard times. I am actively helping myself through life.

Ok in religion you have a begining and an end. You have a reason to be created, and a "reward" if you will, at the end of your life. I really miss this part. I miss knowing the answers, all spelled out in black and white. But I would not exchange it for blind faith anyday.
I am still growing, and though I am content with my life now, my views may change again.

I continue to read, and listen to others views. I enjoy being able to come here and look objectionably at a subject without condemning or having a holier-than-though attitude I had for too many years. thanks for listening
wendy

sf

Hey Mommie!!

Yes, it's great to BElong to the Fliud P.

Hi Bonnie,

The only way I can describe what happened to my SPIRITuality is in one word...RAPE! And once that has happened, it's a tattered mess and unlikely, salvagable. (this is EXACTLY how i FEEL about it too)

When i was born in Germany in 1959, due to the fact that my father was in the military there and my mom was "standing by her man", my mother contracted a near-deadly virus as she was only a few months pregnant with me. I was born severly twisted (SHUT UP VENICE!!) physically, and was breached birthed; they did not do a c sec on her. I was flown asap to USA hospital, in Chicago, i believe, and underwent a series of surgeries to get me mobile. My mom survived, yes, and how scared she must have been too. (I WILL get her out of that ROTten tower)
After the surgeries, I was taken to Los Angeles Childrens Hospital where i then underwent months of painful, grooling(sp...hahahashame on me) physical therapy to get me to walk again, as the docs told my parents i would never walk or be able to take care of mySELF ever (yea right!). There is so much more i am leaving out, yet the jest of this is that, even at that early age and stage in my existence, i felt a presence in my life like nothing else, one night as i lay in that gray steel crib they had back then, still do. (those total recall memories of cold steel haunt me still...full body cast too) I heard a voice within me say "you'll be ok" as my mom sat in the room singing lullaby and goodnight to me, with a quarter moon shining out the hospital window. Was it "GOD"? I used to THINK so, but now i KNOW it wasnt. It was and is and always will BE....Me!

"GOD" has become a scary creature i wont even let my child near at this stage and age in her life. She is no longer allowed in any church or to read the bible until shes old enough to absolutely filter her reading. We're working on that, as well as other life lessons in communicating and comprehending and filtering out.

Wow! Seems i had some residual "vomit" from yesterday, eh venice? Thanks for your shoulder yesterday

Welcome Bonnie, and hope you can join us soon in yahoo messenger chat. We have a lot of fun and serious moments too. It's quite a dynamic group.

Scally (SPIRITually damaged class)
Scally

thinkers wife

I was born and raised a JW. I have absolutely no interest in joining any organized religion. Although I think there are good premises and people in all religions.
I am curious about how other religions conduct their services and intend to check some out someday just out of curiosity.
But I do get a little sick when people start talking about certain religous things, a little of that goes a long way for me.
I also have my doubts about the Bible being inspired. I think other holy books that claim inspiration hold good ideas as well.
TW

Camay05

It appears that most JW that leave rarely get involved in any other church. My nutty boyfriend will not even consider attending any other church. (yes I am the same Camay that has posted messages)

ALso I have a few friends that say the same about JW's once they leave or get kicked out they just dont go to any church.

RedhorseWoman

Most of the ex-JWs I've met have eschewed religion for the most part. A few have tried other churches, but didn't find what they had hoped they would find.

I, personally, feel trapped whenever I attend anything to do with churches. I was "owned" by a religion once, and I WILL NOT do it again.

I feel a sense of personal spirituality, and that, for me, is sufficient. My "church" is nature....the woods, the fields, the ocean. My spiritual companions are my animals.

I've been investigating various modes of worship, including paganism and shamanism, but I don't think I could ever actively join a religion again.

willy_think

. I had a discussion with a psychiatrist friend recently. He told me that I am a "psychiatric anamoly," that most "devout" people who leave a religion will join another and become as devout in their new religion.

stephen, your boy was talking about religions. you would need to look at the % of cult members who join organized religions. religis traning and cult programming are two very diferent things.

the ideas and opinions expressed in this post do not necessiarly represent those of the WTB&TS inc. or any of it's subsidiary corporations.

SlayerLayer

All of my life I have been taught and taught others of the faults in other religions. Everything that I learned about these religions seemed to be pretty obvious. When I was d'fd, it took about 2 or 3 years to realize that the organization was just as false. So then I was stuck...nobody had the "truth". The only thing that made sense to me was that all of it was something that man had made up to feel better, and have something to hope for after death.

curious

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