Does anyone here want to be saved or have the urge to worship?

by Half banana 9 Replies latest jw experiences

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  Half banana

  I don’t know about any of you but does anyone else share my lack of impulse to worship anything?

  I became a JW when still at school and had been puzzled at the time by the posters outside of evangelical churches telling me to repent and come to Jesus and be saved.

  For me it was an irrelevance, I never felt like being saved...what from? I was happy as an exploring type of child, I never knew of anything wanting to be worshipped and I didn’t need to worship anything either.

  Alas!...................... I got sucked into the JW cult which I then allowed to deprive me of a proper education. Armageddon after all was coming any minute now so why bother! I remember the schoolmaster saying to me in his strong Welsh accent, “Half banana you have got your horizons cluttered up with something,” and he was absolutely right!

  Like a hapless insect, I had fallen into the slimy trap of a carnivorous plant called Jehovah’s Witnesses. We swam together in that cloying juice safe and isolated from reality. It had affected my world-view; I was trussed up and fit for nothing except being a Watchtower zombie, alive but trapped.

  Nevertheless I did not fancy actually worshipping the rather gloomy and tetchy God Jehovah; I went along with it because I imagined JWs had "the truth."

  Any others who never needed salvation or had the desire to worship?
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  truth_b_known

  Most religions are based on the idea that only the body dies at death. Being "saved" is a reference to the concept that humans have an immortal soul that continues after death. This "soul" version of yourself does not get to choose where it resides. The saving part is a reference that your soul will be placed in a realm referred to as "heaven" or a negative place referred to as "hell".

  Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe in an immortal soul. They are caught up in a physical version of immortality. For them its one's future on a world ruled directly by God that they believe is at stake. So, either you die and are no longer conscious or you live forever. Not as dire stakes as other christian faiths.

  The Semitic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have this common thread of falling from perfection, sin, and the need to gain redemption (being saved). I don't know of any other religion that teaches this. It's a horrible concept that puts needless guilt on people.
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  DesirousOfChange

  I wish I could be convinced that the JWs or any other body of Christianity "has it right". It was a much better belief to think that an Almighty God (by any name) would "step in" to the clusterf*ck that is going on here on this planet and rectify it all -- that all would be made "good". Especially all of the injustices that exist. As a devout JW, I really believed Jehovah was to "fix" it all. I suppose as a Catholic or a member of most other denominations of Christianity, I would have believed God was going to "fix" it all, with the difference being He would fix it in Heaven.

  When the blinders fell from my eyes regarding JWism, and I discovered I'd been lied to on my #1 issue, then I scrutinized everything with skepticism to find nothing but circular reasoning to support anything. As Cofty so often says (not a word for word quote), I want to believe based on evidence. "Faith is the assured expectation..." Now, I need "assurance", otherwise it is not "faith" -- it is credulity.

  That the universe is SOOOO BIG, is not evidence to anything other than it is BIG (vast), and we are small.

  That the sun is the PERFECT distance from Earth to sustain life, is not evidence (beyond that it's a good distance.)

  That the Bible says "circle of the earth" is not evidence that the writer was given divine direction. (The moon looks like a circle to me when it's full. That doesn't mean that I'd know it's a sphere.)

  That DNA contains the "code" for everything about all living things, is not evidence that a Higher Power wrote the code when no one can explain who wrote the "code" for the Higher Power.

  And by the way, that feeling that "Jesus came into my heart" and told me so, is not evidence of anything other than you may be delusional.

  Evidence?
  
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  LongHairGal

  HALF BANANA:

  I agree with you and am done with the whole thing. (Besides, weren't we supposedly saved by Jesus?)

  As far as I'm concerned, I don't have to do anything except be a good person living my life. Although, those who would want us en$laved to religion would disagree.

  Likewise, I'm not on any quest to find "truth", whatever the hell that is.

  I leave it to other unsatisfied and adventurous individuals to waste their lives in search of these things.
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  Phizzy

  I was never bothered about my personal salvation, I felt I might quite well be destroyed at the Big A. I guess that was being born in to a Cult that made you feel you were never good enough.

  All I miss about god, now he's gone for good, is not having anyone to thank for the earthly beauty we see around us.

  But I do make a point of personally thanking, wherever possible, all who contribute to making this world a better place in any way.
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  Diogenesister

  I never truly understood the whole "worship" concept anyway. It always felt an odd thing for a highly intelligent being to require of us anyway. What exactly does worship entail? Doing what it asks? We do that for many people/ govts etc. Praying seems more or less a long list of demands and requests. Hymns? Well we enjoy music anyway usually.The bowing (done in prayer) is just a ritualised form of greeting a superior we continue in Japan, until recently in Germany and still when greeting royalty.

  What is it about worship that differs from what we do in our lives anyway?
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  Finkelstein

  Any others who never needed salvation or had the desire to worship ?

  Is it possible to gain salvation through lies, deceptions and ignorance ?

  Institutions like the WTS exploit fear and instill hatred all leading to the end of humanity's destruction, done so with intent to gain control over people..
  

  ..........but they offer eternal salvation and in the process cause calamitous damage into people's lives and to further extent humanity.

  Maybe the question should be does humanity need salvation from that source then ?
  
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  BelleStar

  Like Patti Smith said, Jesus died for somebody's sins but not mine. I was never good enough for the borg so decided a long time ago that dying was preferable to being 'saved' and living by rigid rules.
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  Saethydd

  I always felt kind of guilty that I didn't really care all that much about the "sanctification of Jehovah's name." I tried to care, I was told it was the most important thing in the Universe, so I'd try to mention it in my prayers. Honestly, though, it was never high on the list of things I was hoping to enjoy someday. Heh, maybe that just means I was never a good Christian.
  
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  Crazyguy

  I always thought having integrity was the mark of a true christian standing up for what is right even under persecution. After waking up and dealing with the elders I soon realized most religions are all about following a leader.