WT Quote: Is It Wrong to Change Religions?

by Sanchy 6 Replies latest jw friends

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  Sanchy

  Is It Wrong to Change Religions?
  w59 5/15 305-307 (bold mine):

  CHANCES are you did not choose the religion you profess but you inherited it from your parents. Comparatively few persons actually make their own choice of a form of worship. Most stay with the religion in which they were reared, very often being afraid to make a change even if dissatisfied. This is particularly so in communities that are predominantly of one religion. The person who makes a change may become the object of popular hatred and be deprived of the means of earning a livelihood.

  
  But what should a person do when he becomes convinced that the religion he inherited is the wrong form of worship, that its teachings are untrue and that its leaders are blind guides who are leading him into the way of divine disapproval? Would it be wrong for him to go against the wishes of his parents and of the community by changing his religion? Or would it be wrong for him not to change? This is a serious decision, and certainly neither the opinions of others nor emotions should be allowed to influence it, because it has to do with his relationship with God.

  
  A favorable relation with the Creator is of far greater importance than the favorable opinion of relatives, friends and neighbors. If a person’s worship is wrong, his eternal welfare is in jeopardy. But how is he to know whether his worship is right or wrong?
  
  

  ...found this nugget last night on the CD. Ironic isn't it
  
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  sir82

  Yep, from back in the day when most JWs were adult converts.

  Nowadays, well over 50%, probably much more, of baptisms are "born-ins", quite often done at a young age when the kids can't possibly understand what they are getting themselves into.
  
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  SonoftheTrinity

  Well I have been a Local Churchist, a Rastafarian, a Bahai, a Messianic, and an Ethiopian Orthodox Christian, and now I find myself wavering between being a Deist, a Sikh, and a Noahide. I love Jesus, but I have found that those that pray for things in his name are generally pretty disgusting people. You never hear them pray for the doctors to do a successful operation, because then the credit would go to the doctors and not God, as if God needs anything.
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  stuckinarut2

  Yep! Great quote.

  If the WT published that NOW, there would be a mass exodus of born-ins!

  It basically gives permission to question everything!
  
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  stuckinarut2

  Also of value is:

  Awake 1970 April 22, Page 8: (note the irony for witnesses and "New Light")

  "Why is there a decline in religion? One reason is that people are disturbed by what is happening in their churches. Yes millions of persons have been shocked to learn that the things they were taught as being vital for salvation are now considered by their church to be wrong. Have you too felt discouragement or even despair because of what is happening in your church? A businessman in Medellin Columbia expressed the effect the changes have had on many: "tell me" he asked, "how can I have confidence in anything? How can I believe in the bible, in God, or have faith? Just ten years ago we Catholics had the absolute truth, we put our faith in this. Now the pope and our priests are telling us this is not the way to believe any more, but we are to believe 'new things'. How do I know the 'new things' will be 'truth' in five years?"
  
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  sparrowdown

  I always found it hugely hypocritical even while in that JWs actively go out and lure people to denounce, leave and generally hate on their own religion and become JWs with bait and switch promises of the true-est, bestest ,most happiest, smartest, lovingest religion EVER!

  Then turn around and print articles like these, un-fricken-believable!
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  respectful_observer

  Awake 1970 April 22, Page 8: (note the irony for witnesses and "New Light")

  Wow. First time I've seen that quote. That would be an interesting one to put on a billboard (albeit a bit too long) near every RC site.