Has anyone felt like leaving God altogether?

by lookingnow22 82 Replies latest jw friends

  • Liberated
    Liberated

    I left the wts so that I could draw close to God, so that I could absorb his word without the org's interpretation of that word, and so that I could follow Jesus freely. While it never occurred to me to ever leave God, or ever to reject Jesus, it does seem possible to me to live without an organized religion in my life.
    And while some claim to believe in God, they live as though there is no God; and others who say they don't believe in God, treat others as they would want to be treated, with kindness and love.

    Libby

  • VeniceIT
    VeniceIT

    Amen Libby!!!

    Ven

  • Faraon
    Faraon

    Free2Bme,
    I have a couple of questions. Can Muslim women pray in front of Muslim men? Can they take the lead in prayers? Do they have to cover their head then so their prayers can be heard?
    Just wondering.

    JRP

  • Faraon
    Faraon

    I still had my doubts about Jahovah after having left the Watchtower for about a year. I then came across a book by Judge Joseph Wheless called "Is It God's Word?" which can be freely downloaded at http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/joseph_wheless/is_it_gods_word/
    The rest is history.

    JRP

  • Sozo
    Sozo

    At the age of 5 my mom told the family we were now JWs, that was the day the nightmare began. Me and my younger sister were molested by an elder and my mom denied it happend. My family was ripped apart trying to please mom being the good JW and trying to appease dad being the worldly girl. Wanting to please God but the sin in my life was overwhelming and never felt God loved me - not to mention being repremanded by the elders didn't help matters much. At the age of 25 and married a man who was a Christian and in my mind I was gonna convert him into a JW. Little did I know that his mother knew the JWs were a cult and told him about the organization. Many times we fought who had the right bible and whose answers were right. This fight went on for 13 years and we almost divorced over it. I too, just never felt God loved me but my heart wanted to know Him.
    Even though I hadn't attended a meeting in over 15 years and never went to any other church for the fear of really getting God angry, the JW teaching was very engrained into my soul.....I just figured I would die and await what was coming to me and my family -- (I was scared).

    Something pretty incredible happened to me about 4 years ago, (I didn't see this coming) my husband and I got into a discussion of the going to church and reading the bible. For the first time, he told me I could go back to the JWs but only if I promised to read the bible. I was excited to go and I was going to attend the Sunday service.....well, on Friday my husband brings home a classified ads magazine and on the front page there was an ad to call a researcher who does research on cults...one of them were JWs. For the first time in my life I didn't get mad or offended that JWs were called a cult rather a curiosity came into my heart....I called the number and met with this man who had overwhelming evidence. As I was receiving this evidence of truth and the anger whelling up inside of me because I am having flashbacks of the hell my family went through and all the sacrafices for nothing. Now, my question is to this man if JWs aren't teaching truth who the heck is? What is God....Is there a God?

    This man shared with me only one book and the book was/is the Bible (not the NWT). The questions I had were answered in the Bible and the funny thing about it I understood it. For those who are seeking and wanting a relationship with Him I urge you to buy a bible that you can understand and read the New Testiment. Jesus tells us what each of us individually must do and that is to choose who will be our master: God or satan. God desires to have a relationship with each of us that is why Christ died on the cross - so that we don't have to go to priests and confess because of Christ's death we can go directly to God in prayer and draw close to Him. Satan on the other hand desirs to keep our eyes/ears from hearing and seeing truth - that is why the Watchtower is such a good ploy because it draws many people to what they want to hear. The teachings are very good at twisting scriptures and who God is and the purpose of our being here.
    Satan's desires is to keep many from knowing the Father and as long as he can keep us angry at God then his job has been accomplished.
    When we accept Christ into our heart we become born again, our name is written in the Book of Life. We are apart of God's family that will reign in the heaven with Christ. This is all written in scripture.....believe me this is not only for the 144,000, its for you and me.

    The JWs teachings don't have a clue who God is nor do they teach God's love, grace, and mercy for us.

    The only thing that JWs got right about God's name is Jehovah which means The convenant name of God; our Father. But there are other names that are God such as Elohim means Creator, El-Shaddai means My Supply, My Nourishment. The word Hallelujah means Praise Jehovah.

    What I can testify to is that He has filled my void, washed my heart clean, the anger towards the organization has in time gone away, I've had a few addictions to fill the void in my heart which was food and money, these too have gone.

    God does love us.

  • COMF
    COMF
    he told me I could go back to the JWs


    You mean, he had told you before that you couldn't go? And you actually thought that meant you couldn't?

  • messenger
    messenger

    To leave someone you have to show up to begin with. I am still waiting for god to show up so I can decide whether to hang around. Its kind of like folks who believe in reincarnation, they have all these memories of being a king or cleopatra or some famous person in history. How come nobody remembers being a nobody who did nothing with his life? Simple, it makes them feel important. So to with the god concept. Remember when you were a kid in school and you had a really big friend to protect you from all the bullies? Pretty neat huh? Everyone wants a big dude watching their back, even if he is imaginary. So whether you remember being a king in a past life or Jesus covering your ass against all evil, it is all about feeling superior to everyone else. Have you noticed how most religions look down their noses at everyone else? They are so quick to say the big dude in their hip pocket is going to kill anyone who isn't their buddy. Kind of childish wouldn't you say?
    When you come to terms you are no better than anyone else and we are all in this together. This life is what you make of it now, not some kind of twisted mutual fund managed by god that you can't spend till you check out. I will take my check now sir, never mind the earnings projections, i'll just buy me a good cheeseburger and sit in the shade and savior the moment.
    Now if god wants to show up and do something for the betterment of mankind, and he can come up with a good explanation as to why he has been farting around the last few thousand years, then I will be the first in line. Till that day arrives, chill out, enjoy life, be excellent to each other, and stomp a mudhole in the ass of any idiot who trys to tell you otherwise.

  • Abaddon
    Abaddon

    jurs;

    I had to say, BIG respect to your attitude...

  • Faraon
    Faraon

    Hi Sozo,
    Jus a few things I have found out about the Jewish god’s name.

    EL-SHADDAI = god my demon.
    "And I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob by the name of God Almighty (Heb., El-Shaddai, God my daemon), but by my name JEHOVAH (Heb., YHVH) was I not known to them" (Ex. vi, 2, 3). Page 70
    http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/joseph_wheless/is_it_gods_word/chapter_03.html
    I started to get curious about this name of El-Shaddai because I read it in a Catholic Spanish Bible (Ls Santa Biblia, Ediciones Paulinas) without it being translated, so I started wondering why they did not translate it to *almighty* like most bibles do. I guess they did not want to lie about its meaning.

    ELOHIM = gods (not god)
    "He that sacrificeth to any gods [elohim], save unto Yahweh only, he shall be utterly destroyed" (Ex. 22: 20)
    "And Jacob vowed a vow and said, if Elohim [the Gods] will be with me ... then shall Yahveh be my God" (Gen. xxviii, 20,)
    "And Elohim [gods] said, Let us make man [adam] in our image"; "and Elohim created ha-adam [the-man] in his image" (1: 27) — male and female both together.
    Elohim is actually the plural of the word El (god). Elohim means GODS, not god. You can also check it as a note to Gen. 1:1 in your deluxe NWT

    JRP

  • Sozo
    Sozo

    I no longer use the NWT or JW publications for any references because I have found many errors that are not scriptural. I would not use Catholic references as well for several reasons : One is that the religion is man oriented, pray to the saints and to Mary, and other things that the church does which is not biblical.

    I have also found that a Roman Catholic Priest help translate the NWT bible and this priest believed in speaking to spirits.

    The Bibles I use are NIV and New Living Translation.

    Elohim (CREATOR): Genesis 1:1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

    El-Shaddai (My Supply, My Nourishment) Genesis 17:1 When Abram was ninety nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, I am God Almighty , serve me faithfully and live a blameless life.

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