Joining

by Daniel 67 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Vienna

  Daniel:

  I understand you're frustration. This site can be confusing. Those here are ex-Jehovah's Witnesses, and many have left feeling numb and angry at the mind control the Society has had over their lives. I was a JW for 21 years, and my faith in Jesus has allowed me to get over the bitterness and anger, but it takes so much time for many others. JWs are considered a cult for the following reasons:

  Theologically - From a Christian perspective, a group may be defined as a cult when it radically deviates from the essential historic and biblical beliefs of the Christian Church. For example, this would be seen in the various groups which deny the Deity of the Lord Jesus Christ. JWs believe Jesus is only an angel (which you will find out if you study). There are other deviations that they teach which go against the true gospel.

  Sociologically - A group which uses mind control tactics such as subtle fear, guilt, and pressure etc. can be classed as a cult. Daniel, from the outside you might think the JWs are like any other group. But field service is a pressured assignment, the fear of never talking to your family/friends again if you decide to leave is a fear of many. And the guilt of missing meeting, field service, not studying their publications is heavy. Also, if you become a JW, you are told to give up all friends and limit association with family members who are not JWs. They don't tell you this right away--it's told to you mid-study when they feel you are "conforming" as a good JW study and attending meetings regularly.

  Cults add their own efforts, their own works of righteousness to the finished work of salvation accomplished by Jesus on the cross. All Cults say that Jesus' sacrifice is sufficient, but our works must be 'mixed with' or 'added to' His in order to prove that we are saved and worthy of salvation. JWs say one thing but believe another. They maintain that they must prove themselves worthy and that they must try their best to please God and prove to Him that they are sincere, have worked hard, and are then worthy to be with Him. But Daniel, this is absolutely wrong. The Bible says that we are saved by grace not by works "For by grace you have been saved through faith...not as a result of works, that no one
  should boast, (Eph. 2:8-9, NASB); not by anything we do "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law" (Rom. 3:28, NASB). Because if there was anything that we could do to merit the forgiveness of our sins, then Jesus died needlessly "nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through
  faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified...I do not nullify the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly (Gal. 2:16,21, NASB). So JW meeting attendance, field service does nothing. And the doctrines of JW are all opposite of the true gospel (please note that their New World Translation of the HOly Scriptures is NOT an approved translation).

  The Cults will often cite James 2:26 where it says that faith without works is dead. This, of course, is correct; faith without works is dead. If you have real faith it will result in real works of Christianity. That is what James is talking about. But he isn't saying that our works are what saves us, or that they, in combination with the finished work of Christ, save us. James was telling us that if we say we have faith (James 2:14) but we have no works, then that faith won't save us; and faith is what saves us, "Therefore having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ"
  (Rom. 5:1). It is faith that saves. Incidentally, it should be noted that it is not faith only but faith in the proper object. Just having faith in something doesn't mean you're saved. Faith is only as good as the object in which it is placed. That is why it is important to have the True Jesus. Because if you have great faith but it is in the wrong Jesus, then
  your faith is useless.

  I hope some of this helps. Please e-mail me if you have more questions.

  Vienna
• 

  sf

  Hi Daniel,

  Have you downloaded yahoo messenger YET? Would love to chit-chat with ya.

  sKally
• 

  You Know

  Daniel: There are answers to everything they are throwing at you. Oftentimes the answers are not simple but require some depth of Bible knowledge to address. They know though that you don't know the answers yet, so they are trying to bury you under a mountain of information in order to cause you to doubt or become suspicious about Jehovah's Witnesses. They know they can't pull this kind of stuff on a strong Witness, so they prey on individuals like yourself. Did you notice how excited they got when you came on the board. They know you are vulnerable. They live for opportunities to turn someone from having faith in Jehovah God. It's the same kind of frenzy that a pack of hyenas goes into when they get a scent of blood in the air. Read the letter of Jude and 2 Peter the 2nd chapter. Those two portions of the Scriptures explain how apostates operate. Look particularly at 2 Peter 2:18. It reads: "For they utter swelling expressions of no profit, and by the desires of the flesh and loose habits they entice those who are just escaping from people who conduct themselves in error." Did you notice that the Scriptures said they would offer "swelling expressions of no profit." In other words, as some might put it, they are full of BS. They have absolutely nothing of spiritual value to offer you, yet they would rob you of your own spirituality. Notice too that they try to entice others who are just escaping from the world. That's you. A lot of these XJW's are very immoral people. They would have you imagine that they "escaped" from the Watchtower, but in truth many of them were thrown out because they are homosexuals and fornicators. And the reason they don't come back is because God won't let them. Don't let them fool you man. If you want to learn the truth about Jehovah and serve him you should do it and not give any heed to people who are obviously doing the work of the Devil. / You Know
• 

  Daniel

  yeah user name danthema9
• 

  JanH

  Take a good hard look at everything YouKnow writes on this board, Daniel.

  Except for him being on this site, he reflects quite well the mindset of the JW religion, especially the leadership. These are the people who will run your life for you, from the day you join.

  They will decide what you can believe, what you must do with your time, what medical procedures you can accept for yourself and your (shudder!) children, and these are the ones who will decide how you and your spouse can have sex. If a well-renowed member of the congregation does soemthing nasty to your spouse or your children, these are the kind of people you will have to rely on to "solve" it. What do you think they will do?

  - Jan
  --
  Faith, n. Belief without evidence in what is told by one who speaks without knowledge, of things without parallel. [Ambrose Bierce, The Devil´s Dictionary, 1911]
• 

  Daniel

  get the guy who missed with my kid duh.......right?
• 

  open_mind

  You Know....

  there are answers to everything they are throwing at you. Oftentimes the answers are not simple but require some depth of Bible knowledge to address.

  One question......do only members of the faithful and discreet slave class have that needed depth of bible knowledge?
• 

  Had Enough

  Hi Daniel:
  Glad you're still here.

  I'll try to be brief about my experience with JWs. I was born into a JW family and stayed as a JW for these past 50 years. All the while I was growing up, my mother would tell me she never thought I'd go to public school, then high school, then get married, then have children, then raise them to adulthood, see them get married and now be a grandmother....why?,...all because the org. hammered at us that the end was right at our doorstep. I was discouraged from going to University because "it was bad association"..."wouldn't need worldly education...it's useless" and again..."the end was so near".

  When my son decided he no longer wanted to be a JW, he was disassociated and I was reminded by the elders showing me the 1981 Watchtower September 15th article that I should not have anymore association "at all" with him, not even talk to him, only emergencies like funerals were OK..This is supposed to be for his own good to jolt him into coming back, they say.

  Could you do this to your child? or a parent or a sibling?

  As a JW, I only read JW literature and only had their slant on the Bible. Once I started to find out other people's experiences and findings on other websites, I got to see why the org. says "don't go on the internet" or read "apostate literature". They don't want us to find out all the mistakes they have made in their predictions and doctrines and are still making.

  I had studied from the 1950's 'till 2 years ago, but didn't know much about what was taught before that time. I sure had my eyes opened once I started to look back into their own literature written from the beginning (1870's) onward.

  Take the time to check out other websites, even if your gf tries to discourage you. She'll only be repeating what she has been told.

  Websites like: http://www.freeminds.org/
  http://www.ajwrb.org/
  http://www.watchtower.observer.org/
  http://silentlambs.org/
  http://jwfiles.com/index.htm

  ..just to mention a few..and I'm sure others here can suggest somemore too.

  The org. may have helped many people, but our own experiences and those of others from those who were, and are, in a position to know firsthand, like elders, circuit overseers, district overseers, Bethelites etc. all cry out that the org. hurts more people that it helps.

  Think and do your own research. You owe it to yourself not to spend your whole young adultlife, like I did, not being allowed your basic freedoms, to think on your own, to speak thoughts other than what the JWs teach and to pursue lifes' simple pleasures.

  We're not perverse, ranting people full of hatred. A lot of us are still hurting from the wounds inflicted on us by power and control-wielding authoritarians, and here we find kindred folk willing to give freely of their time to help each other get through the rough times.

  I know I said I'd be brief but what I've said here is just the tip of the iceberg of the problems with the JW religion.

  I wish you well...

  Had Enough
• 

  Undecided

  Hi again Daniel,

  From your attitude as expressed here, you will make a good JW. They have the attitude that the whole world is against them and God. They are the only people on earth that has a chance of living through the end, which is always coming "soon" and they have the dates to prove it, only it never happens as they say. They are ever changing their "truth" as new light is found, like a tacking sail boat they may change their "truth" but it is ever going forward.

  They apply every person, thing, time, parable as applying to the few who are anointed, even the sacrifice of Christ and only the residue is left to benefit the great crowd as an after thought. The few old men in Brooklyn are the governing body, who make all the decisions, although they say ALL the "anointed" are the faithful and discrete slave.

  I'm not saying that everything is bad in the JWs faith, but I sugggest you read Crisis of Counscience by Ray Franz. Almost all JWs don't know how the organization works, they have been indoctrinated to view the orgazination as God himself. You should read this book before committing yourself to the organization.

  Whatever your decision, go with your eyes wide open and your brain in gear.

  Wishing you a happy life,

  Ken P.
• 

  VeniceIT

  HMMM I'm with 'godlike' on this one!!! These posts just aren't adding up. Houston is a BIG area with plenty of halls. Danny get out your phone book honey first of all make sure to check your spelling or better yet maybe try under cults !!!

  It seems to me that this isn't quite the forum for finding a hall!! you come in to our happy little forum (ok I use the term loosely) and ask us to help you become something that we have devoted our lives to save people from. You are well AWARE of the mood of this board so if you really are/were sincere you would have left the second your mouse clicked on this board. You my dear are just trying to stir up trouble and like Farkel mentioned perhaps you are perfect dub material. Asking some here how to find a KH is like going up to a (ohh man I didn’t read the whole thread dang not sure what to say, so I do apologize to any I offend) black person and asking there where you can join the KKK, or a Jewish person and ask where to sign up for the 4th Reich.

  I'm glad you stayed, I just think you need to readjust your attitude since YOU chose us, and some of us have had HORRID experiences with the JW's. Did you know that by becoming a JW you are aligning yourself with known pedophiles. That if you have kids there is a 1 in 3 chance they will be molested by one of the JW's in your congregation. Like that post above about the medical procedures that have changed, do you want to risk or lose your life for a policy that might change in a year or so?????

  Please don't come here just to bash, ya that's real Christian!! If you want to stay we'd be happy to help, and if you want to get her out of the destructive mind control cult so you can as Princess so aptly puts it 'live happily ever after' we're all yours.

  Ven

  "To Be Patriotic, hate all nations but your own. To be religious, all sects but your own; to be moral, all pretenses but your own." Lionel Strachey.