What is the true Christian religion / faith?

by evergreen 79 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  evergreen

  I,m going to cut to the chase here .I am not long viewing this website and am fascinated at much of what i have read.Currently i attend meetings, but sit there and think of what i now know about the society and its past.I just feel so confused at the moment with religion.

  Its a bit like who shot JFK ,Did man really land on the moon etc .. except it involves all of us( just wish i knew the Truth)

  The only thing that is keeping me there right now is that all my family are in the "truth" ,,and i cant just stay at home and be shunned which i have recently experienced ( was inactive for a while) .

  If i knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that i have found the true faith and discern that it is definately the true faith, i would then make a stand and nothing would stop me . Already i am reading the scriptures without the aid of WT publications and what i am reading is amazing .I am starting to feel that i am now getting closer to God by simply doing this coupled with prayer.

  There must be one true faith as there was in the first century. I find it hard to believe that God would use a mish mash of various religions that put out different views about God and his purposes.

  I also believe that Jesus has a much more important role than the way the society paints him although i dont agree with the belief that jesus is God ,that really does not make sense to me what so ever.( hope i dont cause any one offense by what i believe)

  I know that this is perhaps something that most people on this Board perhaps would love to know because it definately is something i want to know.I must admit that i find it annoying that the true faith just simply doesnt stick right out, why so much confusion? Devil of course!

  But maybe you can submit your views and why you may think so ;perhaps you already feel you have found the faith you believe is the truth . Please tell me why you personally think so.

  Perhaps maybe i will now find that treasure i have always been looking for !
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  Satanus

  I find it hard to believe that God would use a mish mash of various religions that put out different views about God and his purposes.

  Is not the bible itself a mish mash?

  Jesus has a much more important role than the way the society paints him

  Yes, i will agree on this. Many of the things that he said are in agreement w what spiritual athletes have called the perrenial truth.

  perhaps you already feel you have found the faith you believe is the truth . Please tell me why you personally think so. Perhaps maybe i will now find that treasure i have always been looking for !

  Often, i have found what i believed was a truth. Sometimes it is, sometimes it isn't. Time does the testing. I guess i have found a couple of treasures, well actually one, quite recently. I will tell you what it is. It is the love of my maternal grandmother which had been blocked by my father. In one of my meditations, it broke through, and my fathers influence was thrown aside. It was wonderful feeling this love for a few weeks. My father is probably still living. My grandmother died like maybe 8 yrs ago.

  As you can see, my 'truths' are sometimes experiences, not necesarily book knowledge. I find that it is going more in that direction. But, nothing wrong w books. After you have found a truth in the bible, lets say, test it by reading the attacks against that truth. That's my opinion.

  S
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  Corvin

  evergreen,

  at present, I am fighting for a cause that leaves me very little time to wonder and worry about what the true religion is. What matters to me right now is that the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society lies scandelously, ruthlessly and shamelessly. They ARE NOT what they claim to be and they are a clear and present danger to CHILDREN and their well being.

  I can not either support or discredit the Bible itself, and I do not wish to. I will say simply that the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses is a high control group and if you commit yourself to their teachings, rules and edicts, and if you have precious children, you will not be giving yourself or them the Christian freedom the Bible speaks of that truly promotes joy, liberation and confidence; you will instead be causing immeasurable harm to yourselves. You will be trapped inside of a cult that will seek to control your every thought, belief and action. Christian freedom should include being able to enjoy a Christian conscience guided by Bible principles and Jesus own example, not the strict absolutes of a man-made organization that usurps the Christ's role as sole mediator between mankind and God.

  I beg you to read more. I ask you to read my own threads regarding the ordeal I have been through will my beloved children, and how we have all suffered because of the religion, not for righteousness sake, but for lies, deceptions, abuse, and hatred at the hands of an organization and its members that claim to be Christian. God is not with this organization. How could He be? There is veil you need to lift up and out of the way so that you can truly see what this religion is.

  Is there a true religion? An organized religion that is acceptible by God? I personally do not think so, because your relationship with your creator is so personal that no man should ever influence or control the nature of that relationship, or tell you how to nurture your conscience.

  Good Luck to you,

  Corvin
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  outbutnotdown

  Evergreen,

  Cute picture of the puppy!!

  Congratulations, first of all for accepting that "the truth" is in fact NOT ABSOLUTE truth. That in itself is a big first step, my friend.

  That is not meant to degrade that one particular religion (although most people will agree it is near the top of the list for "bad" religions, whether an ex-Jw or having never been in), but the more I began to search for what the one true religion was, the more I determined that they were all good and all bad.

  Inherently, as humans, we want to know that what we are doing is right, or good, or kind, or positive..... you get the point. We join or stay in these very high-control religions, it seems, dependant on how secure we are with our own self-assurance and our ability to judge ourselves as being worthy of forgiveness or being able to please God. It is easy to be found worthy of this "acceptance" when it is given, no questions asked by the other members of these ONE TRUE RELIGION models, such as JW's.

  Satanus said:

  I guess i have found a couple of treasures, well actually one, quite recently. I will tell you what it is. It is the love of my maternal grandmother which had been blocked by my father. In one of my meditations, it broke through, and my fathers influence was thrown aside. It was wonderful feeling this love for a few weeks.

  I know when I was first leaving I would have had a hard time listening to that because of the fact that my impression, (built in by years of "study"), that it could sound like Satan talking. Trust me it was just Satanus, not Satan himself. Point being, what bad can come from a genuine expression of the joy received by this love?

  You said: There must be one true faith as there was in the first century.

  There was one true faith, as Jesus taught it. Others (besides Jesus) have also taught it for centuries as well. When it comes right down to it, it is the most basic of his teachings... love your neighbour as youself.... do unto others as you would have done unto you..... and any other basic teachings. We make it WAY too complicated sometimes.

  If you feel that you need to follow one specific religion, IMO, look for a religion that has the fewest absolutes, other than love and acceptance.

  Brad
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  Satanus

  I haven't told that to anyone else. It doesn't prove anything, really. Here are some possibilities: a brain fart, my remembering some childhood memories and feelings, or my grandmother's spirit paying me a visit. Who knows. All i know is that it made my life a little bit better. No demons involved though, unless my father is an incarnated demon. Nah, i don't think so.

  S

  Ps, thanks outbutnotdown for a favorable word.
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  outbutnotdown

  Evergreen,

  I just read Corvin's post as well. I agree with what he has said about the JW's. Corvin and I (as well as many others here) have experienced some really nasty things at the hands of the JW's. It's not that they're all bad. The vast majority, even, are very good people. I am no longer a JW. I left that religion a LONG time before myself and my kids started suffering at their hands of my now ex-wife and her JW family. The reason for me no longer being a JW is not because they have cheated myself and my kids out of peace that we deserve. They have cheated my kids and I out of peace BECAUSE I am no longer a JW. (Feel free to read my topics on the subject if you wish, and as hard as even some people close to me have found them to be, they are true.) Even my own immediate family has refused to even listen to my side of the story. They believe that when I left "Jehovah", Satan got ahold of me and who knows what I am capable of doing in his hands, right?

  But think about that last "bolded statement" again. The reason that I am proud of you by taking the first step of not believing in it as being the "one true religion" is that, despite the fact that Corvin and my stories are more extreme examples, it's what can happen when a group of people believe they are the chosen ones.

  I think what Corvin and I are both saying is that the unfortunate thing about a religion like the JW's, (and it does happen in other religions as well) is that when a religion is SO ABSOLUTE about being the right one, that ANYBODY who questions it, including Judges, Child Protection Services, Counsellors... (I could go on)....... the overriding SATAN factor comes into play. These very caring, loving people and who are quite frankly TRAINED in the profession to find the truth are ultimately a part of Satan's world and they can be deceived.

  Dude, I could write a book..... (actually I am... but it is not about this latest chapter in my JW experience. ) To be honest, I really didn't intend to tell you all this stuff that may freak you out. I wanted to give you an objectie viewpoint, with no JW bashing stuff. That, I tried to do in my first post. On the other hand, if you have heard stories about these "evil" ex-JW's who have done really nasty things..... (hey we're not perfect).... but it's probably either exagerated crap or just plain crap.

  Brad
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  Gretchen956

  There must be one true faith as there was in the first century. I find it hard to believe that God would use a mish mash of various religions that put out different views about God and his purposes.

  I believe that this is NOT the case. In fact it is only because we had it drilled into us over the course of a lifetime that there was only one true faith that we persist in hanging on to that illusion. Once you start to read on your own and once you start to learn on your own without the WTS fed propaganda, you will find one thing that is absolutely false. After you find one thing that is false, your mind is open to the idea that not everything the WTS tells you is truthful. After you wrap your mind around that astounding fact you really can dig in and learn new and exciting things and you find that there is not just ONE thing that is incorrect/wrong/false, but a HOST of things.

  After that day dawns, you can sit down and be amazed. With that amazement comes the ability then to scrutinize all your deeply held beliefs and hold them up to that measure of: "do I believe this because the WTS said it is so, or have I found through study and scrutiny, that it is so on its own merits?"

  Yes, its difficult to do this with relatives inside. Many on here will attest to that. Personally I never went the fading route. I'm not the type of individual that can hide how I feel, I wear my heart on my sleeve. And, those elders have always known me for an uppidy woman that doesn't know her place. So, I left with my head held high and I have never been happier.

  Now, to get back to that one truth thing, my one truth is just that... there is no one truth for everyone. There doesn't need to be because your higher power is not so simple minded as to require one. It took me many many years to reach that conclusion and I don't expect to have you agree with me at this point in your life. A lot of people never believe that. And thats just fine too. Because I believe you will find your path to the divine and you will be happy in that.

  Whatever you do, please study, don't take anything on faith.

  Good luck to you, blessings in your search!

  Sherry
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  Narkissos

  evergreen,

  Over 18 years ago I stood about where you are standing.

  Reading the NT again without WT literature, as if it were the first time I read it, absolutely fascinated with Jesus.

  This was great, this is great. Enjoy it to the full. But beware of jumping to conclusions regarding "the true religion".

  Actually this word of caution is probably unnecessary: you cannot be fooled anymore. You know (even if you don't know you know) that "true religion" is nowhere and everywhere, and has nothing to do with any "doctrine" or "organization".

  It was never united. Certainly not in the first century. I later found that many of the NT teachings which were so inspirational to me (such as Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, some of Paul's Epistles, and about everything in John) actually came from different groups which were either ignoring or struggling with each other.

  From the Johannine writings, a few texts that were pretty useful to me at that time of my life (along the line of: what matters is what you do with what you do know):

  One thing I do know, that though I was blind, now I see.

  Walk while you have the light, so that the darkness may not overtake you.

  The anointing that you received from him abides in you, and so you do not need anyone to teach you.

  Take care,

  Didier
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  Midget-Sasquatch

  Hi Evergreen,

  Like several people mentioned already, you're starting off on an exciting journey. You're leaving the road that leads to nowhere, and you're going down the road that leads to --- ???????? ----

  Is there ONE true faith to be found? I don't know. I agree with a lot of people that say the Golden Rule and loving others as yourself are probably the closest ideas to universal truths. With questions though, I have been able to find out a bit more about myself. Where my "spirituality" needs to grow or change. Like a very fine point made by Corvin. No other person should control or try to influence your personal interactions with the divine.

  As to how things were in the first century, I believe you'll find a book by Bart D. Ehrman interesting. Its called:

  Lost Christianities: The Battle for Scripture and the Faiths We Never Knew
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  vitty

  The point made by Corvin about having to go through an organisation to get to God.

  How dare they!!! This really made me think, I hadnt really considered it before but when I started reading the bible WITHOUT the watchtower I read for myself that Jesus is the mediator for ALL men.

  So no I dont think there is one true religion, Jesus was telling us over and over again that the unity would be our love for God and neighbour and that means everyone, not just someone who is in the same religion as us.

  Its early days for me aswell 6 months!! Sometimes I do ask myself "what if im wrong and there right" but I just come on this site and my sanity returns Goodluck! ( thats the second time ive said that today)