No. I value freedom. Freedom to make my own choices, to research what I want, to express my ideas, to listen to others and their ideas. It's a valuable thing that I did not have for the first 24 years of my life. I would not be willing to give it up now.
Why, oh why, didn't I take the blue pill....
by mkr32208 44 Replies latest jw experiences
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what_Truth?
LittleToe you're confusing me here. why else would you attend a church service unless you are looking to be converted? Aside from the obvious church functions (christenings, weddings, funerals, and religious festivals) I can't think of any other reason to be in one of those buildings. I don't understand what kind of demons you would be confronting there either. Since leaving the org I've been to a few different churches and the one thing they all have in common is that once you show up a second time the deacons will be hell bent on making you one of them. They will use whatever means they have to win over your soul and devotion. Some of them has pure motives some of them don't, but in either case you're only going to be able to get away is by not going back. Ever notice what prompts a person to join a church in the first place. In most cases it's either a tragedy, a wrong doing that occurred in their old church, or family tradition. The choice very seldom involves much critical thinking.
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LittleToe
What_Truth:Because we were constantly told that churches were the realm of the Harlot. Even going into one is a psychological barrier.
Have you forgotten what it was like to walk into one the first time?
Maybe you just didn't have issues with it, but MANY others have...Moving onto the next logical question: what barriers exist for a "spiritual" person who still clings to some semblance or notion of "Christianity"?
The WTS cultivated in us a critical attitude to other religions and denominations. Most ExJW's find it a turn off to even think of joining another religion, far less doing some of the more enthusiastic things that some people do when they worship like singing with gusto, clapping hands while singing, raising hands while singing, or even dancing (I mention the singing bit in particular so as to distinguish it from clapping at the end of a talk and raising hands in a Wt study) - Note that I'm still not talking about actually joining a religion here.
I would posit that many of these "issues" have been implanted there by the WTS, and confronting them is healthy. Personally I find myself questioning myself whenever I have a knee-jerk reaction to anything. That kind of unreasoning reaction is usually brought about by conditioning, and I know where the vast majority of my conditioning came from...
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what_Truth?
Okay, that makes a little more sense. I'll admit, it did feel a little weird the first time I walked into a Christian church. I agree there is a HUGE difference in the way that the followers in my wife's United Pennicostal Church and the JW's worship. then again, that enthusiastic "charismatic" type preaching can also have some serious dangers too. I've heard pastors preach gospels from the pulpit that were directly from the snopes urban legend site yet everyone nodds their heard yelling "glory halilujah" claiming it was the sworn truth because they could "feel the holy spirit" in what he said. another time, a pastor said "The Lord has told me that Satan is going to try to ruin our service today" Then half an hour later the sound cuts out and a muzak version of Phill Collin's "In the air tonight" starts up. The effect was almost comical. (I should also mention that these services are conducted at a confrence room at the Sheriton Hotel, which also has a muzak system in their PA). While these manipulations are far more innocent than the lies of the GB i would much rather look for my spirituality at a place that didn't require me to check my brain at the door.
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Balsam
Grateful for the awakening now, but wasn't in the beginning. I would not ever go back, there would be no reason for it.
I've found a group that full allows freedom of thought. Universal Unitarianism. It is a small group of people who embrace atheist, pagans, Buddhist, liberal Christians, and any and all spirituality. I love it and it isn't limiting.
Their worth checking out in your towns or cities. I understand there is only 200,000 members. But more than just member attend their very interesting services. Sort of New Age yet they have been around since the early beginnings of the United States. For me and my husband it is a place to fit in and we don't have subscribe to some man made creed.
With its historical roots in the Jewish and Christian traditions, Unitarian Universalism is a liberal religion -- that is, a religion that keeps an open mind to the religious questions people have struggled with in all times and places. We believe that personal experience, conscience and reason should be the final authorities in religion, and that in the end religious authority lies not in a book or person or institution, but in ourselves. We are a "non-creedal" religion: we do not ask anyone to subscribe to a creed.
Our congregations are self-governing. Authority and responsibility are vested in the membership of the congregation. Each Unitarian Universalist congregation is involved in many kinds of programs. Worship is held regularly, the insights of the past and the present are shared with those who will create the future, service to the community is undertaken, and friendships are made. A visitor to a UU congregation will very likely find events and activities such as church school, day-care centers, lectures and forums, support groups, poetry festivals, family events, adult education classes and study groups.