I'm confused (page 2)

zman

So if I pray for truth and Avon shows up or the Girl Scouts, should I become a cross dressing cookie eater!!! People look for signs and there just is not any that I have seen. If you 'LOOK' for signs you will find them in anything. But the real reason is you want that outcome and choose to interpret the 'signs' to support your own belief. So when Avon shows up I will check out the lady, I will buy the Girl Scout cookies and take it as a sign I need to date more and go buy milk! Signs are all what you want to make of them.

fairchild

(cindykp) I prayed to jehovah, the next day the witnesses knocked on my front door. When they left, my son went outside through the back door, and brought in a pamphlet from the mormans. Neither one ever comes here.

Haha, that is hilarious. I bet you felt double blessed (or double cursed).

Sunspot

Ever since I was a teen, I went to many different churches with friends and relatives. The subject of the "right" religion had always fascinated me. I even dabbled in the occult by reading about it in depth. I pretty well covered a LOT of bases!

Now, after my 30-year stint as a JW, I'm searching yet again---but with an entirely different approach. NOW, there isn't any rush to "find the truth" but let it find ME, in a sense.

There is no urgency. There is no punishment for NOT having found it. There is knowledge and life experience.

The best advice (which stubborn old me didn't believe for quite a while after leaving the WTS) that I can pass along. would be to read a nonJW bible with fresh new "eyes" of understanding. The "truths" will begin to practically jump off the pages and you will wonder why you never saw THAT before!

It's a slow process at first, but ever so rewarding. I DID go through a time period of doubting God, the bible, and all things similar. That was short-lived, and was mostly anger from all the deception that I had accepted as "truth" from the WTS.

I am still coming across thoughts and ideas from the bible itself---that have been quite amazing! Mainly this has been the realization that the WTS may appear to be "Christian"---but in actuality is ANTI-Christ in everything they say and do. It doesn't seem that way at first, but the further you get away from their teachings, the more this becomes apparent. It can be disturbing and enlightening all at the same time, to know that you had been a PART of that!

All I can say is keep reading the bible, keep doing research on the subjects that interest you, and do so in a calm way. Just let the information flow and absorb what you can. It IS quite a journey!

hugs,

Annie

Farkel

The miracle and simplicity of prayer is so easy even a child can understand it. It has taken me many years much hard work to figure it all out. I will share this wonderful insight for all of you:

God always answers prayers in the way we want Him to. Except when he doesn't.

That's about it. It's simply, really.

Farkel

FlyingHighNow

I do pray sometimes. I ask others to pray for my children and other loved ones.I don't know exactly who it is I pray to, I call it "The one that left us here." I do believe someone made us, I just am not sure who it id. I know it is someone more fair than most of earthling man's religions worship. I do see that prayer can help, especially when lots of people do it. I consider any kind of communing with a higher power a type of prayer.

The thing is, I don't ask to be shown the truth. And, Fairchild my god/goddess sees the good in every single human being. My god/goddess would never give up on anyone with good in them.

Preston

Why would God even answer a prayer with a knock on the door? Where I live few people even leave their house. I would imagine God is much more subtle than that. The whole "burning bush" / "booming vocie from heaven" / "sulfur and fire" deal is a bit too heavy-handed doncha think?

- Preston

Daunt

[quote] I prayed for freedom twenty years, but received no answer until I prayed with my legs. [/quote] Frederick Douglass

Elsewhere

A man was standing on the roof of his house, flood water totally covering his house and lapping at his ankles. He prayed, "Lord, I trust you and know that you will save me."

A couple in a canoe came by and asked if he needed help. "No," said the man, "the Lord will save me."

Later, the water now risen up to his waste, the man kept praying, "Lord, I know that you will save me from this."

A couple of fishermen in a rowboat came by then and offered to take him to safety. "No thanks," said the man, "I know that God will save me from this."

Not long after that the water rose to throat level. The man kept praying to God, "Lord, I know in my heart that you will save me from this."

A National Guard helicopter came by, hovered overhead, and lowered a rope for him to hold onto. He refused saying, "I know God will save me from this flood. Thanks anyway."

Well, the water rose even further and he drowned. When he got to heaven he looked up at God and asked, "Lord, I prayed to you and trusted in you so much. Why didn't you save me from that awful flood?"

"What?" the Lord asked, "I sent you a canoe, a rowboat, and the National Guard in a helicopter but you wouldn't take any of them!"

Sassy

I think the thing is, we were conditioned to believe that every good thing from God, came from JWs.. so everytime we prayed for something, and it worked out, it MUST have come from Jehovah and more importantly if we were JWs, from being JWs..

as well as 'non JWs' who just happened to have been praying and the JWs knocked at their door.. well they knock all the time.. every day.. devoting hours a month .. so the chance that someone prays and they knock at their door, is pretty likely..

I remember thinking when I chose to purposely not go back to the hall, I thought that all good things that came for me, would end.. I literally expected the world to fall in..

that is part of the brainwashing..

I've received so many blessings since leaving the WTS.. and none of them because JWs knocking at my door.

fairchild

Thank you all for your replies.

Elsewhere.. point taken!

I think it's safe to say that some believe that their prayers are heard while others see prayer more as a meditation, without expecting an answer. When I was about 9 years old, I asked one of the nuns in school about prayer. What if I want to go swimming tomorrow, and I pray for good weather, while my neighbor who is a farmer prays for rain tomorrow, because the land is dry, who will God listen to? It was a simple question from a 9 year old. The nun told me that God doesn't have time to listen to all our prayers, but when we pray our faith grows stronger and that's why we should pray anyway.

I've basically been told by JW's that it depends on what we pray for. It also depends on the efforts we make to please Jehovah. One JW told me once that God would not listen to someone who is a smoker because sinning is like building a wall between yourself and God.

What else can I say, other than I have been emotionally tired, and perhaps should give things a rest. There is always tomorrow and hopefully the next day.

Thanks for the replies.

I'm confused

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