New member, question thats been asked many times, but how do you feel ?

by Greyeyes 64 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  adelmaal

  So you are looking for people to interact with who feel that the WTS is right and good but, for whatever reasons, don't want to follow its teachings and live according to its standards?

  I think allot of us felt that way when we initially left. Prior to broadening our horizons and learning the truth about the truth.

  I agree somewhat with what was said earlier. The truth is that no person nor any manmade organization has all the answers. If they claim to then you should be suspicious.

  The JWs claim to have all the answers and yet they have been proven wrong on more than one occasion (i.e. 1975, 1914, 607 BCE, whole blood vs. blood parts, organ transplants, the requirement to scream if you are raped, whether or not it's ok to accept alternative service instead of going to war if drafted, etc.). Their version of the light getting brighter and brighter is not the truth becoming more and more profound. It is mistakes being corrected over time by presenting new light.

  God has the truth and it has not/does not change. Why should it have to be hard to have a relationship with him? We each need to figure out for ourselves how he wants to be worshipped and what he expects from us. You cannot rely on someone else to feed you this information. We each render our own account before God and we owe it to ourselves to form our own opinions based on everything we've learned from all different sources.

  IMHO - I feel a bit sorry for loyal JWs. It's really hard to have a personal relationship with God when you are so busy trying to uphold the rules and standards of men.

  Where in the Bible do you find disfellowshipping. Where in the Bible does it say one should be disfellowshipped for taking a blood transfusion, for believing differently than the religion you belong to, for celebrating holidays? Where do the words blood transfusion, holidays, voting, etc. appear in the Bible. Where does the Bible state specifically that only 144,000 go to heaven, only certain ones should partake, that voting is prohibited, etc.? Those are all opinions formed based on piecing together 1 or 2 scriptures on each subject from various parts of the Bible. Hardly, hard and fast facts stated in the Bible. There are many opinions and who said God chose a specific organization to voice them on his behalf? We have the Bible and we should be able to think for ourselves and use it.
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  Min

  Hello. I know exactly how you feel. I'm 33 and this is my first time ever looking for answers outside of the KH. I was raised in "the truth" until age 16, the age I was allowed to make my own decision. I was never baptized, although I seriously considered it at age 14. The decision not to get baptized is probably the only reason my family still associates with me now. At 18, I even tried going back, along with my "worldly boyfriend", whom I was living with at the time. It was made very clear that our relationship was a "bad influence" on the other youths, and we should not sit together at the meetings. This was not a good first immpression for my boyfriend, raised SB. At that point he said he had no intentions of being a part of such an organization, I could go alone. Even though I knew why they ask us not to sit together, I was was very hurt that he was treated like that, so I didn't care to go back. I was pressured by my family to start attending the meetings again, but I refused. About 6 months later, we got married and then were approached by the same brothers/sisters that shunned us, asking us to come back, "we" never did. My husband didn't understand why he was now okay in their eyes. Several years later, after our first child was born, with my families encouragement, I felt I owed it to my child to give him a chance at everlasting life. I went for a while, but slowly drifted away again. I continued to believe everything I was taught, just couldn't live with the rules. I was so overwhelmed with the events of 9/11, I started reading/studing the bible again, I even studied with a local sister for a while. I couldn't find what I was looking for, so I stopped the study and just gave up on getting answers. Recently, a co-worker opened my eyes to the possibilites that JW might not be the "one true" religion. She found this website for me, reluctantly I agreed to look at it. Now I see I am not the only one out there feeling like this and I have a good place to start looking for alternative answers. Like you I love the way I was taught, I'm sure I'll always believe in/use his name, but there are some things that I don't believe. I plan to by the book mentioned "Crisis of Conscience", maybe it will help. I may go back to the KH someday, who knows. My husband (of 15 years), has always been good about it. He never told me not to go or that he didn't want his children going to the KH. All because he was taught there is not one perfect religion. That sounds more reasonable than judging someone because of their religion. I will contiue to read the postings here. It's nice to know your not alone, right?
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  SixofNine

  Like you I love the way I was taught, I'm sure I'll always believe in/use his name,

  Actually, that's probably a pretty good place to start. I doubt seriously that if you look deeply into the origins of the word "Jehovah", that you'll continue to "believe in/use" it. Put bluntly, it's silly..... just like most things found in a religion started by kooks like Russell and Rutherford.

  Welcome to the board, btw; you'll find a ton of great research here.
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  AuntieJane

  to all new ones posting on this thread: Have you compared the NWT to any other Bible accepted by all other Christians? What does it say to you when the Bible JWs use has been drastically changed to reflect their teachings? The Bible actually tells us we are NOT to change God's word, but yet the WTS chose to change it and come out with its own version, SO SPECIAL THAT IT CAN ONLY BE OBTAINED FROM ANOTHER JW. It is not on the bookshelves available to all of us. Is this not a red flag??

  I sincerely hope you all read C of C and stick around this board and follow the links and posts.

  Shalom, AuntieJ
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  OldSoul

  Greyeyes,

  Firstly, welcome. You will find no shortage here of kindly hearts, listening ears, and wagging ... er, uh ... fingers, I suppose. Nearly everyone here has had some experience with Jehovah's Witnesses. There are some who served at Bethel for decades, some who served as elders for decades, many who were more like you, just plain tired of "keeping up appearances" that didn't reflect what you really felt. I am still one of Jehovah's Witnesses, nominally. I do not consider you to be disfellowshipped from me or from Jehovah.

  I understand the desire to believe in something. I don't think there are many here who set out to strip belief from others. There are a few though.

  However, almost everyone here has discovered a place where they can feel unafraid asking, testing, challenging what they have always "known" to be true. Anything anyone states is up for grabs, not mean-spiritedly but in the context of inspiring each other to put our views through rigors to test for strength.

  In that vein, I would like to pique your thought processes a bit. You mentioned the NGO issue as something you take with a grain of salt. I understand your reaction but they ended their association for some reason.

  1. If there was nothing wrong with it, why stop?
  2. Why continue to allege that a 10-year association that required "support for the principles of the UN Charter" was nothing more than a registration, when 43,000 Jehovah's Witnesses passed a resolution in 1963 specifically barring such an attachment?
  3. Why no candor in communication regarding the nature of relationship or their gross error in having engaged in it?

  We are taught that humble candor is one clear mark of spirit-direction. We are taught that the spirit never directs differently than complete candor without any attempt to save face. Do you really see evidence of that mark in how the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society has responded to inquiries regarding their 10-year long affiliation to the UN?

  You mentioned that they might have been ... well, it doesn't really matter what objectives they might have had. They state their objective was to retain access to information. If you think otherwise, then you think they are intentionally trying to deceive all inquirers.

  Candor? One dictionary defines that word as "frankness or sincerity of expression; openness." Intentional deceit is quite the opposite. Would a commission of deceit really be something the spirit would direct?

  Respectfully,
  OldSoul
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  OldSoul

  Welcome, Min!

  Is that your real name or is it taken from the Robert Jordan Wheel of Time series? Or some other source?
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  GetBusyLiving

  Welcome to the board Min, its nice to have you here.
  
  GBL
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  EvilForce

  Greyeyes,
  
  So why will you take the arguments listed here with a grain of salt yet not use that same test on the WTBS literature?!?!?
  
  Why will you assume they (FDS) are telling the truth without doing research to prove it? Don't take OUR word for it, read books, visit the UN website, go to the library, dig up old Golden Age / Watchtower mags.....see how in THEIR literature they have changed so much in 30 years. Better yet, don't read ANY books yet, pick up a bible at Barnes & Noble for $10 that isn't a NWT and just read the Gospels of Jesus life. What did Jesus find SOOOO important to talk about, knowing his time was very limited. What was important enough for Jesus to tell us in the 3 1/2 years he was preaching? All scripture is inspired of God, and you can get the truth for any bible. Try and read it like it's the first time you read it without any preconcieved notions. Let God's word come alive to you.
  
  Are you really looking for answers? Write down the top 3 or 4 things that never made sense to you as a JW. For me it was the 1914 math and the changing of the end of things anyday to "generation of thinking". Digging into that I found a WHOLE bunch of other stuff that started to make sense and firm my suspections into hard cold fact.
  
  Read books on cults. The Four Major Cults written in 1962 is a good book. Read Crisis of Cons...see why the brothers of Malawi were really being persecuted.
  
  I did everything I could to do what I thought was right and Jehovah would make me feel good inside. Not empty. IT NEVER HAPPENED! I was never good enough. I could never do enough. If I auxilary pioneered one month, I'd get questions like....why don't you aux. pioneer EVERY month. So I'd aux. pioneer for the whole summer while I was off from school. WHY DON"T YOU REGULAR PIONEER? There was no "spiritual food". It was dry and dull.
  
  You have been told your whole life that Witnesses are wrong and all other religions are crazy. It's like being told from birth the sky is red and you find out it's really blue.
  
  So you can wallow in self pity and self hatred for the rest of your days unable to find any peace or happiness. Or you can find out what God really intends for you. And maybe God goes by the name Allah, or Buhdda for you. It's YOUR journey!!! Tired of feeling listless and crappy about life. DO SOMETHING! And if your studies take you back to the JW's, well you can say you have held it up and examined it to the light as the bible tells us to do.
  
  The sooner you start the sooner you can get your life back....because from your post it sounds like you are a rather unhappy, unfulfilled person. I don't mean to be harsh...think of this as a good shaking.... You have all the tools you need to examine the scriptures and information out there. You can do it. You don't have to feel like this anymore!!!!!! Make something happen.
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  EvilForce

  You have been told your whole life Witnesses are right.....
  
  I'm tired and messed that sentance up....Fruedian slip I guess ;)
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  peacefulpete

  First thing to remember is that people don't join or remain JWs because it is the "truth", they join or remain beacuse it feels the thing to do. Doctrine is irrelevant. All doctrine does for a group like the JWs is further the isolation and justify the feelings of superiority. The first step to recovery from high control environments like the JWs is to learn just how the controls worked and why we were attracted to it. In our modern world of changes and growing individualism, a world-renouncing group that claims certainty and absolutes can be attractive to those disillusioned with society and their role in it. For those who were raised a JW the outside world was always a place of evil and despair. Little doubt that when a JW finds himself outside the confines of the church many become self fullfilling prophecies of alcohol abuse and self destructive living. It's not unlike a person being raised to believe they were are "bad" child acting out the expectations of the abusive parents. Anyway check out the professional advice available at the International Cultic Studies Association website.