From Jw to born again .................

by vitty 35 Replies latest jw friends

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  Tigerman

  I tend to think God loves you, James Thomas.
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  Justin

  It's relatively easy to go from one totalist system to another. If JWs become disillusioned, they're ripe to become "born agains." But the reason that more evangelical ("born again") Christians don't become JWs is due to the evangelical establishment's labeling certain groups as "cults." For them, a cult is not necessarily a high-control group, but simply one that claims to be Christian and yet disagrees with certain basic beliefs (such as the Trinity, etc.). So not only JWs, but others such as Christian Scientists, Mormons, Unitarians, etc. have been labeled cults in this way. Once a "born again" comes in contact with these groups or their members, the bells go off. The evangelicals claim to be evangelizing the "cults," but in reality they are insulating their own people.

  The original appeal of C.T. Russell was to "consecrated Christians" of his day - people who today would be considered "born again." But when Rutherford decided to have an earthly class that would be less spiritual, this appeal stopped. Then the evangelicals began fighting back with their cult ministries. While the WTS has also tried to insulate its people by calling everyone else Babylon the Great, once people see that the organization is also Babylonish they become ripe for the plucking. So there is a reason why people seem to be going in one direction and not in the other.
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  Tigerman

  And the beat goes on . . .
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  jwfacts

  Rickross.com lists by JDubs and Born agains as cults. I dont know enough about BAgains to know why they are considered a cult. Anyone feel that it is warranted?
• 

  tetrapod.sapien

  LT,

  "steal the crutch from the lame?" LOL! are you saying what i think you're saying?! at any rate, i agree. we're a bunch o apes regardless of whether we're born again or not.

  jwfacts,

  Rickross.com lists by JDubs and Born agains as cults. I dont know enough about BAgains to know why they are considered a cult. Anyone feel that it is warranted?

  the simple fact that all religions start as cults is good enough for me. it means that they all made stupid mistakes in their past. and this means that they cannot be inspired by the god the describe. it's easy when you have nothing to lose, . TS
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  I quit!

  Here is my take on it. I think some people get so burned out by the Watchtower that they stop believing in God. Others are able to maintain a belief in God separate from the Watchtower. I think attacking people on their belief or lack of belief in God is stupid because no on can really prove or disprove the existence of God. As for the term born again I have never really got what fundies mean by it either. This even though I sometime go to fundamentalist churches. I hear people say "I'm a born again Christian". As apposed to what a Christian or and unborn again Christian? Jesus said you must be born again so I would think that all Christians are born again. It has always seemed a bit redundant to use the term born again Christian. Kind of like saying I had chicken bird for dinner last night. Ok I know people say tuna fish sandwich but that is also redundant.
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  vitty

  I can understand why many JWs become born again...............but ive never known a born again becoming a witness
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  Undecided

  I didn't have a born again experience but I talked to God the other day.

  I was over at the R/C model flying field, alone and looking at the beautiful clouds and fields and I talked to God. I said,"I don't know if you are out there somewhere or if you exist, but I thank you that I have lived and enjoyed this earth. I love the beautiful things of nature and am thankful for this life. I don't understand you or the universe and if you would let me know I would appreciate it. I just wonder why you made mosquitoes, viruses, parasites, hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanos, etc, along with the good stuff. I'll continue to enjoy the good stuff and be thankful for it until I die.

  Ken P.
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  Cygnus

  Ken, you are great. Never stop posting, ya hear?

  tetra, you're also great. Same to you.

  Jeff, I've asked hundreds of born-agains what it means to be "born again" and I've never received a tangible answer. Mostly just slogans inherited from Billy Graham or some other preacher. LT is almost an exception to this.

  To me, becoming a bornagain/fundy after quitting the JWs is jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. But I guess some people have the need to believe and not just believe but do it in (what I consider anyway) a radical way.

  Just to add, if i ever became a believer again, I'd be a liberal Catholic, not because I'd buy into all the dogma, but i like the mysticism, the rituals, the beauty and tradition of catholicism. Which is cheap. Which is why I'm not one.
• 

  Narkissos

  When I gradually drifted from the WT nearly 20 years ago "born again" was not yet known as any sort of "label" in France; and even now it mostly evokes a section of "American religious folklore" (if anything).

  Essential to my religious change (should I say conversion?) were, indeed, most NT passages marked as "Only For Anointed" by WT literature -- including the "birth from above" in John 3 or "the Spirit testifying that we are God's children" in Romans 8. For the first time I understood them from inside as it were.

  Yet -- and this is equally important to me -- I could feel exactly the same kind of intimacy with non-Christian writings (e.g. from Buddhism, Taoism, or Sufism). It was apparent to me that they were actually describing the same experience in a different cultural context.

  Once I was df'd for apostasy (no surprise here) I associated with a moderate Evangelical church -- a very natural step to me. I could readily relate to their emphasis on personal experience. Only when I studied theology I realised where "Born Again Evangelicals" stood in many issues (theological and political conservatism, refusal of Bible criticism etc.) -- and it became very clear that this was not where I was heading (or, should I say, where the Spirit was leading me). However, I still treasure the common experience although I disagree in interpretation. And I can testify that "from JW to born again" is quite a natural move in many ways.

  Oh, and to answer another question I did meet a few former Evangelicals among JWs. Imo they had been trapped by the rationalistic appeal of the apparent consistency of WT doctrine. I doubt they were deeply satisfied though.