after 12 months i am now at the pinnacle of some considerable change in my life, a time of consolidation and reflection; i thought i would share my journey.
when someone joins jwd they often post a biography to highlight how they come to be where they are at and what stage they are at in their recovery from spiritual abuse; i did and my biography spanned my childhood and into early adulthood.
some of it was hard to write, and caused some bitterness to raise its head again, luckily it was shortlived and i hope that my experiences in one way or another have helped others.
What a wonderful biolgraphy to read...I am so happy for you, that you have found your path to happiness and fufillment....and have found someone to share that with....that is just amazing and heart warming...thank you for sharing this with us....
-eclipse (of the 'pagans are awesome' class)
i started investigating this issue a few months back after seeing a documentary that intrigued me.
some of you may disagree with my findings and that is ok, but hopefully we can have a constructive discussion and hear both sides of the arguments.
i personally was deeply impressed, to say the least, by the apparent cogency and deep correlations of evidentiary materials that survived to this day, which supports this thesis.. there is so much more that can be or should be said here but i will try to keep this text as short as possible so as to keep people interested enough to read it.. buddhism appeared some 500 years before jesus arrival.
I'd also love if we could talk about facts devoid of personal religious views. Lets talk about this as if this wasn't Jesus and see what we conclude :)
Excellent point.
Many would not want to believe that their God was just a man who adopted his teachings from another man....
If we look at the evidence of the similarity between the teachings from buddha and the teachings of jesus, and the fact that there is a huge gap in the story of his life that is withheld from the bible....sure makes it suspect that this could indeed be probable....
but if the evidence did not point in that direction, then the likelihood of this theory holding up under scrutinity would be slim.
If we just face the facts, no matter what they are, we will see things for what they really are, and not what we want to them to be.
If the evidence say Jesus did not go to india and follow buddha, then so be it, if it shows he did, then so be it.
I am interested in what the knowledgeable writers about this subject have to say....
i started investigating this issue a few months back after seeing a documentary that intrigued me.
some of you may disagree with my findings and that is ok, but hopefully we can have a constructive discussion and hear both sides of the arguments.
i personally was deeply impressed, to say the least, by the apparent cogency and deep correlations of evidentiary materials that survived to this day, which supports this thesis.. there is so much more that can be or should be said here but i will try to keep this text as short as possible so as to keep people interested enough to read it.. buddhism appeared some 500 years before jesus arrival.
I haven't heard this theory before, it is very interesting. Thank you for sharing it, Illyrian.
I think to dismiss this theory would be close-minded, and I think to accept it readily would be naive.
I do not know enough about it to form an educated opinion.
i never was baptize as a jw.
i use to study with them for years, i even went as for as becoming a unbaptize publisher.
i gave up being a publisher because i did not feel genuine in my efforts to preach.
I found Illrian's and popper's post much more deep than my own...
I thought mine was a simplistic viewpoint....so thank you....
unless you were being sarcastic
what are the top 5 books you would either recommend and/or have had the greatest influence on you?
(if you only want to mention one or two that's fine as well.).
if you feel like it, please briefly tell us why.
Intensity was one of the only books by koontz that I enjoyed reading, it is REALLY SCARY! Strangers is a cool story by koontz, but its about 500-600 pages long.
i never was baptize as a jw.
i use to study with them for years, i even went as for as becoming a unbaptize publisher.
i gave up being a publisher because i did not feel genuine in my efforts to preach.
The words ''spiritual need'' is a term made up by the JW's.
It's dung.
It's nothing but a sales pitch to make you feel that you NEED THEM to tell you how to run your life and be spiritual.
You can find spirituality within yourself.
If you need to believe in Jesus, then turn to him if that makes you feel good.
I personally have left that behind...and now I take in every moment, and see everything with new open eyes...I'm not just waiting to be saved anymore, I'm saving myself, I'm living my life, living in each moment and second, that's spirituallity to me.
What it is to you may be a whole different story. Just go with what works for you.
<!-- .style1 { font-family: arial; font-size: 18px; color: #996699; } .style2 { font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; } .style3 {font-family: verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; font-style: italic; } --> did the watchtower society give you your personality?a good friend of mine on the discussion board had this conversation .
with me a couple of times.
after spending decades in the organization, .
Even though I was raised in it...and didnt leave until after being a jdub for some 30 years...I think it's safe to say, no...I am my own person.
I was very sheltered as a child (hard to believe, I'm sure) so it took a while for me to come out of my shell, and start learning about me.
When I did...it wasn't long before I was able to completely let go of the dub mind-chains.
this is not so much a question as it is to make sure that i am thinking correctly.
the witnesses believe that 144,000 would rule as kings and priests in heaven and the end would not come until all of the 144,000 were in heaven, correct?
so, if this were the case and the witnesses kept a census of how many partook each year and are still doing that today, that means that back in the early 1900s they must of known that all 144,000 were not yet in heaven.
The witnesses believe that 144,000 would rule as kings and priests in heaven and the end would not come until all of the 144,000 were in heaven, correct?
If my memory serves me correctly, and they have changed this doctrine a few times, I believe, but last I remembered, whover wasn't dead of the 144,000 were either gonna be wisked up to heaven at armegeddon...I think they used to teach that the remaining remnant would help out the armegeddon survivors, but I think they changed that to them being taken up to heaven either right before armegeddon or sometimes...the details are foggy....
I think that is why they continued to prophesy dates, it didn't matter how many remnant were left...jehober would take them when he felt like it..
so three weeks ago my wife and i had an emotional discussion wherein i finally told her that this religion was not the truth.
there was much emotion, a chill has ensued in our relationship.
(i haven't been to a meeting in 4 months now, and have not reported time in two months) i am sure many of you know the drill.. towards the end of our conversation, she asks: but what do i tell the friends when they ask about you?.
That's a perfect reply, Cellist.
so three weeks ago my wife and i had an emotional discussion wherein i finally told her that this religion was not the truth.
there was much emotion, a chill has ensued in our relationship.
(i haven't been to a meeting in 4 months now, and have not reported time in two months) i am sure many of you know the drill.. towards the end of our conversation, she asks: but what do i tell the friends when they ask about you?.
I would say this if I had a spouse and if they were being bugged at the hall about me...,
''Tell them, 'do you want the truth? or do you just want to make the appearance that you care? If you really are concerned, why don't you call him/her and ask him/her yourself?' ''
