Don't leave Grace, your faith is one of the reasons why I still call myself a Christian.
garyneal
JoinedPosts by garyneal
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148
Well it is time for me to say GOODBYE!!!
by mouthy init has been nice talking with you.but i seem to upset a few because of my faith.. so have a great christmas.... & be good, i wont be here to send you to your rooms .
i have grown close to many of you.... if i have ever said anything to hurt you sorry!!!!.
when i kick the bucket i am sure "mary" who ssometimes post will let you know.. mouthy grace gough.
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garyneal
The way I understood it, being born again meant professing in prayer that you are a sinner and that you believe Christ died for you and you are inviting Him now to be your Lord and Savior. After that, you are considered born again.
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The fiance brought in witnesses today oh joy. QUESTIONS
by OneStepOut93 inso it's been seven months since i moved out of my parents place and in with my (now) fiance.
they came to our door this morning and it's been a long time since i spoke to my parents.
i was never disfellowshipped because i was never baptized but there is still online limited contact.
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garyneal
OneStepOut, not sure if this can help, but I will relate my story. I was never a witness and for a while before and after I married my witness wife she was essentially one step out herself. I considered myself a spiritual but not really religious Christian and was quite happy with my faith and felt that she could find happiness in hers as well. I did not know better, I encouraged her to study and ask the elders all the questions she needed. I even studied with them and went to the meetings. She also went to church with me but always kept pointing out everything that was wrong with it, as an aside.
Obviously, if I had known then what I know now, I would've never encouraged all of that and I would've never went along with it. Instead, I would've kept her busy doing all the things she liked and not doing witnessy things. She loved throwing birthday parties, celebrating holidays, and all the other things the Watchtower forbids. She was unbaptized so she would've had no problems maintaining family contact. Now she is baptized and STUCK and I now have to deal with a wishy washy woman who is hot and cold when it comes to her following her religion and walk on eggshells around her family as I cannot let it out that she still celebrates the holidays and throws birthday parties.
My advise, take your stand. If you know the truth about the truth, inform your fiance.
BTW, I like your avatar. I use to like Sailor Moon back in the 1990s.
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Atheists know more about the bible!
by Comatose ina newly minted atheist, she uses her youversion bible app to try to persuade people away from the christianity she grew up in.. .
i know of a lot of atheists who have come to their nonbelief by actually reading the bible rather than just the fluffy stories they choose to tell you about in church, she said.
reading the full story with all its contradictions and violence and sexism, it should make you think, is this really what i believe in?
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garyneal
Tammy,
I don't normally chime in these atheist vs theist squabbles but I did want to ask you some questions based on what I had read in this exchange and the following quote from Comatose.
Tec, that is YOUR truth. Just because you believe it does not make it so. People believe many crazy things. You throw out 90% of the bible and claim 10% is true and about your personal jesus and that your truth is right. Look at yourself and your beliefs from a fresh perspective and from an outsiders perspective.
It's that 'outsider's perspective' that got me curious. Have you ever encountered an individual who believed in another religion or perhaps another deity and was every bit as confident about his or her beliefs as you are in yours? I kind of get the whole "Christ" thing you're speaking of, especially if this "Christ" thing is referring to a concept or an archtype of good that we personify in Jesus. In a case like that, I could argue (and perhaps this is your perspective) that it does not matter who or what any individual believes in because it all goes back to Christ even if they do not know it.
I admire you for your faith but I do wonder how you think of people who are every bit as confident in their faith as you are of your own and yet both of you think the other's faith is wrong. Unless, of course, you think of Christ in the way that it appears you are thinking of Him as.
Peace to you.
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The elder said to me, "You're not supposed to take that seriously."
by Julia Orwell inhe's been to my door a couple of times as they've done the territory and said hello and all that, a nice, clean-shaven version of santa clause.
he was with a sister, a mild, pleasant intelligent sister with whom i always got on well, and we had a bit of a simple pleasantries-exchanging chat while my husband ran off and hid in the house like he normally does when jws come.. we got onto the sister's university studies and i said, "but at the dc they lumped university education in with fornication and every terrible thing!".
shaved santa pipes up suddenly, "oh, you're not meant to take that seriously.
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garyneal
Perhaps Santa elder should just interpret what the GB says they way this Christian is doing for Jesus.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mLOUWl-L-s&feature=share&list=PL7420408E36541DA4
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"Not Easily Broken" as an eyelid opener for a spouse?
by NeverKnew innot if your spouse is totally indoctrinated but maybe for one with an eyelid open?....
i was asked to watch the movie "not easily broken" with morris chestnut and taraji henson.
i believe my focus was supposed to be on the results of a couple losing sight of the proverbial threefold cord but as the movie progressed, i was struck by something quite different.. the wife is completely caught up with the perceptions of her peer group, the husband has grown weary of fighting for his wife's attention and affection and lastly we have a meddling mother-in-law whose influence over the daughter heavily contributes to the downward spiral of the marriage.
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garyneal
Yeah I did before my wife went running to the Tower. The husband and wife both attended the same church (along with the mother-in-law), which eases a lot of things in my opinion. Even the pastor was instrumental in helping the daughter to see how damaging her mom was to her marraige. While I can see the connection between the meddling mother-in-law and the WTS, it was not as obvious until you pointed it out.
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How the blood doctrine developed - one of the best descriptions I've seen...
by EndofMysteries ini got this from this link.
http://users.adam.com.au/bstett/jwblooddoctrineorigin10.htm here is the information.
after reading it all, it really made how the doctrine developed look very ridiculous.
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garyneal
marked
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The murmuring phase is the beginning of an ex-JWs progression towards fading.
by Stand for Pure Worship ini suppose part of the fascination i have with this board is, the exotic nature of those making up the member population.
i say exotic because, as you yourselves will agree with, folks such as yourselves don't hang around the christian congregation for long upon making the decision that truth is not for you.
(rom 1:25) this "fading" thing spoken of here likely plays a role into why christians such as me find the average ex-jw to be a bit fascinating.
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garyneal
They do so during a phase that I'd like to label, The Murmuring Phase. The whole thing is quite sad to me too considering the de-evolution process of such ones that go from being content True Christians, into bitter murmerers.
Ooooo, someone's been reading his or her Watchtowers?
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Goodbye JWD/JWN (my last post)
by slimboyfat inafter some considerable thought i have decided that i will no longer post on this forum because i want to return to jehovah.
thank you for all the kindness and many interesting discussions over the years.
i wish you all well in the future and the decisions you make.
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garyneal
Okay, wow, I was surely expecting an April Fool's comment or something. SBF is the last person I would've suspected to go running back to the religion. But hey, in the spirit of his post:
I have decided that, after careful research and study, that the witnesses do indeed have accurate knowledge of the truth and that they are the only proclaimers of the true God. I believe Jehovah is the true name of God and that His Son is the Archangel Michael. I wish to study more and show myself approved for baptism and stay away from apostate literature. You know things like the History channel unless they are showing films that speak of the Bible as God's Word and not as a book assembled by priests.
Ah forget it, now I am rambling. See you at the meetings, SBF!
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ALL OF US ARE IRRATIONAL even in some small way
by Terry inmy personal opinion is we all harbor some irrational ideas.
even the most careful of us have some small thing totally at odds with logical thinking.. i'll grant you, few people care about being rational!
and that in itself is a bigger problem.. but, i do make an heroic effort to avoid mindless beliefs, attitudes and thoughts.
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garyneal
I may as well carve all our initials on a big oak someplace!
I think about what will happen to me when I die too. Both physically and what happens next (if anything), where will I be buried? Do I prefer to be cremated? My wife wants to be cremated if she goes first and put on our fireplace mantel. Otherwise, we wish to be buried together. Funny, just a pile of bones laying in the dirt next to each other.