first of all there is no devil and there are no demons to cast out.
it is impossible for god (whose basic qualities are love, goodness ... etc) to allow demonic forces to exist as to confuse, mislead and subvert his childrenwhereever they are, especially in view of the fact that there exist determinism in the physical world and free-will in the mental world.. anyone who is deep into the psychology and psychiatry knows the truth behind the so-called demon-possessions.
what is at the root may be any of the following:.
From what I can tell, the spiritual forces which inhabit and control the Watchtower are definitely deceptive, subversive, controlling and dark - enemies of God and man.
I am delighted to have escaped their domain and to have defeated much of their agenda.
so i have a question...according to the bible, the anointed are virgins, among other things.
so how are married fathers and mothers able to be anointedwhy xoes nobody question this?
now, i did see in this past weeks wt they mentioned "spiritual virgins" which is not in the bible...why do people believe this stuff they spew....it is so weird!
First up "ho Kristos" or "the anointed" is always correctly translated as "the Christ" in the NT - even in the corrupted NWT.
Therefore anyone claiming to be "the anointed" is a false Christ.
Lastly, according to the gospel, membership of the New Covenant is open to anyone who wants to receive a clean and right standing with God, by imputation, and as a free gift. I.O.W. the sainthood of all believers (like the priesthood of all believers).
B.T.W. after a combined 110 year involvement our family quit following religion in general (and the Watchtower specifically) to pursue the gospel instead. The spiritual and psychological awakening, transformation and healing has been profound.
PS - "Women" in this context I believe is not literal and means religion which defiles the temple of the living God, subverts the gospel, and seduces people into spiritual unfaithfulness (adultery, fornication or prostitution) a.k.a. apostasy.
was just wondering how many gay exjw's were on this site, and how did you deal with being in this organization?
and also, how did you end up leaving?.
Hey Trapped in JW land
As you can tell there are many gay exJWs.
Although straight, I now identify as gay friendly.
This change in outlook came about due to a change in core identity - from religious to spiritual.
As a believer and person of faith I value this (and similar) alternative perspective/s:
http://biblehouseofgrace.com/same%20sex%20relationships.html
Greetings
Fernando
i'm considering resigning as an elder.
i'm not planning to fade or stop as one of jehovah's witnesses, just stop serving as an elder.. i have responsibility in the congregation and in circuit, district, rbc, etc.
and i'm completely exhausted.
Hey CC
Even as only one of the R&F I found it a very big challenge to beat the system.
The religious system is designed to keep us addicted to it, and far too busy to pay enough attention to what the Bible actually is about.
It is no accident that religious busy-ness keeps us ignorant of the "Good News" according to Paul (and others).
Yet more than half the Bible's roughly 152 references to "good news" are by Paul.
Would it surprise you to learn that Paul never once refers to "Kingdom" and "good news" in the same sentence?
My mental, psychological and spiritual health has improved leaps and bounds since choosing to pursue the "full Good News" as an alternative to religion (legalism, moralism and ethnocentrism).
Greetings
Fernando
this is something i cannot find the answer to on my own.. who exactly answers your letter when you write the society?.
i thought maybe there has been a thread on this before or maybe one of your awesome researchers would know how to answer?.
.
I believe they are incapable, on many levels, of answering most of the letters sent.
They probably do try to prioritise the most sycophantic, self-serving and easiest to the top of the pile.
okay so i'm dating a born-in jw woman, she's younger than me and has no kids.
i'm a christian man whos divorced with 2 kids.
we're in love and seriously want to be together.
As others have said there is a lot to weigh up.
Humans and relationships are complex.
Building a secure relationship is a process.
Given your orientation, the most secure relationship with your GF it seems to me will be built on "unity in Christ" (the gospel) instead of "unity in doctrine" (religion).
I wonder if your GF would be willing for both of you to patiently explore the liberating (unabridged) gospel (according to Paul) in her own publications?
DF or not, if she remains a captive of the Watchtower/religion, your relationship will never be secure, and your children will be highly vulnerable.
PM me if you'd like a 1-page summary of the gospel in their publications.
Yes, it can be found in their publications, albeit in fragments.
Tellingly though, the gospel is not in their hearts nor on their lips.
Blessings
Fernando
South East Queensland, Australia
if you could list the major themes of the watchtowerland per decade, what would they be?.
for example, 2010-2014: overlapping generation, gb=fds, jw.org, 100 years.
2000-2009: harder stance on higher ed.. 1990-1999: generation no longer a major doctrine.. 1980-1989: getting over 1975, ray franz, year of peace, end before 20th century ends, generation is 70 years old.
What millie210 said.
Great definition, perspective and synthesis the big picture, gingerbread.
something happened this week to make me think about this again.. it feels like all bets are off and i really don't know what a good person is anymore.. when i left the jws i was so sure i knew what it meant to be a good person.. this has been revised many times since.. i tend to favour the utilitarian approach, the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.. sometimes you have to stick your neck out and say this is not good for me no matter what others may feel they need from me.. no idea where i'm going with this maybe this is a breakthrough in my life or maybe that glass of wine was stronger than i thought!.
any thoughts?.
A good observation I believe, Xanthippe.
I was however thinking of CBT which it seems distinguishes normal/rational thinking from aberrant/irrational thinking.
In CBT aberrant/irrational beliefs lead to aberrant/irrational thinking, which leads to aberrant/irrational emotions and feelings, which leads to aberrant/irrational behaviour, and finally destructive/unhelpful outcomes.
In extreme cases the behaviour would include the likes of road rage, senseless violence, divisive sectarianism and shunning, murder, rape, incest, legalism, moralism, ethnocentrism, racism, sexism, and supremacist Gnosticism.
BTW I believe the video is making a very different point. To me it actually seems to be an anti-moralism, anti-legalism, and anti-self-righteousness message. The video it seems portrays religious people being shocked, scandalised and offended by the last guy, the worst offender of all, being accepted, on the basis of grace, despite all the religiously untoward things he must obviously have done with his penis (especially receiving oral sex).
something happened this week to make me think about this again.. it feels like all bets are off and i really don't know what a good person is anymore.. when i left the jws i was so sure i knew what it meant to be a good person.. this has been revised many times since.. i tend to favour the utilitarian approach, the greatest happiness for the greatest number of people.. sometimes you have to stick your neck out and say this is not good for me no matter what others may feel they need from me.. no idea where i'm going with this maybe this is a breakthrough in my life or maybe that glass of wine was stronger than i thought!.
any thoughts?.
According to both Psychology and the Bible we are all dysfunctional (fall short of a perfect standard).
Just to varying degrees.
The "Good News" especially according to Paul is that a right and clean standing is imputed as a free gift by grace.
This opens our heart up to the transforming power of love.
We are gradually regenerated, and naturally become "good" or at least better than before.
not sure of the point of telling my story, but just got off the phone with my grandma and i am so angry, stressed and i don't know what else...i guess i just wanted to hear from someone other than my husband that i'm not crazy for my reaction to family interaction.. my condensed story gramatical errors and all :).
father was a born in jw, mother was a convert.
i was born the last of 3 siblings and shortly after my birth in 1981 my parents divorced.
Welcome Pattytheperfect1!
Congratulations on standing up and saying this is wrong - calling them out on their hypocrisy.
I believe what you are now (finally) doing will be very cathartic, empowering and healing for you:
They are very wrong.
You are absolutely right.
While the Watchtower does not care for scriptures in their own Bible that do not suit them, many here on JWN do:
(Proverbs 17:15) . . .Anyone pronouncing the wicked one righteous and anyone pronouncing the righteous one wicked—even both of them are something detestable to Jehovah.
Greetings
Fernando
PS - My wife's situation is very similar.
