Jehovah's Witnesses, and Drugs (Ask A JW here)

[delsymfan]

I personally dont think it matters. I still think the book was just written by a bunch of dudes. Dudes who wanted to control people. Theres no guarantee, since we have NONE of the original writings, that any of it is what it once was...

Thats why I have a hard time sinking my teeth into religion as a whole.

 

[Backster]

Yeah a book written by just ordinary "dudes," come on. How can you deny all of the prophecies written sometimes several centuries in advance? There's no way ordinary men can predict such things like that with such detail. Just one example would be where both Isaiah and Jeremiah foretold Babylon's destruction at the hands of Medo-Persia with Cyrus leading them.

 

[delsymfan]

Yeah.. But again.. we lack any of the original documents dude. I totally understand that element of things and stuff, but the earliest copies of anything we have post-date any of the prophecies made. Which concerns me.. Idk.

Believe me I'm very familiar with Bible prophecy, I've sat through meetings on it all for 19+ years. But I'm just saying it all hinges on whether or not the book itself was written when they claim it was.

 

[Rahcookiemonster]

Wow dude.
You are very in congruent with your religion. I am not trying to bash you in anyway but some of the things you say suprise me.

It's noble that you 'keep up appearences' to avoid hurting your family but....How can you go on not living by your own values, rather the values the church forces upon you (Which you still don't follow anyway?). I don't understand? You say you don't feel guilty at all, but you SHOULD according to what you have said.

Anybody who knows of a serious wrong HAS to report it to the elders, so thats how they find out.

?

You sound like a great person and all, and I'm sure that is one of the messages that is taught but some of the things you say slightly disturb me. Especially this-.

I'm 19 and about to leave home for Peru. As life goes on, I can probably live a little less of a JW life. That having been said, again, for the family aspect of things if I choose to get married it will be to a JW and thats how it is. Hopefully I can find a JW living a similar life to mine, and we can be happy that way. There are plenty out there, its just a matter of building enough trust for them to tell you what they are really up to. As far as kids go, I likely would raise them in this religion too. However, if they decided at any point in time to leave, i would probably tell them how I've always felt. And perhaps, after a generation when my parents are gone and we have no contact with anybody in the family who is JW, we could quit peacefully.

It doesn't make any sense. You express the want to leave the religion but then say you would want to raise a JW family.? Tell them how "You've always felt" ? Why would you want to hide this for such a long time, but still live the JW life.

There is a bit of a joking saying among many JW kids, but its true. Born a JW you are JW for life. We've yet to meet anybody who's tried to leave that turned out Ok

So you would rather stay than deal with the hassle of leaving?

Hurts my brain thinking about it.

 

[delsymfan]

Hey saw the post flag up.. figured I'd talk back.

Listen I dont know what Im gonna do in the future, or how long I wanna live the way I do.

But I care about my family and I dont wanna hurt them. In short I personally dont believe, or live by the JW codes of conduct. But I also need to keep certain people thinking the opposite.

The hassle of leaving is essentially so much work and you lose your entire foundation of human contact... Its hard to explain. I wish I could. Hurts my head too.

 

[Method One]

JW's are much like muslims and mormons...(please don't misinterperet this) in the way that they take what they want from the holy scriptures(old testament) and the gospel of jesus christ (new testament) and translate/interpret it for their own agenda.

If you read the last words of the book of revelation (actually second to last) it says that (paraphrased) "this book is finished and within it are the prophetic words of God spoken through prophets,apostles and Jesus himself. Whoever adds to or takes away from this book shall be doubly cursed of the plagues described herein"

So that to me says that to follow Jehovah God,Yahweh or whatever you want to call our Creator, you must follow this book (the bible) to a T. However, there are many things that Jesus abolished or changed from the old testament to show us the true "religion" of the heart because people misunderstood or changed the scriptures for their own good.

Religion is for those under the law who don't want to go to hell and spirituality is for those who have experienced hell through worldly things and dont want to go back.

The law of moses only pointed out sin and man could not be saved from hell, all they had was a expectation of judgement. Our merciful and graceful creator sent us His spirit in the form of a Man (jesus) to show us how to live correctly and experience salvation through confessing with our mouth that Christ is king and believe in our hearts that He was who He said He was...

Jesus broke it down very simply: Love your God with all your heart,soul,mind and strength and Love your neighbor as yourself. Thats it in a nutshell...ego deflation and love for others or Humility and Selflessness.

As for the trinity...where to begin? The prophets said that God would send a Messiah to save us from the law.
When Jesus was ministering to the scribes and pharisees He spoke with authority because these things did not come from Him but from the Father.
After arising from the water during the baptism "The spirit of God in the form of a dove ascended upon Him saying ""This is My Son for who I am well pleased.""
Before Jesus' ascension to heaven He promised to send us a Comforter known as the Holy Spirit/Ghost (read Acts ch. 2)
There are many times throughout the bible that connect the Father,the Son and the Holy Spirit. All phrophecies coming true about this.

I'm gonna start rambling and preaching now if I'm not careful and should really stop...This is mainly a personal thing after a sad experience at a JW meeting in the local kingdom hall. I feel badly for you delsymfan and hope you can pray with a fervent heart to be quided to the Truth.

Being raised in the baptist church and before being led to the pentecostal church I wanted to check out what all the fuss was about with other faiths and took a trip to a saturday meeting with them. If you have any faith at all and any conscious contact with God you can feel His/Their Spirit in a church...through worship,through music,through the word but there is nothing of the kind found or experienced in the JW meetings...brainwashing,manipulating and personal agendas are all you will find..

Disfellowship? What Christ follower in their right mind would turn their back on someone for making a mistake? That's not what Jesus taught...nor is it how he wants us to live.
"forgive me of my trespasses (sins) as I forgive other who trespass (sin) against me" That not only means how someone hurts me through sin but how they hurt themselves through sin.

It is so called christians like this that turn others away from the Truth with their own screwed up misunderstanding of the word.

I have just judged others and blown myself up by feeling i'm better than JW's cause of my beliefs, therefore I have sinned and by the measure i have judged you, I shall also be judged.

I am a sinner, a hypocrite, a drug addict and a hillbilly from rural west virginia..But because of Gods wonderful mercy and grace poured out on me through the blood of Jesus Christ I will not burn in the lake of fire and suffer eternal mental anguish in hell..I thank Him for my blessings and ask him for forgiveness of my ignorance every night and day. I try to treat others the way I want to be treated and forgive others when they hurt me or their selves. I don't know it all although I act like sometimes I do, I'm quickly reminded how far away from righteousness I really am. My God loves me and when he looks at me all he sees is a cloak of righteousness because I am covered in the blood of Christ.

oh and another thing...who cares whether Christ was impaled on a stake or nailed on a cross...HE gave his life for ours so we could live eternally with the Father in heaven.

I'm almost as bad as a damn JW for beating my beliefs down others throats...although I feel convinced I am correct because this is what the bible says....