going to a J.W. church in an hour....

Baptism is the new circumcision...

It is not a 1:1 conversion, but the circumcision was a prefiguring of baptism just as Moses was a prefiguring of Jesus (especially for Matthew).

 

What I was trying to say was that I know that baptism isn't a way of being physically clean but spiritually unlike circumcision which is about being physically clean.....

 

I find it odd that every JW hall I've seen has no windows. My son asked me when he was about 10, if there was a god. I told him I didn't know and in my opinion no one else did either. He'd have to make up his own mind when he got old enough to study up on it. I didn't think it was fair to tell him anything else.

 

Not to God.

 

Another explanation why he started at this age was that it correlated with the physical maturity of Adam and Eve. When everyone is resurrected into a new earth, they will grow to that age of maturity and remain there forever.

That's usually how JW's interpret the Bible and derive their meaning. An example is the reason behind why they don't celebrate their birthdays is due to King Herod receiving john the baptists head on his birthday. The kingdoms are supposed to be guided by dark spiritual forces so whatever they believe and follow is a manifestation of their worship of Satan but that God has ultimate control and is guiding them in a direction that He wants to guide them. This is one of the reasons why the JW believe Christians are asked to obey the laws of their time but to refuse if it goes against God's will, such as putting up national flags at their homes and paying homage to it. A good biblical example of this would be the story of Daniel.

 

very interesting view....you blow my mind.

 

Yeah, I was checking out a book in the library called: "http://www.amazon.com/Awakening-Jehovahs-Witness-Watchtower-Society/dp/1573929425"]Awakening of a Jehovah's Witness: Escape from the Watchtower Society". Basically she was going into how the Watchtower is exactly like a cult and went into her life experiences and her 20 years being in the watchtower. She related the watchtower to an abusive relationship where an emotionally distraught person will go back to that relationship out of loneliness especially when the relationship expresses mixtures of affection and hate. She goes into how they would use "love bombs" on new people and to cause others to want the same affection so they would become more obedient to the elders.

She also went into how everything that went against the Watchtower publication was called "apostate" and that they weren't allowed to question. She was expecting some "apostate" literature in the mail and she was nervous and someone in the congregation saw her and thought that God sent down an Angel to keep her safe from it. They went into how the congregation would say that anyone who would have doubts would be met with an Angel and thought that man was an Angel.

Her Husband was a JW and GROWLED at her that the literature wasn't welcomed in the house and she thought he was about to hit her. Then she went on to say that her husband suddenly become calm and exclaimed: "The holy spirit has come upon me, you must read that literature". She said this was not usual saying of JW and this lead her out of the JW.

She always had feelings that by her leaving was her being tricked by Satan. When she told this to her psychotherapist, he asked her a question to get her to think and a question she couldn't ignore. He asked her: "How do you know that Satan didn't create the Watchtower to confuse Christians?" She said it was this question that gave her relief. She's now a Methodist or Baptist.

She also went into that it isn't a matter of intelligence but a matter of that person being emotionally vulnerable and needing to be a part of the group.

 

^ It's just something I am looking into. Before joining them, I want to know if the stories said against them are true or not.

There is a theory circulating that while the JW is a part of God's plan and was important to it, it will still face a judgment by God and be transformed into something better than what it was before because that is what has happened throughout the Bible. The man of lawlessness could have infiltrated the congregation and could be there right now.

There are many ex-JW trying to convert people away from that belief for the things that they do, so perhaps that's one of the ways they'll be transformed.

 

You still considering it then?

I went to school with a few JW and asked them just as much as I ask here! I the one thing that I find strange, is that if one person decides to leave they are shunned by the rest of the community, sometimes even family.

But then I don't really like more evangelical faiths.

 

You get that for everything though.

Ex-Catholics converting people to Protestant or atheist. E-Protetants converting people to Catholicism.

I goes both ways.

 

That's true. It's just something I have been looking into. But I'll say that those that are against the JW are extra confrontational about it. They'd rather everyone join any other church than the JW simply because they see the JW as a mind control group.

Here is one of the groups:

https://www.youtube.com/user/CSTheApostate
and another
https://www.youtube.com/user/TimKilgore

They aren't that big but they have the attention of many JW. Mostly because they are trying to seem like a big threat.

 

Still considering it. I want to hear what everyone has to say before I do anything.

The shunning and disfellowshipping is one of those things I am looking into and at the moments is one of the reasons why I consider not joining.

They are very evangelical. I had two JW ring my doorbell but I didn't open for them. They just left, so they didn't seem so forceful or anything.

 

I guess the main thing is that you are happy with everything about it.

When I was a student I used to have a lot of JW going door to door, then they seemed to be replaced by Mormons, although haven't seen anyone for a long while.

 

why do i highly doubt this?.....


I more sure that theres a higher rate of conversion of catholic to protestant then the other way around....

 

Do you have any evidence?

 

I didn't read the other posts in this thread but I went to a JW church once and it was creepy. They called me "sister" and the energy in the church was really really uncomfortable. I had been studying with some girls who came to my house every once in a while just for the heck of it. I've always been pretty open minded but I didn't really dig the JW's much. The study sessions were ok but questions were never answered directly and one of them even got mad at me when I asked where God came from. I was like 10! My Mom didn't approve but I was pretty mature for my age and she let me make that decision to work with them. eh.

 

Well that's true.

The only Mormon I know is Donny Osmond, but I just see him on tv. I don't really know him

 

They seemed nice enough. The strangest thing has happened to me - I looking back into Judaism

I used to have a crush on Donny Osmond :leaving:

 

Really? That's cool. Shalom!
I can't blame you. So, so dreamy


Mmm, Matzo Ball Soup

 

Yeah, not sure why. I might change my mind again by tomorrow!

Haha, glad I'm not the only one :tongue: