any former Jehovah's Witnesses here?

  • Thread starter Thread starter Winston_Smith
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yogosans14 said:
Well I cant get my license til l’m 18. So when I turn 18 next April I will just have to tell my Grandmother that I no longer want to do anything with her religion, she’ll probably never talk to me but I would rather not be miserable in that cult. Luckily my parents aren’t JWs, they aren’t religious at all.

Anyways the day I get my license I am driving my butt over to a Catholic Church and request to become Catholic (obviously I have to go through RCIA) but still atleast I can attend Mass.
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Pardon me for asking…but what state are you in? I thought generally, states allow 16 yrs old to have driver’s lincenses…:confused:
 
North Carolina. I cant get it because I still dont even have my permit because my parents have been to busy to drive me to the DMV
 
@yogosans14: Glad to hear you found out the truth about JWs before getting baptized as one. Because as you know, once baptized, they can use the weapon of disfellowshipping (the threat of which is the major problem for me at this stage of my journey). Your story encourages me and others too I’m sure, thanks for sharing.
 
@JWtoCatholic: Even when I was a full fledged zealous Witness, I found the prohibition against blood transfusions increasingly difficult to defend, especially as the “rules” gradually shift. And I’ve also benefited from talking to a priest (for a JW this is a huge surprise). In general, JWs say such terrible things about priests, exaggerating the bad and never mentioned the good, and yet my local priest was far more helpful than a typical Witness elder, just on a totally different and higher level. Thanks for sharing your story.
 
Winston_Smith said:
@yogosans14: Glad to hear you found out the truth about JWs before getting baptized as one. Because as you know, once baptized, they can use the weapon of disfellowshipping (the threat of which is the major problem for me at this stage of my journey). Your story encourages me and others too I’m sure, thanks for sharing.
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Yes, pondering on John 20:28 in the NWT also made me realize that indeed Jesus is God.

May I ask, is your family JWs?
 
yogosans14 said:
Hello!I am in a similar situation, I am 17 and I have been studying with my JW grandmother for about 2 years. Still haven’t got baptized (thank god). I used to have a deep hatred for Catholics but then I started looking into this 2,000 year old Christian Church and found that there is no WAY the JWs can be the true religion since they were Established in the 1800s. They have made many false prophecy’s but deny it, and just a simple google search of NWT mistranslations clearly shows that the translators delibraltly twisted words to fit there theology. I cannot wait to turn 18 and be set free from this messy false prophet religion!

Let me assure you, if you are baptized and you join Catholicism and your parents are devout JWs they will shun you without questions unless you re convert. Its sad really, the JWs use emotional blackmail to try and win members over…
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You are in my prayers. :gopray:
 
yogosans14 said:
Hello!I am in a similar situation, I am 17 and I have been studying with my JW grandmother for about 2 years. Still haven’t got baptized (thank god). I used to have a deep hatred for Catholics but then I started looking into this 2,000 year old Christian Church and found that there is no WAY the JWs can be the true religion since they were Established in the 1800s. They have made many false prophecy’s but deny it, and just a simple google search of NWT mistranslations clearly shows that the translators delibraltly twisted words to fit there theology. I cannot wait to turn 18 and be set free from this messy false prophet religion!

Let me assure you, if you are baptized and you join Catholicism and your parents are devout JWs they will shun you without questions unless you re convert. Its sad really, the JWs use emotional blackmail to try and win members over…
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Wow, what wisdom from one so young! God has an important job for you to do! Your eyes are opening! YOU GO GIRL! Always love Grandma. Be the gift to her that you are! Read to her about St Paul’s writings on Love; see what seeds you can plant :hug3:
 
Pepband_Mom said:
Wow, what wisdom from one so young! God has an important job for you to do! Your eyes are opening! YOU GO GIRL! Always love Grandma. Be the gift to her that you are! Read to her about St Paul’s writings on Love; see what seeds you can plant :hug3:
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Thanks 🙂 I do hace a lot of Biblical knowledge.

Oh btw I’m a guy lol
 
Winston_Smith said:
@JWtoCatholic: Even when I was a full fledged zealous Witness, I found the prohibition against blood transfusions increasingly difficult to defend, especially as the “rules” gradually shift. And I’ve also benefited from talking to a priest (for a JW this is a huge surprise). In general, JWs say such terrible things about priests, exaggerating the bad and never mentioned the good, and yet my local priest was far more helpful than a typical Witness elder, just on a totally different and higher level. Thanks for sharing your story.
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Thank you Winston. Yes, the prohibition against blood transfusions is flat out WRONG! I have heard that it’s changed somewhat and the items they now approve or blood products. I guess the lawsuits became a financial burden. And, yes…Catholicism has always been a focus of attacks and I have learned so many falsehoods once I began studying to be Catholic. One more validation of how wrong this cult is.

I wish you all the best in your studies and hope you make it home to the true Church. :blessyou::blessyou:
 
Like always with tears of joy, I really enjoy reading post’s like these no matter how long, I read through them all.
Welcome home and to CAF
May the Holy Spirit continue to guide and comfort you all.

God bless

jesus g
 
all of your stories inspire me. thank you so much for sharing.

for all of you who are not familiar with it, there is a catholic devotion or group (i am not sure how best to characterize it) called the Apostleship of Prayer. you can find out more about it online at: apostleshipofprayer.org. i think you may find it very edifiying. i became a member in the 1970s. membership is very simple and easy and a serious act of daily charity. there are over 50 million catholics who are currently members.
 
JWtoCatholic said:
Winston and Yellowbird:

God bless you both! I too am a former Jehovah’s Witness. It’s been a long journey for me. I am in my mid 40s now, but was born and raised in the so called, “truth”. In my early 20s started questioning some of the beliefs and had a family member who was dis-fellowshipped. I could not understand the shunning as God is LOVE and is a forgiving God. This caused me great distress. I soon left the small city I grew up in and moved to a metropolitan city due to a job. Although I had not attended meetings regularly at that time, and had no other understanding of the bible, I still considered myself a JW. A few years later a horrible tragedy occurred. My father was having routine surgery and due to complications from him not accepting a blood transfusion (one of the JW beliefs), he passed away at 54 yrs of age. I was devastated. I could not get over his death and began to build up resentment toward this organization. I no longer attended meetings and often questioned my Mother about their teachings.

Fast forward about 10 yrs later. I found myself in the same situation again. My mother was now in the hospital having knee surgery. And again, she held on in ICU with no blood left inside her. The doctors were amazed she was still alive. The reason she held on was because she knew that my sister and I would do whatever we could to give her blood. We were not going to go through this again with another parent. She remained steadfast and made sure there were no blood transfusions. During one of these times when she fell off to sleep after we pleaded with her and she refused, a priest stopped by and asked my sister and I if we would like him to say a prayer over my mother. We agreed. After, we grabbed a bible and asked if he could talk with us. We asked him to “interpret” the scripture which the JWs base their belief on abstaining from blood. Our world changed at that moment. He politely closed the bible and said, “it is not what I believe this scripture to say or what you believe it to say. It’s what your Mother believes it to say. And it is HER beliefs you must honor”. My sister and I were not capable of rationalizing this until then. In that moment, it felt like a heavy boulder was lifted from our shoulders and we both felt peace. Although very, very difficult we walked in my Mother’s ICU room, held her hand and told her that she could let go. We were going to honor her wishes and not force a blood transfusion. We cried and prayed, but felt peace about this decision. She passed away the next morning.

There were many things that brought me home to Catholicism, but I believe that my Mother and Father brought me home. They are my angels. I was baptized and confirmed in 2010. My faith grows each day and I thank the Lord I found his Church!

May the Lord be with you in your search for answers and peace.
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I really don’t understand the JW objection to blood transfusions. The stricture cited is against “eating blood” and has noting to do with transfusions that were not done for millennia after the OT was written.

Eating blood is obviously about oral comsumption of blood and not through lines, tubes inserted into veins. Do JWs kosher their meat. salt it down before eating it? That is what “eating blood” is about and is done by devout Orthodox Jewish people.
 
Wow, great stories in this thread! Always love people converting to the true faith. It makes me realize how blessed I was being born into the faith, will be praying for all of you in your journey 🙂
 
Indifferently said:
I don’t mean to judge but if you are married to a man with a living wife, in what sense have you kept the faith?
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Jehovah’s Witnesses are not Baptized according to the Biblical formula (In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. MT 28:19) and therefore do not have Sacramental marriages that are not recognized by the Church.
 
I’m not an ex-JW either but am coming from a background that deals with aggressive atheism. While I have not been shunned, I have been bombarded with more information than I can deal at times with that seems to have no purpose besides to cause me to have doubts about myself… like when the validity of my baptism was called into question and several times at that.
 
SachieWhitby said:
I’m not an ex-JW either but am coming from a background that deals with aggressive atheism. While I have not been shunned, I have been bombarded with more information than I can deal at times with that seems to have no purpose besides to cause me to have doubts about myself… like when the validity of my baptism was called into question and several times at that.
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Satin’s purpose is to cause doubt which is the opposite of faith…Keep the faith brother.👍
 
adf417 said:
Satin’s purpose is to cause doubt which is the opposite of faith…Keep the faith brother.👍
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You know that makes total sense to me considering that I believe that the more we use science to learn about our world [and space], the more it points towards God while at the same time, failing to providing any evidence against God’s existence… so from my point of view, it’s not just faith and philosophical proofs that say yes God is real, but knowledge and reason say that God is far more likely to be real than not.

I just remind myself of these things when I feel any sense of doubt. <3
 
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