RE: my Jehovah Witness Mom says the rosary is idolatry- how would you respond?

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SerenaHC said:
The 144,000 may not interest you, but it COULD pertain to your salvation. All of this “talking” is about teaching truth! Part of our responsibility as christians is to help lead others to Christ, particularly those who have been led astray. So if you have a working knowledge of why the JW doctrine about the 144,000 anointed ones is completely misguided, you may be able to get into a real discussion with a JW and perhaps get him to think and look more closely at what he’s being told to believe. Any JW who learns to think for himself eventually ceases to be a JW. Taking care of these poor people who are being led like lambs to the slaughter definitely pertains to your salvation, when you give an accounting to Christ about what you’ve done with the knowledge you’ve been given.

Just some food for thought. Have a happy Thanksgiving!
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Serenal, you have the power of discernment, a treasured gift. Thank you for calming my spirit. And for reading my remarks, remember Jesus could not save everyone, he tried, Salvation, what is salvation to you Serenal how do you obtain it, is it free, do you work for it, is there commitment, Do you follow a path to it, what is the way the truth the light, why are there so many roads. Before one can enter the path, one must understand light, the pure light of Christ, The Bible cannot give it to you, the bible cannot baptize you, it cannot give you the Holy Ghost. It cannot even give you the power of or the Holy Order of GOD, It doesn’t teach you what humility is, what faith is or how to use it, it does not breathe, Christ was teaching the Jews that the scriptures are dead, that they must be alive in you, the change must come from Knowing, and knowing comes from knowing The Christ not in the writings but to have a perfect knowledge of him. Faith, Prayer, humility, broken heart and contrite spirit. You cannot bend the bow, if you have no streight, Salvation is not Free nor being redeemed . The Christ, is a real Resurrected being, full of glory, immortality. Not everyone who is religious will find him, because there hearts are far from him they are double minded. The JW only hope, is that if they are persecuted enough, and bad mouth, they will be saved. hence being a martyrdom. They think they have made it. Blind guides, the high priest of Jerusalem thought the same. Only the Holy Ghost can change the hearts of men, and I am not sure but I don’t think they believe in him, I could be wrong. I had a good Thankgiving
 
Don_Hepler said:
Serenal, you have the power of discernment, a treasured gift. Thank you for calming my spirit. And for reading my remarks, remember Jesus could not save everyone, he tried, Salvation, what is salvation to you Serenal how do you obtain it, is it free, do you work for it, is there commitment, Do you follow a path to it, what is the way the truth the light, why are there so many roads. Before one can enter the path, one must understand light, the pure light of Christ, The Bible cannot give it to you, the bible cannot baptize you, it cannot give you the Holy Ghost. It cannot even give you the power of or the Holy Order of GOD, It doesn’t teach you what humility is, what faith is or how to use it, it does not breathe, Christ was teaching the Jews that the scriptures are dead, that they must be alive in you, the change must come from Knowing, and knowing comes from knowing The Christ not in the writings but to have a perfect knowledge of him. Faith, Prayer, humility, broken heart and contrite spirit. You cannot bend the bow, if you have no streight, Salvation is not Free nor being redeemed . The Christ, is a real Resurrected being, full of glory, immortality. Not everyone who is religious will find him, because there hearts are far from him they are double minded. The JW only hope, is that if they are persecuted enough, and bad mouth, they will be saved. hence being a martyrdom. They think they have made it. Blind guides, the high priest of Jerusalem thought the same. Only the Holy Ghost can change the hearts of men, and I am not sure but I don’t think they believe in him, I could be wrong. I had a good Thankgiving
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Dear Don,

I’m glad you had a good Thanksgiving.

Don, you’ve asked a lot of questions. No, the JWs don’t believe in the Holy Ghost. But God believes in them because they’re people, just like us, and He believes in us. The first time I remember feeling like there was “something” out there waiting for me, I was nine years old. I didn’t know what it was, I just knew there was something missing in my life. I tried lots of things and lots of paths over the years, trying to find it. The problem was, I didn’t know what “it” was. I just knew that I would recognize it when I saw it.

I’m lucky. God never gave up on me. As I searched for meaning and purpose, He kept nudging me further along until I finally had the right path in front of me. Then it was my choice whether to take it. It took me 30 years to realize that God was calling me to be Catholic and that I would never be happy outside of the Church. So, I just gave up fighting it and joined because I believed it was what God wanted me to do. I’ve never regretted it. It has come at great cost but the rewards have been ten times greater.

Don, all I can tell you is that I felt that I was walking around with this big gray cloud of doubt and despair and indecision hanging over my head. I knew something was missing in my life. Then, one day, I discovered the truths of the Church and the gray cloud went away. I’ve never doubted. Jesus spoke to my heart. I just knew that this was what I had been searching for my whole life. I knew that this was my destiny. I knew that this was true and good and from God. I stopped searching long enough to let myself be found.

Regarding salvation, I don’t worry about it. I feel that, if God would spend 30 years nudging me toward His Church, I’ve no reason to believe he’ll abandon me now. I believe that my salvation is totally depedent upon Him and His love for me and that He loves me completely. So, I don’t worry about salvation. I could turn my back on God and lose my salvation but I’d have to be a complete idiot to do that. I looked for Jesus all my life and I’ve finally found him. Where else would I go?

I’ve tried living under my own terms and was not happy or satisfied. Giving up “control” over my life and telling God that I’ll do whatever He tells me to do has given me more fulfillment and more joy than I ever imagined.

If someone had told me, when I was a young JW, that I would one day be happily Catholic, I’d have thought they were nuts. But, I am happily Catholic. If it can happen to me, it can happen to them, so we just have to keep sending our Guardian Angels to help them out and hope, when they have the correct path placed in front of them, that they are wise enough and humble enough to choose it.
 
SerenaHC said:
Dear Don,

I’m glad you had a good Thanksgiving.

Don, you’ve asked a lot of questions. No, the JWs don’t believe in the Holy Ghost. But God believes in them because they’re people, just like us, and He believes in us. The first time I remember feeling like there was “something” out there waiting for me, I was nine years old. I didn’t know what it was, I just knew there was something missing in my life. I tried lots of things and lots of paths over the years, trying to find it. The problem was, I didn’t know what “it” was. I just knew that I would recognize it when I saw it.

I’m lucky. God never gave up on me. As I searched for meaning and purpose, He kept nudging me further along until I finally had the right path in front of me. Then it was my choice whether to take it. It took me 30 years to realize that God was calling me to be Catholic and that I would never be happy outside of the Church. So, I just gave up fighting it and joined because I believed it was what God wanted me to do. I’ve never regretted it. It has come at great cost but the rewards have been ten times greater.

Don, all I can tell you is that I felt that I was walking around with this big gray cloud of doubt and despair and indecision hanging over my head. I knew something was missing in my life. Then, one day, I discovered the truths of the Church and the gray cloud went away. I’ve never doubted. Jesus spoke to my heart. I just knew that this was what I had been searching for my whole life. I knew that this was my destiny. I knew that this was true and good and from God. I stopped searching long enough to let myself be found.

Regarding salvation, I don’t worry about it. I feel that, if God would spend 30 years nudging me toward His Church, I’ve no reason to believe he’ll abandon me now. I believe that my salvation is totally depedent upon Him and His love for me and that He loves me completely. So, I don’t worry about salvation. I could turn my back on God and lose my salvation but I’d have to be a complete idiot to do that. I looked for Jesus all my life and I’ve finally found him. Where else would I go?

I’ve tried living under my own terms and was not happy or satisfied. Giving up “control” over my life and telling God that I’ll do whatever He tells me to do has given me more fulfillment and more joy than I ever imagined.

If someone had told me, when I was a young JW, that I would one day be happily Catholic, I’d have thought they were nuts. But, I am happily Catholic. If it can happen to me, it can happen to them, so we just have to keep sending our Guardian Angels to help them out and hope, when they have the correct path placed in front of them, that they are wise enough and humble enough to choose it.
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Are you a NUN?
 
dalonia said:
She told me that any visible “tokens” of Catholicism
(even crosses, my miraculous medal, etc.)
are all forms of idoplatry- and of course I do not
go along with that belief system at all…
She spotted my rosary in my purse
and got this wierd look in her eye
and exclaimed “Get that thing out of my house!
That is an idol”… i felt like a little girl being scolded
for getting caught with hands in the cookie jar-
Anyway, how would YOU respond?
Thanks!
~Dalonia
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First off, tell her that, by what she is saying, you are worshipping your rosary or miraculous medal as God or a god. And I know you certainly don’t worship it, as no Catholic does. It is an aid to contemplation and prayer. You could point out that the books she reads (from the Watchtower Cult) would also be idols by her point of view. Also, don’t forget to tell her that her religion was founded by a guy, C.T. Russell, who thought that the Great Pyramid in Egypt was a “Bible in stone” and based his predictions (Which never came true, by the way) on it. Ask her why a man (“Judge” Rutherford) who didn’t know Greek made the Watchtower version of the Bible and inserted his own preconcieved notions into it.
 
Does she have a TV? That would then also be an idol which she is putting before God when she watches it.

They basically worship the Bible which is a book, so that is a form of idolatry.

They look to an interpreter of scripture in the watchtower society instead of scripture alone, which is a form of idolatry.

Does she have a mirror in her house where she gets herself ready to go knock on doors, that would be putting herself before God which would be vanity and idolatry.
 
justinthemartyr said:
Does she have a TV? That would then also be an idol which she is putting before God when she watches it.

They basically worship the Bible which is a book, so that is a form of idolatry.

They look to an interpreter of scripture in the watchtower society instead of scripture alone, which is a form of idolatry.

Does she have a mirror in her house where she gets herself ready to go knock on doors, that would be putting herself before God which would be vanity and idolatry.
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Where do you get this good stuff?
 
dalonia said:
She told me that any visible “tokens” of Catholicism
(even crosses, my miraculous medal, etc.)
are all forms of idoplatry- and of course I do not
go along with that belief system at all…
She spotted my rosary in my purse
and got this wierd look in her eye
and exclaimed “Get that thing out of my house!
That is an idol”… i felt like a little girl being scolded
for getting caught with hands in the cookie jar-
Anyway, how would YOU respond?
Thanks!
~Dalonia
Click to expand...
Pray for her so that one day she’ll see the truth.
 
dalonia said:
She told me that any visible “tokens” of Catholicism
(even crosses, my miraculous medal, etc.)
are all forms of idoplatry- and of course I do not
go along with that belief system at all…
She spotted my rosary in my purse
and got this wierd look in her eye
and exclaimed “Get that thing out of my house!
That is an idol”… i felt like a little girl being scolded
for getting caught with hands in the cookie jar-
Anyway, how would YOU respond?
Thanks!
~Dalonia
Click to expand...
One of the biggest issues that Christians other than Catholic Christians have with Catholics, is that they claim we pray to the dead.

What we do is talk and ask those that went before us to pray for us. Those that went before us died from this life, but are more alive in the community of Christ than we are.
 
so is worship of the watchtower society who places themselves above scripture and claims a false infallibility, proven again and again.

Pray for your mother, love her. and pray some more.
 
As an ex-JW myself,
I beg you:
PRAY fervently for your mom’s conversion to:
Belief in the Trinity and conversion to the Holy Catholic Faith.
PRAY for her. It is the only way to win God’s extraordinary graces to open her eyes. You might even fast for a day from your favorite food or snack, in addition to prayer, as an “offering” to God for your mom’s conversion.
Offer your Rosary frequently for your mom’s conversion.
Pray the Chaplet of the Divine Mercy, too, for her.
Above all: pray frequently for her.

I am praying for my dad every day, because even though he
is not a formal member of the JWs, he believes basically all
their unique doctrines. He is very sincere, but very hard to deal with because he starts in on me with the “idolatry” accusations, too.
God bless you and your mom,
Jaypeeto4
+JMJ+
 
Its funny because how do these heretics that accuse us of idolatry say about people who are illiterate and can only understand the life of Jesus through pictures, icons and crucifixs of him?

A picture can be worth a thousand words and visa versa. So if these heretics are claiming things like icons and pictures of the crucifiction and such are “idols” then they must consider words themselves and letters to be idols too. Since a letter is in itself a image of a vowel representing something.

Its sad these hopeless heretics cannot tell the difference between a real idol(like a statue of a pagan God) and an icon or picture of a saint or a painting or sculture of the Passion. Is the Ark, the statues of the Cherubim in the Temple and the Bronze serpent idols also? :rolleyes:
 
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