Jehovahs Witnesses World Wide, A question about todays Watchtower study?

Question

‘the love we had at first,’ striving to “do the former deeds.” (Revelation 2:4, 5) Speaking for myself that Truly is the proper Food at the proper Time? Do you remember what endured you to the Truth?

Mine was Life on a paradise earth.

My wife's was no Hellfire.

Answer 1

With me it was just how logical everything was with no mystery.

It was logical to live on earth forever if Adam and Eve would not have died if they didn't sin.

It was logical that there was no trinity that was a mystery about God's nature.

It was logical that God didn't want us to celebrate occasions that mixed in pagan beliefs or were downright pagan to begin with.

It was logical that a God of love would not torture his disobedient children for all eternity in hellfire.

And that is just the beginning.  Compared to everything else out there... It IS still the only logical choice.

.........................................

bar_enosh

Your first and last initials aren't LW by any chance? Are they? You remind me of someone I know.

Answer 2

Mine was life on a paradise earth. Thinking there will be no more crime, all wickedness to be gone.

Psalm 37:9-11 For evildoers themselves will be cut off, But those hoping in Jehovah are the ones that will possess the earth.[ ו Waw] 10 And just a little while longer, and the wicked one will be no more; And you will certainly give attention to his place, and he will not be. 11 But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, And they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace.

And to be able to touch animals that are dangerous right now, such as lions and tigers.

Isaiah 11:6-8 And the wolf will actually reside for a while with the male lamb, and with the kid the leopard itself will lie down, and the calf and the maned young lion and the well-fed animal all together; and a mere little boy will be leader over them. 7 And the cow and the bear themselves will feed; together their young ones will lie down. And even the lion will eat straw just like the bull. 8 And the sucking child will certainly play upon the hole of the cobra.

The promise of no more sickness and the resurrection of the dead love ones.

Isaiah 35:5-6 At that time the eyes of the blind ones will be opened, And the very ears of the deaf ones will be unstopped. 6 At that time the lame one will climb up just as a stag does, and the tongue of the speechless one will cry out in gladness.

Revelation 21:4 And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.

It was a really good watchtower and helped brothers and sisters talk about their feelings when they came in to the truth and what helped them see it was the truth.

Peterborough, England

Answer 3

What convinced me at a very early age (I was an early reader like the other brother above) is that the 144,000 had been chosen over centuries. And here was a religion that was increasing because they knew God's name, understood the resurrection, and ACTUALLY understood the Lord's Prayer beyond memorizing it.

And yet, with all the people coming into the truth, the remnant was still basically decreasing. That would not happen with a man-made or false religion. So that was it.

Over the years, since the 1950's I have seen and known of others who became of the anointed, and the pattern is still the same. This continues to convince me up till TODAY that this is the truth.

Kentucky US

Answer 4

I was one of those "born in the truth".  So for me, it was when I hit school and saw other kids who's beliefs were so backwards.  How could they stand to live like that?  At 6, I had learned better reasoning skills than to believe some of the stuff they did.

I was so greatfull to Jehovah for giving me a brain and understanding how to use it.  For letting me see the truth and not have blinders on like others.

Purely personal, I was also many grades ahead in reading skills despite never going to kindergarten.  This was purely due to my parents teaching me in Bible study with the Paradise Lost, Paradise regained book and the ministry where I would read scriptures my parents would tell me from house to house.  I was in the 3rd grade reading on a high school level.

That is why I find it particularly laughable when people accuse JWs of ignorance, never using our brains.  If it was not for Jehovah, I might be stumbling over every word and not be able to put a complete sentence together like them.

______________________________________...

Edit:  I read this and it comes off most arrogant.  I did not mean it to be.  Really!  I was the only JW in my school.  I could easily see all the problems with other beliefs.  All the other kids were brought up in theirs to never ask questions.  That is most of what I did.  Drove my parents crazy.  So I had a great advantage over the others and was greatfull for it.

It also helped me to see the patterns in everything which was something others could not do.  They had no training for it as I had.  It was only the training that made me any different.

Answer 5

International brotherhood love and  Life on paradise earth.

Answer 6

I am currently disfellowshipped but working hard to be reinstated (just waiting on a meeting).

Unfortunately, I missed my meeting today because I was up all night ill :(  But I'll be sure to go over the material later tonight!

For me it was a LOT of things.  I was raised with NO religious guidance and got involved in countess other religions and practices.  I studied the Bible when even 7 years old.  Back then I KNEW God had a name (I just thought it was disrespectful to use it- Like calling my parents by their first names lol) and I knew the Bible said the earth would never be destroyed. But as I studied other religions I became incredibly confused.

I met the man I came to marry back in 1998.  I didn't know it at the time but he had disassociated himself with JW's before we met.  He had an EXTENSIVE JW library and I poured over everything (not realizing they were all JW publications lol).  Hubby never spoke about the JW's.

Soon after, I was found in the door to door work and started studying.

What won me over was that the JW's answered each and every single one of my many questions using the Bible.  Nothing was left as "a mystery".  It made complete sense and I couldn't ignore the logic presented.

Great post!

And I'm definitely going to take the above posters C.O's idea about creating a faith file.  What a GREAT idea!

Answer 7

No Eternal-Torment + Earth Restored to Paradise,

& Humanity Restored to a Loving & Caring Society! (;

Death--The Only Remedy!

http://watchtower.org/e/20060315/article... ;

“The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth” ...How?  

http://watchtower.org//20041001/article_... ;

What Really Is h**l...?

http://watchtower.org/e/20020715/article...

Answer 8

as i grow up with thet truth and been so far from everybody(my family)

knowing what kind of GOD JEHOVAH IS HELP ME TO ENDURE...

AND KEEP THE LOVE I HAD AT FIRST HE NEVER LEAVE HIS PEOPLE THST IS REALY TRUE VEN THO I HAVE NO FAMILY(MY BLOOD FAMILY WITH ME) BUT HE(JEHOVAH) BLESS ME SUCH A BIG AND LOVING AND CARING FAMILY EARTH WIDE..SO THANKFUL FOR THAT... THE BROTHERHOODD U NEVR FIND IN THEE WORLD!!!!

Answer 9

I came out of Babylon the Great. In my youth I rebelled about all the sufferings in the world including mine. Without knowing it, I was slowly becoming an atheist like my father (who used to be a Catholic) though I would go for my mother’s religion because of my great love for her.

I longed for a better government. One which would sincerely look after its subjects’ welfare. It was truly refreshing to learn about THE TRUTH. Ye, Jehovah God had purposed a HEAVENLY GOVERNMENT which will remove all wickedness and do away with all the sufferings brought about by it!! (Daniel 2;44; Revelation 21:3-4)

I never looked back after that memorable day when I embraced the truth. With all my heart I thank Jehovah God for He let me find THE BEST WAY OF LIVING!

I shared the truth with my Mom every time I had the opportunity. She loved what she heard about the RESTORED PARADISE EARTH soon to come! She got baptized about 2 years after mine.

I never regret a single day being a witness of Jehovah. It is indeed a priceless privilege!

Many years have gone by after I dedicated my life to Him. Now, it is the appreciation of JEHOVAH’S LOVABLE QUALITIES that spur me on most of all  despite the many difficulties of these last days.  Thanks to the continuous efforts of the Faithful and Discreet Slave class in always providing us the right food at the right time…

Answer 10

with all the bad stuff that happened to me as a child I think the one thing that struck me was the use of the Bible. When I was older it was the fact that I would be judged on what I did during the Millennial reign, which I pray I will make it to

Answer 11

there are things that are more important but for me the thing that gets me motivated is bible prophesy and it's effect on history.

Answer 12

I was raised "around" the truth, but when I decided to make the truth my own, I found that the hope for the future was my top reason..Also for others, because I wanted to share with them that there IS HOPE... this world can seem so sad & hopeless...

I appreciate that Jehovah is pure & just & proves this by making a way out for all who wish to partake of it.

In the WT study today, it reminded me of a C.O. telling us to create our own personal "FAITH FILE".  To actually write it out, things that Jehovah has come through for each of us personally... they won't be miraculous things, as the study said today, but they will be OURS!

Check back in the "faith file" periodically & add more instances as they arise of how God helped, too.

Answer 13

Consider a black boy raised in a segregated environment who gets the chance to attend an International Convention of Jehovah's Witnesses, and sees what all the marching and civil rights laws never did accomplish: a true, loving, interracial, international brotherhood.  It was and still is mind-blowing.  Only Jehovah's holy spirit could accomplish this!!!

I was "raised" Southern Baptist, but always had trouble with eternal punishment in hellfire and the doctrine of the Trinity.  When I learned that John 1:1 in my King James Bible had been seriously mistranslated, that did it for me.

Of course, over the years I have grown to appreciate many other things about Jehovah's organization, and have enjoyed many fine privileges of service.  In fact, yesterday I gave a public talk on "Taking Time to Meditate on Spiritual Things" (# 67) that fit in nicely  with the Watchtower Study.  That lesson mentioned or alluded to meditation some 6 times.

I also laugh at those who accuse us of being close-minded and uneducated.  My personal library contains hundreds of books.  Over the years I have had occasion to learn biblical Hebrew, Koine Greek, Sahidic Coptic, and other languages.  I can personally testify to the accuracy and superiority of the New World Translation, because I can read the original languages for myself.

But most precious to me are the everyday Witnesses, average hard-working people, who serve our God out of true love and devotion, and whose integrity under many a trial is an inspiration for all of us.

Answer 14

No hellfire, no trinity, I wasn't going to heaven, and God has a personal name.  Jesus is not God.  These all impressed me.  The icing on the cake, resurrections and earth as a paradise with man living on it in harmony with the animals.   Everything was proven from scripture and yes we do get the proper food at the proper time.  Just read our study Watchtowers as to what and how we are being taught.  

Answer 15

Being raised in the Lutheran Church & school, I had many questions growing up. With bible study, I came to and understanding that did not jive with what I had been taught (the trinity, h**l fire, 144,000 but yet everyone goes to heaven???) A lot of time spent in different churches didn't answer those questions. 5 years (or so) ago, my massage therapist offered me a bible study. I didn't have to look any longer.

Agape

Answer 16

There are so many things. It was just so refreshing to know the truth, and not just be guessing. So freeing!

If I had to pick one, I would have to say the truth about the trinity. I never believed it, and could not understand why most people in my church and my sister-n-laws church did. She [sister-n-law] tried so hard to convince me of the trinity, but I just could not see it. It just did not make sense, why would Jesus pray to himself? [among many other things] Just couldn't see it. Now I know why!

Thank you Jehovah!!

Answer 17

Well I was raised around the truth and always believed it was just that - the truth. I realized how every belief was direct from the bible. However I never made the truth my own.  I really wanted to dedicate my life to Jehovah when I truly understood why He allows the suffering in this world to go on the way He does. I'm so grateful that He allowed time for me to come back to Him! Not only that but He's showed time and time again that he's been drawing me to Him - I just wasn't paying attention. The love He has for us is so inconceivable!

Another more "recent" attraction is right here on R&S. It's made me truly appreciate our understanding of the bible. It's admirable to see questions answered in unison and in harmony with the bible, yet reflecting each one's own different personality.  

Answer 18

When you are raised in the truth, like I was it is difficult to pinpoint just one thing.  However I remember coming to a realisation that we are living in the last days and the bible shows us the sign of the times, and how this is the Guide Book for Life!

Answer 19

I actually made my first comment yesterday at the meeting! I am a newbie!

I was so nervous! But what brought me to the truth was knowing God has a name. That makes him so much more real to me. And I was misled my whole life by Christendom.

It was an eyeopener to know that there is no hellfire and what really happens to us when we die. I am so happy to be in the truth!

Answer 20

Make the truth your own...shun the world leave it alone....I just have to say that I love that song.



As for the question, definitely the fact that it is the truth. It is so evident it kills me when people can't see it.  

Answer 21

When they came to the door, and answered my questions from the bible, I knew I was on to something different from what I had heard before.

But to know the true condition of the dead and the survivors of Armageddon will stay here on earth and not have to die it inherit the earth was amazing.

My mom has died 13 years ago and the hope of the Resurrection is more precious to me know than ever before, as well as knowing that she is not suffering somewhere is a great comfort for me.

Answer 22

I was raised in the truth too. So I had to come to that point of making the truth my own.

What finally got to me and still amazes me is that it quite simply IS the truth. Always. Whatever Jehovah tells us in his word always proves to be the truth.

The Bible's advice ALWAYS works. The prophecies ALWAYS come true.

Jehovah ALWAYS guides and blesses those who really love and obey him. When people disobey God's word they ALWAYS end up much worse off.

And then there are the innumerable times Jehovah has provided exactly the right answer to my prayers and needs so precisely that I am always  in awe that He cares so much for each of us as individuals and knows us so thoroughly.

Answer 23

That there is going to be a Resurrection of The good and bad, We will get to see our loved ones again, in the Flesh. I want to talk to Jonah..

USA

Answer 24

I wasn't raised in the truth, so,

when I found out that God has a name,

and that "it was removed!",

I became hot, with indignation!

Now, remembering what was the "1 thing"

that endeared me to the truth....?..

even before I accepted the home Bible book study.

Was this: Jehovah = God's name.

(to) witness = to tell what you know.

Jehovah's Witnesses; Witnesses for / to Jehovah.

What stood out most in my mind were the words,

repeatedly saying: "his name," "call upon his name,"  

"a people for his name,"  again, and again 'His Name.'

This I remember quite Well,

after I started my study with J's W's.....

The Love stood out most in my mind.



Just before I started a bible book study

with Jehovah's servants; I was reading out of a tiny,

pocket size Christian-Greek Scriptures Bible,

from the Gideons.

I went and got it, I have it in my hand at this moment.

I wrote some texts, on the inside back cover:

Zeph 2:2,3 "seek Jehovah, meek ones; be hidden"

Acts 20:20,21 "taught publicly and from house to house"

Ex 6:3KJ/ Acts 15:14

Ps 83:18KJ

Isa 12:2KJ/Matt6:9

Isa 26:4KJ

Rev 19:1-6/Jo 17:6,26

Ps 110:1

Jer 7:23-26

1Jo 5:21

Funny huh?

Even then, I had marked specifically,

Acts 15:29 and Dan 2:44 LoL!!!! Yeah!

on the inside front cover.

Florida, US

edit: my 'puter was going ka-phluey,

and I had to rewrite this 4 times.

So, if you see it's different....

Answer 25

I was born jewish and didn't know that God had a name. also living forever on a paradise earth with all my family worldwide worshiping the One True God and Father Jehovah. he is my very best friend

Answer 26

Paradise on earth.

I read that verse in Revelation when I was 11, and I thought;

"If only 144,000 are going to heaven, and if you count down from Abel, what hope do I have?" (then there were only two options- heaven or h**l)

So I thought it was not worth serving God. It wasn't my fault I had been born too late to fit into the 144,000!!!

Then 2 years later a JW girl at school gave me the Revelation Climax book to read. (I hadn't wanted to at first, but she showed me a man refusing to listen on page 160, and so I felt guilty at refusing to consider something about the Bible, even if it was a book from that "sect")

Well, read that "solid food" in two days, and all I remembered was "I still have hope!! I can live on the Paradise on earth!!!"

(I stowed that knowledge away, just like I had stowed the knowledge about the condition of the dead that I had learnt from the Seventh Day Adventists and only talked to the JWs again about their beliefs at age 16. When I found out that JWs also teach the truth about the dead and don't believe in a Trinity- the reason I rejected the SDAs- that was it for me!)

Answer 27

I was raised in the truth so mine was the prophecies. They always came true and they always will. When I left the truth for a brief period I got to see the world the way it truly was, even your so called friends didn't care about you and even people in the same family could not give me a straight answer on their beliefs. No matter where you go in the truth you will always get the same answer. Also it's Jehovah's forgiveness. It seemed like no matter how far I slipped Jehovah was there waiting for me to return to him and be forgiven.

Answer 28

There is not hellfire.  I didn't quite make it into the Jehovah's Witnesses but am pretty close.  I agree about food at the proper time, but just remember God cannot lie.  So revelations at the proper time is true, but as all respect to God there is NO wrong revelations, because God cannot lie.  I got some real good conversations with God and God has the time to listen to everything we say.  I got revelations too.  But I don't consider myself to be a clairvoyant.  If I was, I would be wealthy and have abundance in everything.  Well gotta go for now, enjoy your Labor Day holiday.