Good day people,I'm on the verge of making an important decision and I'm kinda confused,so I need your help.
The thing is that I've been going to church since I was a kid till now and I don't really understand the bible,I want to be born again and very close to God but I don't know how to achieve that.
My family used to be catholic before we converted to pentecostal,I've attended many pentecostal churches but I really I'm not convinced by things I see there,they don't seem to break the word of God the way I understand and agree with,it seems to me like they twist the word to suit what they preach. they say one thing and they do another.
Now all my life I've been warned not to give ears to the jehovah's witnesses and I tried my best to avoid them,but as I grew older I began to read their articles and even let them witness to me,I found out that they have a better interpretation of the bible(IMO)whatever they claim they explain perfectly well,it seems to me like the bible is not complicated with them unlike other churches I've been to.
So I'm thinking of becoming a witness but I don't know if its the right thing to do,it worries me that people don't like them,they seem to be stigmatized and I want to know why?,why are they not welcomed openly even when they seem to understand and live the way the bible instructed? I know they all can't be holy but they are the ones that have really made me sit and think about becoming closer to GOD(apart from my parents).
I know some people may say I've been brainwashed but I don't think so,I just need clarity,someone said it'll be the worst mistake of my life to become a witness,please I just want to know why many people think this way and if there's something they do that isn't right,I need to know before I decide.
Thank you all and may God bless you.

truth is - if i ever want to worship god [which of course i know doesn't exist] i will choose to be one of them over and over again!

They do their very best to abide by what they preach not like those useless scammers called pastors [oyedepo, oyakilome, adeboye, et al].

A Jehova witness kid of 5 years will teach and explain the bible to you in clear terms more than pastor chris, oyedo and adeboye combined!

As for the stigmatization, i realized they are stigmatized because they say and preach the truth when it comes to religion and other churches do their damnedest best to see that the world hates them.

Over all, if you are the fun loving type and you like privacy, you may have to keep away from them cause they do no xmas, no easter and they are always watching you to make sure you dont go astray!

Thats my piece - if you want to know more about other religious groups, muslim, catholic, pentecostal, pagan, i can also give u a lowdown on them[studied all of em before i concluded their is no god]

Hellooo, I just want to let u know dat I was once like u (stunch catholic) and also went to other churches. I met with d witnesses and started studying with them, my dear, it was then I realize the truth about God and his purpose for mankind and I made up my mind to be in dat kind of organization. (Now unbaptise publisher).
Jehovah's witness people re been criticize for no reason just cos they know the TRUTH (as Jesus said in mathew 24:9 "u will be objects of hatred on the account of my name" . Make up ur mind to join, is a WISE decision dat u will never regret, I am enjoying the benefit of my service to Jehovah, do well to join us

@ Great and stacym,thanks for your contributions,I really do appreciate,this means a whole lot to me. Maybe I'll get back to you Great. Oga Seun and first lady mukina,please if you can move this to the front page,I will be very thankful as I need more responses,its really important to me. thank you.

If you want to Join the witnesses,its totally your call but i will like point out some of their doctrines to you

Firstly,they do not Believe in the Divinity of Jesus saying that He is one of the Chief angels,that he was created by God thereby rejecting HIM as God,Secondly they also do not believe in the Trinity,thats God the Father,The Son and The Holy Ghost
Also the reject the whole concept of heaven and hell.

And also that the Holy Spirit is not a person but an 'active force' which is pure blasphemy, God forgive them

Lastly they believe that heaven is meant for only 144000 people,meaning we are all damed

And that the world came to an end in 1914,

But one thing i do admire about them is the Brotherly love they share apart from that they just dont entice me


If you want to join any church,please do join the Seventh Day adventist, am not a member oo but their Doctrine is sound and you can google more about the Witnesses,and decide
Thank you

Kabassa77 has given a good post. While there's no church that one attends that guarantees heaven, there are however good places where the probability is enhanced. Sorry JW's not one of them. They have good and enviable fellowship BTW. Their issue is poor foundation. What's the point/good living in a beautiful mansion that has poor foundations? They miss it on fundamentals of the christian faith. They have real issues with basics like been born again, water baptism, prayer, the person of Jesus, the holy spirit, who's going to Heaven etc. I'm yet to see a perfect denomination unfortunately, but JW no near sorry.

@Poster, No. You will be making a mistake not allowing your SOUL to prosper.

At poster look let me tell you. If u know d truth it shall set u free but you must open ur mind to know d truth. And jw always refer to d bible. Do like the beoreans who after hearing from paul went and investigated d bible on their own. Do not rely on them say. People can say what they like. These oda persons hav closed dia minds. OPEN UR MIND AND INVESTIGATE WHAT U HIA ABOUT GOD 4ROM D BIBLE

I recommend you to Christ Embassy, Redeem or Winners Chapel

Image123:

Kabassa77 has given a good post.

No, he hasn't. His post is mostly untruths and freecocoa will spot them for what they are. How, for instance, can you say someone doesn't accept the divinity of Jesus and turn around to say the person says Jesus is an angel? Since when did angels stop being divine?

While there's no church that one attends that guarantees heaven, there are however good places where the probability is enhanced. Sorry JW's not one of them. They have good and enviable fellowship BTW. Their issue is poor foundation. What's the point/good living in a beautiful mansion that has poor foundations? They miss it on fundamentals of the christian faith. They have real issues with basics like been born again, water baptism, prayer, the person of Jesus, the holy spirit, who's going to Heaven etc. I'm yet to see a perfect denomination unfortunately, but JW no near sorry.

A 5yo Witness would tear up what you have written without breaking his stride.

STACYM:

Hellooo, I just want to let u know dat I was once like u (stunch catholic) and also went to other churches. I met with d witnesses and started studying with them, my dear, it was then I realize the truth about God and his purpose for mankind and I made up my mind to be in dat kind of organization. (Now unbaptise publisher).
Jehovah's witness people re been criticize for no reason just cos they know the TRUTH (as Jesus said in mathew 24:9 "u will be objects of hatred on the account of my name" . Make up your mind to join, is a WISE decision dat u will never regret, I am enjoying the benefit of my service to Jehovah, do well to join us

cocoduck:

At poster look let me tell you. If u know d truth it shall set u free but you must open your mind to know d truth. And jw always refer to d bible. Do like the beoreans who after hearing from paul went and investigated d bible on their own. Do not rely on them say. People can say what they like. These oda persons hav closed dia minds. OPEN your MIND AND INVESTIGATE WHAT U HIA ABOUT GOD 4ROM D BIBLE

Would any of you be so kind to explain this TRUTH about God you now know from the Bible through the instrumentality of the Witnesses? Thanks in advance.

@ All thank you for your contributions,I'm putting many things into consideration,well I never knew about the trinity part and if any witness in the house can break it down for me,I'll be most grateful,

@ All thank you for your contributions,I'm putting many things into consideration,well I never knew about the trinity part and if any witness in the house can break it down for me,I'll be most grateful,

@ All thank you for your contributions,I'm putting many things into consideration,well I never knew about the trinity part and if any witness in the house can break it down for me,I'll be most grateful,

Hello freecocoa,
many years ago, i was at the same point you are now.I had done the organised christianity and was sick of it all, i had been a church worker and ALL the works.I tried so many other ideologies/beliefs/practises.Read and studied about many religions (i dont want to go into details).
I admired the way of thinking of quite a few of these ideologists and in my mind, was done with regular religion.I come form a background where i am allowed to explore my beliefs.
Well, i didn't particularly find anything wrong with the things i was dabbling into-in fact i preffered them to christianity, but i had no peace in it all.The more i dabbled, the more questions i had.

At a point in all this, i read the book of Daniel in the bible and realised that they did sorcery as well-that heightened my confusion-is God then okay with sorcery?I was thoroughly confused.No church or organisation had the answer.I argued with every christian that came my way-very opinionated bunch.But something happened.I spoke my heart out to whoever the true God is/was out there.

I said if you are really there, you show me what to do.i dont want anyone to teach me, you do it and the change started gradually. God showed me through everything i  was studying from philosophy, to budhism, to everything i dabbled into-too ashamed to even mention some things, he showed me first his love, that it wasnt wrong to seek him and that finding him is a lot simpler than the way we do it now.

The summary of the above is,please stop looking to any organised religion to find God.Speak to him, ask him to reveal himself to you.For now stop stressing out about whether you should become a witness or pentecostal or whatever-who came up with all these names anyway?

God is not in any one sect.I have met genuine lovers of God in the anglican church-even though they ordain gay ministers these days and the list is endless.
You discover God first and let him lead you.God often calls us to heal others in the areas we ourselves have been hurt.so please separate yourself and let God lead you to help others in your shoes.
God bless you and i have prayed for you that God should help you as only he can

First i'm going to congratulate you on your decision to move nearer to God.
It is a great feat and it's not easy at all.
along the way, you may lose friends (who think you have gone out of your mind) and find yourself alone.
The main thing is to surround yourself with like-minded folks. If you can only find such folks in Jehovah's Witness, then join it by all means.

To be honest, it is not your church but your heart that matters to God.

always pray for the spirit of discernment.  Eventually you will grow spiritually enough to be able to discern religious dogma and such and may want to change churches. For now, stay with whatever helps your spirituality the most.

@ shushu,you just melted my heart with your words,I'm almost crying,its just that for a long time I've been longing to really know the truth but hard as I try it just doesn't work,thanks for the prayer,I hope I find it like you did.
@jenifa what can I say but thank you so much for your advice,you are appreciated.

@ My Joe, Please Sir kindly point out the areas that are wrong in my post and as for the divinity part,do you know the definition of the word DIVINITY?  Everything i wrote about the doctrines of JW is true and am waiting to read otherwise

MyJoe:

No, he hasn't. His post is mostly untruths and freecocoa will spot them for what they are. How, for instance, can you say someone doesn't accept the divinity of Jesus and turn around to say the person says Jesus is an angel? Since when did angels stop being divine?A 5yo Witness would tear up what you have written without breaking his stride.

Here comes MyJoe, the defender of the universe. I thank God there are no 5year olds on NL, what a relief.

While it may sound tolerant and almost pious to say that God can be found in any and every church, i beg to disagree. Thank God the OP has first hand experience of that.

freecocoa:

Good day people,I'm on the verge of making an important decision and I'm kinda confused,so I need your help.
The thing is that I've been going to church since I was a kid till now and I don't really understand the bible,I want to be born again and very close to God but I don't know how to achieve that.
My family used to be catholic before we converted to pentecostal,I've attended many pentecostal churches but I really I'm not convinced by things I see there,they don't seem to break the word of God the way I understand

Theres a hunger in your heart for knowledge. It can be an indication of what God wants to use you for. It is obvious that you church is not a teaching church. Why not get to a church where bible teachings are done. Not just preaching.

kabasa77:

If you want to Join the witnesses,its totally your call but i will like point out some of their doctrines to you

Firstly,they do not Believe in the Divinity of Jesus saying that He is one of the Chief angels,that he was created by God thereby rejecting HIM as God,Secondly they also do not believe in the Trinity,thats God the Father,The Son and The Holy Ghost
Also the reject the whole concept of heaven and hell.

And also that the Holy Spirit is not a person but an 'active force' which is pure blasphemy, God forgive them

Lastly they believe that heaven is meant for only 144000 people,meaning we are all damed

And that the world came to an end in 1914,

But one thing i do admire about them is the Brotherly love they share apart from that they just dont entice me


If you want to join any church,please do join the Seventh Day adventist, am not a member oo but their Doctrine is sound and you can google more about the Witnesses,and decide
Thank you

Can u realy and explicitly define d word trinity, just humbly do that, lets start from a poin, 1st of all dat word can never be found frm d hebrew and greek scriptures, and the xpression"God d father,God d son,God d holy spirit" can no where be found in d christian greek scriptures or d old testament, that expression is what makes trinity d teachin it is, :dat is why many who believ in d trinity cannot help bt conclude dat it is a mystery, becos they cant relate it with d bible, even Jesus himself never taught d doctrine"trinity",
The trinity teachin purports that the 3 persons involed are co-equal, does d bible teach that, does the bible teach that God(Jehovah),Jesus Christ and d holy spirit are equal with 1 another in rank,power and abilities, lets critically look @ what Jesus himself taught not what men teach, lets here from d bible, and 1 thing wit d witnesses is that we read d whole scripture to arrive @ a profound conclusion, join me in lookin @ these scriptures and see if it supports d trinity doctrine,

John14:28, Jesus there emphasized d fact that he is goin bak to his father and that d father is greater than he is,
John20:17, Jesus told mary that he is returnin to"my father & there father,my God & there God",
Jesus and all of us share d same father & God who is d almighty, Jesus never for once argued over who was greater, he respected & worshiped d same God that created both him and all of us,
1corinthians 11:3, apostle paul was inspired to write that d head of every man is Christ,in turn d head d woman is d man,in turn d head d christ is God,
Do u see d hierarchy??,
Then lets see what d apostle also said @ phillipians 2:5&6, altho Christ existed in d image of God he gave no consideration to a seizure,namely he shuld b equal to God, Jesus never had such thoughts of bein equal to his father, that will mean rebellion and presumpteousness,
remember d trinity teachn wasnt a doctrine dat existed wit 1st century christians, not until after d deaths of d apostles it became a doctrine, the apostles of Jesus were never trinitarians, Jesus himself never taught anytin close to bein part of a trinity, even pre-christians were unitarians, they believed in 1 God & dat never changed wit d rise of christianity, if u are catholic u culd get to a catholik encyclopedia and do a research on hw d teachn started, servants of God never worshiped gods in triads, it was in paganism dat it was rampant, lets read more scriptures, 1corinthians8:5&6, that scripture defines Jesus christ & Jehovah(God almighty) as seperate entities and it also taught oneness of almighty God,
Now what about d holy spirit
The holy spirit even disqualifies d teachn of d trinity, "3 persons in 1 God", the holy spirit is and was never a person, Jehovah & Jesus christ are spirit persons with there personalities , but d holy spirit in d bible has never been a person, and everytime isiah saw in a vision d glory of d heavens he only sees 2persons, he always sees Jesus sitin @ d right hand of his father(Jehovah), d holy spirit was always poured on people,served as a helper,came as a dove on Jesus, but never was it a person, and nt part of a trinity, and mind u we respect Jesus as d only begotten son of God his father & d saviour of all repentant mankind,and as our lord, he is d king of Gods kingdom,
, let me stop here for now, let me here ur response,

freecocoa:

@ All thank you for your contributions,I'm putting many things into consideration,well I never knew about the trinity part and if any witness in the house can break it down for me,I'll be most grateful,

The trinity teachin stems from d pagan worship of gods in triads and never has a biblical backin, d question 1 shuld b askin wenever a doctrine comes is where did it cme fromwhats its origindoes d bible support it??what did Jesus teach about itwhat about d early apostles??, the truth is wen u read d bible u'l independently even cme to ur own conclusion dat God,Jesus & d holy spirit are nt part of a trinity, that is why it becomes a mystery to d originators of d doctrine , if Jesus himself never taught such teachns why are his followers propagatin it, even isaac newton after readin d bible clearly concluded and i quote "that trinitarians are idolaters for worshipin 3 gods", i'm gona quote scriptures u can read and see what d bible rili teaches,
**GOD IS NOT 3persons in 1
Deuteronomy6:4
Malachi 2:10
Mark10;18
Romans3:29&30
***Jesus was created,God was alone b4
Revelation 3:14
Colossians1:15
Isiah44:6
***Jesus inferior to Father b4 & afer comin to earth
john8:42
John12:49
**obedient on earth,his Father greater than him
John14:28
John5:19
***even wen exalted in heaven Jesus was still subject to his Father
Philipians2:9
1corinthians15:28
Matthew20:23
****Jehovah is christs head & God
1corinthians11:3
John20:17
Revelation1:5&6
*****Gods holy spirit is active force not a person
Matthew3:16
John20:22
Acts2:4,17,33
***holy spirit not a person in heaven wit God and Christ
Acts7:55&56
Revelation7:10
****those servin God today as humans recieve & are guided by it
1corinthians 2:12&13

All these scripture negates d doctrine of trinity,
It is simple 1+1+1=3 not equals to 1, and ofcus Jesus never taught it, please read those scriptures,

@numo86,i know you are a JW,give me time to search out the bible and prove you wrong!

I have always had a problem with pentecostals worshiping Jesus Christ, saying stuff like Jesus is Lord and singing all these songs about master Jesus e.t.c. I believe the focus should be on God.

I understand he was the messanger but we should focus on God. Finally Jesus is not the same one as God!

Good reply @ greatoros.
@poster if i happen not to be a witness belive me i will be an atheist. Simple its a either a witness or an atheist. I cant live the stugma of attendin one of those churches u see around with wrong teachings.  Now @numo86 tanks u just hit the hammer on the nail. Now its left for whosoever wants to listen to do the research and i belive with no doubt he/she will find out that trinity is a belief raised up and held by pagans.

Belief is a very powerful force, and if you choose to join any religion, the best approach is to completely believe -- close your mind. Only that way can you find relative happiness. Because, if you continue to search for this truth by seeking peoples opinions, you would end up in total confusion because everyone has a personal concept of truth. This is what JW help you do. They give you logical explanations of the bible, call it truth, and ask you to shun whatever. To be sincere, you would be very happy if you are able to accept this. As a JW, you would be confined to their teachings and you are not "scripturally permitted" to consider other beliefs. If you dont have that kind of mind, I mean if are "humble" enought to receive instructions from the society without questioning, you would be happy as a JW. As a JW, even if you question, you must do it within the confines of the society's teachings, or you risk being disfellowshipped.

I'll advise you to read the books: Crisis of Conscience and A Search for Religious Freedom. IMO, they would give you objective history abt JW. If after reading, you are willing to continue. You would be very happy as a JW. I must warn you because they might be dangerous books. I doubt if any true JW can read such books since they are classified as apostate doctrines. But if you are a true seeker of truth, you would want to know about the history of what u consider truth. Reading them will give you two sides to the story and you can make your choice. I'll restate it in clear terms, the moment you agree to be a JW, you close your mind to all other teachings. Have you ever wondered why JWs cant attend other churches? (they can be banned for this act). And if you decide to leave, you risk your happiness with guilt that many cannot recover from.

That said, JW are fine people and they are "cleaner" than most other churches. I dont think they are perfect.

if u were a catholic go there, I found out 70% of converted JWs were from catholic and I their articles those converted one spend half of their time bashing vatican city

"I and my father, we are one and no one comes to the Father except through me"
"I am the Way, the Truth and the Life."
"In the begining was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God"
"And the word became flesh and make his dwelling among us,full of grace and truth."
Finally, you can read 1st Jn 5:7 to understand the mystry of trinity according to John beloved

@op, if you are really sincere with yourself, you should be able to tell whether the things you are learning are from the bible.most ppl who are trying to discourage you are themselves confused.they only believe what their pastors and others tell them about jehovah's witnesses without investigating for themselves, let the bible be your guide and not the opinions of blind followers who swallow everything that is being fed to them from the pulpit without taking out time to read the bible for themselves.

Good morning freecocoa.
May I ask whether you have requested for someone to study with you?
You must have thought long and hard regarding your decision, but you just need to be absolutely sure, right?

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