Jehovah's Witness Week! Yikes!

Well its finally Jehovah's Witness week. I have to say I know I would go into each religion with an open mind, but this one is going to be tough for me! My ex is a Jehovah's Witness and a self described nutcase. He blames all his problems ( and trust me there are MANY) on having been raised Jehovah's Witness. He didn't get birthday parties, didn't get to celebrate Christmas like his many classmates. Apparently his mother wouldn't let him have friends that weren't JW's. Blah, blah, blah. I do believe that many of his problems stemmed from being isolated as a child due to his parents religious beliefs. I feel if you are going to raise your children in such a individualized religion that its important to have others with the same beliefs as you around as much as possible (private schools, etc). Since he attended only public school he felt isolated much of the time.

That being said I have a dear friend who is also a JW. She is not [as much] of a mess (love you Reida!).

So, what do I know about JW besides the constant "harassment" at my front door?! I know they don't celebrate holidays, or birthdays. I still am not clear on why. I know Jesus was a Jew and Jews do celebrate many holidays including birthdays. I know they are adamant about going door to door to spread the word. I know they don't believe or refuse to fight in wars of any kind. I know they don't believe in hell, which makes it hard for me to understand why they don't partake in the fore mentioned activities to begin with!

"I can't celebrate my birthday, I'll go to hell!"
" No you won't! "
"Oh, OK then..!!!"

Well this is going to be interesting, maybe for the first time EVER, someone will be knocking on a Jehovah's Witnesses door!

Stay tuned!

Happy Easter

Hope everyone is having a Happy Easter no matter what their religious preference is. Here are some words from the Great Dalai Lama;

"Unless we know the value of other religious traditions, it is difficult to develop respect for them. Mutual respect is the foundation of genuine harmony. We should strive for a spirit of harmony, not for political or economic reasons, but rather simply because we realize the value of other traditions. I always make an effort to promote religious harmony."

Cheers and Happy Easter

Too Quick to Judge; My Apologies

Well, I met with the paster at the Assembly of God church this week. Now I am feeling that I may have judged them too harshly. While its not my way or worshipping, its certainly not for me to decide how other people worship. Just because I didnt get anything out of it, doesnt mean that others don't. For some, this is how they are raised, to be "rejoiceful" to sing, wave your arms, praise God, etc. It was just very much outside my comfort zone. As most of you know, I went to Catholic School and had never attended this type of church service. Also, I want to make it clear that I didnt mean to allege that anyone there wasn't intelligent. I was just curious as to whether anyone has ever done studies on IQ and religion. Where I said it may have been misconstrued to say these people weren't intelligent. I certainly didn't mean to offend.

While they are another religion against homosexuality ( I don't believe that its wrong) the paster did give me some good information and explained things to me, I actually got a little bit out of it! We talked about good and evil and he clarified some of the struggles i have been having. Why some people seem to be blessed and do nothing, while others serve God endlessly and suffer with illness, finances, etc. He informed me that the Devil does reward some people. God rewards those that follow him, but not always with "materialism". This made sense and clarified for some some things I have been struggling with.

All and all not a bad lesson. I may go back on Wed and talk with him further. I think every religion I am studying seems to be offering me something!!! More to come.

I will be posting more about this shortly! Just got up and can't find my glasses!!!