I don't even know what to say at this point but I really need to speak my mind.
I belong to a religion. I won't say just which one yet.
But, we're a peaceful religion. We have never taken up arms in God's name.
I respect Atheists, Agnostics, and other people with all sorts of different beliefs. In many cases, Atheists are kinder to me than other religious people.
I was always told that eventually I'd come under fire for my religion. It's something everyone faces, whether you are religious or not. Other people cannot handle different beliefs.
Recently, I was attacked for being what I am by some, I guess you could call them anti's of my religion. I saw them speaking harshly about some things about us that just aren't true, so I stepped in to basically say, in a friendly way "hey, actually it's this way. We don't do that, if you were told we did then you have been lied to."
And what a storm I provoked, a storm that has been weighing over my shoulders for a while now. I just wanted to shed light on the subject, and now I feel like a fool for even attempting it.
I don't understand, and never will understand, how other "certain" religions are protected from any sort of negative speech about them, but if I try correctly informing someone of how it is in my religion, I'm yelled at, called a fool, told I'm brainwashed and stupid, and there is absolutely no law to protect me from that.
Even though the people of my religion are known the world over for helping people, there still are people who hate us, despise us, want us dead. We have never committed atrocious acts in God's name, we never wish to hurt anyone for the sake of religion.
So why, tell me why is it not okay to be what I am? To be a part of a religion that makes me happy? To be part of a religion that I believe in?
I respect their right to talk freely. Why can't they respect mine?
Yo it's cool mate lol. Most of the experiences I've had with JW's haven't necessarily been the best but I sure as hell ain't gonna judge someone based on their religion lol. Cause you can't judge a single person based on a group's actions, just like with refugees and junk and all this anti-Islamic junk. Personally I think Islam is super strict bull shit, though I do appreciate the fact it claims very few miracles, still alot of strict bull shit to me lol. But 99% of my interactions with Muslims have been great (Except for my mum and a few others I guess, but nothing to do with Islam just their own ignorance lol). 99% of people in the world aren't evil, or necessarily "that bad" lol. Like 99% of people in the world aren't bloody terrorists or whatever the fuck (in general at least). So you can see that in any group of people, that the vast vast majority are generally okay.
I think that would be super interesting actually! I love reading about other people's beliefs and religions and watching documentaries on them. I actually do some research on religions in general because I find our different beliefs fascinating.
Some people might say that's against my religion's way of thinking!!! But if it is then why do we have a book called Mankind's Search For God that discusses the different religions of the world and what they believe?
I'm a JW, (I'm kinda worried that now I've said it someone will pop up and say "oh you people are disgusting!") and yeah, I admit, some of us are pretty crappy people! But what group of individuals doesn't have crappy people? My religion doesn't make me immune to being a bad person, even we can admit it.
From what I have seen, most people who leave the religion with an intense hatred for the rest of us have had fanatical parents who forced them to get baptized, forced them to go to meetings and conventions and service, and they hated it because they wanted to do their own thing. Like, yeah, I get it. I was a teenager once, I hated all those things too.
But we are warned explicitly to not force our kids into the religion. You have to make it your own if you choose to. If you hate how your parents made you go to our meetings and you never found any hope or love in the congregation, then you're free to leave. If you wish to come back at any point in time, we're here with open arms. We'll help you with anything you need. Everyone is welcome at our meetings, our conventions, our memorials (I'm getting on a rant, let me stop.)
I guess my point is, I see no reason to hate the entire religion if your parents were crappy about forcing you into stuff. People get fanatical and they start thinking, despite being told the opposite, that only they can help their daughter or son be closer to God and the only way to do that is by forcing them into it. Again, it's your parents doing this, we have articles explicitly addressing this issue because parents get crazy like this anyways. Mix it with religion and it can get unbearable.
I came into the religion at 13, and I was given a choice from the start of what to do with it, which is how it should be. I chose to go forth, study the Bible, and get baptized. I know some kids feel like they have to do this stuff to please their parents and that's sad, because it might not be what you really want inside.
If you can't tell, I'm saying all the things I wish I could have said before, but didn't, and in many cases, couldn't.
One of the things one of the anti-JW's who attacked me said was that we show scary depictions of Hell in our publications. That's a blatant lie, because we don't believe in Hell, and I could show you several scriptures to prove why we have the belief that Hell is fictitious. But of course, getting anything through to that person in particular would have been about as impossible as turning bread into wine.
A second thing she mentioned was how we proclaim the end of the world. We don't proclaim the end of the world, but what we do discuss is the end of this system meaning the current state that the world is in. This, again, is Bible based.
But enough about our beliefs. She claims all around, we're just horrible people.
Despite providing disaster relief in third world countries, providing comforting articles on how to cope with depression and suicidal thoughts, and bringing people from all nations together to prove boundaries big and small can be conquered by love, we're horrible people.
When we go door to door, ringing your doorbells and holding Bibles, we aren't trying to sell you a magazine subscription or convert you. What we offer is a true study of the bible, to help you understand it, to help you realize it isn't contradictory, and to help you apply its teachings to your everyday life.
This is a lot to take in, but thanks to anyone reading. I just felt the need to say what I wasn't permitted to say before.
I mean so long as you're not hurting me I ain't gonna hurt nobody else lol. I've pretty crazy religious beliefs that aren't backed by a large, or even small, group of people. It's literally me and junk extrapolated from my views and experiences of the world, rather than from a book or learning it from somebody else. So for that I tend to not voice my opinions because I'd be called crazy, though in my opinion it's no different than other religions (Except for the fact my beliefs are more closely based upon recent scientific findings and discoveries and whatnot, related to quantum physics, metaphysics, simulation theory, etc.) And I used to be a Muslim, so in my personal experience I was never attacked for my specific beliefs but rather my ethnicity (being called a terrorist by people, labelled as terrorist by NSA, etc.) But so long as you're not spewing hate or trying to force your religion on me I'm cool with you lol, cause I'm like 99% anti imposing shit, even my own beliefs or whatever. I should prolly make a post on here about my religion and junk later or something idk lol.