I'm tired of my religion?

I am a Jehovah's Witness and a mother of 2, with an unbelieving husband as well. Your mom is doing what the bible requires her to do:

Deut 6:4 "Listen, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah. 5 And you must love Jehovah your God with all your heart and all your soul and all your vital force. 6 And these words that I am commanding you today must prove to be on your heart; 7 and you must inculcate them in your son and speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you get up. 8 And you must tie them as a sign upon your hand, and they must serve as a frontlet band between your eyes; 9 and you must write them upon the doorposts of your house and on your gates."

Eph 6:4 "” 4 And YOU, fathers, do not be irritating YOUR children, but go on bringing them up in the discipline and mental-regulating of Jehovah."

As long as you are under their authority, then this is a requirement from Jehovah.

With that being said, I would advise you, as I have told my 2, to be honest with me and themselves. They too have stressed that they do not want to hurt my feelings, so I make it easier on them, when we have our bible studies, let me know what is truly in your heart. They tell me. It bothers me when they say "I don't want to go to the meetings". However, at least I know where their heart is. So I explain by the bible of the importance. They go, but at least I have done what is required of me in my obligations to Jehovah. You would need to be honest with your parents. There is no point in going through the motions because it is just going to cause you to fall out or leave eventually. Maybe you can tell your parents you will go on Sundays and you don't want to go out in service because, you are correct, no point in discussing the bible when you don't believe or can't understand what you are reading. You may want to comfort them that at this time it is not what you want. You may change your mind later - some do.

If she lives up to her obligations with Jehovah, you may find that what you have learned and what you have taught is better than what you see in other religions. She can hope and pray that you stay or return, but each one is accountable to Jehovah for their actions. She can only do so much.

BTW - no they will not consider you "wicked" and your mom and family have the choice to contact you. They still love you, please know that.

I am just being real. I go through it with my 2 and it is a tough battle sometimes, but I can tell by the way they treat others and their choices in life, they still value the teachings I gave them from the bible. One is in and out and the other is still too young to make his choice. But the one that is in and out, we are very close and from time to time we discuss the bible and world events. So I know your parents are not going to want to lose touch with you. As we always say "while there is still time, there is still hope"....:)

So in answer your question "Do I just go out and say "I disagree with half your'e teachings, I'm not going out in service and I won't be going to any more meetings once I'm 18"?"

Yes. You might as well. You have to be honest with yourself, your mom, and Jehovah. However, I do advise you hear her out. Hopefully she will show patience and understanding and share with you scriptures of what it is exactly that you don't understand or believe.

"This all sucks. I'm a Universalist, meaning I think no religion is right or wrong (except maybe that Satanism is wrong). I do believe in a God, and I think people should worship a god in a way they find comforting, and that includes all polytheistic religions too."

Wow!! And you are 15? really? At this age you came up with this conclussion? I am impressed! And you love your mother cuz you don't want to break her heart? that's trully amazing, you respect her!!

I'm 37 years old,my mom passed away about three years ago, now eventough we had bad things in the past, i put it all behind cause what i remember,no matter how bad I treated her,she always pray good things for me.Life is short. It is very kind of you to keep your believe to yourself while she 's still alive.

But! JW doesn't fit you! Im sure it is so torturing to be in a church where you're not comfortable with. Have you try to talk to your Dad,then try the best way to arrange any kind of form of family discussion so that you can speak up openly ,nicely and firmly what is in your mind to your mom?

At the end everybody's understand each other and happy family. You are smart I know you can do this.

I'm tired of the religion forum on YA. Its over run with people who dislike Christians any way, so why even post on here? This section is a place where Christian bashers come specifically to take shots at Christians. If you are tired of people who behave in a less civilized manner than animals, then I suggest that you stay out of YA's religion section, and go to church for comfort. A lot of homosexuals post in YA's Society and culture section. Do you really think that they aren't just itching to bash Christians? oh no here come the thumbs down ratings-let um flow!

Hi, I am a universalist also. I think there is good evidence to support this view.

Leaving a religion and telling your parents about is hard but necessary. It sounds like you can confide in your father first and once you are confident in your choice, you can slowly let on to your mother that you really don't buy what all is being sold at the hall.

If you are a universalist you can recognize the beauty of commutiy worship. I remain catholic but I do not believe in any catholic doctrines...but I think the catholic community worship is quite profound and beautiful. So keep worshipping in your church in your own way until you are free to leave. It is what is in your heart that counts.

Keep this in mind, conditional love isn't love at all.

If your mother and friends will only talk to you if you are a member that is emotional blackmail. You want friends who like you for being you, not because you share the same beliefs.

If you haven't been baptized there is no reason your mother should shun you. I'd say make the break now and start making real friendships. Talk to your father and tell him that you don't want to be a Witness, hopefully he supports your beliefs like he has your mother.

I went through the same thing at your age. There was a couple books that enjoyed that let me see the organization for what it is. That is, all the stuff they hide from members and coverup. If you're interested send me an email, it's in my profile.

If you believe no religion is right or wrong then you do not believe in THE God.

Acts 4:12

Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”

Jesus was against religion and was persecuted by religious people. Religion is man made law not Gods law and the pharisee and scribes who persecuted and eventually murdered Jesus in the bible were guilty of being religious. Religious people try to be a devoutly good and religious person so that God will love you. The false assumption of religion is that the only way to be justified in the sight of God is to earn it by doing your best and obeying the rules. So religious people tend to make lists of things they will and will not do. They seek very hard to do what they should do and not do what they shouldn't do. Anticipating one day the day of judgment and they stand before God and share their resume and say "God, here's my life. I did a good job. Please justify me declare me to be righteous and allow me into your presence forever."

The problem with religion is it leads to pride or despair. Pride meaning I feel like I did enough. Despair meaning I don't think I did enough. Religion never leads to hope confidence joy and peace. Because the assumption is that you need to do something so that God will love you. Isaiah 64:6 were speaking of religion and works of the law and thinking your a good person and trying your hardest so that God will love you. God says that your righteousness, your human attempts at being a good person apart from a relationship with him through Jesus "are like filthy rags" Paul in Philipians 3:8 talking about his religious life before he met Jesus comparing all the things he believed he had going for him to dung.

The alternative is Jesus. Paul says Righteousness comes through faith in Jesus Christ. In 2 Corinthians 5:21 Paul says it this way. God made Him who new no sin to become sin so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.

I think you should talk to your dad about all of this. From my perception of Christianity, baptism seems like a more general field of christianity, therefore the religion probably means a little bit less to him than to your mom. Even less, since he is inactive. He might even be in the same situation as you, and you wouldn't ever know!! Ahaha

Jesus put it best " beware of the eleven from the scribes and Pharisees, they load the people up with unbearable weights" I was raised JW my biggest regret is not having sex when I young, when sex was about love and mutual attraction. Except for my good relationship with God, I'm old and alone.

JWs are a controlling cult, not legitimate Christianity.

In fact they deny the divinity of Jesus the Christ.

You are already pretty clear about some of their teaching.

I'm not saying heavy metal music is a good influence.

But you misspoke when they asked you about belief.

Talk to your father about this & be honest with him.

If you refuse to go to meetings ect., the consequences will be obvious. You may be shunned so prepare for it if that is the road you plan on taking. Do what makes you happy. You are young and know what you want in life, be happy. Go with that feeling. Who wants to be miserable for the rest of their life? Study religion and Philosophy if you want to find answers but in the mean time expain to your mother that you want to be happy. If being happy means not wanting to be a Jehovah's Witnesses for OBVIOUS REASONS, so be it!! Hopefully she will understand but if she does not, you must decide what to do on your own. I would ask myself this: would I be happy faking it the rest of my life and pleasing my mom? OR should I just tell her the truth and be happy internally and deal with the consequences? The latter sounds appealing to me. No matter what you decide, your mother will still love you. Go with what makes you happy!

I have concluded that my faith has to be regulated by these four things.

1. Love

2. Free will

3. Awareness about Perfection.

4. Hope.

Have a word with your parents and make them think about these four essentials that are required for any decent religion to have our faith.