Religion & Spirituality participants, what advice can you offer for me as I continue my spiritual journey?

It is a spiritual journey, not a religious journey. It is about the journey, not a destination or goal.

You are not a mortal seeking a hallelujah experience. You are a great and powerful spirit merely having a mortal experience. Embrace it, and avoid those that say otherwise.

You are right where you should be at this moment. Cherish the moment. It is not a race. Reflect on what you have learned thus far. Lessons mastered today will not need to be repeated. When new lessons are in order, the teacher will appear.

An often overlooked aspect of spiritual ascension, is that it is a give and take relationship. You cannot progress until you have elevated someone below you to your level. We are on this journey together. Be mindful of those with a more limited understanding. Be compassionate. Teach. Minister. And above all, be patient. It is a very gradual awakening.

The answer to your question lies within. You already have all that you need. Trust your higher self and those guiding from a higher perspective. What you believe is not as important as why you believe it. I wish you well.

If you are of child bearing age, I would carefully consider what effect this would have on your children. You can read books written by people who grew up in a Jehovah Witness home and see what they experienced and felt about it. One good one is, "Growing Up in Mamma's Club."

I would also advise going to Youtube and searching "former Jehovah's Witnesses." If you were going to buy a car, you might want to check Consumer Reports and talk to people who had driven that particular car and not just the car salesman. So far, you have probably been talking just to the salesmen.

Take a look at this check list and see if you see any of these traits. All might not be recognizable at this stage of your involvement.

Look into the history of every denomination and branch of Christianity. How long has it been around?

Maybe talk to pastors from several denominations. Ask them what they think of that group and their theology and their rules.

I suggest you learn more about several denominations and obtain their guidelines (RULES). If you are a born again Christian, continue to pray for guidance and learn all you can from the Bible. We each need to search any group or organization we are interested in. There are many cults, so be careful, as this is not of God. If what they teach is not true according to the protestant Bible, check it out. I understand the JW have come out with their own bible. Compare it to others and ask yourself why it was necessary for them to write their own scriptures. Also, their bible is not available in book stores. Good luck and God Bless.

There can only be ONE truth--stick with your study with Jehovah's witnesses until you can find no fault with it. Then if you do question the study conductor to show you through God's inspired word PROOF that you are either right or WRONG.

That is what my husband did--he questioned everything he had belief in and it took him NINE years to come to the realization that Jehovah's witnesses use the Bible to prove (to him) that Jehovah's witnesses have the truth.

During that time, he had more than one person study with him, and always the answer was in God's inspired word and he could not refute the truth, now he has been a fine brother for decades!

Advice?

I would say trust yourself, follow your own path. Go wherever your inner voice/self calls you to go.

I would however probably not advise anyone to join a church....but I do insist you go find what it is that's there for you.

There is something, someone, some spark, some light there for you.

Go where you are called....follow your will.

There is a wisdom in all things Master.

Question everything, do your research, get the facts, make your own decisions.

Your life is your own, what ever path you choose to go down should be yours to choose, just make sure you do your research and have all the facts to all the different views before you make your decision. That is the only way you can really know if you've made the right choice for yourself.

As to the direction your spiritual journey should take, my advice would be to ignore the advice of everyone here and go strait to the source. Turn to God ask him what direction you should take. In James 1:5-6 we read "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him.

But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed."

If you really seek for the truth and pray with the intention of following the answer he will give you then you will find what God says about your journey.

Beyond that what else matters.

Ignore naysayers and continue to carefully reason things out. Pray deeply about it and with a sincere heart.

We both know to ignore unshaven guys on youtube, with their disgruntled tales and blame games.

Keep up the good work.

As a Catholic I encourage you to consider where the authority of the Spirit of truth truly lies. We are told it dwells in any people gathered under the name of Christ, but this is very different than the ability granted to Peter of 'binding and loosing.' Keep in mind that no form of Christianity would exist if it were not for the crusading work of our Catholic martyrs in history.

religion and spirituality are far removed from one another so we suggest a more esoteric approach to the truth of our being here on mother earth time and time again. There are great teachings under the theosophical label and also under the Bailey books so called which really delve into the cosmos and mans role therein.

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Om shantih

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