marcostolto

thanks to everyone for answering my questions. i will be spending some time at forums.catholic.com in the weeks to come. am praying for everyone, and also for peace, in our troubled world. thank you

I lost faith in God, after i left the Jehovahs Witnesses, but am just praying for guidance now, and also asking for advice, from fellow Catholics, so that i will be able to restore my faith, once again

applepansy :can you post an edited transcript? am on a Vodacom webbox, with limited internet access and no Flash..sorry maureen:i spent 15yrs as a Jehovahs Witness, but have listed myself on the forum, as Catholic, because it is our family religion. we used to attend church every Sunday, for many years, and i was raised, baptised, received communion, and confirmation, in the Catholic religion, so i have a fair understanding of what Catholics believe.

i do not agree. not always. some who have been raised as members of a religion, may have been drawn away by interests outside the church circle, or they may have just grown weary, and tired, or disinterested in religion in general. i know in my case, it was a gradual and steady decline, and loss of faith, in all religions, that ultimately led me to leave, and become an active opposer. i even started a campaign calling for the banning of the entire JW religion. it was a mistake, that i regret, but today i have learnt to focus my anger, in a more civil way, by voicing opinion, only on issues that are most important to me, eg the prohibition on eating foods that contain blood & the promotion of the practice of shunning

its a dilemma, that may take years to resolve, it may never even be resolved. all i can say is: i will never forget the Book of Mormon, because it represents many other books in the Bible, that were rejected, yet this has formed the basis for a living Christian religion. this to me, makes the LDS church somewhat special, but not necessarily one that i will embrace, wholeheartedly, however it has awakened my interest in the spiritual realm, and after 12yrs of unbelief, i feel that this in itself, is an achievement. am happy to be able to discuss these issues

i would like to ideally go to the meetings as a silent observer, and sit in a corner, minding my own business, but doubt that this will be possible, as in most religions, there are always friendly persons, eager to greet and welcome visitors, and of course also Elders, eager to put one on the road to baptism. this is not unusual, in any religion

i guess its also a question of viewpoint, as in most religions, i would have to be quite cautious, so as not to offend my relatives and fellow believers. i would probably initially attend the LDS meetings, not with a view to conversion, but rather as a Catholic with an enquiring mind, who is eager to learn more about the Book of Mormon and LDS faith. i think i would have to speak to the Bishop beforehand, in order to explain my intentions, so as to avoid any misunderstandings. thank you

i am not an advocate of interfaith, but i do feel that there should be a degree of cooperation between Christian religions. i had a problem when i converted from Catholicism to the Jehovahs Witness religion, as i always felt like an outsider, because i was "alone", and my parents were Catholic, whilst most of the members of the JW congregation, i was meeting with, had a generation or more of relatives, who were all JW's, and as a result there was'nt much sympathy, or empathy, towards the difficulties i had experienced in converting, because very few of those who had been raised as JW's, could relate to a person, such as myself, who had left his family religion. my dilemma is that i am drawn to the Book of Mormon, and would like to learn more about the LDS religion, but feel that i need to be cautious, about what will happen if i ever do decide to attend the meetings, because i burned my fingers before. i think what am really trying to establish, is: will i have to oppose my relatives, and their religion, in order to be accepted for baptism ?

What is the LDS view on Ecumenism, that is initiatives aimed at greater Christian unity or cooperation, between Christian denominations, such as Catholicis, Mormons, Anglicans, Orthodox etc, and how would i be treated, if i joined LDS, with the scope of promoting such initiatives?

i was raised as a Catholic,but converted to the Jehovahs Witness religion, in my youth. after 15yrs in that religion, i decided to leave in 2000, due to disagreements with some of their beliefs. the reaction was overwhelmingly discouraging. i have been shunned by all the JW members who i thought were my friends. they now all refuse to even greet me on facebook. i am really interested to learn more about the LDS church, but at the same time afraid, as all my relatives and their friends are Catholic, and i know that i will receive opposition, if i do eventually decide to convert to LDS. i am also afraid, because i do not know whether i will be able to fit into the LDS religion, and so am worried about how i will be treated by LDS members, if someday i do change my mind, and return to my family's religion?

sorry, this may not seem very important, but i feel i do need to clarify it. i protested, because the script required protest. else without protest, i would never have been able to evade military service, but i would never have joined the JW's, if it was not for the issue of military service, and the fact that i was pressured at my trial, to join this organization, by both the SADF and the JW's. so essentially, my baptism as a JW, occured under duress, in fact under these circumstances, my baptism should never have been approved, by the JW leaders, in the first place. i should have gone to jail, but they allowed me to join their religion and escape military service. it was sort of like a charity thing. thank God, everyone in ZA, today, is equal, but in the 80's, there was a war going on between blacks and whites, on the ZA borders, it was a big thing in the lives, of us school kids. thank you

no, i actually abandoned my parents and my family. i left the church, and joined the Jehovahs Witnesses, but it was not completely a voluntary decision on my part, as there was coercion involved. i was trying to remain politically neutral, in lieu of compulsory military service, in South Africa, during the apartheid era, and at the time the JW's were the only religion in ZA that had made an agreement with the SA Defence force, to allow those concientious objectors, who refused to serve in the military, to perform 3yrs of community service. the alternative in my case, would have been a 6yrs civilian prison sentence, so the initial 3yrs of seperation from my family, including my baptism as a JW, happened largely as my own fault, even despite the fact that there was a degree of duress, but i have no excuse for the 12 yrs i spent seperated from my parents, in the JW religion, thereafter. i should have left, but i did not, because i actually developed faith in the JW teachings, although there was also a fear that leaving, would result not only in shunning, but also in eternal death.thank you

all i can say is that i will never forget the LDS's, and will always keep the Book of Mormon by my side, i will also continue to pray and hope that both the LDS and Catholic churches will draw closer together, rather than further apart, and that someday all Christians will recognise the Book of Mormon as Gods Word.thank you

3 good sc-fi movies will be watching tommorrow : Forbidden Planet War of the Worlds I, Robot some others Land of the Lost Red Planet Star Trek Star Wars

What are your favourite Sci-fi movies? low budget or blockbuster, classic or modern, popular or just plain terrible