One of the things that struck me the first time I met Dorothy, over a year ago, was her curiosity. You don't speak with her very long before she asks "why?". As we were raising our children, it was important to me to teach them to ask "why?" so that they would understand why they believed what they did. It is a sign of a SEEKER.
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Dorothy gave some background of her parents. Her father had been born a catholic in Brazil. He moved to Scotland at the age of 14, "leaving religion forever." Her mother had been raised by a christian scientist but she attended Wheaton College. Eventually, her mother became a Hindu.
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Since her father did not discuss spiritual matters, it was her mother who taught Dorothy that the Jesus of the Bible was the story about a man who was living his "last life" on earth before merging with the Godhead. Most of her mother's explanations did not answer Dorothy's "why?" questions completely. So, as a young adult, Dorothy continued to SEEK.
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Eventually, Dorothy settled with Jehovah's Witnesses (J.W.'s) . She discussed in detail some of her experiences with this group of people which I will briefly summarize here:
- J.W.'s claimed that they were the only ones who have the truth
- J.W.'s put down other religions
- J.W.'s said churches are led by satan
- J.W.'s do not believe in celebrating holidays and birthdays.
- J.W.'s might hold up a black Bible and say "If I say this is red - what color is it?" Of course, they were wanting her to answer "red".
- J.W.'s encourage their members to "spy" on each other and report anyone doing "anything wrong" to their elders.
- J.W.'s "bible" is different than the Bible. They weren't "allowed" to read the Bible.
- J.W.'s don't really talk about other names for God except "Jehovah". Jesus is not God to them.
Dorothy continued to ask her "why?" questions. Then, she read the book, Crisis of Conscience. The author, Raymond Franz, was banned by the Jehovah's Witness Watchtower Society in 1981, when he was excommunicated for eating a meal with a previously banned individual, his landlord. Five million Jehovah's Witnesses are now forbidden to speak to Franz or read his book. Dorothy chose to read his book. What she found were answers to things that she had been questioning for many years. She was angry! She'd been deceived for a long time! She'd been a Jehovah's Witness for 35 years!
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She left the Jehovah's Witnesses and began to continue to SEEK GOD. She attended other churches, met and married "C", and together they continued to SEEK. It was through starting to roller skate for exercise that they met a group of "fellow senior roller skaters" who where christians. They went to lunch with them and eventually attended their Life Group Bible Study. They realized that they were with a group of people who were TRUTH SEEKERS.
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Dorothy and "C" came as visitors to our church building to the last performance of "Seven Quilts for Seven Sisters". They began to study with Dan, one of our preaching ministers. Dorothy says, "I quickly began to see how important JESUS was."
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As they to studied about JESUS, she was struck by His names. Then, when she realized what the word, IMMANUEL, meant - it was powerful! IMMANUEL means "God with us!" Isaiah 7:14 made sense:
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"Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign:
The virgin will be with child and
will give birth to a son,
and will call Him Immanuel."
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Dorothy and Charles became JESUS SEEKERS. They were baptized into Christ and have become part of a worldwide family of believers that is very different from the Jehovah's Witnesses. They had come to understand that Colossians 2,
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"In Him all the fulness of Diety
dwells in bodily form."
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Dorothy ended her sharing by saying how thankful she was to see children who were blessed to be raised in homes with JESUS. These homes are homes where people "love the LORD with all their hearts and souls and strength." Jesus is their LORD!
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Afterwards, I thought of all the blessed little children who I know. Dan and Katherine had their grandkids visiting. So did Greg and Linda. Dan and Katherine's parents had raised them in "Jesus homes". Greg and Linda became christians in adulthood. Both couples have raised children in "Jesus homes" and now have children who are doing the same for their children.
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I snapped a photo of Linda and grandson Ethan afterwards as happy Ethan tries to grab grandma's glasses.
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