You never addressed me thoughts on the thread about the Jehovahs's witnesses organization being a cult and i thought id give you a chance to address it here. It is not a secret that i am currently an active witness and serve as elder.
Please reason with me and ill certainly concider that i have been mislead and need to stick close to jah's organization....
Maybe well just stick to the point from the earlier thread, namley, if its not a cult, why cant i just decode to leave without fear? If i decide that i no longer wish to be known as one f jehovahs wittnesses, all my "friends" will suddenly refuse to so much as speak with me. I'll be exactly the same person i am now, just womt habe the label of "jehovahs witness". Simply droppimg that lable will cause people i have known, in many cases for 30 years(!!!!!) to stop speaking to me, stop returning my phone calls, refuse dinner invitations that the day before they would have jumped at... They will "unfriend" me on facebook, will drop me from their friend lists on xbox live, not return emails and would in practically every case drive past me if they saw me broken down on the side of the road. People i have known for a lifetime, all because i dont want attend their religious service anymore.
Thats just "friends".... My devout JW wife would much worse.... As it stands, if i dont conduct a "family worship night" as the organization tells her i should, she becomes fridged and will deny me marital intamcy for several days. And im an elder, a "leader" in the comgregation that she is supposed to respect, not to mention her husband of more than a decade. The result of me deciding that i no longer wish toattend church services with her would be catastrophic. She would cease intamacy with me altogether, would be perpetually cold and impossible to talk to about even FAMILY matters and kid related issues. Our sense of togetherness would
Forever vanish and we would not evwn be concidered friendly roomates.... Why... Is this her choice..? In the end yes we all decide how we act, but would she choose this if the WT org didnt TELL her that it was nessary? The same org that CLAIMS familys are an institution from God and that familys should be preserved and cherished would encourage her to rip her marriage apart withput remorse simply because i donnt want to attend meetings anymore.
My children would be put in an awefull position as well. On the one hand they would have their father, whom i say without fear or hesitation, is a hero to them, simoly deciding ti sleep in on sundays and not leave the house thursday evenings.... Jn every ither way he is the same playful, funny, fix anything, make it right, homework tutoring, ball game attending daddy he has always been... Mayne even more so since he dosen have to spend 10-15 hours a week on comgregation crap... On the other hand they will have mommy trying to convince them that somehow daddy really is dfferent and has changed into a BAD PERSON, one god will very soon KILL, at armageddon. This view will be reinforced many times weekly at meetings and in personal study with mommy that she will say i no longer have a right to be involved with. It will also be a lesson they hear from both sets of grandparents, whom they love dearly... So what will they do or think or feel... Everyone they love and care about will be telling them daddy is now bad will soon be killed by theor loving and mercifull god....
And parents.... My in laws will shun me immediatly... Im sure it would be easy to joke and say no big loss, however i live fairly close in proximity to my inlaws and have a very good relationship with both mother and father. They relie on me in many ways which i cant expose here, but will feel the loss of their relationship with me keenly... But why..? Will they choose ti shun me and no longer have anything to do with me on their own? Will i have changed? Will i have been less than the good husband to their daughter that they have known for over 10 years.. Will i have all of a sudden become a bad father to their grand children..? No same man as day before.. The only small differance is i will no longer take wt magazines from door to door.
And my own parents.... My mother and father. Those who gave birth to me, raised me...taught me all i know, set my values at a young age, feed me, clothed me, smade sure i had good schooling, cared in everyway parents can and should.... They would all of a sudden treat me as if i were dead. Why? Would i be a different person..? Would i not be exactly the same boy they loved and cared so deeply for.. That they named in the hosipital "elderelite"... Broufgt home and put in the crib, changed diapers for and loved amd protected..? Whould any rational parent decide to simply stop loving or even taking phone calls from a son the day before they were proud of? Would they make that desision on their own, for no reason other than that son decided he disnt want to drive three hours, spend three nights in a hotel room amd waste four days of vacation time listing to religious instruction? Does that sound logical?
Or does it all soumd like the teachings of a cult that threaten severly those that even THINK about leaving?
Please spade, help me out. If you can explain, logicalky and rationally the resulting actions as ive laid them out above as something other than cult like, i will repent and serve jehovah whole heartly... If not, however, perhaps you do well to concider your own position. I look forward to reading your retort.
