A "Friend" Writes

geevee

GeeVee, what's the story? Word on the street is that your not going to well spiritually. I hope it's not true. Please get back to me & let me know. Don't worry if you've had a bit of a set back. We all have them at times, but you know there's no other game in town. I'm genuinely concerned. If it's true let's get back on track, you've got a lot of genuine friends who want to help you. Talk to me!!!

My Reply:

We/I do appreciate that you are concerned about us. In fact, in virtually a year, apart from My wife's parents, you are the first to take the time to express your concern and even ask, out of all the people I know. So I respect that of you.

You must understand, that I will be very guarded in my reply to you, the wrong answer could get me into huge trouble. If you want unguarded and complete honesty, I must trust that there would be no recriminations....

If you really want to know what has got us to where we are, then I offer you some links to view some information. This information, when I watched it on TV left me/us feeling gutted. It is very easy to say that all these people featured in these stories are "apostate". I used to pride myself by being able to say to people when I talked to them about corruption in the churches, that we do not tolerate this kind of behavior, if any are discovered, they are kicked out. I have heard plenty of Elders who would/should know better repeat my sentiments, even from the platform. But sadly this is not always true.

Even though these are TV stories, I have checked with witnesses who know these people and these accounts are true. I have spoken to one of them and he knows the others. I can get you the transcripts to the stories if you think something has been taken away or even added after the fact.

But Friend, they are real people, they were/are card carrying JW's. They have been hung out to dry. The first link parts 1 then 2 is where to start, followed by the second one from may 29th last year. The third one is a seperate issue, something else that I have come across, and didn't know about. Maybe I/we have just been niave, perhaps you know about all this stuff and it doesn't bother you. There is more.

I ask that before I say anything that you look at these, then I will tell you of my efforts to find out about this whole situation.

The thing that makes us different from animals is our ability to reason and question things for ourselves. By questioning, I mean to be able to verify information from many sources whatever it is that you are told and to establish it as truth for yourself. Otherwise, you have one side of a story, only part of the needed information and you have to make a life or death decision on that information.

1a: http://www.wtmedia.org/SilentWitnesses1.wmv [6mb]
1b: http://www.wtmedia.org/SilentWitnesses2.wmv [6mb]

2: http://www.wtmedia.org/Silent_Lambs_29_May_05.wmv [14mb]

3: http://www.un.org/dpi/ngosection/pdfs/watchtower.pdf [2 pages]

Please dont just dismiss this information, without looking at it. Like they say, if you want to understand the perspective of another, walk a mile or two in their shoes. You see, I dont see it as "not going too well spiritually". This has nothing to do with spirituality. May be something to do with religiosity, but not spirituality and there is a difference. The Pharasees were very religious, but they had no spirituality. They thought as they had been taught, that they were doing everything right by God. They had their practices, they had their priesthood and Jehovah's temple, they washed to the elbows, they wouldn't work on the sabbath, they did everything they could, but Jesus came and smashed their whole system. The Pharasees castigated Christ and those that followed him.
But they didnt understand God's purposes, and he had no further need of them and their religious system.

Well that is all I am saying on this at the moment. If you decide that you want to check the links, please do so and I will be happy to discuss things further with you. If you dont want to, then please just let us go our own way and leave it at that.

Thanks again for asking,
GeeVee.

LeftBehind

When I get e-mails like you do I am so tempted to respond like you did but I know they will rat me out. At first I replied thank you for your concern and I am doing fine. Now I don't even bother to respond because most are on fishing expeditions.

lonelysheep

Great letter, GeeVee!

Amazing1914

Although I do not know you, your friend, or the strength of your relationship, nonetheless, you wrote an excellent reply! You opened the door, and left it open, and put the onus on your friend to walk through, or close the door and move on. Well done.

Thanks for sharing,

Jim Whitney

geevee

LeftBehind, Yes, I do worry about him ratting me out. It is a possibility, I'd like to think that he IS concerned and will at least try to understand why we are where we are. But, in the end, if he doesn't like it or try, he will forward the email...keep the org clean blah blah blah...... The we will be free!!!
Trouble is the wifes parents are old, and will be needing us to assist them soon.
Lonely sheep and Amazing 1914, Thanks.

Darth Yhwh

Although I think your responce is fantastic, I also think that your JW friend will shut down as soon as he reads "WWW". The WTBS places such a stigma on the internet that using it as a reference will get you no where with upstanding JDubs. I hope for your and your friends sake that Im wrong, but I doubt it. Keep up the good work though.

looking_glass

Geevee, I hope your friend really wants what is best for you. Because if they do, then they will be open minded as to what you wrote because it was very non-confrontational. I wish the best for you and what the future holds.

Carmel

I love it! Apostacy metasticises!!

carmel

geevee

Thanks for taking the time to read. I know that in OUR collective gut, the alarm bells are screaming: "Why did you reply?" but I feel at some point I have to stand up for what I believe and stop taking it up the A** each time a "friend or relative" want to dish it out. Yes, they are concerned, but is it enough to want to stop and listen...not just hear why we feel as we do? We always show respect for what they believe. I still let my father-in-law pray when we eat together in our home. I dont preach my views to them, but I have to just cop it when they feel like it!!
All any of us want is for them to take the blinders off for a short while, are there other possiblities? What is Truth?
Thanks again for all the kind thoughts. Let's see where it ends up...
Maybe: "Hi my name is GeeVee [actual name used], and I was a Jehovah's Witness"

sass_my_frass

GeeVee, I've no idea whether the best thing for you is to live a successful fade or to emerge from the trauma of judicial action and make moves to get on with life. Having been through it though, I'm now pretty sure that I wouldn't want to go through a lifetime of walking on eggshells to protect the people I love from the very minor pain of having one less person around to affirm their faith for them. Of course the cost to me was a lot of pain; but for me it's worth it. The intellectual freedom for a start, but most importantly; freedom of expression. I now don't have to clip my thoughts or hold my tongue; my friends now aren't SS agents on the side. I can leave whatever damn books I want on the coffee table. I don't have to worry about whether I can 'trust' someone enough to talk about the things that most concern me.

Whatever happens, all the very best to you.

A "Friend" Writes

Share this