"If you can move on with your life and not argue with them when you are around them"
smellsgood: "evil endures when good men remain silent" whose best interest is that in???? not yours, not theirs, that viewpoint only serves one thing, the Watchtower.
snoozy: "They choose to be the religion they are."
smellsgood: they were duped and their choice is one of a persons who's information was handpicked diluted and strained through a narrow gulley, in other words, they were manipulated.
snoozy: "We can't usually change their mind. Why should we?"
smellsgood: That is a very dangerous attitude, not only w/regard to persons enslaved in a cult, but also in many areas. Ideas drive actions. Beliefs can bend character.
WE SHOULD BECAUSE THEY ARE JUST AS WORTHY AS FREEDOM AS YOU ARE
,,,think about that in terms of another avenue where people come up against conflict w/regard to beliefs,,,
don't ever make the mistake of slipping into passivity since "ahhh, others will be what they be" think of those who were enraptured by Charles Mansons helter skelter lunacy. If you had been part of that group, found out that that it was madness, wouldn't you have gone back and tried to talk some sense to those you knew, no matter what resistance or retaliation came your way?
I think it is even MORE important to people when it is their family.
You realised you were being lied to, working a corrupt organizations agenda, and why would you want anybody you gave two whits about doing the same.
I'm thinking of the phantom tollbooth, where Milo is instructed by the demon of useless tasks to move a large pile of sand, one grain at a time, from here to there using a pair of tweezers.
He does what the nicely attired, polite demon tells him to
He does eventually pull out the mathematicians pencil and after calculationg the astronomical time the eyedropper/well routine would actually take, it breaks the "spell." He realises the pointlessness of this, and that he was just persuaded to do something that is vacuous, inane, and he gets on his way, upsetting of course, the demons machinations.
Reading this, you just want to shout at Milo that there's no point to this, you've been had, put the tweezers down and get the hell out of there. That is the natural inclination, to save somebody from doing something that is no good, worthless, or even harmful.
snoozy: They have their life and we have ours. If they want to say.."We can't associate with you because you aren't a JW.".so be it. Pick up the pieces and go on with your life. If they change their minds they will know how to find you.
smellsgood: I see what you are trying to say. I just must disagree that the best method is just to shuttup. And that this may be the cause of why those are shunned, cos they can't do it. Just yesterday I was reading I forgot who, who did not say word one about the WT, and yet was being viciously shunned only as a result of their non-membership.
I just disagree with the viewpoint that passivity is a good way to go about things. From where I sit, it doesn't make a difference as to how you are treated, it's not a reaction to your "behavior" after you are no longer one of JW's, its mandated how they are to treat you in the 'event of' ,,before any wrongdoing or disagreement even occurs.
Again, the only true beneficiary of the "shuttup and let them just continue on" is the Watch Tower corporation. Silence and control is their best ally.
Besides all that, yes, people should live their lives as best they can. Unfortunately this organization takes away so much, how can it not have an impact.
smellsgood
