My husband and I went up to the new renovated park in our area. It is over a mile around and very beautiful.
Anyway, we meandered over and sat down. Within 3 minutes we were approached by JW's. At first we were very polite, and just said we really were not interested but very famliar They kept pushing it... and kept pushing it...and kept pushing it.......and my husband, with his own share of experiences finally bit.
Although he never was a witness, he unfortunately has had the pleasure of being exposed to my family for nearly 3 decades. When you are force fed this stuff from birth, it has a way of sticking. My husband however, never could get past the false predictions, celebrating Xmas through the 1920's then reversing everything in one year, etc....but the granddady of them all excusing all their mistakes with "The light grows brighter nearer the end...new information". He always says the light doesn't grow brighter, the JW's noses just get longer.
He started off with the Millerite's in the 1850's, and how that led to splinter groups and that Russell just pulled beliefs from other Adventist religions that were popular at the time and packaged it as this new religion. The Christadelphians were organized and named during the Civil War so they could legally conscientiously object as a religious group and not serve in the military. Nothing new under the sun.
He then asked whatever happened to Jesus? Why has he been sent to the back of the bus to make room for the WTS juggernaut. How can they in good conscience go along with the role of the WTS...and in a world of 5 billion diverse people why was the GB made up of mostly white male Germans until the 1990's. He then went on to ask how can your organization exist with "elders or CO's making arbitrary decisions."
Then he talked about how for five years his wife (restrangled) was the total emotional support for her mother during the time that her father was ill and died. And for a couple years after that had to help her with every decision, paying bills etc...I know its hard to imagine that a woman who has been a JW her entire 74 years would have trouble making a real decision on her own when it comes to the real world.
Then during the height of his mother-in-law's self-righteousousness (translation the CO is in town and she wants to be recognized as a good JW) she and the CO arbitrarily decide that restrangled should be shunned. My husband gave his view that he views JW's as hypocritical based on the exposure he has had to them (my family). This shunning is not normal in any society.
My husband has never backed down from my Mother. Their history includes him calling her a self-righteous martyr a couple years before we left Chicago in 1988 to get away from them. When they moved here 11 years ago and she started preaching about Xmas, my husband took our sons and bought a fresh tree, strapped in on the hood of the car and drove around the JW parking lot during a Thurs evening meeting and honked the horn and yelled out the window "What about 1914, 1918, 1925 and 1975"?. He's still bothered by the JW Xmas flip flop.
Then he asked what the heirarchy in the new order was going to be...and the elder with them volunteered that it would probably be the same as it is now. Sounds like the old order to me. Are they serious ???
I then mentioned the UN thing and they knew nothing about it, trying to avoid the subject and read a scripture.
I said its pretty hard to follow the GB when they don't follow their own advice. I got the one girl to the side and she asked, oh, you must have gotten that off the internet. I said no, off the UN website itself. They were members for 10 years. I asked her if she had seen the new tract? No. (Me) Well when you get it take a look at the label on the Wild Beast.
She said oh, you must of seen that on the Internet. I said no, I have an advance copy.TOTAL SILENCE AND BEWILDERMENT.
At that point she admitted she knew my mother, and said how my mom had cried telling her the story.
I'm thinking what the hell is MY MOM blabbing this all over the congregation for? (An insatiable need for attention and validation for her self-righteous goosestepping says my husband.)
My husband asked the elder, if he is in the congregation with my shunning mother, then why doesn't he step in and do something about it? The elders reply was that his job is not to dictate over others. To which my husband replied that its all arbitrary with the leadership. Its all a crap shoot based on who's an elder or CO and who has the guts to stand up to whom. A 74 year old lady can be a scary thing. What a joke.
r and husband.