by KW13 10 Replies latest jw friends
When you take the opportunity to help a Dub and show them flaws in the religion - hoping that maybe you can free them, what is your motive?
I find that although my main motive (i think) is to free them for THEIR sake, the thought of having an Ex-JW i can talk to and would understand me that way, would help a lot....
Do you do it for those two reasons alone? I do it for the main reason but the second often crosses my mind.
I hesitate to try and free any JW's from their belief system no matter how wrong it is. The reason I say that is because some turn suicidal when the religious believe in the society is destroyed. I know my ex-husband would likely be that way and have warned my sons from pressuring him to examine the religion. He has made all decisions in his life based on his false conceptions about the bible and causing him to question it could have very bad affects on him. He is prone to be emotionally unstable and the JW religion did give him some balance that would be bad to lose.
So advance with great care in helping JW leave, only if they first make the move to question on their own and expect to be there for them every step of the way as they walk away. This is how I deal with JW's today after 5 years out. We must not try to bring them out for our own satisfaction, but only if they make the move themselves. I would never want to be the cause of any JW's mental breakdown.
Ruth
I have taken out most of my friends and several family members out of the board several of which were Elders. The witnesses have a terrible problem they think the TROOF can stand up to anything questioning, I take advantage of this, In time my olde friends approached me and asked why I quit going to the meetings. The first thing I do when this happens is show them the letter from the Society about the NGO's this opens their mind. Then for the Coup deville I show them my blood research the blood research really works because it is all from the bible and my research totally to the person that has looked at it has proven even the most adherent JW wrong. Then I give them space and time, before long they are out and asking me how they can help others out.
OH hay back to your question I do this because I want them to be free with the added bonus that they then will associate with me.
I have found that a good strong drug addiction will do the trick nicely. Perhaps dropping a hit of acid in their juice before Saturday field service can help. I could imagine the headlines. Make sure they have all the beatles albums in their CD player or MP3 player when they get home from the hospital.
Seriously... There is obviously no sure fired way for anyone to convince anyone else of anything, unless you are the BORG and you trap people with word games and head games...
Shalom and Hare Krishna,
Butters
While some may not toally agree with this opinion, the quickest least painful and upbuilding way I have seen and heard of people being able to help JWs become Ex-Jws and be able to thrive afterwards is if they are confronted with Christian Witness.
There is a process in helping a JW become an Ex-JW. First you must take away the false authority that is over them (the Watchtower). This is done by only using Watchtower publications alone (no Bible!!!) and going photocopy by photocopy showing where they have lied and are currently lying. Having a good 20-30 all out lies straight from their publications is a great way to tear down the Watchtower Society and proove it to be a false authority.
But from what I can tell and understand is that since JWs really want to view the Bible as their authority (but in reality the WT is), once that WT power is broken the Bible then CAN become the authority and a JW will open up to a Christian message that takes them right to Jesus. If a JW is confronted with all of this negatvie stuff about their religion and a BETTER hope cannot replace the one they allready have then there can be alot of problems. Depression and a feeling of worthlessness can result. I really feel the proper motivation is to bring them something better, more free, and personal.
Many on this board have tried a varitey of things in order to help a person out. I have found that the #1 thing is to go in fast, strong, and with a purpose. You must be prepared to totally take down the Watchtower in one sitting. Enough so that the person will have a change of heart and be willing to really examine the WT. If you don't go in with enough documents, focus to much on Bible interpretation, or keep the conversation to subtle progress will be difficult.
That is an excellent understanding you have Drew Sagan. The only possible thing I could see having it not work would be the elder influences and others in the borg who will try their convincing "Brigher light" and "dont' listen to doubters" reasoning. But seriously, that is one of the best explanations I have heard yet... Bravo to you for wording it that way...
Butters
drew can ya give me the dates to some of these articles in a pm? i really would like to have those handy
I'm actually in the process right now of getting everything I have togeather within the next few days. I'll make it all available for download from my web server when I am finished. I'll try to write up some basic instructions as well.
thanks a lot mate
I'd also be very interested in eye-opening techniques and documents. I suck at discussions off the top of my head, I forget all the things I should bring up and need to much time to formulate my thoughts in words. Only after it's over I think of all the things I should have said. And right now I'm in that very short time window in which I can discuss this with my family. I've recently announced that I no longer believe in the WTS, and now they're trying to convince me that I'm wrong. This might be the only shot I have at trying to open their eyes. If I had some documents to show them that the WTS is not who they make out to be, my family may start to ask questions themselves. And even if they don't, they should at least understand me better.
