Dear Diary,
I've just returned from dinner and a music lesson at the home of my newly "adopted" family. We join hands and Dad or son or I offer the prayer at this weekly affair. The entire family is kind, smart, talented and humble. Dad's the boss, but he's fair and loving. Reasonable, too. Sees BS a mile off. The kids love and respect their parents and seem to readily obey what papa says. Mom is wonderful and supportive of all. The teenage boy commented on something - forget what - but it was supportive of this harmonious and working family set-up. Dad believes in the basics of Christianity but told me that he will not push religion on the kids. It spurred me to ask the family, "Is it enough for the children to want to please their parents by obedience, or do they need to be told that they must be good to please God?" Dear Diary, I was trying to figure out if all the years we JWs told the little ones, "DON'T MAKE JEHOVAH SAD!" or "He sees everything you do!" and "If you're naughty, He will punish you.", were we warping their moral and spiritual sensibilities? Such thoughts and words as the above mind-controlling scare tactics are so foreign to the thinking of my new family. Why do JWs insist that no body else - like moms and dads - can get it right? Kids don't need to be beaten over the head with rolled-up WTs! Had to tell you this, Dear Diary... Back soon.
CoCo