The top part is what I wrote to my step-dad in response to his e-mail below. I don't have any hopes of this making a difference in my family, but I do want to hear some opinions on things he said and the way he contradicts himself . The brainwashing goes deep.
Thank you for the e-mail. If you really love me, try to understand where I am coming from and take a look at this...it is NOT anything written to be against JW's....It is an encyclopedia.Then please answer the questions of why it is against God to take blood,(do you know the Society allows fractions of blood....all the ingredients in blood, but only fractions of it...where in the Bible does it say that?) why it is loving to disfellowship, and why it is ok for God's one and only true religion to change the time of the end,and what does the society teach will happen to the majority of human kind when Armegedon comes. Then, get back to me....Please, just answer my 4 questions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Controversies_regarding_Jehovah%27s_Witnesses
I have also copied family in on this and would like to note that many of the people I have copied in here realize I have really researched the Bible and are happy I am free from a religion that has torn my family apart.
Lyndi, I didn’t know if our call got dropped or you hung up on me.I tried calling back.I would like to preference this correspondence with the fact that I, your mother, Kimberly, Ryan and Tamra love you very much; and that we all respect you and your rights and I encourage you to explore and examine various religious theories and groups to find the truth for you.Seemingly it appears by several of the individuals copied on this correspondence that when the conversation turns to religion, all you want to convey is fault, fallacies or imperfection that you have discovered with the Witnesses. A quick little story here; when your mother starting studying in Rock Creek, it became somewhat obvious to me that most of her friends and relatives where glad to see her looking into religion.However, when they discovered she was studying with a JW and seeking the truth on her own, they became adamantly, yes adamantly opposed.Even though they themselves had very little, if any religious knowledge, they were making comments like, “oh they don’t believe in God” , “they don’t believe in Jesus” or “they won’t seek medical help even if one of their kids were dying”;so here I would run to Joy and tell her these ignorant comments that were made…so after the last Christmas that Ryan and I had sitting around the Christmas tree in Rock Creek by ourselves wishing each other merry Christmas, (I didn’t want to give up on Christmas, I always did and still do enjoy Christmas music and the excitement in the air this time of year) I started not only listening to your mother but checking some of the facts myself.The funny thing is that those friends and relatives would not have any problem at all if Joy were looking into one of the mainstream religions, Lutheran, Baptist, Catholicism…(mainstream, huh, crowded road leading off into destruction) however it was like, please anything BUT THE JW’s.The fact that so many misinformed people were so adamantly opposed to the JWs that I had no choice than to start checking it out for myself. I still don’t agree with everything the Witnesses do, however I believe in the Witnesses.Each day, everyone of us is that much further removed from perfection, so the Witnesses still have human imperfection that will at times come into play. Now I would like to address your mother’s strong religious convictions.Your mother took a vow, an oath, one that I have completely procrastinated on for selfish reasons so that I would not have to take a certain stance that I may not always agree with.When Tamra was lying in ICU in Flagstaff several hours after her first accident the obvious question of a blood transfusion came up.I knew in my heart that she should not take any blood…however would I hold to that conviction to save her life?I was fortunate that Tamra regained consciousness and made that decision on her own.I knew without a doubt that Joy would hold true to her conviction and fight for Tamra’s right not to receive blood.Once Tamra made that decision I too would fight for her rights and did.I would have rather given my life for Tamra that day rather than make that decision for her. In closing I would like you to know that as a parent disappoint comes with the territory.I am sure that your mother is disappointed in me for not being baptized and taking a more positive role in the spiritual leadership in raising our children. We respect your right to explore and examine the various avenues you may want to take in leading your family spiritually; however, this does not mean that we put aside our convictions. We would hope and pray that all of our children come back into Jehovah’s arms eventually.When judgment day comes for me…and Jehovah tells me I pinned my tail to the right and true believers I will hope all my loved ones will have also made the right spiritual decisions.If he tells me I should have been a Baptist, I will tell him I would have taken a 1,000 to 1 odds against that. Again, we may not believe in everything you believe in, but we believe in you.You want to find the right religion for you, have at it…however you need to lay off with your negative rant against the JWs. Love ya. Dad