(I do not take credit for this, I stole a lot of it from somebody online.) The red is some of what I wrote out, then the black is what happened after...
I would like us both to feel a sense of freedom to open up and discuss any and all subjects. I would like us to create an environment of freedom to allow us a safe place to talk about anything and never be criticized. We should both have the freedom to think, speak, and have our views and opinions valued.
Nothing we discuss together as a couple should be discussed with anybody else unless we both agree to it. This safety net can make it possible for us to be able to open up to each other more and more.
If one of us has a concern about something, let’s not try to refute it if we are not sure or convinced by scripture of how to do this. Rather, let us acknowledge the point, document it, and move on until we come up with an answer. If one of us understands the answer and the other does not, let’s keep it documented and move on until Jehovah provides a convincing answer for us in our hearts. Let’s listen to what each other is thinking. This process of going through scriptures takes time, prayer, love, understanding, and mutual respect. We won’t get all answers immediately, and that’s ok. We will pray for Jehovah through his son Jesus to open our hearts and minds to him, and to request us to have the understanding that he wants us to have. We cannot think for each other. If we try to, we will lose each other on any sort of spiritual level.
Then we did the bible reading together. I came up with 2 questions. We figured out the answer through an online concordance and cross referencing scriptures… It was great!!! The funniest thing was that I believe he came up with answers totally different from what the society even teaches… (I’m not going to tell him that.) And the most shocking part of it was this:
According to the concordance, and the society’s own definition of apostasy, he realized that technically Peter committed apostasy when he denied Jesus. (When he said he wouldn’t disown Jesus, that Greek word means apostasy or falling away from and this goes along with the society’s definition) AND HE CAME TO THIS CONCLUSION!!!! (I led him there, but he came to this conclusion!)
I think that hit him really, really hard and I think he’s a little confused about why the society teaches that you’re practically from Satan if you do this and Peter is of the anointed and wrote in the bible!!!
What made it better was there was no arguing about it. I made it so he came to this conclusion and not me. I documented all of our findings, didn’t say much about it, and moved on the next thing. I really think this is the best way to work with him. Eventually, he will see that he is finding things that are different from what the society says and little by little I think this will help to undo all the brainwashing they did on him…
We were both really happy that we could both communicate about scriptures without arguing!!! It was a very warm, loving experience. Then afterwards, he prayed that both Jehovah and Jesus come into our hearts and minds so that we could better understand what they are trying to tell to us through the scriptures! How awesome is that???