Good job, good luck with your mom.
Philip
Letter to My Mother--FINAL!--After 2yrs3mos--Incomprehensibly Long...
by Confession 46 Replies latest jw experiences
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CunningMan
It's a very well written letter. Let us know how she responds to it.
However, I wouldn't have chosen to quote Jerry Bergman. I say this partially because most readers are not in the position to know whether Bergman's claims are correct and although I'm by no stretch of the imagination in favor of the Witnesses, I have a lot of reservations about Bergman. Just because someone is an ex-Witness, that doesn't mean his claims are accurate.
Other than that criticism, it's a good article.
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done4good
Outstanding letter, Jon! I spent the last hour and a half reading all of it, (I rarely do that with very long posts, btw...).
If you don't mind, I'd like to keep a copy of this for ideas for my own family.
Jason
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Confession
Thanks for your well intentioned suggestion, Cunning. I stand by--not necessarily anything Bergman says--but those particular passages from his book as they cite studies made by four different researchers. From personal experience, I also agree with his comments on the way many JWs think about the organization as it relates to their mental health. The fact that he writes 'there is a need for more research' is an honest comment, which admits some of what he reports is "empirical."
I've often heard that, in the classic rules of debate, any gratuitous assertion may be rightfully met by another assertion that is just as gratuitous. If Jehovah's Witnesses believe that they are "the happiest people in the world," upon what do they base that? Bergman's research, while possibly not "the final word from the greatest minds of science," is (I'll suggest) considerably more credible than whatever basis they might use for concluding such a notion.
Soon I'll post how my meeting with Mom and Dad went last weekend.
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RollerDave
Oh my God that was amazing!
I admired the logical flow, the order and manner in which you developed your theme...
You hit it all, and did it without rambling, repeating, or over doing it.
That's no small feat!
I'll be saving a copy of this against further need myself.
I am in awe of this masterpiece, if she truly DOES read it all, it WILL plant seeds od reason within her.
God bless you for creating this momentous treatise on why one would leave, and why they should NOT be shunned for doing so.
RD -
passwordprotected
Fantastic, well done.
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OnTheWayOut
Great letter. It is a bit long, but you already have it. It flows nicely.
My favorite part:
In examining one of the above Watchtower quotes, we find them actually discouraging readers from the policy that they themselves clearly taught in the Truth book. They even use the same words in perfect contradiction of themselves. Consider…
“We need to examine…what is taught by any religious organization with which we may be associated… If we are lovers of the truth, there is nothing to fear from such an examination.”
“You may even reason: …' if we have the truth, we have nothing to fear...' In thinking this way, some have fed their minds upon apostate reasoning and have fallen prey to serious questioning and doubt.”
So which is it? Should there be “nothing to fear” in examining all of the information about our religion, or shouldn’t there? And what exactly is wrong with “serious questioning” anyway? Isn’t that what we should always be willing to do? Don’t Jehovah’s Witnesses ask those with whom they come into contact to engage in “serious questioning?” And what’s wrong with doubt? Shouldn’t we doubt things that, after considering all the available information, we conclude are without sufficient foundation?
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sass_my_frass
Beautiful work.
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serendipity
Fantastic!
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CunningMan
Confession,
That's a fair enough response. I was concerned that your audience may have found the inclusion of that part overwhelming. Anyway, I'll look into Berman's claims some more. There's a lot of what I do like about your letter and I might use some of the same points in a letter of my own.