My wife wants the stepson to 'study'....any ideas?? (page 2)

OUTLAW

Bury her in the back yard............. Laughing Mutley ...OUTLAW

Mary

Not quite so simple, when mom gets irritated or on the JW bandwagon, she acts quite irrational.....I told him last night to play the game for a while

Sorry hon, this is one area I wouldn't pursue. He is 15 but he can still get brainwashed like everybody else. I would encourage him to just tell his mom "I'm not interested in religion" end of story. He's not 5 years old and she can't force him to study if he doesn't want to. The only other thing you could do is find out what they'd be studying and give him some real good questions to ask her----stuff that might make her stop and think.

insearchoftruth

Mary, thanks for the SOUND ADVICE.....I took a bit of time last evening and showed him the things he would not be allowed to do if he became a JW, I told him about needing a chaperone for a date, no karate, minimized after school activity, showed him the September public edition of the WT where education is compared to cigarettes, alcohol and drugs....his mom did say that he will study with her unless he can provide a compelling reason not to, so I am going to take him to the Baptist youth activities (I am not a Baptist myself, but they have a HUGE youth activity) and they do Bible studies where they actually use the Bible, not a WTS book and then he will be able to tell her that he is getting his information there. I also agree that he should just tell her that he is not into religion now, he did tell her that he does not believe in God, and she said that she will show him there is a God in her later studies with him. When he and I talked after she went to the meeting, I told him that I also believe in a supreme being, but I feel that a belief structure is a personal choice, so is deciding to not believe in a God. He is a bit like me in that he thinks pretty scientifically and really does a pretty good job of reasoning things out..... With respect to the study, it is the Young People Ask book, and I am pretty sure that the sister will provide her with volume II as well. He did notice all the talk about masturbation in the book when he was reading it with her he was rolling his eyes at some of what was said as well. I let him know that listening to what was being read was probably more painful for me than it was for him. One of the reasons I want to go with the flow for a while is if my wife complains to the sister that he and I are not taking it seriously, I am sure that the sister will find some young brother to be willing to come over for brainwashing sessions, which I am already to put a stop to........I would like to find a good non WTS book on ethical behaviour and suggest using that as well, or a book that provides sections of scripture to read, then discuss the scripture, not the piece/parts that are referred to out of context by the WTS in their publications. OK, back to the top.....knowing nothing about the strategy of the JW, what is the likely response I will be getting from my wife on the attempt to bring him to the Baptist church for the youth ministry program after she has her 'bible - gag' study with the sister on Friday (while I happen to still be at work......I must be tagged as bad news).

I want to be able to prepare for this, one of her friends is going to talk with her and pretty much give her the same guidance, find a group of good kids to have fun with.....something that is not available at a KH.....

possible-san

Hi! insearchoftruth,

and now with the son doing some pretty bad things, she is thinking that the only way he can be set straight is to 'follow Jehovah'.....

sure.Possibly this may be a chance to consider something earnestly.

Since there is such information, I tell you.
Do you know that the Ten Commandments is not written by an imperative form in the Hebrew text?
In Hebrew, it is written by the negative form of future tense.
Therefore, literal translation is as follows.

"You will not steal." EXODUS 20:15

God has not given the command and says, "You are not a person who steals."

Such an expression of God differs from teaching of Jehovah's Witnesses.

possible
http://bb2.atbb.jp/possible/

passwordprotected

I'm not sure if this is out of left-field here, but aren't you the head of your household? Can't you put your foot down and state strongly that you have no desire for your son to study the Bible with an organisation?

Can't you just say "no!"?

Eyes Open

Yeah, I agree with Mary.

If he thinks scientifically, perhaps you could take him through the way the WTS uses old information in the How Did Life Get Here book and misquotes sources when disseminating doctrine. Explain to him how indoctrination works, and how fear is used. Give him as much defence as possible.

insearchoftruth

He is only my son by marriage and is a mommas boy, so if I just attempt to put my foot down, he will most likely gravitate towards her. He is thinking about how messed up the borg is...and he really does not have any respect for the borg.

inrainbows

Oh wow... he is so lucky.

Not one but TWO parents trying to get him interested in religion.

What does HE want to do?

You say;

we have a son who has finally come clean on some of the things he has done in the past, and these things were pretty bad

What are we talking about here? Girls and booze? Telling lies? Stealing? Tax evasion? Murder? Hiding weapons of mass destruction in his room? There's a difference between being a teenager and streaching the envelope a bit at times and being a juvenile delinquent. What is 'pretty bad'. If it is (to someone from a non-religous view) pretty inconsequntial teenager highspirits then being viewed as someone who does 'pretty bad' things will push him away from you.

Oh, and if you mention to him JW's oppose masturbation then he'll NEVER be intrested in that bag o'shite. Problem solved.

possible-san

What is the meaning of "borg"?

insearchoftruth

His mother (by birth) is trying to get him to study JW material, I am telling him that faith is a purely independent matter and am striving to expose him to many different things and to show him why to not accept anything at face value.

He accepts the fact that what he did was pretty bad (a felony), still waiting on a neigbor to decide if they want to press charges or not....

We are given freewill as human beings, I just want to make sure that his freewill is not railroaded over to the WTS track.

My wife wants the stepson to 'study'....any ideas??

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