What to ask a proselytizing spouse

Nickolas

If you are a non-JW married to a JW, how do you deal with those times during the week when he or she slips out for several hours with bookbag in hand, going door to door? Your spouse is out there actively recruiting for the Watchtower - do you have a problem with that? Do you ask your spouse if he/she is up front with the prospective convert? As in,

- if they get baptised it's for keeps and if they decide later that they want to leave they will be shunned like a leper by their families and friends?

- every aspect of their lives will be controlled by seven men in Brooklyn whose word cannot under any circumstance be questioned else they will be shunned like a leper by their families and friends?

- the times the Watchtower has incorrectly prophesized the end of the world?

- the two witness rule?

What do you ask your spouse? Do you even discuss it?

Scully

Ask her how they handle questions like

Is it true that you believe that only JWs will be saved?

Is it true that if I become a JW, that I will have to refuse blood transfusions if my life is on the line?

Is it true that if I become a JW, I will be expected to limit association with my non-JW friends and relatives?

Is it true that if I become a JW, I will have to defer to Watchtower opinion rather than listen to my husband?

Is it true that if I become a JW, my children will be ridiculed in school because they cannot participate in holiday activities?

The second she tells a householder "No" to any one of those questions, she is lying. Ask her how her conscience allows her to lie to people like that - it makes her no better than a shabby used car salesman.

Nickolas

Good points, Scully. However, I think most people on whom the Witnesses call will not have the background of relatedness required to ask a lot of questions like that. It comes down to how up front the Witness sitting at the kitchen table is with the person or persons to whom he or she is selling the Watchtower. They're not, therefore they are not being honest. No more honest than what is explained to a 12 year old when he is convinced to be dunked.

Scully

Several years ago, my mom and another Sister™ in her congregation were asked to act as character witnesses in a child custody dispute involving a young lady who was raised a JW, never baptized, and then married a Worldly™ guy and had a couple of kids with him. She started Studying™ again with my mom and this other Sister™. For whatever reason, the WTS got involved in the custody hearings, and there were a couple of bigshots from the Legal Department™ who came ahead of time and did practice sessions with my mom, the other Sister™ and two Special Pioneer™ ladies who had known the young lady's for a very long time.

Anyway, to make a long story short, the WTS lawyers ran through several questions that a judge might put to them regarding JW beliefs. Some of the questions included things like "Is it true that Jehovah's Witnesses believe that governments are under the control of Satan the Devil?" The answer they instructed the character witnesses to provide was "NO". Another question was "Is it true that a Jehovah's Witness is required to refuse blood transfusions for their children in a medical emergency?" They were told to answer "NO".

My mom talked to me about this a few times because it really bothered her that the Society expected her to lie on their behalf - and there would be no protection or compensation for her if she was found out and charged. They were willing to throw these women under the bus in order to win a custody case. I told her that since she wasn't under subpoena, she was within her rights to decline to participate, because she wasn't prepared to commit perjury.

OUTLAW

Good Morning Nickolas..

My experience is..If you want the Truth from a JW..

You have to trap them into speaking truthfully..

They lie by omission..They lie through intellectual dishonesty..

They outright lie (Theocratic Warfare Stratagy)..

Your dealing with Trained Liars..They spend their lives at it..

5 meetings a week..Field service..Assemblys..

At any given time they are Accepting Lies or Telling Them.

It`s a friggin Losing Battle to try and Fix Them..

.................... ...OUTLAW

Vanderhoven7

<<Your dealing with Trained Liars..>>

Hadn't thought about it that way before. Excellently put.

sabastious

They aren't aware that they are lying, however, and that's a powerful caveat, imo. Faith is the concept that gives license to their lie's because faith is what allows them to believe that their ends, in which they have faith in, justify really any means.

-Sab

ABibleStudent

Nickolas - If you are a non-JW married to a JW, how do you deal with those times during the week when he or she slips out for several hours with bookbag in hand, going door to door? Your spouse is out there actively recruiting for the Watchtower - do you have a problem with that? Do you ask your spouse if he/she is up front with the prospective convert? As in

How about play golf (or do something that you love doing), posting on JWN, and planning diversions to keep your spouse happy and busy so that they do not think like a JW? There is not much that a "Worldly" person can say to a JW spouse in cult mode to make them understand that their thoughts and actions are controlled by a publishing and distribution corporation that dupes people into thinking that they are a religion. On the other hand a non-JW can go out to enjoy life and recharge emotionally when their spouse goes out on FS. Once a person recharges emotionally they may think more clearly about planning trips to keep their spouse busy enjoying life, meeting more "Worldly" friends to counter-act the effects of WTBTS indoctrination, and to post on JWN to learn more ideas.

Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,

ABibleStudent

bigmac

if my wife went out proselytising---would i be living off immoral earnings?

Nickolas

The difficulty I have with your suggestion, as good as it may be ABibleStudent, is that it tacitly approves something I have difficulty with. In this case I have difficulty with the aspect of non-disclosure, because it is as OUTLAW points out a form of intellectual dishonesty, if not deliberate deception. If one proceeds with the assumption that the Watchtower destroys lives and one's spouse is actively involved in the process of bringing people in and he says nothing about it, how does he live with himself? Indeed, how does a Witness live with herself if the people she brings in are later DF'ed or who later DA themselves and are subsequently shunned? Or does it not matter because they're just going to die at Armageddon anyway?

What to ask a proselytizing spouse

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