Welcome, LKM!
I feel its a compromise I'm making for our relationship. I can go to a meeting here and there so he has the chance of speaking to his family again.... Sigh. Any suggestions of how to pull this off? I don't want to study. I just want to go to meetings to make things easier for him and his family. I'm a peace maker.
Pursuing family peace is a noble goal, but a difficult one. Don't think this is the only compromise you will have to make, nor the most difficult. Others will follow. For now, it's "go to the meetings". Then associations with Witnesses dominate your social life, to the detriment of non-Witness friends and family members. Then you should start a "Bible study", the better to fit in with the congregation. And if you have children (now or later), of course you need to give them a "good spiritual and moral example".
Your partner will be under pressure too, if he's started going back to meetings. The Watchtower teaches there is only one truth: their "Truth" as expounded in their publiocations, and there are only two kinds of people: good Witnesses (including prospects for conversion) and evil "Worldlies" (everyone else). Being a Witness in good standing is a full-time proposition, not just a few hours on Sundays.
It is a very difficult to straddle the Watchtower fence, keeping the family peace without outright capitulation. Some have managed to do it; others (self included) have tried and failed. If you both are committed to facing this challenge, I wish you the strength and resolve to be true to yourselves. If you do go this route, he will need your support just as much as you will need his. But if you are not of one mind and agree up front to the boundaries on involvement, then "divide" has already happened and "conquer" will be next on the agenda.
WRONG place to be asking questions about the Witnesses dear.
I disagree. For somebody who is not a Witness, and is involved with a lapsed Witness who is showing signs of returning to that practice, this forum (and freeminds.org) is is the RIGHT place to be reading and asking questions! You will learn from former Witnesses, nominal Witnesses who are in the organization only to appease family (exactly the situation LKM is facing), other non-believers who have Witnesses as family members, and even from an active Witness or two (though they are not supposed to be active here, according to Watchtower teachings). There are many different opinions, and you won't agree with all of them. There is fluff and nonsense to separate from facts, as there is in any open and honest discussion. But paying attention to all sides is how you come to understand different perspectives on the Watchtower organization, the Witnesses who follow those teachings, and spiritual philosphies in general. You have heard the Watchtower's version in the Kingdom Hall; now learn about other points of view here.
