by FrankWTower 10 Replies latest social family
Hi,
I am an active JW, still single and I live with my JW family. I have tried to instill critical thinking skills to my sister and she has gladly accepted them.
I really want to tell her how I feel about the WT and their teachings but I'm not sure if I should. Any suggestions/advice?
From my limited experience, ask her questions rather than "come out" with statements that may be very hard to retract later. Such as, "how would you explain to latest generation teaching to an interested one, in your own words?"
IOW, plant seeds. If you're lucky, in time she'll start expressing doubts.
You have a PM FrankWtower!
The first thing that comes to my mind is that you should make sure you are in a position to support yourself outside of your family before proceeding. Are you able to NOT live with your JW family? If not, be very careful.
My folks had me packed up and out in less than an hour and the only place I had to go was a 1973 Ford Pinto station wagon with half a tank of gas.
The first thing that comes to my mind is that you should make sure you are in a position to support yourself outside of your family before proceeding.
That is what I was thinking. If you are living with your family, then decide what their reaction would be if they discovered you were "apostate" because you may need a new place to live when they do.
I agree with Retrovirus.
Planting seeds through questions is the best way to get a JW to think.
Make sure the questions don't come across as declarative statements with question marks thrown in, and avoid sarcasm.
Be willing to back off if she gets upset; keep the communication lines open with her.
Listen more than you talk.
I agree with Retrovirus.
Planting seeds through questions is the best way to get a JW to think.
Make sure the questions don't come across as declarative statements with question marks thrown in, and avoid sarcasm.
Be willing to back off if she gets upset; keep the communication lines open with her.
Listen more than you talk.
I really want to tell her how I feel about the WT and their teachings but I'm not sure if I should. Any suggestions/advice?
Yes, I have some advice. DO NOT TELL HER.
Put yourself in her shoes.
How do you think she'd feel if you were to tell her that you now worship the Devil, AND you hate your parents?
You goal is to empower her to think for herself.
So, what you do is ask questions. She should never know that you have the answers to the questions. The point is not the answers. The point is the heavy mental lifting necessary to fully entertain the questions and their potential answers.
Once a person can think for himself, it's a no-brainer that the WT is a destructive organization.
Thanks everyone. The fact that I have my doubts about telling her means that it's not the right time. But I'll do as you've suggested and try to plant seeds using questions.
Ima be honest here man. I have to agree with the rest on this one.
Dont do it yet! Think of coming out to a JW like suicide... Its making a permanent decision to a temporary problem!
Just be patient Brosef! I'm with you, we all are... keep on instilling those skills for her noodle and just let time do its thing. Be strong and hold on.
A good way to monitor progress is to get her and another Believeing JW in a Doctrine/GB rule based argument. It doesnt have to be about something huge like blood or Overlapping Generations but something that she doesnt agree with 100% with. Then you can see if she is really using those skills or if she is just doing what I do at meetings (pretend to pay attention)...
That will give you a better outlook on things. You may be surprized at what you find out. I know I have.
Let us know if you try it.
Its just my 2 cents.
-OneDayillBeFree
