No, I don't ever plan on telling my parents the truth about the lie. They seem to think they're happy with their belief. They wouldn't believe me anyway.
Should you ever tell tour aging parents the truth about the truth
by Star tiger 31 Replies latest forum announcements
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Broken Promises
If you're going to deliberately demolish their faith in the WTS/Bible, what are you going to replace it with?
It's one thing to say, "I don't believe in it anymore". But to say, "this is why YOU shouldn't believe it anymore", then you have the responsibility to help them as their world falls apart. Do you have the ability to help them with their questions, doubts and fears 24/7?
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Violia
Bp is correct. I never tried to help my mother out, she herself saw what I did. She chose to not leave b/c she had been a jws all her life and there was nothing to replace it with. Some folks need more structure than others and the jws do provide a community. I would not have dreamed of hurting my mothers faith like that. It was enough she still supported me.
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Zordino
I get into it with my mom sometimes. I throw in a tid bit or two about certain obvious flaws with the borg but I don't push the issue too much with her. I mostly argue with her about the fact that she stauchly believes that 99.0% of humanity will be slaughtered by Jehooba. Its hopeless. She's in very 70's and has been a JW for almost 50 years. So whats the point in telling your elderly parents the real truth about the troof? Let them go in peace believing that there IS a Santa Claus.
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Razziel
I recently revealed to mine that I'm atheist now, and I think their reaction was worse than if I had told them JW's were just a carrot on a stick. When we talked doctrine before, they rallied around canned answers or got defensive if I really struck a nerve. We had given up talking the bible, but recently my mom mentioned something about JWs and I casually mentioned I'm athiest now.
This time, they just got sad. And it wasn't sad for me, their son the unbeliever, either. It was the "we're old, and tired of life" sad. And it is sad. I won't go into detail because it's about the only thing that can bring tears to my eyes, but to give up all your hopes and dreams in life because a religion told you it was the way to salvation, to have no retirement planned and basically have to work manual labor until the day you die old and decrepit, and then to begin to realize in the last few years that something is wrong with the whole belief system is sad beyond words.
When the parties involved are relatively young, helping friends and family out is a service. But eventually, it's not a service anymore, it's just selfish. People pursue noble goals for selfish reasons all the time. I wonder if sometimes we do the same thing. I think it's a mixture of wanting to help them, but wanting to help ourselves too.
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Zordino
Well said Razziel,
I feel the same way with my folks.
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ProdigalSon
My mother is 87 and I still pound her with it at every opportunity. Although, she's been in it long enough to have seen plenty of callousness and hypocrisy from her so-called "friends" for herself.
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Fernando
As a believer I have peace that God has got it all under control and that it really is only the wicked/evil (ruling religious clergy class) who are at risk of never being saved from death, enmity, bondage and decay.
Jesus has always had a heart for the spiritually lost, deceived, and deprived - and denounced largely only the (religious) deceivers.
Psychiatrist Morgan Scott Peck also saw a difference between the lost and the evil/wicked. He defined evil/wicked as "militant ignorance" and characterised it as "malignant self-righteousness".
Although ultimately only God knows, it doesn't seem to hard to distinguish between a Pharisee who is just plain "ignorant" and one who is "militantly ignorant" based on how they deal with difficult issues and difficult questions. The same with "self-righteousness" versus "malignant self-righteousness". Their response to the gospel's message about IMPUTED righteousness can be very telling!
Both my father and brother died in a spiritually lost state in the Watchtower in appalling circumstances. They both had serious personality and mental health issues - intergenerational Watchtower sponsored dysfunction, which caused me endless and serious trouble. Yet I have a peace in my heart knowing that as bad as they were, they were not evil/wicked at heart as so many of the Watchtower ruling religious clergy class.
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3rdgen
Totally agree with the others . What is the point when a parent has only a few years or less. My 93 year old mother was not expected to live out the month at this time last year. Instead, she continually got better and now attends all the meetings. Thankfully, I don't have to take her-she lives in another town. She actually looks foreward to those meetings. They make her think she is insuring her eternal salvation as well as giving her the social interaction she craves. If I told her TTATT she not only wouldn't believe me but she would die broken-hearted that I was going to be eternally destroyed. How does that help anyone???
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tenyearsafter
I am torn on the issue...it depends which side of the fence you are on. If you are a Christian you would want to see your parents have a hope for salvation and that is only available to them through accepting Christ. The fact that they are JW's would work against them (since they aren't considered Christian by the mainstream), so you would feel it your Christian duty to enlighten them. If you are an Atheist, Deist, Agnostic or other "non-believer", you would probably take a less critical stand and let them live out their final years in their perceived happiness...it is all perspective.