Thank you all so much for your thoughts and kind words. I have not finalized my decision, but am leaning heavily toward going and trying to be "the bigger person" in the situation.
Although, I may show her the link on their official web-site which says they don't shun former members... perhaps she (or my father, the more likely cause behind this) isn't aware of this "new light"
;-)
I should also add that my younger brother, who is different from me only in that I was actually baptized and he was not, *IS* invited to the reception. Again, the logic seems to be "if you were never in our religion, you are OK, but if you were once a member, you can never go back to your previous "we won't shun you" status".
And a special message for YoYo: (at the risk of hi-jacking my own thread)
You truly are a remarkable person. You don't know me, and you call me "apostate". For the record I have never "tried to lead people away from GOD" which is, I beleive, what the bible means when it says "apostate".
Of course, you will think that because I disassociated myself, then I *MUST* be an apostate, a vile liar and accusser of God's poeple.
However, I do not lie. In fact, I work very hard to verify all facts. I look to the source, I examine the record, I consider all sides of an arguement. But I do not lie, and if I can ever be shown to be incorrect, in anything, I am not above correcting myself.
Perhaps you have assumed that I am "apostate" because of the website I represent in my signature, http://Quotes.JehovahsWitnesses.com/
Let me explain, in case you have not had a chance to visit.
It contains *ONLY* quotes from the publications of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. It *DOES NOT* contain any editorial. It *DOES NOT* draw any conclusions for the reader. It only contains quotes from them, in their own words, with full reference citations so the accuracy of the quote can be verified.
IF YOU BELEIVE THIS IS APOSTATE, THEN YOU MUST BELEIVE THAT THE SOCIETY IS APOSTATE, SINCE THEY WROTE *ALL* THE INFORMATION FOUND AT http://Quotes.JehovahsWitnesses.com/
If you simply shrug it off and say, "Big deal, that was old light" then that is fine. YOU HAVE MADE YOUR OWN DECISION AND REACHED YOUR OWN CONCLUSION.
OTOH, if you feel that some of the things that have been published by the Society are, how can I put this.... not indicitive of it being "God's channel of communication"... then that is fine too. Again, you have made your own decision.
Oh, and BTW, the hard part of my life referred to in my letter stemmed directly from the fact that I discovered my (now ex-) wife had written love letters to a young, handsome, elder in a congregation we had moved away from. But that was OK, she repented (the get-out-of-jail-free-card), and she was putting in more hours in field service than me, so the elder's investigated me to see why she left me.
So get off your pious high horse and stop the "You left, it was your fault, you knew the consequences, you shouldn't have turned against Jehovah, you wanted the world more than you wanted Jah" attitude.
Your ignorance is showing.
I want to be angry with you, YoYo, but I can't. You see, I was once exactly where you are, thinking exactly what you think, certain about my opinion and point of view. So I know where you are coming from.
And, like a child that finds out that there is really no Santa Claus, I now know that know matter how much the younger kids believe in Santa, he is not for real. And once you know, you can never go back to beleiving in Santa.
(I apologize for using what you would consider a "pagan" symbol in my analogy, but I think you will understand my point nonetheless.)
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For interesting Watchtower Society literature quotes, complete with references but without any editorial, check out:
http://Quotes.JehovahsWitnesses.com
