Do you have school aged children still going to meetings?

by KateWild 18 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • skeeter1
    skeeter1

    I don't have kids that attend the meetings, but I do have kids and JW relatives who have tried to get them to the meetings and/or do informal witnessing.

    I "innoculate" my kids by showing them independent thinking on JW and non-JW topics. And, my mantra is that life isn't black and white and there is always multiple, multiple sides of every story!

    I've tried to learn the more mainstream viewpoints on the Bible. For example, the Memorial. My relative made a big deal about the Memorial, and said that they were the only religion that followed Jesus command to remember him. . . to my kid! I quickly reminded my kid that when we went to a Catholic church with a friend, there was taking of the bread and wine, and that Catholics (and many other religions) do this on a more frequent basis. And, I quickly reminded the relative that Jesus didn't give a time table on when to do the remembering and to go check the scripture. Of course, the JW is a "JW for feeling" and barely knows the JW spin and could not even come close to defeating me in my argument.

    After that, I had a conversation with my kid in that no one is allowed to talk about the Bible/God/religion with them without me present. And, I told my JW relatives of this fact. No problem since. But, I stll keep moving on.

    I also try to explain the perils of idealism (and closedmindedness which quickly follow). Idealism is throughout our culture and the pressure the group a puts on individuals to conform is unrealistic. Plus, idealistic people are often trapped in cults.

    As the child approaches middle school, the teaching of past cultures comes into play. There, you can teachthe child that the past culture's gods, were just as much (if not more) revered by those ancient cultures as ours. Now, all those gods look silly, but today's people will defend their god to the hilt. In other words, I am trying to show my kids the fallacy of "My God is better than your god" thinking. And, there is higher capacity for scientific views . . .

  • cantleave
    cantleave

    Your son can see through the BS, I don't think there is anything to worry about with him.

  • Oh Gawd
    Oh Gawd

    My jw in-laws actually won't take my daughter to a meeting because they're afraid of wht she may say..lol!

    My daughter, soon to be 16, told her grandparents she wanted to go to a meeting if they were talking about evolution. You could almost see their eyes light up in excitement...well until she added, "but if they start talking about weird stuff like intelligent design or 6,000 year old Earths, I'm standing up and calling bullshit." Omg! I don't know if it's what she implied or the fact she swore, but I thought they were both going to die. Totally speechless.

    Yeah, the apple didn't fall far from the tree on this one:)...My 12 year old son, on the other hand, could end up being a Branch Dividian he's so damn gulliable.

  • KateWild
    KateWild

    Skeeter, Oh Gawd, thanks for your experiences. It's nice to hear others stories, hopefull my son will be fine.

    cantleave, I am glad you think he can see through the nonsense. He is just so precious and some of the recruiting strategies are so clever, happily he has seen so much hypocrisy, my hope is that it lasts a lifetime for him.

    Kate xx

  • Frazzled UBM
    Frazzled UBM

    Kate

    Is there anything you can do to restrict your ex's ability to take your son to meetings before he turns 18? Have you thought of an amendment to the custody order to this effect. You could bring the court's attention to the negative aspects of the JW lifestyle and the psychological damage of choosing to leave after signing up. You could also highlight how much emphasis the WBTS is putting on child baptism.

    You are in the UK right? I would be happy to help you to look at how feasible it is to make such an application. I don't let my wife take my sont o meetings any more but worry about how I owuld deal with this is we were to separate.

    My view is that zero tolerance is the only way to deal with child exposure to WBTS indoctrination.

    Fraz

  • KateWild
    KateWild

    Hey Fraz

    Thanks, I am feeling like I am not doing enough at the moment. I am in the uk yes, I have made so many unsuccessful applications to the court I am pulling my hair out, solicitors are a nightmare. Nice of you to offer help. It would be great if you could draft me something and send it in a pm.

    I hope your wife has calmed down now about taking your son away.

    Thanks Kate xx

  • Frazzled UBM
    Frazzled UBM

    Kate - I am heading off home now so I will do that tomorrow. I don't know how to initiate a PM - if you send me one I will reply to it. Cheers Fraz

  • KateWild
    KateWild

    Ok I will send you a pm. You will have a red number at the top of your screen next to the little envelope. You may have a few you didn't know about. So then you can reply. Kate xx

  • Gypsy Sam
    Gypsy Sam

    I would also work on pointing out when your son uses cult terminology i.e. "In the truth/in the world". My daughter is 16 now and definitely has no interest in organized religion. To get to that point, she had told me why would a group of men in NYC know best as far as her attending college. Her atheist dad has alienated himself from her by being so utterly angry against religion and having an abusive temper. I think for a long time jw world was a happier place for her, but it caused a lot of friction between us as she became a teen. So, in my effort to "keep her in the truth" I started researching the origins. Well, here I am.

    Last year in high school she took a semester of Intro to Psych. The day she asked me if I knew what cognitive dissonance was, I knew I didn't need to pretend JW's were still the best place to be, even with all they had wrong.

    Now, we discuss logical fallacies. There is a great color chart you can print out online. I stuck our on the fridge and consult it often.

    The whole point about the billions of people in the world and how your religion tends to be reflective of where you were born is also a point a preteen could likely understand.

    Wish you the best!

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