Congratulations Terry. You are truly saving that JW's life from the WTBTS.
Peace be with you and everyone, who you love,
Robert
I'm sitting here listening to a JW try to recruit somebody
by Terry 127 Replies latest jw friends
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Terry
I can take no credit if this young man makes a decision which frees him.
I'm just like a street sign sitting in the middle of nowhere pointing to the nearest city.
He will have to do all the heavy-lifting.
Most of what I say cannot be retained. Only the after-taste is there.
He has absolutely no contexts to hang these statements of mine upon.
I repeatedly told him to NOT TRUST A WORD I SAY.
It will all be up to him.
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Terry
UPDATE!
The DF'd young JW has been back twice in the last two weeks.
I can immediately tell how much actual THINKING he has been doing.
I've avoided as much as possible trying to lead the conversation. I prefer to allow him to go where his
thoughts have taken him.
He has begun seeing things in a different light.
He's been asking "innocent" questions.
His barber is an elder. He's been testing the elder with questions.
I've tried to give him historical insight into how previously "Truthy" doctrines have changed into dim light.
Elders who don't understand how these things occur obviously spend zero time thinking about it. If the subject
comes up, the first impulse is to make feeble excuse, and . . . to DEFLECT!
By preparing my young friend for this sort of response I think he's created a resourceful mechanism: analytical skepticism.
Excuses/deflection= blind acceptance
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He thinks the elders at his hall will probably restore him to full status by the end of this month.
I can tell he is troubled about this in view of what he now sees.
Only time will tell.
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The last time we parted he grabbed me an gave me a big hug!
Wow! That was deeply moving to me.
This young man really needs a mentor. He misses his father. I'm honored to even partially serve in that capacity.
Watch this space . . .
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Odrade
Hey Terry, I'm so glad you're continuing to update this story, and that there's something to update.
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THE GLADIATOR
Terry, you quietly share your knowledge, intelligence, and insight. You give rather than take. Over many years you have avoided confrontation on this board. You educate rather than seeking attention by attacking other posters. For this reason you don’t get the attention you deserve.
May I say that your posts have been an inspiration to me; particularly your explanation of how our values are formed by the things we attach emotion to.
This forum would be diminished by your absence.
Trevor
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Terry
Well, deep felt thanks for that, Trevor.
You should have been here when I first joined the board almost a decade ago. I was a chip-on-the-shoulder know-it-all.
Now, there's mostly dandruff on the shoulder, and age has made me forget almost all the "all" I once knew :)
I think I'll start a topic on lessons learned from hangin' in all this time . . .
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Apognophos
I'm glad to hear this update. It's natural that he will be conflicted over his pending reinstatement, but even if he decides to immediately start fading, at least he'll have some freedom from shunning. It seems like he knows too much now to be reindoctrinated by the meetings, esp. since I assume he has already been attending all this time in order to be reinstated, and it clearly hasn't taken his critical thinking from him.
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Vidiot
This has been one of the more interesting threads.
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Terry
The young JW's family is rather high-powered, by his description. His mother is a force to be reckoned with.
I've some experience with matriarchal dynamics, but I certainly can't generalize.
Just from my guy's own words, the pressure on him from his mom must be tremendous.
He is highly intelligent, warm-hearted, and honest-minded simply by nature. However . . . his indoctrination is deep
and quite powerful. Now that he's had some "outside" contact with somebody who actually knows how this religion works, I think
he is too sharp not to have his periscope up in all future dealings with the elders.
I can't help but be optimistic about the long run.
I don't know if I mentioned it or not, but he asked for my phone number, and he gave me his.
He texted me about a child molestation article which appeared in the local newspaper concerning a case in nearby Dallas.
He and his family actually knew the people involved.
He was quite disturbed to say the least.
The pieces of the puzzle drop . . . one by one . . .
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suavojr
Thanks Terry for sharing this great story and hopefully it will have a happy ending :)
But like you said, it is up to him. Let us see what he does with the information he is given, the real truth about the truth