by azor 29 Replies latest jw friends
I agree with Sparky & steve2.
Let him experience Bethel but let him know you are there for him no matter what the problem is.
Don't try to get him to see TTAT while he's flying so high, Bethel will more than likely bring him down with an almighty bump & this is where you can help.
Tell him there is a difference between worshipping Jehovah and worshipping an organization...or he can just get his lips pumped up and be one of the ass kissers.
Tell him it'll be a great place to meet his future husband.
Don't worry!
My 5years at bethel were the best thing to help me see how the org REALLY works.... Spending time there showed me just how man made the org is, and how God has nothing to do with this "faith"
Just let him see it all unfold before his own eyes....
What Sparky and 007 said. 1) Make sure he knows he can talk to you confidentially, without being judged. 2) Respectfully inform him that worshipping the GB/Org and legalism is a huge problem among the friends. When he encounters any issue, he may turn to you. DD
Maybe just tell him Bethel can be tough sometimes and if he ever needs to talk he can count on you. Make sure he takes your email address with him to bethel.
That was the exact same advice I was going to give you. It is very hard to wake someone up. My mother is inactive and has more "wordly" friends and the JWs view her as "spiritually weak" but yet she still holds on its the truth and that she is a witness
Don't spook him! Let that common ground be something he can feel good about and make yourself very approachable to him so that he can call or write you and tell you things. He isn't going to know that much of things when he first gets there, but he will have some stories-and so do you. Think of it as he is a hill on the coast of CA. They naturally wear away gradually, but when do folks notice? Then you get a big storm and sheets of coastline fall away into the Pacific.
He is going to see some 'rain'. You can drop a little of your own. Eventually there will be a ****storm at Bethel for some reason or another and it might get him out. Ask about a bunch of names that are no longer there (if you know they were kicked tothe curb after decades, all the better). Ask if some obnoxious meal custom still goes on (any funny stories?). Remember some of the things that affected/disturbed you at that age and ask if they are still like that. Ask him how he feels about the drinking or whatever goes on that is dodgy for a bunch of monks and nuns to be engaging in. Get a feeling for how he feels about the place. Don't scare him from knowing he can talk freely to you. You can be positive about things (nice getting your laundry done, eh? You think those college boys have houskeeping, laundry and meal prep for them????)
Poor kid:(
stay out of it
Bethel will take of him
His son is 19/20 and is a M.S. He is very naive and has little if any real world experience
As others have noted, no extra input is needed.
Bethel will chew him up and spit him out.
Tell him to enjoy the drinking and the parties. If he listens you will not have to plant any seeds. The wild parties will do that for him.
