Witnessing to witnesses tips

by SpannerintheWorks 43 Replies latest jw friends

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  concerned mama

  Spanner, you are right....but he won't look (to my knowledge) at any site like this one. He used to a bit maybe, but decided it was too extreme and one sided(during a wild time a while ago). I think maybe eventually as an adult he may break free....maybe......but right now he is pretty firmly under his parent's control and is doing his teenage rebellion by seeing my non jw daughter. He seemed to be further out at one point than he is now. He used to argue with me that families aren't destroyed by df, but won't talk religion to me at all anymore. I found this site extremely valuble in helping me understand the issues and helping me see through how cults control people. The posters here are a much bigger help than they even realize. I can't thank them enough. The JW religion is completely baffling and its evils are largely unknown outside to the general world. In any case, he is very sweet, but I would really prefer him to be out of our lives. For his sake, I hope that someday he is free, but the Watchtower is dangerous and his mind is confused and pretty closed and he will not think or question.

  Yes, thank you, Simon and Ang!!

  Edited by - concerned mama on 7 September 2002 13:27:33
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  patio34

  Steven Hassan's book Combatting Cult Mind Control is loaded with great suggestions on approaching friends and relatives. Some of the ones I remember are not to directly engage them in a discussion but to maybe discuss another group that has the same problems that the dubs do and let them reach the conclusion it applies to them. Another is to discuss lots of things they're good at, so you aren't attacking them and they can remember their own strong points and how they may not have enuf time to do them anymore.

  He emphasized trying to reach their pre-cult identities and not putting them on the defensive.
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  SpannerintheWorks

  Thanks, Pat.

  My wife and her family are JW's and I've somehow missed Steven Hassan's book. I will do my best to locate it soon - it sounds useful.

  SpannerintheWorks
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  concerned mama

  Thanks Pat,

  But if they have been born into a JW family and grew up in it, do they even have a pre-cult identity.

  Spanner, how did you get mixed up with a JW family??? That is my big fear for my daughter. If you aren't comfortable talking about it publicly, you can e mail me.

  Edited by - concerned mama on 7 September 2002 14:18:53

  Edited by - concerned mama on 7 September 2002 15:19:39
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  SpannerintheWorks

  Concerned mamma,

  Does your daughter "associate" with Dubs?
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  concerned mama

  Her boyfriend is. Born and raised in a devout household.... He does get away with things that surprise me, but his parents definately object to his affection for her. They are very young, but the relationship has gone on for over 2 years now. He said he wanted to be with her forever, to marry her. I think (hope) things are cooling now, but they have been so intensely connected it was scary. You might laugh at me for worrying, when he is only almost 16, but if you saw them together you would realize he was courting her, and sometimes she just couldn't get past her affection for him to see the problems.
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  SpannerintheWorks

  Concerned Mama ( sorry if I gave you 2 m's earlier! ) ,

  This is quite a complex situation. I have to go now . I'm the MD and owner of my Company and we shut down at 20.00 GMT. (England). But I will be in touch as soon as I can!
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  Cygnus

  Spanner,

  First, the use of Greber was because "the word was a god" is a very legitimate translation. Did the WTS perhaps make a mistake by using him as a credible authority? Maybe. But how could that possibly shake anybody's trust in the WTS unless they read sensationalistic, biased nonsense of the like on CARM?

  Second, the Bulgarian Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses does not enforce sanctions against anybody who chooses to accept blood. Can you show me an instance where it has?

  Third, the word Kyrious is sometimes a noun and sometimes a verb. Sometimes it means Jehovah and sometimes it means Lord, depending on the context. For all practical purposes, JWs do believe Jesus was Jehovah in the flesh, as he was the perfect representation of Jehovah's very being.

  Try again, fundieman. :-P
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  abbagail

  Hi Cyg: was a dub for 11 years and I Never believed "Jesus was Jehovah in the flesh." If that's what they were teaching, I never understood it that way at all (or it went completely over my head). I believed Jesus was the first angelic son of God, his first-born of all creation, who agreed to be born in the flesh as the ransom sacrifice. I also believed he represented/shared Jehovah's QUALITIES, but not that "Jesus was Jehovah in the flesh." Maybe it's just a matter of semantics...

  Grits
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  SpannerintheWorks

  Hi cyg

  You've not answered my questions, but I'll answer yours.

  The WBTS knew Greber was of the occult, but continued to quote him, and even lied that they didn't know this until the 1980's. They did an article on Greber in 1953.

  Bulgarian stuff. That's just my point. But they disfellowsipped JW's in the rest of the world.

  Take a look at the KIT. Compare Rom10:9 with Rom9:28. Each time kyrios is EXACTLY the same. Also, Rom 10:9 is about Jesus's IDENTITY. We don't HAVE to believe this, my point is that they are good verses to show WT mistranslatio - therefor not of God,etc,etc.