Let's call him brother.

by The Rebel 6 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  The Rebel

  Door knocking has its occasional rewards, and if such a " newly interested one" advances to attend the " K.H" he will come in for a lot of complimentary praise. In fact if he puts his hand up he is referred to us " our friend"

  " I am respected here" newly interested one " says to himself. " I am amoung friends"

  Now being respected and amoung friends " newly interested one" wants to be loyal and questioning teachings and conditional friendship is to be disloyal. So who is " newly interested one? Well before he was door knocked he was a quite, lonely kid, eager to be liked and find his place in the world, yet going through life and not fitting in under any circumstances.

  Now " our friend" Is himself knocking on doors and has been promoted to " unbaptised publisher" which has resulted in increased praise and invites with those baptized and strong in the faith. (of course " unbaptised brother" doesn't note that each invite is a one 0f invite, from those " strong in the faith" whose duty and conditional love is now fulfilled.

  Well the baptism questions are coming up, and " unbaptised publisher" has a new study conductor, because his dear friend who originally door knocked " newly interested one" is up before a kangaroo court, soon to be followed up by an announcment of dis-fellowshpping for apostasy.

  This should be awake up call for " unbaptised publisher" after all he and " newly disfellowshipped" we're best of friends, spiritual brothers one could say. Anyway to cut a long and boaring story short, " unbaptised publisher" gets " baptized" and becomes a brother to millions worldwide. He remains truly loyal, and therefore a man of simple character is blessed with a loving sister whom he marries and a son, yet more importantly such titles as " ministerial sevent" and " elder" are bestowed upon him.

  As for " disfellowshipped brother" well he was slightly based on me, so I wish him well and that one day I can write he won the lottery.

  Do you remember the journey of newly interested ones in your congregation? Did it ever proceed to baptism? If not why not.

  The Rebel.
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  Unprodigal Daughter

  I often saw the opposite. My own mother was very zealous, took the ministry seriously, actually had the aim of converting people rather than just being seen out and counting hours. But the interested people she brought along were all a bit, well, odd! People with problems mostly. She never discriminated but the congregation did and any love bombing they received was short lived and shallow. My mum was seen as a bit of an 'extremist'.

  But I have seen interested ones paraded about like some kind of trophy by others. It always left a bad taste in my mouth.

  The only conversions I've heard about recently are people who have had a romantic attachment to a JW and have got married shortly after baptism. They seem normal people but I suspect something was very off in their life to want the whole religion, jw community, new spouse and step children all in one package.
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  Lost his mind

  Ah, I could speak to the other side of the coin. As a woman, I was not love bombed as my husband was, or maybe I was just more pragmatic and saw through the, um bullcrap. I studied with 3 different women and could not see the value in joining the fairy tales. My husband on the other hand was raised by wolves , as I like to say to him. He had no family structure of what was right and wrong and was easily swayed into the fold. BUT, he was never baptized. He has studied with 4 different men over the last 25 years and wanted to take the plunge 2 years ago. I, the evil woman, put my foot down and said it was me or them. I was lucky that he picked me but he still has the jw mindset. I have pointed out to him the many flaws in their thinking and I hope he won't want to go back. I have made him live life in the last two years, picnics, wine tasting, going to the lake, visiting with friends outside the flock, reacquainting with friends when he was younger, being with family members that aren't in the "truth" etc. and he has begun to live again.

  I did get off topic, but I have to say that I asked him pointed questions about doctrine that he could not answer or sometimes thought was odd. I would ask him to ask his instructor and he would not do this because he viewed it as wrong. This was a good statement by him because it was something I could respond to...... How do you learn without questioning? This opened his eyes a little. Sorry to butt in, but I had to say this.
• 

  Kick50r

  On all the years i was in the Corporation, maybe only a handfull actually were baptized.Most would come and go.Some stayed because they wanted a relashionship with someone inside .I actually remember some in the first "love bombing session" having that nervous smile as in " what is going on here " and just roaming with the eyes looking for the door never to be seen.]

  I guess that "we all have the same attitude at the same time saying the same sentences with the same smile" may sound scary for some living in the real world
  

  The 90% of the baptized people were .... you guessed it ... children that were at the time unfortunate to be sons of JW.

  Take Care All
  
• 

  LifesNotOver

  Man oh man! this brings back bad feelings. The love bombing felt sincere, well sort of .... I overrode my instincts, is what I did. I say trust your instincts, sometimes you read them wrong but there's a good chance you're right. Oh, yes, there's the old your heart is treacherous, and then there's also the old no independent thinking, so what can you trust? why trust us, trust what we're telling you, we know what's best for you, we're so smart we've done all this studying of the bible and we even have our own version of the bible we're that smart. We have the truth! I felt like I was making all these new friends (don't worry about alienating all your old friends and family, we'll be your new friends and family and we'll be better at it). Shortly after baptism I told an elder "now I'm baptized, I've been dropped like a hot potato". That felt good, that was before I was afraid to speak my true thoughts and feelings. I didn't know the trouble it could get me into, especially speaking my mind as a female and to an elder at that. He was very surprised, saw the truth in it I guess, and then he and his wife became good friends of ours. :)

  Now that I don't care anymore, it feels so good to be myself again. I have to tell you a little story. The elders came by a couple of weeks ago to give me some encouragement ugh! of course it was early on a Saturday morning when they were out in service (wouldn't want to make a special trip, right?) I wasn't showered or dressed, we were just sitting down to a nice waffle breakfast, and there they are at the door. I wasn't going to let them in, but hubby was right there and oh! come right in, so nice to see you, we were just sitting down to breakfast but it's okay. Wife will make you some waffles. Not! I just sat there feeling so uncomfortable, didn't make waffles, didn't even offer them coffee. They finally caught on from my demeanor that I wasn't very pleased. Do they have no sense of boundaries? Oh, right, they knock on peoples doors early Saturday mornings and try to "engage them in conversation". And it feels good to be talking about "they" and "them" and not including myself. Well, after some awkward moments, well for me anyway, and for my husband too because he knew I would be suspicious why the elders were calling after they'd ignored me for so long and what had he said to them about me? Oops! long story here. Anyway, one of the elders looks over at me and says "I feel like maybe we're intruding" and I quipped back, looking over at the table where our breakfast's getting cold and down at my robe, "What gives you that idea?!" semi-sarcastically. Well, guess you had to be there to get the full effect :) It did get them out of here in a hurry, though, and it just felt good to feel free to let some of my smart-assed-ness come out again. I don't care what they think of me anymore.

  What was the original post about again? Oops! LNO
  
• 

  The Rebel

  Thanks for the replys. It was nice reading your exsperiences. I won't say anything against those that get converted from the ministry, but from this thread it's clear some people need to belong on that big ark, and we don't. Personally I am now on the opposite side of the ark door, with a big smile all over me.

  The Rebel.
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  stuckinarut2

  Let's be honest, it is usually the social misfits of the community...those who don't quite fit in that are attracted to the society.

  When did you see a successful, well adjusted business man with a family etc come into the congregation?

  Most are odd balls...