Bad experiences in waking someone up?

Fred Flintstone

I mean, is it advisable to try to wake a friend up? What about the risk of he/she falling into depression? Anger? Fury? Any bad experiences?

I think the greatest risk is that they will try to “snatch you out of the fire“ by running to the elders to inform them that you are being deceived by Satan. Are they will jump to the conclusion that you have a “going apostate” on them and start shunning you.

nowwhat?

Dear Fred let Barney initiate any questions. Is Wilma cool with you being out? Be careful don't let them baptise pebbles!

slimboyfat

It's a dilemma, whether to yabba dabba do, or yabba dabba don't.

Pete Zahut

Whether you're talking about waking up from literal sleep, or waking up from personal ignorance, both are best done gradually. Some people wake up swinging their fists if they are awakened too suddenly.

neat blue dog

Disassociate yourself from JWs, and join the Loyal Order of Water Buffalo. They've got a bowling team.

But seriously, YES, trying to wake up a friend, even a close friend can be very risky if done directly. Like DesirousOfChange said, most JWs will go straight to the Elders. They aren't trained to handle any questions that don't follow the script of their publications, and they imagine that the Elders have some extra special experience to 'help' you. If you want to help others wake up while keeping yourself safe, use eyebrow raising information that can be obtained and verified from innocuous sources, especially JW publications themselves. And do so seemingly innocently, that's key!

Diogenesister

I think almost everyone goes through a period of, well, at least very deep sadness when they discover ttatt. Most liken it to a bereavement; and the subsequent five stages of grief...numbness, anger, bargaining, depression and finally acceptance.

Do you mean experiences of someone simply not recovering, or getting "stuck" in one of the stages like permenant depression or anger?

I think having support either through exjw sites or counselling would hopefully prevent that. Also the immense feeling of freedom would be a huge preventative for any of the above.

I think its far more dangerous not knowing the truth and risking being DF or just not being able to continue going to meetings through age/disability/depression etc etc. The misery of being trapped feeling "less than", failing god or being rejected by your peers is far more likely to end in tragedy.

Cold Steel

It's a tough question if he's presently happy. You can just let him stay and he'll most likely figure it out when Armageddon doesn't happen, or you can attempt to enlighten him, in which case he will either be crushed with nothing left to replace it with or he will esteem you as an enemy and an apostate.

Is your friend married to a JW wife? How about his parents -- are they JW? You probably don't want to break up a family, right? If he's married, let TTATT hit them at the same time down the road. Don't muck up his life or his marriage.

Old Navy

Does anyone think it strange that we permit WTBorg Cult Inc. Doctrine deter us from doing what any "normal" person would consider to be imperative?

But, then again, we generally don't realize that we're indoctrinated to be Cult Obedient until we ourselves wake up.

In my own case opposition from family and school teachers was boldly delivered. While the arguments didn't initially register as I lacked experience with The Cult, but in time after seeing how The Cult really operates, they did. I never forgot and it turned out in the end that all who were opposed to my associating with the witnesses were correct. I'll thank them in our next life...

Crazyguy

If the cult ordered the suicide of it members and most of their members killed themselves including your friend, would you regret the fact that you didn’t try to wake him up? There’s your answer.

Bad experiences in waking someone up?

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