by minimus 27 Replies latest jw friends
I have tried to engage the odd JW apologist. They are hard nuts to crack. I prefer to work on one point at at time, and work it until finished. But JW's are a slippery bunch, and usually succeed on pushing the subject to something they are more familiar with (like accusations and name-calling).
I think asking a simple question and persistently asking them to respond is a fair, non-antagonistic approach.
JWs are GREAT at doing a 2 step. Good dancers unless they're cornered. Then they try to waltz out of their debacles by trying to step on your toes. Slippery bunch.
"what do you expect them to say"?I expect them to be honest. I expect them to step out of the box.
(assuming they realize this is not a pro-jw site).
I expect them to treat people with respect, honesty, and concern.
Which is what I try to do with them.
I expect them to treat us like they would a "brother or sister" and not satans tools of deception
while i agree with you in princple i think it is unreasonable to expect that of a person who is in a high control group
what they do- is what one should expect from a person who is being told that his: Momma is a "HO"
it MATTERS no how bad a person's mom is , she could be the biggest Ho , drug addict, slut in town
yet tell a 12yr old kid that- on the play ground --about his mom and you got a fight on your hand
well ray franz put it best --the avg jw is taken by wt to about the 3rd grade spiritually speaking
so we are talking with folks who are about 7 or 8 yrs old mentally/spirtually speaking and as we have seen them behave just like a 7 or 8 yr old spiritually speaking
there ablity to REASON, QUESTION, ANALYZE, WEIGH BOTH SIDES OF AN ISSUE is almost non-existance
SO I agree-one "Should" expect them to conduct themselves in a certain way due to the avg jw years of training most who come here in my exp - esp in the begining don't- over a period of time when they realize that we don't have horns or foaming at the mouth - they then can go into dialog, but look back at newbies who came here NOT ASKING QUESTIONS but in Support of wt, the post get heated fast
Agreed Min some think they are immune to "Satan's attacks" and come here to prove a point. But if we attack them then we are proving the WTS point about us being out of control and past all moral sense.As I said earlier I have no desire to prove the WTS right about those who have left
truly AN EXCELLENT POINT
i discussed this about 2 months ago with a few poster off line and we were talking about how in time i see such sites as this becoming VERY TAME in comparison to the wild wild west
recall at one time jw put thier foot into folks homes to preach, but now that would be totally unacceptable
and the same here i think that since all the major DOGMA ISSUES have been resoundly disproved, esp in terms of providing DOCUMENTATION ON ISSUES-
site like this will be almost like INFO PORTALS AND the DB will be much less volitile
I agree strongly with LadyLee and JT. It would be unreasonable to expect JW apologists to follow normal rules of discussion engagement. Remember what it was like when you'd be at a door out in service where the householder made astoundingly good points to which you could not reasonably respond? I remember that panicky feeling. Without consciously planning to do so, I would typically try to place a pertinent piece of literature and get out.
The reason for this response is that a JW cannot be wrong. Even to consider conceding a point represents a major hull breach, since the Witness' underlying premise is that he has the total truth.
I think the primary need is to look beyond the name-calling and preaching, and just persist in asking questions, always maintaining a calm and warm tone. Going back to our Witness days, remember, the angry, sarcastic householders only reinforced our rightness. The calm, thoughtful householders were the ones that really made a dent.
SNG
The reason for this response is that a JW cannot be wrong. Even to consider conceding a point represents a major hull breach, since the Witness' underlying premise is that he has the total truth.
you are correct- i told a former jw once to ask himself, what SCRIPTUAL explanation would he have accepted at the door by a non-jw on any subject?
for the avg jw to tell a householder that their explanation of a biblical text exp if it is in direct conflict to the one the wt gives is UNTHINKABLE-
I would be willing to be $100. that you could not find more than one or 2 jw that would be will to concede to a nonjw while working in service with a CO that they are right and we are wrong on this point
and with that type of mindset firmly in place it should be no surprise or amazement that when jw come here the are running on High Octane wt dogmas
Translated: Every JW that comes here is a potential convert to the "truth".........So, don't blow it!
Min>>If you stick to the context of Scripture, it might be easy to "prove" that a JW is wrong, imo. Flowerpetal>>Exactly!!!!
