follow-up; sent this email 10 min ago!
Regarding the e-mail you sent me the other day exactly what "apostate" info did you see? What reference materials did you look at to find out if it was the truth or not?
by mkr32208 17 Replies latest jw friends
follow-up; sent this email 10 min ago!
Regarding the e-mail you sent me the other day exactly what "apostate" info did you see? What reference materials did you look at to find out if it was the truth or not?
WTF! Mom's response to above;
I tried to reply to your email poem and it won't go through. The tapes
I listen to were some a person had when I was out in service. I did not
listen to the whole thing. I took notes and went home and checked to
see if what they said the magazines said actually said that. they did
but they didn't it was a classic case of taking words out of context and
twisting them. This was strictly apostate in that their only purpose
was to run down the witnesses.
my response again... I'm getting a little tired of this bs can you tell!
Well that?s just dumb that?s not apostate it's just asinine
This just keeps going doesn't it!
Well Apostate is against the Witnesses its not just atheism or
something, or folks with legitimate questions. Its like the other party
in a divorce, just trying to make trouble.
and my reply again
There is a HUGE difference between an apostate and someone who is trying to make trouble...
Main Entry: apos·ta·sy
Pronunciation: &-'päs-t&-sE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -sies
Etymology: Middle English apostasie, from Late Latin apostasia, from Greek, literally, revolt, from aphistasthai to revolt, from apo- + histasthai to stand -- more at STAND
1 : renunciation of a religious faith
2 : abandonment of a previous loyalty
so some wack job that you meet in service who says "I have a tape for you" isn't an apostate they had to be part of the religion first!
What makes you think that "true apostates" care what you think? The "apostates" who approach you around assembly halls and try to contact JW's out of the phone book and stuff THEY ARE WACK JOBS they want you to come join their "church of the almighty potato" they couldn't sway anyone with a brains faith it's idiotic!
The majority of the people who have brains (I'd like to think that includes me) can REASON their way out of the WBTS all by themselves all you have to do is pick up a bible and look at what it says for about five minutes and you realize it's nonsense!!!! They are the one's the organization is scared of because it's easy to see the holes in JW beliefs, but the REALITY is that these people (the one's with brains) aren't (for the most part) trying to drag people out!
I want you to be happy in your beliefs! That?s why I don't try to change them! I don't try to change ANYONE'S beliefs! I just want you to ACCEPT that I don't belief what you do and offer me the same level of respect I offer you and leave me alone about it!!! If you insist on talking about religion you will FORCE me to take a stand that I DON'T WANT TO TAKE!!!! Why can't you just leave me alone about it!
I added on the last email "if you think someone with "legitimate questions" who cant' find answers and refuses to just "let it go" won't be classified as an apostate your crazy!"
somehow I suspect this won't end well! oh well I've managed to avoid this conversation for almost two years that about the longest you can hope for right!
"At one time in my career I was exposed to an apostate tape. I found it very unsettling and began to wonder about the truth. But then I went home and actually looked up everything they had talked about. And you know what, they were the liars. Yes, there was a grain of fact in what they were saying but it was very cleverly twisted."
SUCH AS???
more friday as events warrant!
"I no longer believe that this religion is the truth. I am not trying to change your beliefs. You are happy with them and welcome to believe whatever you wish. I choose not to, my reasons are my own, there are many of them not just one."
I told my mother the same thing awhile back. It's an odd situation- as for years SHE tried to convince me that the WTS is a cult.
I DA'd myself (refused to give the elders a reason), and she started up her Bible study shortly thereafter! She told me she just can't learn about the Bible studying it on her own, and that she is mostly doing it because she has become friends with her study conductor over the years and enjoys their weekly visit.
She pressed me for more information as to why I left, but I've continued to refuse to give her any. I told her that if I were to give her any reasons, that I would be living up to the WTS definition of an "apostate," and that if she continued to associate with me afterwards, it would affect her relationship with her congregation and friends-especially since she has told them repeatedly that she will never shun any of her children.
What's really odd is that she questions the beliefs openely when she is with me, yet is so afraid that everything she has learned could be true. She questions me about specific things, and I just tell her to do her own research if she really wants to know.
It's all very frustrating.Sometimes I think she's doing it to manipulate me (there are other nonJW issues involved), yet I also distinctly remember what it felt like to be a "true believer." I know I can't go back though, and I can't pretend just so I can maintain a relationship with her. Being a JW nearly killed me.
If she goes hard line and demands answers to her questions, I will stand my ground. I DA'd with full knowledge that I might someday be shunned by my mother. As painful as it will be if it happens, I won't return to the WTS. I will let her know that my door is always open to her, though.
"And don't be too proud to change your mind if you find things are different than what you thought."
Gee! Isn't this EXACTLY what you did? Fortunately, you didn't allow the "pride" of being a JW stop you from changing your mind because things were different than what you thought.
Perhaps your mom should apply this same advice to herself.