My wife wants me to write down my questions

by Goldminer 25 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  AlanF

  Goldminer, you're never going to get "any real, logical or intelligent answers" to a serious set of questions. You already know what will happen: at best you'll get a runaround followed by "wait on Jehovah"; at worst you'll be labeled an apostate and possibly be disfellowshipped.

  Some years ago I was able to submit a list of hard questions to someone in Bethel. I had no idea who was supposed to answer them, but my JW parents used a personal connection to submit a list. After six months of hearing nothing, I asked my stepdad whether there had been any response. There had (why he didn't tell me will become obvious) and the response was that the guy said, "I won't answer these questions because some of them are the same as what apostates ask." So you can see the braindead, cultish mentality at work here. This Bethelite, by the way, turned out to be the editor-in-chief of Awake!

  If you really want to go ahead and do this, I can give you a short list of impossible questions that will throw them for a loop. I'd also suggest that you set things up so that your wife can be a bystander during all the proceedings. If you do this, you should first have a little meeting with the guy who is supposed to answer your questions, have your wife watch, and then you read off the questions one by one and gauge their reactions. Only after this should you submit your written list. You should also somehow work in the idea that a discussion is what you want. The reason is that most peoples' experience is that if they get a response from the Society at all, it's a piece of bullshit that fails to answer your questions. If you respond to the bullshit and demand explicit answers, most likely you won't hear back at all. Of course, it might be that this guy will be familiar with some of the standard criticisms of the Watchtower, and if so, he's liable to immediately go into "apostate hunting" mode. If he submits the questions to the Society, he'll certainly get back instructions to view you as a likely apostate and to make sure that he's sure that you're not "spreading apostasy" or in any way a "spiritual danger" to the local congregation.

  Just play it smart, man!

  AlanF
• 

  95stormfront

  I can't think of a faster way to give them ample reason or evidence to silence you by disfellowship than to write down a bunch of questions for them of which the only answer they'll be able to come up with is "wait on jehovah". Doing this will only demonstrate your answer of "NO" to their pivotal question "do you believe the WTS and the FDS to be the lone organization dispensing spiritual truth".

  I can see that it is a tempting thing to do if you really gotten to the point where you don't give a rats ass and want to demonstrate to her how controlling and intolerate the WT is of questioning them too strongly though.

  I said to her if the WTS said the sky was green would you believe it?She looked out the window and said well,sometimes it looks turquoise to me.

  She and my wife must be twins. I put a similar question to her and she brushed it off the very same sarcastic and condescending way.

  Out4Good3

  of the "THERE ARE FOUR LIGHTS !!!!!!" class.
• 

  95stormfront

  apostate reasoning

  =Any reasoning that doesn't come to the same conclusion on any given subject as the WT organization.
• 

  ezekiel3

  Beware of documenting your doubts. Remember the org's mode. During elder instruction, critical information is passed down verbally, it is up to the elder to take notes.

  I recommend verbally offering up one "doubt," and let your wife research that. Who knows, maybe she will come up with the same conclusion as you. I find that when a JW is told they are wrong about their faith, they will automatically defend their belief often with violent emotions, no matter how weak the point. Put the responsibility on your wife to prove it to you, instead of disproving you. There is a difference.

  JWs "welcome" doubts of faith as long as it is "honest" and "with the right motive". Check out this statement from the 15 Feb 2005 Watchtower:

  "Prove to yourself the good and acceptable will of God." Just how can we achieve that?...Jehovah's spirit can help us to comprehend even difficult subjects. We should pray for God's help when we are having problems understanding something. Jehovah wants us to understand his Word, believe it, and obey it. He welcomes honest questions asked with the right motive.

  Key phrase: "Honest Questions", translation: No leading questions about issues that your learned from JWD.

  Key phrase: "Right Motive", translation: No apostate agenda, ready to accept any answer that comes from WTS including "wait on J."

  Obviously, you do not qualify for either of these in the WTS sense. But in the real non-cult sense you do. Be sincere and transparent to the fact that you want to have an honest discussion with your wife. Don't let the WTS be the wedge.

  I agree that the 607 question is a good one because it is a lynch pin doctrine, it will require researching outside of WTS pubs, and the WTS is plainly wrong.

  Remember, if she has to prove it to you and she fails, who can she blame? Do not take the offensive.
• 

  metatron

  Good Lord, Peloyan must be a zillion years old by now.

  Despite his glaring hypocrisy and cult-like thinking, he occasionally does something to tweak the higher-ups

  now and then.

  metatron
• 

  AlmostAtheist

  pivotal question "do you believe the WTS and the FDS to be the lone organization dispensing spiritual truth".

  Apparently that's a key question for the elders if they smell apostasy. They asked me this point blank when they called me and started going on about the organization's view of holidays. I asked, "Why are you asking me that question?" then when they pressed it again, "Let's not get side-tracked, we were talking about the justification for forbidding holidays."

  I have very little experience in this, but I got the impression that asking this question and getting you to admit you don't believe it is a way of short-circuiting the discussion. Based on that admission, they can say you've disassociated yourself. Be careful, don't answer this question.

  Dave
• 

  AlanF

  Yeah, metatron, he's well into his 80s. I agree with your other comments.

  AlanF
• 

  TD

  I have very little experience in this, but I got the impression that asking this question and getting you to admit you don't believe it is a way of short-circuiting the discussion. Based on that admission, they can say you've disassociated yourself. Be careful, don't answer this question.

  Yes, that's one of the "trip wire" questions. Others include:

  "Do you consider yourself to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses?"

  "Do you believe that this is the Truth?"

  "Do you doubt that this is Jehovah's organization?"
• 

  Bonnie_Clyde

  Why not just say that someone - maybe a workmate - was asking you some questions and you weren't sure how to answer them. You could write down the question and just say that you told your workmate that you would try to get an answer.
• 

  Goldminer

  Thank you everyone for your thoughts so far.I really appreciate it. I will take your advice and not put any questions on paper,I'm sure I would have over 30 and it mostly likely will be labeled apostate when any elder sees it.I will stick to the 607-1914 question since I know they can never come up with a real answer.If they can't answer that one,then why move on to the next question?

  Hopefully my wife will see something out of this and maybe start having serious doubts herself.I will purchase the book The Gentile Times Reconsidered soon and study that to learn more on it.