Tell them as little as possible. Ask them what is happening in Australia, then make them tell you. Make them do the explaining.
Don't frighten them off with your opinions. Ask them for their's.
Keep them honest.
tell our jw family members, door knockers, and stand sitters that you were very impressed.
by the branch overseer and other elders in australia, they gave a fine witness.. so what will happen, they will tell their friends the brothers in australia gave a fine.
witness.
Tell them as little as possible. Ask them what is happening in Australia, then make them tell you. Make them do the explaining.
Don't frighten them off with your opinions. Ask them for their's.
Keep them honest.
i've been looking on this site for some time but never posted.
i'll give a little about myself, but not too much.
i'm a ex-bethelite ( brooklyn )and currently serving as an elder (10 years) (thinking about stepping down) on the service committee.
hello everybody, i was wondering if anyone has been guilted or emotionally blackmailed into attending the memorial this year.
something along the lines of "if you loved your family you would at least attend the memorial".
i myself haven't attended in 5 years.
i was thinking that we could spend the memorial evening doing the exact opposite of what we used to do.. smile and laugh.
have fun.
dress comfortably.
i know that logging in has been a problem for some.
i hardly post any more.
i figured there would be more activity than this.
the new forum originally had a little country flag next to each post showing the country that the post was made from based on the geoip encoding (the country the ip address is from).
before i switched over to the new site someone made an issue about it violating their privacy and i didn't want to complicate and confuse the switchover with policy debate at the same time as technical issues so removed the flags even though i disagreed.. someone has already requested it as a feature and i think it should be added back so i thought it's now time to open the discussion and get everyone's opinions.
first, the reason i think it should be shown:.
alot of people are saying god is cruel for killing the firstborns and animals and people in the ten plagues.
but didn't god achieve his goal of making nations and people be in fear of him?.
Exodus 9:5. How could he kill the first born animals when he had already killed them?
my situation right now is trying that how my friend and parents that the jw's are not the true religion.
i've shown numerous examples of flip flopped doctrine, false predicions, the validity of the jesus choosing the bible students in 1919 and more.
but it seems that although the recognize these mistakes they ask me, "aren't you happy the organization is making progress?
Don't tell them anything they shouldn't already know.
Don't show them anything they shouldn't already know.
Don't show them sources they won't/don't trust.
Show them their own literatrash and ask them to explain it.
Ask them questions.
Don't answer their questions unless it suits your purposes.
Don't accept diversions.
Give them guilt trips for any devious tactics or bullying they try on you. Double standards are fair game here.
Ask questions to highlight dishonesty and double standards, so that they are defending their actoins, and you are not you defending your statements.
so recently, several over-righteous ones in the cong were discussing "how amazing it felt when they got baptised".
statements like "how awesome did it feel as you got raised back out of the water?!".
or the classic "i felt so close to jehovah as i came out of the pool"!.
I didn't
some of you may know my situation.
i'm still going to meetings, but i am a closet apostate and homosexual i. only keep going to meetings to please my family and some friends.
i guess i could tell my mom i no longer want to be a jehovah's witness and stop going to meetings, but i'm too scared to do it.
"This can work if done right, but it's still traumatic, and it has to be done carefully and with a measure of planning."
There is no painless way to wake up that you have wasted decades and trashed relationships in exchange for membership in a looney cult. We have to take that into consideration when talking to cult members, but it shouldn't stop us from trying. It's not only about them. I've seen cult members trying to recruit from their death beds, an excellent time to show off their faith without having to answer difficult questions.