Posts by bblightnin

8

Help with talking to JWs in the family

by bblightnin in

jw
friends

i have never been a jw.

my dad was an anglican clergyman, so was my grandfather and my uncle.

my older brother is a clergyman.

bblightnin

I just want to thank all of you for your helpful input. Thanks for taking the time to help someone you don't even know - you are all amazing! In the light of what you have said I am going to play it very carefully.

I now have another difficulty: Betty, my mother-in-law is now elderly and one of my wife's sisters, who is in her 40s has the educational age of a child. She lives with Betty, but when Betty dies she will need somewhere smaller to live, maybe sheltered accommodation, and to be near a relative who can keep an eye on her bills and so on. Betty asked me to be the executor of her estate and I am named as such in her will. We had intended to use some of the money from the estate to ensure that my sister-in-law is safe and looked after when the time comes, and we had thought of finding somewhere close to us in Sheffield. This was perfectly ok with my sister-in-law, but recently Betty has been saying that her daughter must continue to live in the area where her JW friends are. I suspect that she has discussed this with the JW elders or whatever they are and they have swayed her view. My sister-in-law would be open to any persuasion by the JWs to do anythingthey wanted in terms of door-knocking and helping to raise sympathy for their beliefs. This worries us greatly. From what you have said so far, I think the best thing would be to wait until Betty has died and deal with it then. I just hope that Betty doesn't try to change her will in any way to force her daughter to remain in the area after she has gone.

If you have any further advice I would be grateful, though it is great just vto be able to share these things with people who know what it's like from the inside so to speak.

Thanks once again for all your kind help.

8

Help with talking to JWs in the family

by bblightnin in

jw
friends

i have never been a jw.

my dad was an anglican clergyman, so was my grandfather and my uncle.

my older brother is a clergyman.

bblightnin

I have never been a JW. My dad was an Anglican clergyman, so was my grandfather and my uncle. My older brother is a clergyman. I am a Lay Reader at my local church, which means I lead services from time to time and help to lead the church. I married my wife about ten years before her parents and sisters became JWs after doing book studies with them. I remember doing some research into the Watchtower Society, its origins, history and teaching at the time. Once I felt I had a grasp on the situation I showed some literature on the 'false prophecies' concerning the end time dates to my father-in-law. I hoped this would get him to question the things he had been told. He was always a bit on the 'stubborn' side I guess, and his response was, 'If you had shown me this a year ago it would heve made a difference, but not now.'

Since then my wife and I have learnt to live with it. My father-in-law died around ten years ago and we never talk to my mother-in-law or my wife's sisters about their beliefs; it just seems easier to let things lie.

However, when I found this site I wondered whether some of you guys mught give me some advice on how to deal with this situation. I would dearly love to talk to the in-laws about the way they have been misled, but I don't want to ruin our relationship.

I'll leave it at that for now, but I'm happy to give any further info to anyone who has recent experience of being a JW, especially if you have found faith in Jesus without the teachings of the Watchtower.