Posts by Faithful Witness

42

I want to send a follow-up question to my sister who has recently cut me off

by Faithful Witness in

recently, i received this email from my jw sister: .

while i appreciate the thought, please do not send us gifts.. our kids are not missing out on anything other than things we try to protect them from.. at this time, based on prior encounters and their affect on me emotionally, i think it would be best if we didn't communicate.. i hope you can understand my decision and the fact that it is not meant to offend anyone.. .

i sent her a loving and forgiving message, and know she has no intention of answering me.

Faithful Witness

Ok. Good idea. Do I challenge her behavior?

I also need to be careful not to get too high and mighty. I've done enough of that.

42

I want to send a follow-up question to my sister who has recently cut me off

by Faithful Witness in

recently, i received this email from my jw sister: .

while i appreciate the thought, please do not send us gifts.. our kids are not missing out on anything other than things we try to protect them from.. at this time, based on prior encounters and their affect on me emotionally, i think it would be best if we didn't communicate.. i hope you can understand my decision and the fact that it is not meant to offend anyone.. .

i sent her a loving and forgiving message, and know she has no intention of answering me.

Faithful Witness

I'm not sure we have enough past history to make a personal connection with her. I'm 12 years older, and have been more of a parent than a peer to her.

My memories of her, are of when she was a preschooler. When I dream about her, she is a child and her daughter is her mother. Haha.

42

I want to send a follow-up question to my sister who has recently cut me off

by Faithful Witness in

recently, i received this email from my jw sister: .

while i appreciate the thought, please do not send us gifts.. our kids are not missing out on anything other than things we try to protect them from.. at this time, based on prior encounters and their affect on me emotionally, i think it would be best if we didn't communicate.. i hope you can understand my decision and the fact that it is not meant to offend anyone.. .

i sent her a loving and forgiving message, and know she has no intention of answering me.

Faithful Witness

So, can anyone help me word that note? :)

I know that sometimes it's what you DON'T say, that matters...

If I am going to be her story, I'm not going to be the "my sister turned her back on Jehovah, and she no longer speaks to me. I never hear from her anymore." She can say what she wants, but somewhere deep inside her, she will know that I am still trying to reach her, and that I do actually love her.

I know it's time to leave the Watchtower out of it. I won't bring up anything else. Try to draw on memories of her old self... I guess I was hoping that encouraging the "Real" sister to come out, would make her realize she was not acting like she used to... and is this really a positive change?

Help! I can't put things concisely.

42

I want to send a follow-up question to my sister who has recently cut me off

by Faithful Witness in

recently, i received this email from my jw sister: .

while i appreciate the thought, please do not send us gifts.. our kids are not missing out on anything other than things we try to protect them from.. at this time, based on prior encounters and their affect on me emotionally, i think it would be best if we didn't communicate.. i hope you can understand my decision and the fact that it is not meant to offend anyone.. .

i sent her a loving and forgiving message, and know she has no intention of answering me.

Faithful Witness

Great questions, Steve! Exactly what I have been asking myself, before I send a response.

Without rehashing all the past AGAIN. (I was never a JW, just interested, until one day I woke up).

I guess I really need to be honest with myself. What are my intentions?

1. Disobey Watchtower & refuse to abide by her sudden decision not to communicate. You don't think we should communicate, because of how it affects your emotions? That is exactly why we SHOULD communicate. That is what family is for... to be here for each other in difficult times! If you turn your back on me and tell me you don't want to talk about it, I am going to try to figure out what is wrong. Do I just let you walk away, while I stand here and accept it? NO, I do not! I'm not done communicating with you.

(I realize she doesn't have to listen or respond. But I am not going to stop talking to you, just because you forgot how to be loving toward me "at this time.")

2. Highlight her abhorrant behavior. Get her to see herself from an outside perspective. Just because I studied with the JW's for a few years, and have more "inside" information about why she is behaving in this way... does that mean I have to quietly accept it? What if she suddenly decided to say this to a coworker who hurt her feelings (possibly by sending her a Christmas card, or giving gifts to her kids), someone who has no idea about her beliefs. How would a normal person respond if she said that to them. "Based on prior encounters, and the affect on my emotions, I don't think we should communicate at this time." HUH? Ok, let me grab onto that little ray of hope you added... "at this time."

Maybe it's time now! "I know you said you weren't speaking to me, but I wanted to ask you..." "Are you ready yet? Are you ready yet?"

3. See if she will respond. It doesn't have to be personally to me... but see if she will take things further or if she will react in any way. I am not trying to antagonize her or torment her. But I feel that a little cage-rattling is in order here. I may never know if she responds or not. She might block my email, or even start warning my mom about me. Someone else mentioned here how JW's just try to avoid conflict by running away.

Really, what do I have to lose? I really don't want to let her make this move, without having to examine it further.

Maybe I am stirring the pot. I have been guilty of that before. I am a reasonable person, and I forgive her. She doesn't know what she is doing, I realize that. I don't think it would be fair to her, if I made this easy for her to do. If she wants to pick me for her first big shun, I should make it a tough one for her. She might as well get practice with her new personality, and use it on her big sister who has loved her since she was in diapers. She used to be so kind and loving.

-----

Observation from times we went to KH: Everyone has a "story..." They all seemed to have at least one person in their family, or they happened to be the ONLY person left in their family. ALLLLL these people who had "left the Truth..."

"Soooo sad.... We are Sooooo lucky to have the loving brothers and sisters here at the Kingdom Hall. I just can't WAIT for this system to end, and we can all be rid of these worldly pains." As an outsider, I must say those stories seemed very odd and cruel. There was always an undertone of self-congratulation. No sadness for anyone but themselves, and NO forgiveness. "My willingness to sacrifice for Jehovah's organization, entitles me to a special badge, and I proudly repeat my stories of persecution, as proof that I am a GOOD Jehovah's Witness!"

I think my brother in law took this opportunity (the fact that I had "turned my back on Jehovah"... WHAT are you even talking about??), to get one of those special badges for his JW lapel. "I cut off my sister in law, when she turned her back on Jehovah." My sister must obey. BUT she has made the point (twice) of telling me she was speaking for herself. Once was a telephone conversation, and it did sound like she meant it. She didn't make sense, but she seemed like she meant it. While she doesn't boast about her JW accomplishments and privileges in front of me, she has probably displayed her special shunning badge at the KH by now."

------

Making peace with her, and getting our whole family together for an annual party, is the eventual goal... but she has dug in her heels and decided she is going to just withdraw from the family. It is going to have to get worse, before it gets better.

10

JW children taught cold calling techniques

by Xanthippe in

i had a double glazing salesman call today.

he was so irritating because he didn't tell me who he was but instead started asking me questions about my house and some slightly personal questions.

in the end i found myself saying who are you and what do you want.. then i thought heck this is what i was taught to do.

Faithful Witness

I have a reverse example in my father. He was raised evangelical Christian, but had not been to church in about 20 years. My sister started studying with JW's and attending meetings. She blackmailed my mom into going to a meeting, by telling her my niece could only spend the night if Grandma would come to the meeting tomorrow. (!!) My mom went along with it. Within weeks, my dad was curious and started attending the meetings and studying with my mom.

My father is a salesman by trade, and absolutely loves talking to people and selling them new phone systems. He had found a higher purpose for his sales skills! He loves field service, and glows when he tells us stories about things he has had happen out in service, or anecdotes about his friends "at the hall..."

My dad and my brother in law got into a sort of pissing contest, to see who could be a better JW, put in more hours, get more privileges and duties. He has totally committed to the org now, telling the family publicly that his top priority is to be a "good JW." He emailed me privately, telling me that even if I did ever decide to join the JW's, he would always still prefer my sister and his family. "It's only natural... You understand." He makes statements now about how, "They are smarter than me!" and when I asked him what is the difference between me and you? Am I going to die at Armageddon because I decided not to become a JW? His response: "That's not for me to decide. That's what I love about this! I don't have to judge people anymore." Egads.

My salesman father LOVES pushing doorbells, talking to strangers, and yes, even pushiing literature on uninterested family members.

6

What is the real Percentage of visitors to jw.org

by maisha in

it seems the main countries are not visiting the jw.org site as they say in their stats.. this is the claims made: jw.org reaches 230 nations.

but here are the stats from alexa.. i realise alexa is not 100% accurate, but it is sure different ti jw claims.... country.. % of visitors.. rank in that country.

united states20.9%1,770 brazil8.1%589 mexico6.7%562 japan5.1%1,729 russia3.8%2,434 italy3.5%1,177 united kingdom3.1%1,910 nigeria3.0%351 france2.5%2,657 germany2.4%3,533jw.org is just a pointer domain to watchtower.com.

Faithful Witness

I've never heard of Alexa.

22

What if...

by DeWandelaar in

i was having a short conversation with my neighbour.

they are very nice people and they are moslim.

because the weather is getting more extremer by the day (all over the world) and it was cold this morning i started talking about the weather.

Faithful Witness

Al Gore needs to give back his Nobel Peace Prize... or maybe be awarded another one. He has turned around the global warming trend!

9

untitled

by Brainfloss in

matthew 28:18-20 states.

...18and jesus came up and spoke to them, saying, "all authority has been given to me in heaven and on earth.

19"go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the father and the son and the holy spirit, 20teaching them to observe all that i commanded you; and lo, i am with you always, even to the end of the age.. what are all of the things jesus commanded?.

Faithful Witness

I have known my father's first name since I was 2 years old, but have never called him Richard. A parent will hear their child calling out to them, even if they simply cry out for "Mom!" or "Dad!" If I started calling my dad by his first name (and mispronouncing it), that would be disrespectful.

Jesus showed us how to pray, with his example prayer, "the Lord's Prayer." He said, "Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name..."

There is not one example of Jesus calling his father Jehovah or anything but Father.

JW's are so concerned with vindicating Jehovah's name, they deny Christ. Yet, they call themselves "True Christians."

This is slightly over the top, but I have come to believe that the JW Memorial of Christ's death, is a Satan-led ritual. The true master of confusion has tricked them all into denying Christ's sacrifice, celebrating ONLY his death, and ignoring the resurrection.

3

Will The Faithful And Discreet Slave/GB Pay Out Millions In Child Molestation Lawsuit In This Fateful Year 2014 ?

by frankiespeakin in

watchtower corporate newspaper study article say the faithful slave will never be unfaithful.

then i guess multimillion dollar lawsuits losses over willful malfeaance don't count as unfaithfulness in the slave definition of terms..

Faithful Witness

To whom are they faithful?

22

Meeting Today

by lambsbottom in

jw
friends

me and the spouse looked over the wt and decided it wouldn't be in our best spiritual interest to stay for the wt (we usually don't anymore).. so, took the kids to the public talk (was actually great, nice brother), took them outside for a snack and snuggled/played...and then left (an hour early).. .

felt great!

gotta do what you know is best for you spiritually!

Faithful Witness

That thing about the "Ark" is also noteworthy. Aren't the public talks scripted? Someone told him to draw that ark. Is this a clue about the lifesaving instructions that are coming down soon?