Jehovah or Satan? A Story of Cognitive Dissonance.

Mrs. Witness

Had a chat with Mr. Witness last night. It started out by me asking him what his definition of politics is. I asked because he sits watching CNN and knows all about the current campaign...and it occurred to me that he was "participating" in politics, albeit on the fringe. Of course, he didn't see it that way.

Our conversation rambled on as it normally does and at one point he said that if you "seek the kingdom, Jehovah will provide." So, since I am currently the "provider" for our family (hubby is a stay at home dad), I asked him if I was an instrument of Jehovah (by the look on his face, you would have thought I'd asked him to cut off his hand). He was non-committal. He did say something like if I read the bible I would know what it meant to be an instrument of Jehovah. I laughed and said, "let's be logical...you are seeking the kingdom, so Jehovah will provide. I am providing for you so I must be an instrument of Jehovah." I thought his head was going to start spinning. (Don't get me wrong...I'm not claiming to be divine in nature, I'm just trying to get him to THINK about what he says)

Then we got into territory that he didn't want to discuss (doctrinal flip-flop and child molestation) so he said something about "Satan is working" and so I laughed again and said "so now I'm an instrument of the devil?!" It was really too funny.

It finally boiled down to me getting him to admit that he has faith that the GB is giving them good information and then I hit him with "so, you put your faith in men?" (faith in men was part of our political discussion to start). He got mad then and we called it a night.

I wish I could break through. I've read threads about whether or not trying to change JW's is futile...I don't know. I keep trying to chip away by throwing things on the table. I think the biggest gun is the child molestation thing...he always comes back with "those men made a mistake and Jehoover will deal with them" but I keep trying to get him to see that the lack of action by the elders on behalf of the children and allowing the molesters to have positions of authority is just as bad as the Catholic church re-assigning priests. He can't see it now...maybe some day.

Thanks for listening to me ramble on. I just needed to share my story with people who will understand!!

poppers

Good job. Maybe something will get through. Keep up the good work.

nvrgnbk

All hail Satan! Just kidding! Maybe. ;)

carla

Scary! Sounds like a discussion at my house! do you have them on a regular basis or has it reached the point where the jw feels the need to have one of these 'discussions' every few months now? Instead of having shorter discussions more often we now have all dayer's but less often. Makes for such a fun day doesn't it? and what's with jw's who seem addicted to the news channels even when it is all politics?

Satanus

'He got mad then and we called it a night.'

No afternoon delight that night, eh? Seriously though, it takes a lot of time and patience to get through. What has worked for some is to pose a question, and then let it work. Wait a while before the next question.

S

cyberdyne systems 101

I'm pleased for you that your able to have some sort of conversation about this, a lot of JW's will put up the mental brick wall as they are trained to very early on in the conversation. Its amazing isnt it how you can put forward thoughts that blow their idea's out of the water, and they squirm a little but then look to the organisation for the answers, leaving it in their hands.

I'm having this in part with my ex and the children, I'm quite concerned how much of that poisonous propagander will get into their heads like it did mine at their age. I remember being so nieve that when a teacher asked me when the Witnesses started, i just said with Jesus and the apostles! Then she showed me in a book the late 1800's by Charles T Russell, as a young kid I ignored that. In time the society came out with more information about the 'modern day' witnesses'. And it was only after I left that I thought back and realised I could have begun questioning it back then, but I didnt really want to, I was enjoying being in the cocoon world I was surrounded with. i hope to at least show my children that there are alternatives and to think about things, check them out properly and question things.

Hope you have many more interesting conversations with Mr Witness

CS 101

Mrs. Witness

Carla, we do the all-day discussions too! I HATE them. The conversation goes nowhere and we just end up disgusted with each other. I can't stand that. Mostly I shy away from discussing his obsession with JW's and CNN (he's on Armageddon-watch). He just keeps telling me that I don't understand. UGH!

nvrgnbk

Buy him some nice "non-apostate" history books. Tell him you're confused because when you study human history, you get the sense that in many ways, the human race is better off today than it's ever been. People live longer now than they did 500 years ago. The CNN he loves so much would have had much more horrific stories to cover in the past... the Hundred Years' War, the Black Plague, an expose' on the slave trade, The American Civil War, Hiroshima, Nagasaki, etc., etc. The Watchtower and many other fundamentalist groups of all stripes love to capitalize on historical myopia. It's worked beautifully for them. Good luck to you!

carla

The ever famous 'you don't understand' haha, yep, been there. I guess my 'heart condition' wasn't right to understand or he pulls out the 'apostates have ruined me' or every jw's favorite 'satan at work'.

Mrs. Witness

nvr, I said the same thing to him and it was like talking to a wall!!

Jehovah or Satan? A Story of Cognitive Dissonance.

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