Can someone please help me?

by ruderedhead 26 Replies latest jw friends

  • outsmartthesystem
    outsmartthesystem

    She was unaware,but justified it, and said she would look it up. I suggested she go to a site other than the WT web site. She kept telling me I was looking at apostate literature. - Ask her why it should matter who wrote the material. What should matter is whether or not it is true. Ask her questions that will force her to do research. If you ask probing questions.....the research she does in society based literature won't be enough. Then she will have to decide as to whether or not she should happily let your questions go unanswered so as to maintain her faith in her organization......or dig to the bottom and get the truth.

    There were other things I tried to point out, but she had a response, sometimes very poor, to them. - Witnesses always have a response. Usually they respond with some sort of logical fallacy. The fallacy works on those that are still controlled by Watchtower thinking. Example - when I started fading years ago....I brought up that it is ridiculous that men can't wear beards. The person I told that to responded by showing me a Watchtower article that equated those that wished to wear a beard with being selfish/hard-headed and childishly wanting to have one's own way. At that time.....I said to myself "wow....maybe I AM being childish. I mean.....do I really NEED a beard?" Now....years later....it hits me! I accepted such an answer from the Watchtower because I was still under their control. But now that I look back at it....I can plainly see that the answer provided by the Watchtower was not an answer at all! It was nothing more than an ad hominem attack designed to turn the argument on the one asking the question. All that article did was make personal insults and accusations against those that want to wear a beard. NEVER did the article actually address the BIBILICAL reason for such a prohibition. At that time......this fallacy worked on me because I hadn't learned how to critically analyze ANYTHING that came from the society.

  • its_me!
    its_me!

    Ruderedhead---- Welcome and hugs. She will have to make her own call on the failings and repeated lies of the religion, and as others have already said, you are not responsible! Please don't beat yourself up. It is such an emotionally charged subject, it is easy to get flustered. I have on many occasions. I never make my point the way I want to and I find myself playing the "I should've said" game. I should have said this, or I should have said that. But in the end, I feel that the WTS will hang itself, and many more will see them for what they are.

  • Thor
    Thor

    Hello and welcome Ruderedhead!

    I agree with many that have commented already, please don't beat youself up! It probably would not have mattered what you said or how you said it.

    Give yourself a break

    Best wishes, Mrs Thor

  • jwfacts
    jwfacts

    Welcome. Don't feel bad, the first few times you speak with a JW it is hard to form a logical flow, and to keep emotions in check.

    There is little you can do to change a person's belief on the spot, regardless of how well you present the information. At least you have planted a few seeds. She will no doubt be intrigued by the UN topic, and your comment to use more than one source of information, and hence look further into things at some point in time.

  • Quandry
    Quandry

    Welcome.

    Remember when you went out in service to tell people they were buzzard bait if they didn't listen to your words of wisdom? Remember asking them a question but not even listening to their answer because you had your rebuttal already?

    Same situation applied when you spoke to your friend. There was no way to make a point. At the first hint of anything anti-JW, she wasn't listening, but formulating her reply.The only words that were of lasting import were her words that she doesn't want to talk to you anymore because you don't spout the party JW line.

    Better to have questions that can't be answered, than answers that can't be questioned.

  • ruderedhead
    ruderedhead

    Excellent points, all! You are so correct, now that I think about it, that she was probably not going to listen to my reasoning. I hope I did plant a seed regarding the UN thing. Everyone who has responded here has helped me so much. I am starting to feel at peace. Thank you!!

    BUZZARD BAIT?!!! ROFL!!!!

  • 3rdgen
    3rdgen

    ((((((((Ruder))))))))

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