How do you talk/reason with a Jehovah's Witness?

by misspeaches 18 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  misspeaches

  Thanks for your responses thus far.

  OTWO - you have some very interesting and valuable comments in your posts. I guess the issue is that I don't know the person in question. All I know is that he is 18 years old and very devout. From my experience 18 is one of those ages where you are beginning to test the waters. Here in Australia, 18 is when you are allowed to start buying alchohol etc. I like the What do you think expression too. It's got an underlying thought to it - I'm asking you to think for yourself here! I really appreciate all your thoughts and I am going to relay these back to my friend. (and any others that are posted). I think they are a wonderful start.

  I'm not trying to make a clean sweep of it, I want to just start the ball rolling as inconspiculously as possible...
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  parakeet

  There is no reasoning with a dyed-in-the-wool dub. The only dubs that might listen are those who are already on their way out.
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  Spectre

  The title of the thread sounded more like it was a joke.

  I was disappointed when I opened it and there wasn't a punch line.

  Hows life been treating you, misspeaches?
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  blondie

  http://www.freeminds.org/beanexpert.htm
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  OnTheWayOut

  18 years old and very devout

  Generic advice. Appeal to his own future. "Consider college or somehow getting a good job.
  The JW's say to plan for your future and that nobody knows when the last day will be."

  Whether he stays in or goes out, that's good advice.

  Also, many young adults can be helped to see the need for justice. They could be told about
  child-abuse cases involving JW's and how the organization puts itself ahead of victims.
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  WTWizard

  It is miserably difficult. They have been programmed not to look at critical information, and will not even look at any facts that prove the Watchtower Society is a cancer and not the truth. They are also told not to think. You ask them to think about the reality of where they are headed (stagnation, suffering, and ultimately the Second Dark Ages) and they will not go along with your more realistic picture of the new order Second Dark Ages. And if they stumble on an apostate web site, they will click the red X on the top right of the screen.

  The only approach that might work is questioning where they are headed. They are pioneering and giving up time and energy for the Watchtower Society. They will respond better to the endless money hole (as I remember, when the Israelites built their temple, there was a huge surplus and people had to be told to stop donating. Ask when you have ever seen that at the a$$embly. Are they really happy with their family life? Are the kids really happy about spending all their time out in field circus every day (and ask the kids themselves, especially if they are younger than about 5 or 6). Chances are, they will lie and tell you that nothing is more fulfilling than wasting all that time in field circus, when nothing could be further from the truth.
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  sass_my_frass

  Talk about the $64K question...

  I think that it might be very specific to the individual concerned. People here who are trying to get through to their marriage partners of a lifetime even find that difficult to work out. Think about your own experience; what would have helped you? I know that there was a time for me when, if I suspected that somebody was trying to nudge me out I'd have cut that person out of my life pretty much immediately. It took me a very long time to be ready to think about considering the possibility that there might be another way of looking at things...

  I've had a couple of JWs at the door (strangers) and my approach with them is to keep it entirely about my personal experience (edited down to: "My mother became a Jehovahs Witness, and it destroyed our family": (it happens to be true)). There's no way that they can deny something that happened to me. It's not much, and they might just dismiss it immediately, but if they're ever in a situation in life where being a JW is getting to them, many tiny little incidents like that will have cumulated to a point where they might decide to do something about it.

  Can they be honest with themselves about how happy they are, and the direction their life is going in? When they are old, will they be glad with the way they have spent their life?
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  greendawn

  I am also pessimistic on this, a JW will give heed only if s/he has alredy realised that something is seriously wrong with their org otherwise lol, the WTS has done a good job in creating a population with a closed mind that is impermeable to any wind of truth. You will for ever hear the parrot song: "we have the best religion on earth today". Thinking much will give them a headache.
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  R.Crusoe

  It is essential to note that they are part of a micro culture!

  How would you persuade anyone to relinquish their culture for what you see as a more positive reality?

  We know the pitfalls and tragic consequences!

  And some may already be reluctant to change again due to the enormity of the changes they have just accepted if newly converted!

  JWs are skilled at deprogramming individuals from their own culture and reinstalling theirs!

  So it is no short term process and by no means guaranteed to occur within a predictable time scale! There are too many variables at work to do this so all one can hope to achieve is to increase the number of variables which coax someone into thinking in positive ways they don't already permit themselves the luxury of.