SA, This thread is only to point out an option, one which Ray Franz himself took.
Yes, dear BXJW (again, peace to you!), I totally understand that -
May I ask? Are you disassociated or disfellowshipped?
Oh, VERY disfellowshipped, dear one!
If so, has your family also left the Organization? Is your family intact today?
As to those who were in, yes... and yes. In fact, we are very close. The majority of my family were never in, though. However, I went through a very similar experience when I went in. My father was the son of a Baptist minister and so wouldn't speak to me for some time. My mother's family is "devout Lutheran" (my grandfather's words) and so I was told by my grandfather (who I didn't really even know all that well but convened the entire family a few years after my mother's funeral for this purpose)... and two aunts... that if I joined the Witnesses I would be disowned by that side of my family. And I was. Horribly so - omigosh, I didn't know "family" would even DO that! But... I considered the loss theirs, not mine. I have recently reconnected with a cousin... after 15 years... because I am not longer in the WTBTS. Prior to, she wouldn't have much to do with me. Ah, well, what can you do?
If so, how did you accomplish this?
In all honesty... I asked my Lord to show them what he showed me. I mean, he could do it SO much more better than I could, right? And so he did. My daughter about 3 years ago; my son, last year. That's all of the family I have, actually... any more. Other than the "devout Lutherans" that disowned me. One aunt recently reassured me "You know, I really do love you". And I guess she does, in her own way.
My children say, however, that it is because I always "walked" the "talk". Even in the Borg. They said that when my Lord came to THEM... they understood what he was saying because they had seen me live what he was now telling them. I admit, I've tried with all my might NOT to be a hypocrite... before, during, and since being in the Borg. I still try now. Because the ONLY thing that I'd ever read that my Lord condemned... was blasphemy against the Holy Spirit... and hypocrisy (leaven).
So, I've learned that one must LIVE the truth, dear BXJW... in order to be able to tell others about it/him. To that end, one verse that ALWAYS stood out to me... before, during, and since coming out of the Borg is:
"When [Jesus] saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, 'Here is a true Israelite, in whom there is nothing false.'"John 1:48
Thus, when I began to hear my Lord [again]... I did not hide it from the Borg. I didn't go around announcing it, but I didn't deny it... either when asked... or when the bread and wine was passed to me. I openly ACKNOWLEDGED... what virtually everyone here knows about themselves... but for some reason (the brainwashing of the WTBTS to the contrary!) are unwilling to admit: that I AM... a child of God. I did so because I feared hurting GOD'S feelings (by rejecting His King, Christ)... MUCH more than I feared what those I love would think of me. Why? Because I KNEW I could have a part in them being granted life... IF I acknowledged who I was. But that I couldn't help them... or they me... if none of us did.
And because I DIDN'T want to be like fleshly Israel... and reject the very king that the Most Holy One of Israel, JAH of Armies, had personally chosen for ME: His Son and Christ, the Holy One of Israel and Holy Spirit... my Lord and King... JAHESHUA MISCHAJAH. That One gave his LIFE for me... and my household... so that if I ate his flesh and drank his blood... I could receive everlasting life. They... have denied him... utterly... by saying one can come before the Most Holy One of Israel by going through THEM... rather than through HIM... and by telling some, indeed MOST... that they can't even enter into the Covenant that he gave his life FOR!
I am greatly saddened... and so is my Father and my Lord... that there are so many... indeed, here is THIS place... who know who they are... but are afraid to openly admit it... indeed, GRAB HOLD of their "inheritance"... because that FALSE CHRIST... and FALSE PROPHET... has set up a "system"... that will utterly persecute them for it. Even though we were TOLD that they would do so. So many... have forgotten that. And in forgetting that... have forgotten their Lord and High Priest... and worse, their own Father.
May that not always be the case. Rather, may ALL of Israel... and those who go with them HEAR... when the Spirit and the Bride say:
"COME! Take LIFE'S WATER... FREE!"
Again, I bid you peace!
A slave of Christ,
SA