My wife's family have been JWs for generations. We all know that the Watchtower had crazy ideas about health early on and were usually at odds with the medical community. So it's no surprise that my in-laws are big on non-traditional ways of treating ailments.
But for years now the Society has printed articles and preached in assembly talks against applied kinesiology, or muscle testing. So you would think that a good JW would listen to that and fall in line.
But no! My in-laws all continue the practice and insist it has real value. My wife's mother has even used it in the past to answer yes and no questions, which is basically akin to spiritism. A friend of mine compared the practice in general to water witching, which I thought was apt.
To me I think what I'm dealing with here is a stubborn streak in this family to refuse to admit they are wrong. I think it goes deeper than just the usual JW thinking that they are never wrong in their religious beliefs. I think the general "I'm never wrong" attitude has contributed to their staying trapped in the WT but I also think it goes beyond that because what the Society currently teaches about these practices is being completely ignored.
What do you think of all this? Anybody else run into similar situations?