Are some better off not knowing the truth of the truth?

by EndofMysteries 27 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  EndofMysteries

  I hate my situation. A very close relative is remarried to a man who before becoming a JW was a shady character. He has said if he wasn't a JW, he'd have guns and stuff, always worried about things. He also had made the comment before that (they are in real bad financial situation) how he kind of understands how some people have just had enough and just kill themselves and family. He is also a very hard core extremist jw too, very judgemental.

  Anyway the close relative of mine who is married to him is very hardcore jw too. wants to associate me but can't until i return or go to meetings, etc. So far all my convos have been I don't believe the same, I don't want to ruin their faith so I don't want to go into details why I am doing what I am doing, etc. And that relative is not in the best health, is disabled.

  So on the one hand, if I just let them have it, and if it works no more shunning issues, spell out why I am doing what I am doing, why I don't believe, if they actually listen, I worry him becoming a walking timebomb and a danger. And I worry my close relative, may see their whole life wasted, disabled now, just going from 100% knowing and having a hope to not knowing and unsure about it all could become suicidal.

  It's hard to know what the right thing is in this case.
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  baltar447

  If the JWs hadn't found him, maybe the mormons would have. Or he'd get "saved" by some born agains. The Witnesses don't have a monopoly on people getting religion.
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  baltar447

  Remember it ws him that gave up that lifestyle. Nothing miraculous about it just people making changes using the idea of some higher force a a crutch.
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  Found Sheep

  I think about this on a regular basis. This week an 83 year old JW is visiting and I want to see her. I will not bring up JW anything if she says I can come by. I give it a 50/50 that she will even want to see me. We were real close at one point..... She moved away before my awakening... Learning the TATT was the hardest part of my life. If she is happy why rock the boat. She isn't going to go back to school, find a man, skydive. She is 83 let her die happy.... But then again 83 is not dead, she could enjoy LIFE LIFE that we all enjoy NOW! I've only been alive for 4 years and if I was 83 I'd love that freedom. So what to do? I don't know I'll play it as it comes

  Then I think of the 50somthings do I want to wake them up? I don't know? can I? They have lots of life to live and a mess to clean up once they wake up... it's a hard call
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  diamondiiz

  What if...

  That could have applied to most of us, problem is that many of us would probably not wake up until our time was right to do so. If they are hardcore dubs, there is little you can show them that will change their minds. It's hard to tell what would wake them up, UN, dates, child abuse??? Unless you get it right where it shakes them up, they will dismiss it as from satan, or wts is imperfect, or we have new light,etc.

  Sometimes it takes a series of small discoveries for one to finally wake up to the reality.

  Now, are some better off not knowing? Ya, I think there are those that are old and getting close to their death who might be better off not knowing and enjoy their empty hope of resurrection.

  Many are in bad financial situation because they are JWs, many are depressed because they are JWs, many are in bad marriages because they married a wrong person so what TATT may do for one may not necessarily do for another. There is no simple answer for anything in life including how JWs will react to truth and what course of action will they take if they stop believing.
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  EndofMysteries

  baltar - he made the change, but some changes are because of what one is told by the WT. Many people and many of you made changes or were a different person, and now you are just going by what you think is right. Most of you are unsure and either looking or some become athiest, etc. the point is on that guy himself, since already married, I think his beliefs as a JW are putting a restraint on him, and if it was removed, if their situation gets worse or hopeless he could do something very bad.
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  steve2

  I believe Hitler "tidied" up some of his followers lives and gave them purpose and direction. So? The worst groups in society will always be able to claim that they've done good things ... for at least some of their members.

  But there could be a grain of truth in your otherwise thoughtful question.

  I would find it very hard to work up the motivation to tell an elderly JW that he or she has just wasted their entire life slaving for nothing....But I'd probably also feel the same about approaching an elderly Catholic nun and telling her she's nuts to believe what she believes. or telling an aging Pentecostal that, while he's spent his whole born-again life thinking he was 'speaking in tongues', he was just speaking utter gibberish....the list goes on.

  Live and let live is a good philosophy.
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  cyberjesus

  The person that is interested in finding the truth about the truth...will
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  The Searcher

  @ cyberjesus - 100% right; if people want the truth, they'll dig a bit deeper till they find it!

  @ endof mysteries - You have to exercise a lot of caution; I know exactly how I felt as I progressively found one real Bible truth after another - in a state of shock and bewilderment.

  "How could I not have seen this before" soon changed to, "Why only me, and 7.5 million others can't see this?"

  Now when I attend meetings, I'm 'as cautious as a serpent and innocent as a dove'. I only give clear, truthful, & simple (sometimes subtle) Bible answers, which no 'appointed' man would have the courage/stupidity to come and speak to me about it. If they did, my reply would be, "the authority is the Bible - do you have a problem with that?".

  A wonderful example; I was discussing with a couple (someone else's Bible Study) the Bible example of Ruth.

  I related to them Ruth's background of being a Moabitess - a pagan god worshipper. Then I told them how she wanted to serve Jehovah, and the outcome was that she married a faithful Jew called Boaz, and she became an ancestress of Jesus Christ the Messiah.

  Then I planted the truth seed - I asked them if they thought that Ruth would always be viewed by the other Jews as an 'alien resident', or would she have become fully Jewish and 100% party to the Law Covenant?

  The couple both agreed that to produce the Messiah, she must have been accepted as a full member of God's nation!

  Why can't brothers and sisters see that 'alien residents' at the foot of Mount Sinai, became natural Israelites through their acceptance of the terms and conditions of the Mosaic Law?

  To deny this clear truth, imputes corruption of the Messianic line of Judah thanks to Rahab & Ruth!!
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  never a jw

  I have an idea what "dubs" mean, but it is not precise. Is it an acronym?

  Regarding who should be awaken, the younger the dub the more the responsibillity of us who know the truth to awaken them. My 83 yearl old mother in law who spent her whole life in a 500 inhabitant small town in Mexico and never finished elementary should be left alone. However, regarding my 12 year old son with an IQ of 145 and a heart that you run into once in your lifetime, would be a crime not to wake him up. I will not carry in my conscience the thought that I didn't try everything possible to undo the damage inflicted by a religion that discourages higher education, rejects science and history, controls the minds and lies to 7.5 million honest and innocent people.