I have only been visiting here a couple weeks... but i wanted to say thank you to everyone. I read threads here on my breaks from work or late @ night... and you guys have finally given me the push i need to read a book i bought 5 years ago... crisis of conscience. i have mostly grown beyond the whole jw thing except that my pops is still there... he doesnt shun me and doesnt preach to my kids and i respect him for that... i just hold hope that i can find something to help him get out... (he does the same hoping me and my bros/sis will come back) ... all informative stuff here... and im enjoying the book i should have read along time ago… so many thanks to you all!
Thanks JWN
by thinking_not_believing 6 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
Phizzy
Welcome ! if I haven't already said it, if I have, Welcome yet again, and love your screen name ! it sums up what I say my position is "No beliefs, just trust that facts are true".
As to your dear Pops and his position, I would not be in too much of a hurry, when I first learned TTATT I tried hard with all my JW relatives that would listen, but in the end I decided to back off with a few of them, especially those who are getting along in years and have given their whole life to the W.T, some of them I reckon would whither and die if they left, they simply do not have the strength of character to handle it.
Having said that, if you do try and you think it is best for him, then Good Luck! I wish you success, but take that one step at a time, don't overload the poor guy.
-
panhandlegirl
but in the end I decided to back off with a few of them, especially those who are getting along in years and have given their whole life to the W.T, some of them I reckon would whither and die if they left, they simply do not have the strength of character to handle it.
thinking_not_believing, Welcome to the JWN, Just wanted to say that I agree with what Phizzy said above. As long as you have a relationship with your pop, keep it. Just take it slow as you continue on your journey away from clutches of the WTBS.
PHG
-
thinking_not_believing
thanks for your comments! for me it has been nearly 10 years of awakening and like 8 since i let them df me... a few years ago my dad asked me to come over becsuse he heard i was apostate. I told him that i'm not sure exactly what he meant by spostate (but i knew that i was) ... but what i really was, was an aetheist. I hate religion and i explained to him that it was the same view he had. The greeks had their gods zeus and hades etc... All religions tha ever existed have gods and we are able to view those as myths... He agreed. I told him the god of the old testament was the jewish god and the new testsament was the christian god both of whom i accept as myths... so i lump jws in with everyone and do not attack them like an "apostate" i guess would... He was concerned at that time for my four younger siblings (all who faded) and i assured him i tell them nothing more than to go attend meetings, read the WT and the bible... then sit back snd think if it relly made sense to them. So they were able to see for themselves and i still hold hope that someday he will too! But he was converted at 25 from a bad path of drugs and violence so im sure he attritubes his change to jehovah and that is what keeps him therr...
-
cobaltcupcake
It sounds like your father is a reasonable person. You're lucky!
-
Billy the Ex-Bethelite
Hey TNB!
When I faced the "are you apostate?" question from my parents, I used the WT smoke-and-mirrors right back at them about, "Is it 'apostate' to not be able to understand what their latest teaching about 'generation' is? And if I buy their current teaching of 'overlapping generations', but then they change 'generation' to mean 120 years, will I automatically be labelled 'apostate' if I get confused by their changing new light and say 'generation' means only the anointed, like they used to teach?"
WTBTS teachings and prophecies are so screwed up now, that even the "Reasoning" book contains apostate teachings.
-
Vanderhoven7
One or two examples from the Reasoning book (page numbers included) would make a great thread