Miss my brother, but I just had to send this email to him.

by HayDay 5 Replies latest jw friends

  • HayDay
    HayDay

    thanks for getting back to me.

    I know you may be simply following Bible counsel because it answers questions in ways that are emotionally pleasing and require no verification. People in the Bible days could not comprehend their relationship to the physical world so they invented their own explanations. These explanations tended to be simple, and some were harmful, resulting in religious dogma, which now for example serve as the grounds for you ending our relationship?

    I've personally found belief in a future paradise world often makes it difficult for people to tell the difference between their physical world and their fantasies. We were both raised with long-standing thought patterns that are hard to overcome because they often appeared to serve our interests, and the old ways of thinking are simpler and easier to handle. In a two-valued way of thinking, as in good and bad, right and wrong, love and hate, very little logical analysis is involved. Do you want to live in continued ignorance because of instant answers that you can easily grasp, even when they have no basis in fact? Religions make people feel guilty about natural human inclinations, making them feel dependent on the beliefs for forgiveness. They focus on unresolved human problems of insecurity, shame, fear, and wish fulfillment, and offer hope for a better life in the next world. Life away from religion offers people the tools of reason and knowledge to help build self-reliance and free people from superstitions.

    I know this is hard for you to hear, but I no longer believe in God. I found all the foundations of religion to be rooted in fear and coercion, including Jehovah's Witnesses. If you don't want to see me, I'll have to except that it's your choice. Just make sure it's only you making the choice and not fear of spirits or people telling you what to do. I'm always here, I don't want to change you or tell you what you should do or believe in. I'm just tired of playing social games with people who believe in a deeply unintelligent and tyrannical god. I'm still me, I'm not angry or bitter or broken. I'm just free from dogma and control. I'm happy and loving my life. I know the tone of this email is harsh, but I've had so much emotional pain and misery from you, Mom and Dad. The sad part is you don't even realize what you're doing, or what's making you do it for that matter. You just think that I'm supposed to come crawling back to a Kingdom Hall and tell some Elder that I'm some kind of a spiritually sick person and beg Jehovah for forgiveness. I'm not a nasty horrible person, I don't worship Satan. I just want freedom from illogical fear, and freedom to do what I want to do with my adult life. Mom and Dad forced us to believe what they believed, we didn't have any choice. It's all coercion and actually, geography. If we were born in Saudi Arabia, we would be Muslim. If we were born in Mexico, likely Roman Catholic. We would believe we had a true religion, don't you see that! Our range of thought has been limited by the values our institutions indoctrinated us with. Besides that, you are literally enrolled in a basic obedience class that requires you to be on a life-long guilt trip, no exceptions -have you ever thought about that? Is that what you want your life to be?

    How can anyone have a relationship with God? You can't do anything with him! You'll never have any kind of exchange or real interaction or anything that defines a real human relationship. You can't laugh at a favorite movie with Jehovah, play games, share a meal or give him a hug or anything for that matter. You can only worship him because you perceive him to be more powerful than you, that's it! You are slaving away your life, time, days so you can get the status and power (not to mention death denial) behind that singular and conveniently 'invisible' concept. Over it!

  • Gypsy Sam
    Gypsy Sam

    Great job! I'm working on an email to my family. Useful points.

    The third paragraph should use accept, not except. ;)

  • whathappened
    whathappened

    I agree with you 100%, but I don't think your brother will respond favorably to this message. I was very zealously trying to express these sentiments to my still in daughter and almost alienated her completely. To a hard core JW, these truths you expressed so passionately sound like they came right out of big bad ol Satan's mouth.

    I hope you can resolve this, I really do. Let us know if or how he responds. Everyone is different, you never know.

  • Apognophos
    Apognophos

    Great points, well written. It describes the basic thought process that I had too, as I started to notice that the Witnesses were living in fear and superstition just like many other religious people.

  • CADSkin
    CADSkin

    My friend wrote a letter once to her parents. The only line that I think hit home was something like "Pick a date in the future to call me long after you believe the New System should be here. Is that a year from now...10...20...50. I'll still be here and you can apologize to me then."

  • problemaddict
    problemaddict

    ^^^^Nice

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