We’ve all heard it. A person starts studying with Jehovah’s Witnesses and love what they are learning so much that they can’t stop talking about it. Bubbling with enthusiasm, they spill everything they are learning with their friends and family…or anybody who will listen. Some might listen, most will be mildly annoyed, and on rare occasion it might result in extreme opposition. Bible students sometimes have to be told to curb their enthusiasm, to dial back a notch.
Guess what happens when a person learned the “truth about the truth”? The same thing! A person is bursting with enthusiasm to tell all to those who matter to them the most. Coupled with that, as Jehovah’s Witnesses, it’s been ingrained in us to boldly share what we are learning, especially when the information we have could be potentially life saving and beneficial to the listener. Could TTATT be lifesaving and beneficial? You bet! From medical decisions, to decisions on career, education, marriage, it is a life changing message. We want the people we love to benefit!
Like Jeremiah, such a message can be a fire in the bones and we are unable to endure holding it in. But sometimes people don’t realize the volatile reaction they will received from their loved ones. There will be opposition! And once the genie is out of the bottle, it can never go back. It is a delicate operation, like disarming a bomb. Pull the wrong wire and--boom. There go all your relationships.
Your loved ones have been indoctrinated to immediately report any potentially “apostate” view to the elders. They might even think they are helping you. Pretty soon, you can find yourself on a lone sailboat in the middle of a hurricane.
It is easy to say, “Not my loved one!” Unfortunately, you are not the first one to think that, nor are you the last.
It is not to say that we should not try to help those we care about. But we need to be patient and intelligent how we go about it.