Hi Lisa,
It is always interesting to compare the interaction with you and your parents with that of me with mine.
My parents just sent me a check for $5000. Astonishing. They are afraid of the chance that they might end up having a stroke or some other severe medical problem and lose all their money before they can will it to my brother and I. My dad is still sharp at age 79.
I was quite pleased that they did this, more because of the thought process behind it than the actual money itself.
I have not and will not raise the Dateline subject with them. They have given their life willingly to the Watchtower and they are content with that even though they admit that they have been disappointed by some things the society has said and done.
We talked about college and how I am now going back to school because it is so hard to find a decent job without a degree and how my brother is also struggling without an education. We talked about how the society used to discourage an education and how now witness children freely go. We agreed that it was because they thought the end was so close in the mid 70s. We disagreed on whether the society was to blame for this or whether it was just an honest mistake.
My parents use a completely different approach to the situation than yours do. They firmly keep to their faith. It means everything to them. They don't argue points with me anymore though. They understand my position on things and simply hope that my position will change.
Clearly, our parents have a great deal invested in "the truth". Whenever anyone has a great deal of investments in anything, be it a philosophy, a job, a home, a stock, etc, they tend to have a bigger emotional response.
The Watchtower wants this large emotional investment. That is how they keep things going in spite of scandal, falsities, etc. They get people to invest their own souls into "the truth." Remember the song, Make the Truth your Own. That is exactly what they want. People stop seeing the "truth" or the "society" as something separate from themselves, but rather, have such a personal investment, that insulting the "truth" is like insulting them or their children.
It does no good to argue it. We have lost our parents as far as them being free people. They are emotional slaves. My recommendation is to pity them and not fight them. Think of them as wounded animals that need help but when you try to help them, they bite and scratch and fight you. That is what they are. They are wounded animals with their foot caught in the Watchtower trap and too old to fight their way free and even if they did they would have to go through the remainder of their life crippled and in pain.
Peace and hugs my sister.
Joel