Hello everyone. I've been lurking on this forum and previously on the old H20 for a long time now. And have probably read every word that's appeared on Randy's site too.
Finally decided it was rude to enjoy all your insights without at least introducing myself :). And although I've never met you, I feel a great deal of affection for many of the old-timers (H20-wise) like Farkel, Cygnus (where did he go?) and Uncle Bruce as well as for relative newbies like Mommy and Had Enough. So now I feel like an affectionate stalker :I...
As the Brits among you will gather, I live in Black & White-ville in the North-East of England. Anyway, brief history: A few years ago I met a gorgeous chap at a nightclub who later turned out to have some bizarre beliefs (no blood, etc., not to mention believing in God and the Bible), ended up married to him and endured major guilt trips from JW mother-in-law, did my homework on the web(thanks folks) and talked him out of the blood card thing. Fast forward a few years - I'm still bugged for some reason by this JW thing, probably due to the occasional motherly reminders I receive that he loves me so much that he gave up his 'chance' of eternal life for me. Eventually convince him that it's a cult and that we need to get his mother out.
I've been working on this, following Steve Hassan's advice. I've had some support from my husband, but he's now got a very low tolerance threshold when it comes to his mum. Whenever she speaks to him, he just hears a rehashed Watchtower article and it drives him to distraction. They used to be very close, up until his late teens, but the truth about 'the truth' has destroyed any respect he might have had for her. Now he's mostly embarrassed by her, especially as she's quite vocal about her beliefs.
We got it all wrong at first, producing evidence that the Society has lied, and were met with the usual responses - 'it's Satan', 'what are your motives for telling me this?', 'the Society doesn't lie' and, the best yet, when reminded that the Bible doesn't include some JW doctrines, 'well, they didn't write everything down'. This one left me open-mouthed, what can you say in response?
So, we've tried to re-establish our relationship by organising family outings and now she's sent me the 'Creator' book as a thank you for the last excursion. She's not keen on discussing the Bible any more, ever since she discovered that I can out-proof text her. So, what do you think should be the next step? There are so many errors in this book, I don't know where to begin. All advice gratefully received.
I've rambled on too long already. Thanks for listening. Just one last thing. Whilst trying to prove the dishonesty of the WT, I learned a lot about God and the Bible and 2 years ago I was zapped by the Holy Spirit. So my poor husband now has a born again Christian wife to contend with as well. He likes to take the mickey out of me, especially as I was once so incredulous that he could believe all that mad God stuff. 'Oh yeah', he'll say, 'it's all different now that Jesus wants you for a ...
Sunbeam
xxx
Of course, it's very nice that I've had a spiritual experience but I'm still destined to die at Armageddon because my 'organisation' won't tell me to be a pacifist.
(Sigh)