When Your Adolescent Questions Your Faith

by Funchback 7 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • Funchback
    Funchback

    https://www.jw.org/en/publications/magazines/wp20120201/adolescent-questions-faith/

    This article doesn't touch on the topic of what a parent shoud do if their teenager has made an educated decision to stop attending meetings. But, hey...what else do you expect from the Watchtower coporation?

    My highlights (sentences in italics are mine):

    What can you do if your growing child starts to question your faith?
    At least it says YOUR (as in the parents') faith, and not the child's.

    But what if, as he grows, your child loses interest in spiritual things? What if he begins questioning the very faith that he seemed to accept eagerly as a child?

    How you handle your adolescent’s questioning may well determine whether he will choose to draw closer to your faith or pull farther away from it. If you declare war with your adolescent over this issue, you are in for a strenuous battle—a battle that you are almost certain to lose.

    Deceived?

    Myth: Parents who are Jehovah’s Witnesses force their children to follow their faith.

    Fact: Witness parents strive to inculcate love for God in their offspring, just as the Bible commands them to. (Ephesians 6:4) Nevertheless, they realize that when a child becomes an adult, he or she will make a personal choice with regard to worship.—Romans 14:12; Galatians 6:5.

    First, try to discern what factors might be contributing to your adolescent’s view. For example:
    Does he feel lonely and friendless in the Christian congregation?
    Does he lack self-confidence, making it difficult for him to speak up about his faith?
    Does he feel overwhelmed by the responsibility of living up to Christian standards?
    Naturally, it can't possibly be for any other reason. Surely it can't be because he has discovered some of the lies, hypocrisies and cover-ups of the Organization.

    What underlying issue might your adolescent be facing? The best way to find out is to ask him! Be careful, though, not to let the discussion deteriorate into an argument. Instead, follow the admonition of James 1:19: “Be swift about hearing, slow about speaking, slow about wrath.” Be patient with him. Employ “all long-suffering and art of teaching,” just as you would with someone outside the family.

    For example, if your adolescent balks at attending Christian meetings, try to find out if something else is bothering him. But do so with patience. Little good is accomplished by the parent in the following scenario. The italics in the below dialogues are not mine.

    Son: I just don’t like going to meetings anymore.

    Father: [hostile tone] What do you mean you don’t like going?

    Son: I find them boring, that’s all!

    Father: Is that how you feel about God? You find him boring? Well, that’s just too bad! As long as you live under our roof, you’re going with us—whether you like it or not!

    God requires that parents teach their children about him and that children obey their parents. (Ephesians 6:1) However, you want your child to do more than blindly follow your spiritual routine and reluctantly go with you to Christian meetings. If at all possible, you would like his mind and heart to come along too.

    ...consider how the above conversation could have been handled more effectively.

    Son: I just don’t like going to meetings anymore.

    Father: [calmly] Why do you feel that way?

    Son: I find them boring, that’s all!

    Father: Sitting for an hour or two can be boring. What do you find most challenging about it?

    Son: I don’t know. I guess I just feel like I’d rather be somewhere else.

    Father: Is that how your friends feel?

    Son: Well, that’s just it! I don’t have any—at least not anymore. Ever since my best friend moved away, I feel like there’s no one to talk to! Everyone else is having a good time. I feel so left out!

    However, an adolescent might wrestle with such questions as: ‘How do I know that there is a God? Why would a God of love permit evil? How can it be true that God has always existed?’—Psalm 90:2.

    You might feel that such questioning represents a step backward in your adolescent’s faith. In reality, it may well represent a step forward. After all, questioning can be an important aspect of a Christian’s spiritual growth.Acts 17:2, 3.

    Be careful not to force your views on your adolescent. Instead, help him develop his own convictions.

    So, if you are a teen, you think this article might help you, right? It gives the impression that you should be able to tell your JW parents how you really feel. It clearly instructs your JW parents to listen and not get angry, and to be patient. It admits that sitting for an hour or two can be boring (Is sitting for two hours on a beach or at a restaurant or a movie boring? The article intentionally omits the words "at a JW meeting" between 'two' and 'can').

    Then, perhaps showing a sign of progress, the article encourages questioning! It also says parents should not force their views on you. Great news, right?

    But alas, in true JW hypocrisy, the article undoes everything with this conclusion:

    The book Questions Young People Ask—Answers That Work, Volume 1, states: “As long as your adolescent lives under your roof, you have the right to require compliance with a spiritual routine."

  • stuckinarut2
    stuckinarut2

    Oh wow!

    Amazing.

    Yet another example of a Bait and Switch method of answering the "topic".

    As you rightly pointed out, the society fails to address the REAL issue why most leave : That IT IS simply NOT the Truth!

  • The_New_Barrold_Bonds
    The_New_Barrold_Bonds

    JW parents do force their kids to follow their faith.

    I remember my dad gave a talk about child rearing and he straight up said you can require your kids to join the school or enroll as unbaptized publishers.

  • never a jw
    never a jw

    Fact: Witness parents strive to inculcate love for God in their offspring, just as the Bible commands them to. (Ephesians 6:4) Nevertheless, they realize that when a child becomes an adult, he or she will make a personal choice with regard to worship [and be lovingly shunned if they make the wrong choice].—Romans 14:12; Galatians 6:5.

  • freddo
    freddo

    They talk some bollocks don't they?

    How about this possible scenario - d'you think it will ever be on jborg?

    SON: So I looked on jwfacts, double checked all his quotes from our literature and found that what he says they said is 100% true ...

    MENTAL MOM: (Hands over ears) "Lalalalalalalalala! I can't hear you!"

    SON: What's more, Gran told you that you wouldn't go to school "in this system" and she's sat in a wheelchair dribbling as she minds a trolley cart waiting for the end to come like they said in 1914, 1925, WW2, 1975 ... the generation ... "

    MENTAL MOM: (Running screaming from the room) "I can't hear you .... "

    SON: So I won't be coming to any meetings - but I'll get a job and do some college and pay my way and keep your house rules.

    DELUDED DAD: (Thinks: Hmmm my qualifications might get called into question) "Get out now!"

  • Splash
    Splash

    Myth: Parents who are Jehovah’s Witnesses force their children to follow their faith.

    Fact: Witness parents strive to inculcate love for God in their offspring, just as the Bible commands them to. Nevertheless, they realize that when a child becomes an adult, he or she will make a personal choice with regard to worship.

    This is a puff piece for them to reference whenever they find themselves in difficulty because a child has been kicked out the home or forced to get baptised at 10 and now regrets it etc.

    This 'go-to' article will prove that the error was with the parents, not the organisations instructions.

    On the plus side, this is now ammunition young ones can use whenever they feel pressured to go to meetings and are being faced with that exact "while you're under my roof" scenario.

    Hopefully this has just stripped JW parents of their biggest controlling argument.

  • Funchback
    Funchback

    Splash-

    I would agree with what your last sentence, except that even though on the one hand they say, "Parents who are Jehovah’s Witnesses force their children to follow their faith." is a myth, several sentences later they say, on the the other hand, that as long as your adolescent lives under your roof, you have the right to require compliance with a spiritual routine.

    The Watchtower corp. covers itself on all fronts.

  • OneEyedJoe
    OneEyedJoe

    Not only does this force the assumption that any doubts a kid might have are due to some other emotional problem not related to the cult (lack of self confidence, lack of friends, overwhelmed by the Orwellian control christian standards) but they're also reinforcing that if the kids leave it's the parent's fault for not handling their kid's doubts correctly. Again, it couldn't possibly be the cult's fault for being a fraud.

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