A letter to the Parents (page 2)

Prisca

L,

A great letter, I hope that some of what you have written will stick in your parents' minds and maybe help them escape the mind control that's keeping them in the Borg.

I am going to send this to my disfellowshipped brother, who still thinks the JW's have the truth. He doesn't have any friends outside the religion and the ones inside have long lost contact. The only people that show an interest in him is the family, who he rejects to a degree because they are Christian's and believe JW's are a Cult. He lives at home still at the age of 31 and is a recluse!

Cheers

Qwerty

blaid

wow.

the most I could come up with was

"This sucks, im done, Later."

lol

teejay

JW parents can be so funny. Who knows what they're going to think of L's letter.

They might get halfway through it, feel cut to their hearts and through tears call their daughter with appeals for her to come home immediately with hopes of a joyful reconciliation. Knowing JW parents like the ones she probably has, I don't see that as a likely scenario.

Instead, I see them as having their hearts weighed down even more than they already were as they realize how far gone their daughter is, how far she's separated herself from their loving god Jehovah, how it's most likely that she really is "lost" forever, destined to be destroyed by Jehovah's own hand at the impending war of Armageddon. In this scenario, maybe their love for her will move them to reach out to do something to help her -- to make one last effort to snatch her from everlasting destruction.

JW parents who willingly turn their backs on their own children (like mine did for thirty years) are a different breed. That said, L probably shouldn't put too much hope in this letter having a positive affect. But you never know. Like I said, JW parents are funny.

One thing the letter *will* do is to help important ideas coalesce in L's own mind, confirming that she's made the right decision about the religion and that moving on to a better life, albeit without the love and support of her parents, is the absolute right thing to do.

Aztec

" A regular pioneer gave an experience of how her car needed $87 in repairs, but she didn?t have any money because she didn?t have a full-time job since she believed Jehovah would always provide for her. She was out in field service one day and as she stepped out of the car, she looked down and what do you think she saw in the gutter? A $100 bill! Everybody around me was ooohing and aaahing about how Jehovah provided this $100 bill to this poor pioneer sister so she could get her car fixed. All I could think was how I don?t know one single person who can afford to lose $100 and be okay with it. Did she take it to the house and try to return it? Of course not. Jehovah gave it to her."

I could relate to so much of this letter it's scary but, the above paragraph cracked me up so much! It's just an indication of how bizarre dubs are in their thinking. I hope one day I have the courage to send my parents a letter like that. Thank you Six for posting it!

~Aztec

willyloman

This poignant, truth-filled letter is an example of exactly why I keep coming back to this board for strength and encouragement. It's "food at the proper time" for those of us who think and feel.

The parents' reaction will depend on how much thinking and feeling they allow themselves to do.

I got a similar letter from my own daughter many years ago. I was furious, of course, and really hurt by it; but I didn't throw it away. I created a manila file with her name on it and tucked it away in a metal cabinet drawer. Over the years, I came to realize she was right. It was just one of many, many building blocks that have combined to free me from what I now realize was mental and emotional enslavement. Today, we have a warm and mature relationship based on unconditional love.

Your friend has a lot of guts, has taken his/her life back, and is an inspiration to us all.

RunningMan

That is one fantastic letter. So much of its contents relate to my own awakening.

simplesally

I don?t believe the scripture in Proverbs about the light getting brighter as the day draws near is applicable in a situation like this. If you read that whole chapter, it?s not talking about being completely wrong on a matter and then when ?the light gets brighter,? believing the exact opposite of what you previously did. It?s talking about a truth that is gradually revealed over time, not a falsehood that becomes a truth later.

Forgot to tell you how hard this point hit me! It never dawned on me about this!!!!! So I highlighted it .........maybe someone else will notice the point for the first time, too.

hemp lover

Just wanted to send a belated thank you to everyone for their kind remarks.

WillyLoman, what you said was very interesting and really gives me hope.
Writing this letter really did help me. I was wallowing in anger and bitterness, but after I got (almost) everything out that I wanted to say, it was easier for me to let go of the negativity more than I ever had before.

I try to remind myself of how brainwashed I was after 30 years. I can?t imagine what it must be like to be in for 60 years, like my parents.

Some of you requested an update as to whether or not I received a response. My mom sent a card that thanked me for the letter and said they would be writing and/or calling me.

Unfortunately, before my parents could respond to the letter, they found out that my mom?s cancer had returned after two years and is now in her lungs. Her doctors have given her a positive forecast and she just started chemo and radiation two weeks ago.

Not to be too macabre, but at least we?re talking to each other again for regular health updates. It was very strange to hear my father?s voice for the first time in two years. Neither of us acknowledged how long it had been since we last spoke, just had a normal conversation like we talk to each other every day. He told me he had been saving his vacation days so they could come to visit their granddaughter and me, but instead he had to use them all driving my mom back and forth to the hospital. That was very unexpected and good to hear (not the hospital driving part, the other thing about coming to visit).

I sent my mom flowers a couple weeks ago, timed (coincidentally [not]) to arrive on my birthday. She must have written to me the second she received them because I got a card two days later which said that she had just returned home from her first chemo treatment and what a lovely surprise it was to find the flowers waiting for her, how she had been thinking about me all day, how it was snowing that day, just as it was 37 years ago in the blizzard of ?67, etc. She went on to reminisce about how she had to ride to the hospital on a snowplow when she was in labor with me (still have the newspaper clipping) and how happy they were to have a little girl. It?s the closest thing to a birthday card I?ve ever received from them.

All that?s happened, including our conversations, in the past month has made me realize that I need to ignore the label the JW religion has given me. It?s THEIR label, not mine. Even after my mom recovers, I?m going to call and talk to them whenever Ihave the urge. I truly feel in my heart that they would never tell me they didn?t want to talk to me once they heard my voice. Guess time will tell on that one...

Anyway, thanks again to everyone for the support you've given me over the last few years (even though you don't know me since I never post).

-L

Love_Truth

Excellent post, that's a keeper! Sums up quite well what's wrong with the JW brand of religion.

If they'd stick with the concrete teachings of salvation, rather than forcing their opinions on the congregations as if God himself said whatever the "society" decides is "food at the proper time", it would be much closer to pleasing God.

But, as it is, like all other religions, it requires putting faith in a mn0made orgamnization, rather than in God's word.

Too bad, JWs, like all other religions, are just another apostacy.

A letter to the Parents