Rejection by a Six Year Old

by CountryGuy 18 Replies latest jw experiences

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  gumby

  pulled out the Great Teacher book and handed it to my nephew. My nephew takes the book, looks at it, looks at my parents, looks at me and then hands it back to the brother. "No thanks. I don't like this

  Well......can ya blame a little kid for not liking a book about a guy who is going to kill every kid except for Jehovah's Witness kids?

  The sad part about this is that this works in reverse too.

  I have to wonder of the mindset of my grankids and if they think" grandpa is bad, he's going to die, he must not love us that much or he would come back to the meetings, he hates jehovah, etc., etc."

  Kids learn from the attitudes of parents besides what they are told. Your nephew said that not from the contents of the book I would assume, but rather from your feelings about the witnesses..........which was good. At least for now the kid knows to stay clear of this group as far as their beliefs.

  Gumby
• 

  CountryGuy

  Country Woman, The brother's jaw kinda dropped open, making him look like a catfish. I bolted before laughter overcame me. I honestly don't think he expected that by any means.

  Gumby, He may have picked up on a few things, I guess. But for the most part, we don't talk about the JWs in front of him. He's kinda the reason my folks are out of the org now. My sister was very rebellious and got pregnant with him in her teens. She was never baptised and unofficially label "bad association" early on. My folks stood by her (as any good parent should do) and didn't much appreciate "visiting" with the elders every weekend for a month, when all they said was the same thing over and over. My folks refuse to talk about it, and that's all I have been able to get out of them. But, you know I thank God every day (in soooo many ways) for that little man!

  I suspect that the reason he refused the book was because he is soooo smart.... Okay, actually, it was probably because it had too many pages with words on them! He doesn't like reading that much, yet.
• 

  Elsewhere

  I wonder if they will be relaying this experience at the next assembly.
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  mizpah

  I'm I the only one that thinks the child should have accepted the gift and said "thank you?" Or we living in an era when all good manners are forgotten? Wouldn't politeness and graciousness be the more important lesson for the child?

  The parents would have had ample opportunity to explain to the child about the man and the book later. But at the moment, the kind and polite thing would have been to show good manners.
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  CountryGuy

  Miz,

  You seem to be implying that my nephew was rude to the brother. I can promise you he wasn't. When he was asked if he would like the book, he said "No thanks." As further proof of good manners, I'd like to point out that he asked permission to leave the table and go play. Refusing a book does not by any means constitute bad manners. If my nephew had been 26, instead of 6, whould it be bad manners for him to decline an offer by saying, "No thank you?"

  The final thing I'd like to point out is that this wasn't really a "gift," it was an offer. An attempt at placing a book. The brother, knowing who we were, would have expected a contribution for the book. So, wouldn't it have been equally rude for my nephew to expect me or my father to pay for a book that he didn't even want?

  Country
• 

  outnfree

  Miz,

  I'm with CountryGuy -- it wasn't a "gift" the brother was offering, it was a "placement." (If it were a gift, he could have wrapped it and mailed it to the youngster, being as the family was well-known and presumably living in the congregation's territory. )

  And, anyway, the Society is constantly reminding publishers just how valuable these spiritual provisions from Jehovah are, and that they are not to leave them with people who do not respect their value. You know, the whole not "casting pearls before swine." If the kid wouldn't READ IT, the brother is not supposed to leave the book -- contribution or not.

  Rest assured, this was about keeping time going and placing another tick in the Books column on this brother's monthly report.

  out
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  mizpah

  Countryguy:

  I stand corrected. If it was not a gift, it was a proper refusal. It's just that we see so much rudeness and carelessness in society today that good manners are often forgotten. But in this case, I see it was not true. I apologize.
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  Tinkerbell4125

  Great story!!!! It's good to know that young boy's life wont be wasted in that horrible cult! Awesome story! I loved it!
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  lovinlife

  You must have wanted to hug and kiss him when he did that!What a good kid!