Elder to visit me this Saturday to invite for the memorial

by EverApostate 30 Replies latest jw experiences

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  EverApostate

  Just a brief History of me. Me and my wife got baptized into the JW cult in 1997. We were both Protestants before and in fact it was me who dragged her into the cult.

  During 2009, another JW friend of mine raised suspicions about his research on the Blood and 607 BC theories. It happened that I found TTATT and stopped going to meetings in 2010. By 2011, I submitted my dissociation letter to the Cult and had never turned back. Am a hard core atheist now. What else ?

  Every now and then I try to sow seeds of truth to my wife about TTATT. But she shuts down as Usual as a cult member.

  Today she said that an elder in her congregation likes to visit me this Saturday , to invite me for the memorial. I gladly said yes, because this is the only chance to discuss TTATT in her presence as she too would accompany the elder’s conversation with me.

  I am planning to start off with John 6:54 where Jesus says that everyone should partake in the Emblems. Then I plan to move on to Blood Issues, UNO, and those whole bunches of WT non senses and Flip Flops.

  I already have a few visits during the past years like this where the elders came to visit me to revive me and it all had been lengthy conversations. I am confidant that I may have sowed seeds of doubts in their minds.

  Any advises to me as to what I can discuss this time?
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  jookbeard

  I'd start with the huge child abuse epidemic, mention Silentlambs, ongoing court cases and the huge list of convictions, the rest you mention is important also, give them as much info as you possibly can.
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  OneEyedJoe

  If your goal here is to plant seeds with your wife, then you should tailor what you talk about to what she'd most likely care about, not to what you care about. Maybe you woke up because of the blood issue, but maybe that doesn't really resonate with her. Think about her personality (especially before she joined the cult) and what she cares about. Think about what sorts of things get her emotional - does she well up at a movie when a child is injured? If so maybe talk about the issues with child abuse. Does she get passionate about nature and animals? Maybe you could talk about the misquotes/lies in the creation book.

  The point is that you have to know what makes her tick and what her tie to the cult is. If she's in the cult for the social stuff, then you have to demonstrate that the cult's rules aren't healthy for people to live by and that they're not happier than non-cultists. I think that was why I failed to wake up my exwife - she was emotional and I was logical and I found it difficult to get on the same wavelength as her to make points that'd resonate with her, and if you take too long to do that, the walls go up and nothing you say will have any impact.
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  EverApostate

  jookbeard and OneEyedJoe Sure will do.
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  joe134cd

  I think talking doctrine is too general. The sex abuse thing is more deffinant. It was done and here's the proof. Have the findings of the RAC printed off in hard copy with relevant parts highlighted - especially GEOFERY Jackson. Have a good knowledge of what is contained in it. So you can answer questions like. That is an apostate driven lie / imperfect / they never did that. That elder needs to know that JWs were on the same level as the catholic church in dealing with abuse and are reacting the same way. Btw good luck.
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  EverApostate

  joe134cd, Is there a Youtube link for GEOFERY Jackson Confession with the ARC. Or a link for any documentation ?
  
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  DesirousOfChange

  If your goal here is to plant seeds with your wife, then you should tailor what you talk about to what she'd most likely care about, not to what you care about.

  I agree with that statement.

  Also, stick to just a couple of topics, otherwise you'll look like you're attacking everything about the Borg.

  Finally, you will get more discussion time and you will come off looking better to your wife if you fake "sincere" interest and concern about the issues you have discovered. DO NOT let it be seen that you were researching apostate sites!!! Instead, have it that someone from work gave you info on the disturbing subject and you were trying to determine how to reply to it. Put the monkey on their back (elder & your wife) to help you to understand these disturbing issues that have stumbled you.

  Good luck!

  Doc
  
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  HoodwinkedToo

  Here you go: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=erWV8YnTFto
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  EverApostate

  Thank you HoodwinkedToo. Is there any particular part on this Video which I could point out. Sorry I didn't watch this yet.
• 

  Giordano

  In my personal opinion this is the issue. Jesus taught the 2 witness rule which he applied to adults. But he also said 'do not hinder the children coming to me.'

  The WTBT Society seems to think that child sexual abuse is a sin and not a dangerous crime. On the other hand a JW or an Elder working late at a KH hears a window being smashed is not going to wait around for another witness (no pun intended) to show up before he calls the police.

  Of the 1006 recorded cases in Australia not a single one was reported to the authorities even when they had two witnesses to the crime.

  Thankfully if you Google Jehovah's Witnesses pedophile problem you will find non apostate news reports.

  Now, a royal commission in Australia has found the church demonstrated a “serious failure” to protect children from the risk of sexual abuse and relied on outdated policies and practices to respond to such allegations.
  A 107-page-long report released Monday detailed a number of ancient policies that exhibited what the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse referred to as a “serious lack of understanding of the nature of child sexual abuse.”
  One such practice, derived from scripture, requires church elders investigating incidents to secure a confession from the person accused or the testimony of two “credible” witnesses to the same incident, two witnesses to separate incidents of the same kind, or strong circumstantial evidence testified to by at least two witnesses. The accuser also has to justify his or her allegations to church elders, often in front of the alleged perpetrator.
  The commission’s findings were based on a close examination of the allegations — which averaged one a month for 65 years and were recorded in sealed files along with the church’s responses — along with the findings of a 2015 public hearing.
  The report found that the Jehovah’s Witness organization’s internal system for responding to complaints of child sexual abuse was not child or survivor focused, “in that it is presided over by males and offers a survivor little or no choice about how their complaint is addressed.” READ MORE
  https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2016/11/28/australian-jehovahs-witnesses-protected-over-a-thousand-members-accused-of-child-abuse-report-says/