You are getting lost in the details - that I do not even have nor do they change the essential facts. Funny that I admitted that I do not have a comprehensive report to give yet you keep asking me comprehensive questions.
I am just trying to understand why you have adversely judged my brotherhood on the hear-say of a few ex JW family members. The devil is in the details so they are important otherwise you are guilty of slander....spreading lies about my brotherhood based on hear-say...and you brought it up...remember?
These one sided stories are a dime a dozen on the net....told by "poor me"
victims of those terrible JW's....but no one tells the other side of the story. That was my only aim....to present the facts and not to just swallow the suggestions made by those who might have an ax to grind and are only telling part of a story.
We all know how easy it is to see the faults in others, but not in ourselves. If you have ever been on the receiving end of an "ex"s" opinion of you, you will know how true that is.
No. I am glad you recall the story of the 10 yo with the guns. That child's mother is my SIL's cousin. I think she is overly permissive as a REACTION to the trauma of being controlled by JW's for years. She admits she is 'a hot mess.'
There are millions of people in the world who are a "hot mess" right now from all kinds of real "trauma", but those who want to complain about being "controlled" by JW's are not telling the whole truth, pure and simple. The old saying was, "you made your bed now you have to lie in it". But these days that is not the case...they just want to change the soiled bedding as if it doesn't matter how it got dirty.
The "bed" when one wishes to become one of Jehovah's Witnesses, is to follow the rules laid out in the scriptures for those who wish to become a disciple of Christ....they are all clear and unambiguous if you know what you are reading. IOW, you cannot contravene any of Christ's teachings and then claim ignorance, because you knew them before you 'signed up'.
Baptism for us is not an empty ritual, nor is it something forced on us...it must come from a willing heart, determined to fight the fleshly inclinations and to become a faithful "soldier of Christ"....we are in a battle and the ones fighting against us are powerful, and will use all means of propaganda to influence others against us....Jesus warned that this would be the case, but he said that good hearts would also hear the message and respond. (John 15:18-21)
If one 'signs up' to be a soldier of any government, do they get to make their own rules? Or are they under the command of their superiors?
Do they get to pick and choose what they will, or will not do? Would Christ expect any less? He didn't say it was a cramped and narrow road for nothing.
We have all heard the stories told by a friend's cousin's sister in law's hairdresser....but more fool us if we listen to such stories and spread them, unless we hear the other side and can make an impartial judgment. Can you make a judgment without hearing what really happened from the other side of your family's story? Maybe what you have heard is selected truth....half truth is actually no truth at all.
Apparently you have bought into their story and its a shame that what was NOT told to you is probably what they don't want known.
How do you solicit sympathy when you brought all of your problems on yourself by ignoring scriptural counsel? Do you know if that is what happened?
It shows his attempt to balance his constraints.
Sorry, but it suggests other things to me. Since when is a High School kid ready for marriage......because he was in a hurry to have sex...?
It is rational to start at the other end of the spectrum. There is trauma. I've observed it first hand from him and several of his family members. and it may take years, if not decades for he and his family to transcend it.
What if the trauma was more about having your cake and eating it too? So many people want to take their mistakes and sweep them under the rug....we don't do that. For God, there is no rug. If you have something to hide, it won't be hidden from Him. Best to tell the whole truth because that is what Jehovah knows already.
Because I know a former JW who is a broken shell of a man who is my granddaughter's father. His aversion for anything to do with religion will negatively affect her spiritual growth and his 3 children's spiritual growth from his 1st marriage.
What if he brought it all on himself because he wanted to do what he wanted, instead of following Christ's teachings? This is what the elders would have told him.....not to follow
their advice, but to follow what God's word says? All the ex's in the world are now watching their governments collapsing under the weight of gross mismanagement of the planet and in every facet of life in general for everyone....they know the truth and it scares the heck out of them because they are not right with God....and by their own choices they have abandoned him in favor of doing their own thing. IF that is the case, any wonder that they are shells of their former selves. Were they shells when they were JW's in good standing? Did their brothers and sisters treat them badly? Or was it only after their defection that they were deemed to be unfit company?
I am his FIL, not an investigator or his psychologist. It is not my job to get the whole story. My job is to support my daughter's family, not grill them for trivial details. Much of what I experienced directly and what he conveyed is accurately shown in the movie Apostasy,
Do you know what apostasy is? The Jews accused Paul of apostasy....but was he guilty? He was, but only to the Jews from their viewpoint.
Do you know the damage that is cause by unsubstantiated gossip? God does, and if we helped to spread it, then what does that say about us?
You don't have to be his psychologist to buy into a sob story. You want to believe him and I now understand your animosity towards JW's, but from the other side I can tell you that we are by no means perfect, but we try harder than most to hold to the teachings and principles of God taught through his son in our everyday lives. It is all God asks of us. When we step outside of those teachings and principles, we are on our own.
