Jehovah Witness

I had not given this a thought until reading this post. Our DD is married to a JW and in turn a very strong JW family. Her MIL is very manipulative and after my DD and I having a small falling out things ended. We have not seen or heard from her for almost 18 months and now I am wondering if this has been helped along by SIL's family. We have obviously been pushed to one side and there is no going back.

I would have loved to be excluded from assemblies etc, they were awful and I didnt believe any of it, schools nowadays are much more sensitive around children from different religions.

She is no longer your friend sadly.

Years ago I was a volunteer mum at an infant school. There was a little girl in the class from a JW family.
The teacher was very careful to follow the family's wishes and excluded her from anything to do with religion but we were in big trouble at Halloween when we forgot to exclude her from making a cardboard cutout witch.

There was a large family of JW children at the primary school ours went to. They were once given permission to come and play as we had children in the same classes. The children arrived, much excitement all round. The usual garden games, picnic lunch went well but the attempts of these 5 - 9 year olds to convert my children, by talking and showing them the JW literature they'd brought along, not so exciting. Needless to say when we weren't interested in converting, the children weren't allowed to come again

They managed to diddle DH out of a possibleinheritance and also refused to let us have even a keepsake of the deceased. They are crafty.
I have no time for them.

I remember at junior school there was a boy called Jason who had to sit in the classroom alone while the rest of the school attended assembly. Back in those days we had prayers and hymns, so its understandable but he used to look so sad and forlorn.
One of the saddest things to see is a kid who cant accept a party invite or make Christmas crafts. These kids must be so sad!

makes

I met a young JW who had gone blind in her middle childhood years - she said her happiest memory was of a Christmas tree that had been in their home before her parents converted.

I also taught a very musically talented child from a JW family and she was not allowed to join in the singing just in case the word god appeared in any of the songs, as it would not have been on a JW context. She missed so much, as did we all, as she was very talented - she would have had much to share with her peers.

Maked my blood boil to be honest.

springychicken

One of my SILs was brought up a JW. He tells stories of not even being allowed to eat birthday cake that other children brought into school. They didn't celebrate Christmas or birthdays and he didn't understand why DD was so into both. 13 years and 3 children later he's a convert. In fact he's even more into Christmas and birthdays than DD. Not the religious aspect but the giving and receiving of gifts....especially to the children. He isn't against organised religion but refuses to have his children indoctrinated so there were no baptisms and they don't go to religious schools. He wants them to learn about all faiths and no faith then they can make up their own minds when they're older.

If heaven is full of JWs, do I really want to go there?

What is it with rules?

144,000 believers to get into Heaven after Armageddon...

And Muslim freedom fighters getting 300 virgins (or however many) if they blow themselves up fighting the infidel.

Man-made rules (? figures plucked out of the air) to recruit and control. Bizarre.

MOnica, exactly so. The aim is to isolate, marginalise, ostracise just as other fundamentalist, evangelical, orthodox religious groups do.

One of my relatives greets JW who knock the door with, no thanks, we’re satanists

We have a JW Kingdom Hall in the village. I understand that planning permission included a clause that they would not proslatyse inthe village more than once a year.

Whatever that day is, I am clearly not around. I have only seen them about twice in 24 years.

I used to live close to a JW Kingdom Hall, so had fairly frequent visitors. I used to welcome them in, and offered them refreshments. When they invited me to discuss the Bible, I always agreed enthusiastically and asked if I could use my own version. I then pulled a Hebrew Old Testament and a Greek New Testament off the shelf, and corrected them on obscure points of translation and meaning when they discussed individual verses in the JW translation of the Bible. There are advantages to having studied Theology! If I wanted them to leave, I invited them to pray with me - JWs are not allowed to pray with non-believers, so they would make their excuses and leave.

They enjoyed the discussion, they were nice people, and I never felt any need to be unpleasant. One woman became a friend, and we just agreed not to discuss religion when we met.

When my friend was trying to convert me, I found that she sneakily tried to find ways to put down the (Anglican Church) and also tried to twist what the bible says.

. I did some reading about the JW beliefs and was even less impressed. Said friend also was attending a Mormon Church so I realised she was quite muddled about the whole thing.

Socialising IS out, but not "evangelising"- they ALL have to do two hours of that a week. It used to be knocking on doors, but these days it can be standing on the street corner or having coffee with a non JW who they have set as their target convert.

BBbevan

I have just watched the film 'Apostasy' about the JW. Learnt things I didn't know. A very unforgiving religion. Just politely say No to your friend. If she persists you will have to consider your friendship again

It certainly is!?
To the OP I would say you need to be firm with your friend and tell her outright that you won’t be discussing religion and will never join the JW’s ....and if she doesn’t keep to it then you can’t continue a friendship.The ball is in her court then.

I think the heinous part of all these sects is the way they use ostracisation to stop defections.

'If you leave your parents/children/all your friends will never speak to you again'

In fact people are cut off from their whole lives because when joining any sect, one of the first things you have to do is cut yourself off from all non-believers in your life, whether family,or friends. Work socialising will be out and often members work within the sect or in businesses run by sect members.

M0nica, I have two stock responses for unwanted callers at the door.
For JWs, I make no effort to answer the open question (that they always ask as soon as the door opens) but say I’m not interested and don’t wish to discuss it thank you ‘ . If they persist with another question, I say ‘I don’t wish to discuss that either ‘.
For all other callers ‘I only rent this house ‘ does the trick.

The date of Armageddon has come and gone many times. There's always a reason found to explain this to the cult followers.

I think disfellowshipping is most savage, even though it can bring heartache to both sides of a family. It must be terrible to be the subject of so much brainwashing that they are scared to do anything that would bring the wrath of the elders and other members down on them.

Those in the JW's or any other zealous group are incapable of seeing what those outside do. Those that find the courage leave have much to process because of the indoctrination.

What I don't get is that if JW believe only 150,000 will enter heaven....well haven't that reached number time and time again?

that used to work, but i'm not sure it doe now.
they have a big following in ireland and eastern european countries.
i wonder if the people who join feel that the catholic religion has become too easy, compared with the strict discipline of old, eg fasting etc.
i think a lot of these groups appeal to people with a particular personality. they like to be clearly told what to do, in every detail of life. it seems like a form of arrested development to me, or moral delegation.

Whenever the JW come to their door, I smile pleasantly and say 'we are a catholic family', which is not entirely true, DH is agnostic, although I am a catholic. However I have heard DH say exactly the same thing if he has opened the door to them.

However saying, 'we are a catholic family' has the same effect as I understand holding up garlic to vampire does and they just melt away. So I recommend it to others, regardless of their religious persuasion and, indeed, also to those of no religious beliefs at all.

they not them.