C
Cursilista
Guest
I was married to a JW for 15 yrs. I studied with their elders for 3 yrs. I never gave up my Catholic beliefs throughout that whole time. The approach I would take is to show her and her family in the bible where it says that a wife should be submissive to her husband , that he is the leader of the family in the faith. Therefore, if she is to be your wife, she should submit to your headship of the family. Now on your part, you need to prepare yourself in the apologetics of the catholic faith. The JW’s have a systematic program for indoctrination. In their thinking, there is an answer for everything and their books and writings are very easy to reference any topic. You will need to know the Catholic answers to these questions or topics.
I will tell you from my experience, it was a very difficult existence. There was no celebrating Christmas, Birthdays, Holidays of any kind. They would not stand for the national anthem at football games, etc etc. They will not give your Catholic faith any dignity in fact they will ridicule the catholic church. If you question their faith or dont accept what they tell you about their faith as fact , you are ostracized.
The straw that broke the camels back was when i questioned their belief that Jesus Christ was actually Michael the Arch Angel. I read every reference they guided me to. In the end i said that while God did send Michael to each to perform many task, the passages in no way show that Jesus was the arch angel, it was just a prepostion on their part to make the connection. After that the elder made some kind of statement about wasting their pearls on swine , he walked out and ive never spoken with him again. They also dont believe in the Trinity.
They very seldom socially associate with anyone outside of their faith to keep members from straying I guess. My entire social life was surrounded by JW’s. They kept hoping i would convert , but they knew i was too steeped in my Catholic faith. Within the JW society there is a lot of pressure applied to their members. If your GF shows any wavering in the JW faith, she will be ostracized by her own family. I mean they will not even speak to her. I seen it myself. JW’s will walk into the house , speak to the children and not speak to the one ostracized. Your GF is very aware of this and is afraid of being ostracized. I promise you that if you assert your Fatih headship of the family and propose that your GF/wife begin studying the Catholic faith, she will choose her family and friends over you. It is a very closed society.
My observations of the JW organization. It is a book publishing empire. Members of the JW’s are required to purchase magazines that are to be distributed door to door. Each member has allocations they are required to meet. Each week, members are called to report how many magazines they bought and how many they placed in homes. If they’re numbers are down, they are chastized for not doing enough. They are required to go door to door and have to schedule themselves for these sales appointments( i call them). If they find someone interested in talking to them , they set up more appointments and then push books on them. My house was full of books. To meet requirements of purchases, JW’s will just purchase them to keep the heat off their backs. We had cases and cases of magazines, bibles, and other books they publish. They set your contribution to the church and the amount of litature your are required to purchase by your income. The supposed height of your volunteerism in the faith is to go live up in New York state where the printing company is located, live in dormotory conditions and work for free at the publishing company. There is a small group of elders/editors who live there and run the whole church and decide what is in their publications.
I can promise you this. Trying to convert your GF to the Catholic faith will require her love for you to be greater than her love for her family. She knows that if she follows your headship into the CC, her family will disown her. Know this going in. Your existence with her as a Catholic, will be one of giving up your beliefs and traditions. My first year of marriage, I brought home a Christmas tree to put up for the family. I got so much grief over it. The tree remained up, they would not even go into that room, the kids were told not to help me with the decorations or they would be punished. My wife made sure I would be so miserable about it that i would never get a tree again for christmas. Other JW’s would not set foot in the house at all while the tree was up. I was under the illusion that i would be able to still celebrate what i believe in but i was wrong. The only church you will be able to attend together will be her church, not yours. I went to church alone for 15 years. I couldnt receive communion for 15 years because my wife , who was married as a catholic would not go through the annulement proceedings so we could have our marriage blessed in the church. She would not do anything associated with the CC. So i was held hostage by her and her faith. This was a very difficult time for me.
I will pray for you and your situation. Only prayer will help you through this difficult decision. I suggest you throw a few trials out there before you make your decision. Now i wasnt told the truth when i questioned my wife and the elders before i got married. I was under the impression that we would both support each other in our faiths but it was one sided. Try and think of all the issues that could arise from being of two faiths and ask your GF and her family how they would react. For instance, will she be allowed to study the CC with you and at bible studies, will she be able to attend mass with you. How will the children be raised, etc etc. You will get a picture of how your life together with her will be. Then it is up to you how you want to live your life.
I will tell you from my experience, it was a very difficult existence. There was no celebrating Christmas, Birthdays, Holidays of any kind. They would not stand for the national anthem at football games, etc etc. They will not give your Catholic faith any dignity in fact they will ridicule the catholic church. If you question their faith or dont accept what they tell you about their faith as fact , you are ostracized.
The straw that broke the camels back was when i questioned their belief that Jesus Christ was actually Michael the Arch Angel. I read every reference they guided me to. In the end i said that while God did send Michael to each to perform many task, the passages in no way show that Jesus was the arch angel, it was just a prepostion on their part to make the connection. After that the elder made some kind of statement about wasting their pearls on swine , he walked out and ive never spoken with him again. They also dont believe in the Trinity.
They very seldom socially associate with anyone outside of their faith to keep members from straying I guess. My entire social life was surrounded by JW’s. They kept hoping i would convert , but they knew i was too steeped in my Catholic faith. Within the JW society there is a lot of pressure applied to their members. If your GF shows any wavering in the JW faith, she will be ostracized by her own family. I mean they will not even speak to her. I seen it myself. JW’s will walk into the house , speak to the children and not speak to the one ostracized. Your GF is very aware of this and is afraid of being ostracized. I promise you that if you assert your Fatih headship of the family and propose that your GF/wife begin studying the Catholic faith, she will choose her family and friends over you. It is a very closed society.
My observations of the JW organization. It is a book publishing empire. Members of the JW’s are required to purchase magazines that are to be distributed door to door. Each member has allocations they are required to meet. Each week, members are called to report how many magazines they bought and how many they placed in homes. If they’re numbers are down, they are chastized for not doing enough. They are required to go door to door and have to schedule themselves for these sales appointments( i call them). If they find someone interested in talking to them , they set up more appointments and then push books on them. My house was full of books. To meet requirements of purchases, JW’s will just purchase them to keep the heat off their backs. We had cases and cases of magazines, bibles, and other books they publish. They set your contribution to the church and the amount of litature your are required to purchase by your income. The supposed height of your volunteerism in the faith is to go live up in New York state where the printing company is located, live in dormotory conditions and work for free at the publishing company. There is a small group of elders/editors who live there and run the whole church and decide what is in their publications.
I can promise you this. Trying to convert your GF to the Catholic faith will require her love for you to be greater than her love for her family. She knows that if she follows your headship into the CC, her family will disown her. Know this going in. Your existence with her as a Catholic, will be one of giving up your beliefs and traditions. My first year of marriage, I brought home a Christmas tree to put up for the family. I got so much grief over it. The tree remained up, they would not even go into that room, the kids were told not to help me with the decorations or they would be punished. My wife made sure I would be so miserable about it that i would never get a tree again for christmas. Other JW’s would not set foot in the house at all while the tree was up. I was under the illusion that i would be able to still celebrate what i believe in but i was wrong. The only church you will be able to attend together will be her church, not yours. I went to church alone for 15 years. I couldnt receive communion for 15 years because my wife , who was married as a catholic would not go through the annulement proceedings so we could have our marriage blessed in the church. She would not do anything associated with the CC. So i was held hostage by her and her faith. This was a very difficult time for me.
I will pray for you and your situation. Only prayer will help you through this difficult decision. I suggest you throw a few trials out there before you make your decision. Now i wasnt told the truth when i questioned my wife and the elders before i got married. I was under the impression that we would both support each other in our faiths but it was one sided. Try and think of all the issues that could arise from being of two faiths and ask your GF and her family how they would react. For instance, will she be allowed to study the CC with you and at bible studies, will she be able to attend mass with you. How will the children be raised, etc etc. You will get a picture of how your life together with her will be. Then it is up to you how you want to live your life.
