Javier,
Thank you for clarifying your purpose on your last post, and defending our Catholic faith from attacks by the JWs. I saw my own flesh and blood doing the same thing: regurgitating the lies they are fed at the Kingdom Hall.
It has taken me a years to understand what exactly the Watchtower (WT) is. The reason it took me years to understand the WT is because, I did not know my Catholic Faith and because I did not practice it. As adults, It is not enough to go rely on the basic catechism we received as kids.
Please consider what I am about to share with you about my experiences with the JWs. To help your bother and sister out of the WT, lets look at this clinically. Lets perform an “autopsy” as to why they fell away from the Church the Christ founded. Mt 16. These are just some of the questions you should answer to put things into perspective.
Were your parents praciticing Catholics?
Let me add a general comment here: Like most Latino families that immigrated to this blessed country, most of our parents had a marginal knowledge of the Catholic Faith. What do I mean by marginal? I mean, that they did not have a deep intellectual (educational) understanding of the Church. They had a much deeper spiritual relationship with God and the Church. The evidence of that this was and is more than enough is reflected in the fact that Mexico is still 97% Catholic and has produced more that its share of Martyrs for Christ. More evidence of this is reflected in the will of our people to cling to our Church despite corrupt government leaders, wars of independence against Spain and France, internal revolutions, and out right pursecution during the Cristero Rebellion in the late 1920s.
Sure, we saw our parents and grandparents, recite the rosary and go to mass faithfully, but somewhere, we, the first or second generation, lost our spiritual bearings once we encountered a different language, morality, customs, music and all sorts of other stimuli that can detract from our purpose in life.
When our parents, grandparents, lived in the old country, life was not as complex as it is today here in the U.S. So, they got by with their level of education, spirituality, and by the pure grace that God provided for them through the Sacraments.
It should have been enough for us too, but our imperfect human nature as it is, tends to lead us into doubt and to sin.
When we begin to doubt God and when we do not make an effort to live our Catholic faith, or when we do not bother to educate ourselves in the Church and the Bible – that is when we can be lead astray from our Catholic and Apostolic Faith.
In time, our ignorance of our Catholic Faith makes us sitting ducks for any JW or any other separated brethern group that happens to be knocking at our doors or attempting to save us.
When you, your brother and sister were growing up, how well did your family practice their faith?
**When your brother and now your sister started to study with the JWs, did they ask you or your parents questions? **
Did they seek or were they provided any answers from your parents, priests or nuns?
Did your bother and sister make any efforts to attend an adult catechism class and/or read the Bible on their own?
**What level of education did your brother and sister receive? High school, college, graduate school? **
Comment: This is important because, in general, the more education a person receives, the likelihood of a person developing and practicing critical thinking increases.
Cults like the WT, do not want their members to use this skill or ability.
While God made us to his likeness, he gave some people the natural ability to think critically without ever stepping inside a classroom. However, God also made some folks with a less ability in this area, and need to exercise their brains to develop this skill.
The cult machinations of the WT are much more sophisticated than most people think. I recommend that you understand the motives that drive a JW to remain in that group.
The WT utilizes a highly evolved series of behavior and thought reform system of rewards and punishments that I will go into latter.
Satan, is a very itelligent dude. He uses our ignorance and weakness to lead us away from the Truth. Just consider all the stimulus that is around us everyday, i.e. 700 cable TV channels, trash television, Jerry Springer, MTV, pornograhpy, cell phones, etc.
Why do you think they joined the JWs?
I hope this is useful. Your brother is Christ.
IHS,
Deltorero
