Jehovah's Witness now Catholic

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A friend used to be Jehovah’s Witness and is now Catholic. He is being shunned by his parents. Should I encourage him to try and stay in touch, at least by letter? Seems like he should keep them informed as to where he is (he is in the military) to follow the ‘honor your father and mother’ commandment, even if he gets no response. Or will they get in more trouble with the congregation and his sending a letter is not an act of charity. Any ideas?
 
To me this seems a sticky predicament. Pray for him and his parents and advise him to pray for them. I would advise him to send the letter since they still will want to know what he is doing.
 
Thanks, that is my first inclination also. He should continue to be kind, pray for them and try to love them away from the JW. He told me this would happen, but I didn’t really believe him. He was right. very sad, but he is strong.
 
If they stay in touch they’ll always be trying to evangelize him.
 
And he can strengthen his faith. From personal experience nothing strengthens belief or anything like an adversary to challenge your beliefs.
 
Your friend has a military chaplain who can advise him correctly on the action he should take. I would go there.
 
mariadevotee said:
A friend used to be Jehovah’s Witness and is now Catholic. He is being shunned by his parents. Should I encourage him to try and stay in touch, at least by letter? Seems like he should keep them informed as to where he is (he is in the military) to follow the ‘honor your father and mother’ commandment, even if he gets no response. Or will they get in more trouble with the congregation and his sending a letter is not an act of charity. Any ideas?
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As a parent, I cannot even imagine “shunning” one of my children. Having said that, I know it does happen, but I cannot imagine that your friends parents do not lay in bed at night and wonder about their child. I would certainly think it would be right, in the eyes of God, if not the Watchtower Society, to let his parents know how he is doing. The fact that they are violating God’s law by basically abandioning their own child does not mean that your friend should not keep God’s law by not honoring his parents.
 
IF the family is JW & Parents leave to become Catholic, how do adult children SHUN parents and obey the commandment to “Honor thy Father and thy Mother” at the same time?
:banghead: :hypno:
 
JWs shun because abandoning their beliefs means “abandoning the truth, especially since they had it.” And, to them, that merits being shunned and disfellowshipped.

He’ll have to be strong to stay in touch with such antagonistic attitudes. Replying to the letters is up to the parents. From what I know, they could get in trouble by keeping in touch with a disfellowshipped member since it’s mandated that they ignore them. Still, it’s charitable if he honors his father and mother by trying the mend the fence (so to speak)

Hope they reconcile somehow 😦 It’s tough if a family’s separated like that.
 
mariadevotee said:
A friend used to be Jehovah’s Witness and is now Catholic. He is being shunned by his parents. Should I encourage him to try and stay in touch, at least by letter? Seems like he should keep them informed as to where he is (he is in the military) to follow the ‘honor your father and mother’ commandment, even if he gets no response. Or will they get in more trouble with the congregation and his sending a letter is not an act of charity. Any ideas?
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My suggestion would be for your friend to go out of his way to spread the gospel of charity and love. He should have opportunity to express these virtues to his parents even as they shun him. Isn’t this what Jesus would do? 👍

I have not shunned by my JW family (because I’ve never been a JW) but it may seem to them that I am shunning them as I avoid most social contact. But I am always open to provide prayer and works of mercy whenever the opportunity presents its self.

Peace brother!!!
 
Rivii said:
JWs shun because abandoning their beliefs means “abandoning the truth, especially since they had it.” And, to them, that merits being shunned and disfellowshipped.

He’ll have to be strong to stay in touch with such antagonistic attitudes. Replying to the letters is up to the parents. From what I know, they could get in trouble by keeping in touch with a disfellowshipped member since it’s mandated that they ignore them. Still, it’s charitable if he honors his father and mother by trying the mend the fence (so to speak)

Hope they reconcile somehow 😦 It’s tough if a family’s separated like that.
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Actually, it depends on the congregation elders of the Kingdom Hall the parents attend. Some look the other way with parents and children or spouses. Some factors to consider are whether or not he was baptized…if he was baptized did he “disassociate” or was he disfellowshipped?
 
mariadevotee said:
A friend used to be Jehovah’s Witness and is now Catholic. He is being shunned by his parents. Should I encourage him to try and stay in touch, at least by letter? Seems like he should keep them informed as to where he is (he is in the military) to follow the ‘honor your father and mother’ commandment, even if he gets no response. Or will they get in more trouble with the congregation and his sending a letter is not an act of charity. Any ideas?
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From what I understand, JW’s are required to shun those who convert away. His parents could potentially be kicked out themselves for refusing to.

Still, it seems a good thing to try his best to keep in touch with his parents - write them letters every so often, even if they don’t write back. If nothing else, it might crack the parents’ resolve. I don’t know how they could get in trouble with the congregation for him writing them letters. It’s not like they have the ability to stop him.
 
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