What is your take on "Jehovah's Witnesses" sect?

[DelsonJacobs]

I wanted to ask a question about this. My FIL has recently made the dive into the JW and he’s being “baptized” at some convention in April. To the end that we’re nothing more than cannon fodder for God’s wrath, should I expect a change in his relationship towards us? He’s said little things here and there, although none to me directly, but there haven’t been any changes in attitudes or behavior, yet.

This is what we would teach newly baptized members:

1. 
   *]Except for household family members (i.e., spouse, children) familial association with non-JWs is to be limited to only the most essential and necessary contact.
   
   *]Friendships are to fostered only among other Jehovah’s Witnesses. Developing friends outside of the religion could result in disciplinary actions and lead to excommunication (disfellowshipping).
   
   *]Witnesses believe that God requires and demands loyalty to the point that one may have to choose what type of limits might be necessary regarding relationships with non-Witnesses within one’s household. While marriage bonds and responsibilities regarding minor children must be respected, if a question of loyalty to the religion over loyalty to any non-believing family member comes up, Witnesses must side with their religion and believers over non-believing family and blood ties. This may call for “shunning” members of their own household or even cutting off all communication with adult children in some circumstances.
   
   In short, expect a marked drop in contact after the baptism. Any less than that could be seen as an act of disloyalty to God’s organization in their eyes and siding with Satan the Devil. There is no in between for them. Friendship with non-Witnesses is friendship with the world to them, and that is synonymous with friendship with the Evil One.

 

[ShanPO]

This is what we would teach newly baptized members:

1. 
   *]Except for household family members (i.e., spouse, children) familial association with non-JWs is to be limited to only the most essential and necessary contact.
   
   *]Friendships are to fostered only among other Jehovah’s Witnesses. Developing friends outside of the religion could result in disciplinary actions and lead to excommunication (disfellowshipping).
   
   *]Witnesses believe that God requires and demands loyalty to the point that one may have to choose what type of limits might be necessary regarding relationships with non-Witnesses within one’s household. While marriage bonds and responsibilities regarding minor children must be respected, if a question of loyalty to the religion over loyalty to any non-believing family member comes up, Witnesses must side with their religion and believers over non-believing family and blood ties. This may call for “shunning” members of their own household or even cutting off all communication with adult children in some circumstances.
   
   In short, expect a marked drop in contact after the baptism. Any less than that could be seen as an act of disloyalty to God’s organization in their eyes and siding with Satan the Devil. There is no in between for them. Friendship with non-Witnesses is friendship with the world to them, and that is synonymous with friendship with the Evil One.

1. 
   That is quite disheartening to hear. So their baptism is when they pretty much have to make the “us or them” call?

 

[Adonia]

We had the misfortune of living next door to these people for seven years. And my take is…if they cannot control you…you are the enemy! Some of the rudest treatment I’ve ever endured by a neighbor was by these people. They used to come out and harass my family to a point that we couldn’t even enjoy our own backyard.

Couldn’t enjoy your own backyard? I would have brought out the stereo and played some music full blast.

 

[DelsonJacobs]

That is quite disheartening to hear. So their baptism is when they pretty much have to make the “us or them” call?

Actually we would teach new members to begin this “selective” association beforehand.

Those who associated with non-JWs a little more than the Governing Body wanted them to could be held back from getting baptized if the elders in the new member’s congregation learned they weren’t in the process of learning to limit their “unnecessary” association. So the process has already begun, but baptism does seal it.

However I should warn you that any attempts made by family members and former friends to get the new members to rethink their baptism will only strengthen the resolve of a new member. The Governing Body uses as “proof” that one has found the true religion any opposition one may encounter on the way to being baptized as a Jehovah’s Witness. Opposition is described as “proof” that the Devil doesn’t want the person to gain entry into the true religion in that Satan will even get “loved ones” to try to convince them otherwise. New members are taught to see such opposition as “solid evidence” that they are on the road to everlasting life in paradise. So if you try to stop them or tell them not to get baptized as a JW now, they will only be too happy to hear that from you as this will solidify their convictions even more.

 

[ShanPO]

Actually we would teach new members to begin this “selective” association beforehand.

Those who associated with non-JWs a little more than the Governing Body wanted them to could be held back from getting baptized if the elders in the new member’s congregation learned they weren’t in the process of learning to limit their “unnecessary” association. So the process has already begun, but baptism does seal it.

However I should warn you that any attempts made by family members and former friends to get the new members to rethink their baptism will only strengthen the resolve of a new member. The Governing Body uses as “proof” that one has found the true religion any opposition one may encounter on the way to being baptized as a Jehovah’s Witness. Opposition is described as “proof” that the Devil doesn’t want the person to gain entry into the true religion in that Satan will even get “loved ones” to try to convince them otherwise. New members are taught to see such opposition as “solid evidence” that they are on the road to everlasting life in paradise. So if you try to stop them or tell them not to get baptized as a JW now, they will only be too happy to hear that from you as this will solidify their convictions even more.

I have been given strict orders not to engage by the officer on command within my house. I abide by those rules. Happy wife/happy life, right?

 

[Nicea325]

I thought I would separate this from the other reply because it deserves its own particular attention:

When I was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses were were taught NEVER to take it upon ourselves to speak with the media. If approached by reporters we were to direct them to someone either locally assigned by the Governing Body to answer questions or to the official media outlet of the religion.

Witnesses have been taught that since all outside the Watchtower is under Satan’s control, nothing non-JW can or should be trusted. All outside the organization of the Jehovah’s Witnesses from their point of view have been blinded and brainwashed to unknowingly act as minions for Satan. Even news reporters are therefore subject to be hand puppets of evil spirits and thus a Witness is told they would be foolish to believe that all questions asked did not have some sort of malicious, evil intent, disguised as genuine interest, with the purpose of undermining God, God’s Kingdom, and their “one and only true” religion.

Therefore the actions of the person you describe who was ignoring a news reporter are right on target.

I cannot emphasize enough how little we on the outside of the Watchtower mean to Jehovah’s Witnesses. Since our hopes, goals, and convictions are different we are viewed as deserving of only two things in their eyes: being corrected to become one of them or be warned of God’s intention to kill us.

They are officially taught and must believe that we who are not Jehovah’s Witnesses do not and cannot know God without adopting their form of belief. They may claim that their preaching work is done out of a motive of love which desires to save us from destruction, but take it from me it is not. They are required to preach a set amount of hours or lose their good standing in their religion. Most would not engage in the preaching work if they weren’t taught they were going to displease Jehovah and likely be destroyed like us at Armageddon for not doing so.

We are worth little more than the hours they can record on their time sheets they must submit every month in order to keep their standing of “pleasing Jehovah.” When we don’t accept their message, this “love” for us quickly turns to calling us “blinded by Satan,” and “marked for destruction.”

The JW ignored the reporter not because they have something to hide, but simply because Jehovah’s WItnesses look down on us. We are subhuman to them.

Sounds very much like a cult to me.

 

[Razanir]

I think the 7 books you are talking about are the 7 deutronimical (Spelling??) books of the old testament. All protestant bibles have these books missing.

Deuterocanonical. Although to be fair, 1) Martin Luther still considered them worth reading, and 2) some of it is acceptable belief for Lutherans, at least. (Apparently Purgatory to them is one of those things that you can believe in, but aren’t required to. Such as Catholics being free to interpret “brothers” within the bounds of the PV)

 

[Tarquin]

I find the book “Reasoning from the Scriptures” useful in finding out Jehovah’s Witnesses’ beliefs, and in determining the weakness of some of their mistaken beliefs, and the strength of some of their beliefs, both correct and mistaken ones.

As others have said, in their visits, they have been amiable but reserved. Like all missionaries, they press their points and rarely, if ever, concede that the potential convertee has a valid point when it is not in perfect harmony with their own views.

 

[ShanPO]

Actually we would teach new members to begin this “selective” association beforehand.

Those who associated with non-JWs a little more than the Governing Body wanted them to could be held back from getting baptized if the elders in the new member’s congregation learned they weren’t in the process of learning to limit their “unnecessary” association. So the process has already begun, but baptism does seal it.

However I should warn you that any attempts made by family members and former friends to get the new members to rethink their baptism will only strengthen the resolve of a new member. The Governing Body uses as “proof” that one has found the true religion any opposition one may encounter on the way to being baptized as a Jehovah’s Witness. Opposition is described as “proof” that the Devil doesn’t want the person to gain entry into the true religion in that Satan will even get “loved ones” to try to convince them otherwise. New members are taught to see such opposition as “solid evidence” that they are on the road to everlasting life in paradise. So if you try to stop them or tell them not to get baptized as a JW now, they will only be too happy to hear that from you as this will solidify their convictions even more.

I thought of another question along these lines. Would my FIL be told that he has to either convert us or leave us behind? I’ve always kind of accepted that he’s going to start the evangelization antics one day, and with my wife he has. Would his new religion tell him he has to leave us behind if we don’t convert and how would they (JW’s) react to knowing that we’re Catholic?

 

[DelsonJacobs]

I thought of another question along these lines. Would my FIL be told that he has to either convert us or leave us behind? I’ve always kind of accepted that he’s going to start the evangelization antics one day, and with my wife he has. Would his new religion tell him he has to leave us behind if we don’t convert and how would they (JW’s) react to knowing that we’re Catholic?

While some “necessary” contact is allowed (for example, during a family emergency such as someone being in an accident or the death of a relative), he will be expected to choose and keep his closest associates limited to other baptized Jehovah’s Witnesses in good standing.

And I do mean limit by the strict definition of “baptized Jehovah’s Witnesses in good standing” with the religion itself. JWs are taught to limit association with persons in their own religion, avoiding ones they mark “questionable” for one of many possible reasons, too many to list here. If they thus limit association among themselves, imagine what this will do for non-JW family and friends.

If the time comes that he is asked to make a choice, he is taught that Jehovah expects him to choose JWs over non-JWs. Or let me put it another way: He can and will be excommunicated if he chooses non-JW family over JWs regarding any issue the Governing Body will demand such a choice be made.

So expect his association with you to become less and less, even totally diminish over time.

As to starting “the evangelization antics one day,” they have already begun without you realizing it. The fact that you know he is getting baptized and when shows he is already successful in communicating his religious actions to you. Witnesses do much subtly around family, even trained weekly on how to evangelize by what they do more than just what they say around relatives. Their hope is that their actions will cause you to ask questions, and that is what would trigger a flood of propaganda that will be hard to deal with.

New Witnesses, ready for baptism, are already undergoing weekly training sessions designed to make them better “witnesses” for their religion, including spending around 10 hours or more a month in the door-to-door ministry. Every time they talk with you about their beliefs, even in the most subtle way, they watch the clock so they can fill out their monthly time card required of all JWs to turn in every month (one of the ways they acquire or can lose their “good standing”), especially ones preparing for baptism.

By being accepted for baptism you can rest assured that he is already a very formidable propaganda machine for the Watchtower. He would not be considered “ready” for baptism if he were any less.

 

[Waynec]

Hi Delson
Would this also involve my friend with whom I talk to on Fridays? Is she keeping a tally of the time to put on a time sheet? Or would she not want them to know that she is talking to a Catholic , in a Catholic home on Friday’s?

Just curious?

Thanks

 

[DelsonJacobs]

Hi Delson
Would this also involve my friend with whom I talk to on Fridays? Is she keeping a tally of the time to put on a time sheet? Or would she not want them to know that she is talking to a Catholic , in a Catholic home on Friday’s?

Just curious?

Thanks

Of course she is. They only “count time” that they speak to unbelievers. In fact, she is talking to others about your conversations with her, the subjects you talk about, getting pointers on what to do next, etc.

You are what they call a “return visit.” They mark not only the time spent, but the “type” of call they make on others. The fact that she has found a Catholic who will listen and invite her into a Catholic home on a regular basis is a special treat, and you are helping her gain “points,” so to speak in their religion each time this happens.

The information they take on people during these visits (which includes name, address, contact info, subjects of discussion, etc.) are tallied and sent to the headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

You are a “notch” in her belt of achievements and are helping her “climb the ladder” of success in her religion.

 

[Matt_Guitar_Man]

While some “necessary” contact is allowed (for example, during a family emergency such as someone being in an accident or the death of a relative), he will be expected to choose and keep his closest associates limited to other baptized Jehovah’s Witnesses in good standing.

And I do mean limit by the strict definition of “baptized Jehovah’s Witnesses in good standing” with the religion itself. JWs are taught to limit association with persons in their own religion, avoiding ones they mark “questionable” for one of many possible reasons, too many to list here. If they thus limit association among themselves, imagine what this will do for non-JW family and friends.

If the time comes that he is asked to make a choice, he is taught that Jehovah expects him to choose JWs over non-JWs. Or let me put it another way: He can and will be excommunicated if he chooses non-JW family over JWs regarding any issue the Governing Body will demand such a choice be made.

So expect his association with you to become less and less, even totally diminish over time.

As to starting “the evangelization antics one day,” they have already begun without you realizing it. The fact that you know he is getting baptized and when shows he is already successful in communicating his religious actions to you. Witnesses do much subtly around family, even trained weekly on how to evangelize by what they do more than just what they say around relatives. Their hope is that their actions will cause you to ask questions, and that is what would trigger a flood of propaganda that will be hard to deal with.

New Witnesses, ready for baptism, are already undergoing weekly training sessions designed to make them better “witnesses” for their religion, including spending around 10 hours or more a month in the door-to-door ministry. Every time they talk with you about their beliefs, even in the most subtle way, they watch the clock so they can fill out their monthly time card required of all JWs to turn in every month (one of the ways they acquire or can lose their “good standing”), especially ones preparing for baptism.

By being accepted for baptism you can rest assured that he is already a very formidable propaganda machine for the Watchtower. He would not be considered “ready” for baptism if he were any less.

In my experience I have found this to be true. Like well trained sales people they are always working the angles and putting their training to practice in over coming objections.
My sister in law who has been a JW for over 30 years and whom I have interacted with now for the last 15 years displays all of these traits.
At first very friendly and enthusiastic, however when she realised that my interest in her religion was purely from the point of view of fostering good family relationships and that I had no intention of converting or renouncing my Catholic faith, and in fact I was quite capable of engaging in a solid defence of my Catholic beliefs from the Bible and it dawned on her that in reality I held the point of view that the Watch Tower was wrong and did not teach the truth her attitude changed drastically.
One of the problems here was that this process took a number of years as I was not willing to engage in aggressive evangelising tactics of the kind she was taught to do and she mistakenly took my more passive approach as a gradual submissive acceptance of her views.
When she came to accept this fact after a number of years and realised that my interest in her religion only stemmed from the fact that I was interested in her as a person it was like this realisation threw her into complete confusion, for the first time in our relationship she actually saw me as a person as well, and not just a potential convert. So after about six years she finally asked me about my life and religious beliefs. It was then for the first time she came to understand that I came from a very Catholic home, had a broad Catholic education that my uncle trained as a priest with the Jesuits, my God Father became a Priest and I had an Aunty who is a Nun, and although I was a prodigal son I believed deeply in the Catholic faith and practised my faith to the best of my abilities and was well read and cognisant with most Protestant Catholic differences and Unitarian arguments.
I was hoping that from that point our relationship would mature into one of mutual respect. Well I could not have been more mistaken! I was now the enemy and my sister in law felt that her mission now was saving her sister and our child from the devil incarnate, I was now blacklisted and given up on where as my wife and child could still be saved. She now takes every opportunity at subversive white anting of our relationship and energetically looks for ways to interact in a divisive manner all in the name of God apparently.
So she is still trying to convert, and still does not see us as a family unit or persons but as potential converts to the “TRUTH”. She is unconcerned with our personal happiness or our goals and aspirations in life and instead selfishly pursues her own agenda at the expense of our family harmony. I find this truly incredible it is like unless you are a JW you don’t really exist and you are not capable of having genuine feelings, compassion or experiencing a loving caring relationship. This is sad, frightening and dangerous.

 

[po18guy]

Of course she is. They only “count time” that they speak to unbelievers. In fact, she is talking to others about your conversations with her, the subjects you talk about, getting pointers on what to do next, etc.

You are what they call a “return visit.” They mark not only the time spent, but the “type” of call they make on others. The fact that she has found a Catholic who will listen and invite her into a Catholic home on a regular basis is a special treat, and you are helping her gain “points,” so to speak in their religion each time this happens.

The information they take on people during these visits (which includes name, address, contact info, subjects of discussion, etc.) are tallied and sent to the headquarters of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

You are a “notch” in her belt of achievements and are helping her “climb the ladder” of success in her religion.

Thank you for your informative posts. They go a long way to explaining their curious behavior at my front door. It should be clear that they are wasting their time (as a statue of Mary watches over us, and as they read the chalk on the lintel of the door from the incense blessing), but I see now that this all “counts” for them. I would be ecstatic if even one of them would return at night, Niicodemus fashion. I am not holding my breath, but I lay out the Catholic objections, tell them that they are not Christian, and remind them that they have been horribly mislead. Perhaps, if they hear that repetitively, it may eventually sink beneath the surface.

Since we must not look upon them as an annoyance, but rather as souls whose salvation is in dire jeopardy, it can become a pleasure to reveal the truth to them. And, that is what the Lord holds us accountable for - rather than success.

 

[Modern_Revert]

Wow. I wish I had time to write about this now. We had the misfortune of having a family of JWs for neighbors for a couple of years-seemed like an eternity. Other than the Watchtower brochures, I didn’t know anything about them as a religious body. The behavior of this family and their associates will forever leave a bad taste in my mouth.

 

[DelsonJacobs]

Thank you for your informative posts. They go a long way to explaining their curious behavior at my front door. It should be clear that they are wasting their time (as a statue of Mary watches over us, and as they read the chalk on the lintel of the door from the incense blessing), but I see now that this all “counts” for them. I would be ecstatic if even one of them would return at night, Niicodemus fashion. I am not holding my breath, but I lay out the Catholic objections, tell them that they are not Christian, and remind them that they have been horribly mislead. Perhaps, if they hear that repetitively, it may eventually sink beneath the surface.

Since we must not look upon them as an annoyance, but rather as souls whose salvation is in dire jeopardy, it can become a pleasure to reveal the truth to them. And, that is what the Lord holds us accountable for - rather than success.

You indeed have the right balanced attitude. The best you can do is to stand firm in the faith and use what we have in our corner–our rich prayer life. It does more than all their preaching can do.

 

[DelsonJacobs]

She is unconcerned with our personal happiness or our goals and aspirations in life and instead selfishly pursues her own agenda at the expense of our family harmony. I find this truly incredible it is like unless you are a JW you don’t really exist and you are not capable of having genuine feelings, compassion or experiencing a loving caring relationship. This is sad, frightening and dangerous.

Curiously the Jehovah’s Witnesses feel justified in their attitudes toward us. Their Bible translation takes advantage of English idiom to allow them to apply Scripture in such a way as to support their “love for only those in our group” approach.

Their New World Translation renders John 13:35 as so:

By this all will know that you are my disciples—if you have love among yourselves.

While this is a technically correct way to translate the verse, it can give a “false positive” if you mistake the English idiom it is expressed in for what is written in the original Greek.

This they do by claiming that “love among yourselves” refers to “love among us—Jehovah’s Witnesses—only.”

Now because they aren’t used to any other Bible translation the Jehovah’s Witness feels they are living accordingly to all that is written in the Bible when they show love toward fellow JW members at the expense of those outside the shadows of the Watchtower.

However, as we all know the text was not written or originally spoken in English. While the rendering in English “among yourselves” is correct, it is only correct if the reader is supplied with the Greek and Semitic context of the original expression.

The “among yourselves” means “among all other members of humanity” and not merely members of one’s particular group.

Modern translations therefore render it as does the NABRE, namely:

This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.

“Love one another” reads different from “have love among yourselves” when you can compare the two.

It may seem subtle to some at first blush, but the expression “among yourselves” is thus abused by the Governing Body to isolate themselves into an exclusive group, such as being “among” the chosen or “among” the only ones who have the truth (a Gnostic teaching, really.)

They therefore have no qualms regarding seeing us as enemies. For all the good they are capable of and all the love from us they are deserving of, they have no problem with giving up on us as lost if they don’t see progress according to their measure and their timetable.

At times the Governing Body would publish limits to the Witnesses,* telling them that 4 return visits with an individual were “too many” if the visits did not result in a regular study of their indoctrination literature. And if householders did end up studying the literature with a Witness but showed little or no signs of wanting to officially join up, they were to be given up on. “It would be a waste of time and resources from Jehovah” we were taught if we showed a never-give-up-as-lost attitude on any one particular person. If they didn’t join it was because they were stubborn or loved sin and Satan’s world too much.

Witnesses claim to leave the 99 sheep behind to look for the lost, but only for a limited time, and then they would only rescue the lost sheep if it promised to assimilate.

*–This limits will change from time to time or, in an effort to “get more hours” JWs will ignore the direction.

 

[Matt_Guitar_Man]

Delson as always your insights are much appreciated and it is easy to perceive that you are well read and informed on scripture and history. One problem I have always come across with the witnesses is that this is not always so in fact I have found the opposite and incredibly they are completely satisfied to let the Watch Tower have the last say on nearly every subject.
Once when dialoguing with some of my sister in laws co JW’s the old chestnut of the Catholic Church resulting from Constantine, the great apostasy and pagan influence was asserted as fact and completely accepted unchallengeable history. In my usual way instead of launching into an energetic refutation of this assertion I plumbed for some deeper knowledge such as the main issues under discussion at the council of Nicea? some background leading up to Constantine being on the throne in the first place? The State of the Roman Empire under Diocleation? The relationship between Rome the Western Church and Alexandria and the Eastern Church? etc. All of this just drew blanks? when I then asked how one could possibly form an opinion on the subject without all of the facts I was ignored! When I then pushed a bit further and made the observation that as ministers and teachers of the Watch Tower religion surly it is encumbered upon them to at least have an understanding of what they are teaching? I was avoided and treated like I was obviously possessed by the devil and his demons.
Fascinating!!! It came across to me like the in crowd back in the days of my adolescence “We have a secret, superior knowledge that you obviously cant see due to your blindness”. My searching for facts and truth was answered with reply’s such as I was blocked or blinded by satan. If only I would just be open to the “Truth” somehow this would all make sense?
Exasperating is an understatement.

 

[ShanPO]

While some “necessary” contact is allowed (for example, during a family emergency such as someone being in an accident or the death of a relative), he will be expected to choose and keep his closest associates limited to other baptized Jehovah’s Witnesses in good standing.

And I do mean limit by the strict definition of “baptized Jehovah’s Witnesses in good standing” with the religion itself. JWs are taught to limit association with persons in their own religion, avoiding ones they mark “questionable” for one of many possible reasons, too many to list here. If they thus limit association among themselves, imagine what this will do for non-JW family and friends.

If the time comes that he is asked to make a choice, he is taught that Jehovah expects him to choose JWs over non-JWs. Or let me put it another way: He can and will be excommunicated if he chooses non-JW family over JWs regarding any issue the Governing Body will demand such a choice be made.

So expect his association with you to become less and less, even totally diminish over time.

As to starting “the evangelization antics one day,” they have already begun without you realizing it. The fact that you know he is getting baptized and when shows he is already successful in communicating his religious actions to you. Witnesses do much subtly around family, even trained weekly on how to evangelize by what they do more than just what they say around relatives. Their hope is that their actions will cause you to ask questions, and that is what would trigger a flood of propaganda that will be hard to deal with.

New Witnesses, ready for baptism, are already undergoing weekly training sessions designed to make them better “witnesses” for their religion, including spending around 10 hours or more a month in the door-to-door ministry. Every time they talk with you about their beliefs, even in the most subtle way, they watch the clock so they can fill out their monthly time card required of all JWs to turn in every month (one of the ways they acquire or can lose their “good standing”), especially ones preparing for baptism.

By being accepted for baptism you can rest assured that he is already a very formidable propaganda machine for the Watchtower. He would not be considered “ready” for baptism if he were any less.

Well, I know that he’s said things to my wife about the Bible, something along the lines of “you need to get a translation not slanted to one side” when I was in another room. He knows that I am very strong in my Catholic faith, and know it about as good as anyone can, so he knows that I am not the person in the house to engage. He drops little things every now and then “Oh, The Devil is the ruler of this world” “Jehovah is the one true god” so we do get it, but like I said, I was told not to engage. Part of me doesn’t want to believe that he’s going to start distancing himself from us, but it seems like that’s what the JW’s m.o. is. Divide and conquer, and once they realize they can’t conquer, they quit and move on.

Delson, I want to thank you for answering all the questions and give us some insight as to what is going on in the minds of these people.

 

[DelsonJacobs]

Well, I know that he’s said things to my wife about the Bible, something along the lines of “you need to get a translation not slanted to one side” when I was in another room. He knows that I am very strong in my Catholic faith, and know it about as good as anyone can, so he knows that I am not the person in the house to engage. He drops little things every now and then “Oh, The Devil is the ruler of this world” “Jehovah is the one true god” so we do get it, but like I said, I was told not to engage. Part of me doesn’t want to believe that he’s going to start distancing himself from us, but it seems like that’s what the JW’s m.o. is. Divide and conquer, and once they realize they can’t conquer, they quit and move on.

Delson, I want to thank you for answering all the questions and give us some insight as to what is going on in the minds of these people.

I am grateful for the opportunity to help other people now. Though I was just a teenager when I was thrust into and abandoned by family in this group, I did spend a few years under their spell, doing their “dirty work” before I woke up. So I am glad to have the opportunity to try to undo some of the wrong I did while under those shadows of the Watchtower.

If I may add one thing: Always engage, but never in the way they expect you to. You have to protect your family from what he is trying to accomplish. Never speak on subjects they speak on, always have a NABRE or NRSV-CE version around (even if you prefer another version, these are the arsenals of defense that will really work best when confronted with Witnesses–the scholarship in the footnotes both baffles them and makes the drool in jealousy over not having as good a version as these), and pray! Ask for help from St. Michael.

Be like Christ who when confronted with Satan in the wilderness did not actually engage the Devil but replied with statements from Scripture. When he drops his “little bombs,” drop a nugget from our faith using the deposit of Scripture, the Church Fathers, and people like G.K. Chesterton. Be a “hit and run” preacher, just passing through a room as you say what you do. Don’t explain yourself, ignore any invitation to say more, just keep it up. People who don’t directly engage them in conversation like this stump them to no end.