Mrs_Van_Wie
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||March 10, 2008 at 9:07am|email it|298 reads
 

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Tara
March 10, 2008 at 2:28pm

Hi there! Been there, lived that!!! I too have a goof friend-neighbor that is a JW. She is a great person, and would always try to "tell me the truth". I too feel immature in my spirituality, therefore, not "armed with my spitital armour" . She would even corner me and preach to me about her beliefs, making sure that I left questioning my own beliefs. One day I decided that I needed to do something. So I prayed alot for guidance, and the next time she brought up the subject, I told her how important she is to me, how I valued  her as a friend, then I broke down and even told her that I respected her beliefs and she needed to respect my beliefs. ~ You know to this day we are still friends and she has not brought up the subject again.

 I dreaded having the conversation, and worried way to much for it to be that easy!!! I hope it is as easy for you as it was me.~~Just remember they are trained to study-study-study their Bibles, they know it inside and out, and they are also trained to make you question yourself. Thats how they get into your head. REMEMBER TO PRAY for guidance. God will help you trough it!

DONT BE PIMPED
March 10, 2008 at 2:35pm
just letting you know that i have done extensive deep research on the jehovahs witness religion not because i was trying to prove myself rigth but i was trying to find the truth. at first i was wondering if they could be right and i was afraid i may be wrong but with a open heart i examined their beliefs to scripture and found tons of things scritpturally wrong. dont get me wrong...the jehovahs witnesses are VERY sincere and  grounded in THEIR bible and beliefs. someone once said an average jehovahs witness can make a doctrinal pretzel out of a christian in minutes....and thats very true. jehovahs witnesses always seem right until the trained christian comes along with the truth. alot of christians dont know the bible good enough to answer questions like...why did jesus say the father was greater...or why is he called the begotten son....all of which can be refuted easily with research. its kinda wierd cause just yesterday i was refreshing myself on their beliefs and the scriptures yesterday for hours. Jehovahs witnesses do alot of studying...they are extensively trained on how to witness and refute objections or beliefs contradicting their own. they even play out scenarios on stage to test their skills. they have a class called theocratic ministry school once a week (besides the book, watchtower, and awake studies) in which they do nothing but learn grammer, approaching techniqes and more. the sad thing is that they get so busy in their studies that they will not even examine their own beliefs or not even allowed to do so or they will be disfellowship. there is alot more to say but some books that really breaks it all down and even quotes from their own watchtowers or books is 'reasoning with the jehovahs witnesses' by ron rhodes or 'kingdom of the cults' by walter martin. a website 'letusreason.org'. is also a valuable tool. but one thing we know is we are not to argue. still be a friend but reassure her that you got ur beliefs and argueing does absolutely nothing for either person. 2 timothy 2:24-26 says," 24 A servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people. 25 Gently instruct those who oppose the truth. Perhaps God will change those people’s hearts, and they will learn the truth. 26 Then they will come to their senses and escape from the devil’s trap. For they have been held captive by him to do whatever he wants." remember, debating is good only if one wants to really know the truth...but argueing is just to press your beliefs on someone. we all have free will to believe what we want.(doesnt make it right but it shows respect for other people not the doctrine itself). for along time i actually worked with a jehovahs witness elder side by side all day. he read his bible i read mine but we NEVER argued. he thouth i was wrong and i knew he was but we respected each other because we knew that argueing was pointless. we just found common ground about our beliefs and talked about the bible and it was great. sorry for the long comment. if you have any questions i would love to help you guys.
S L Guthrie
March 10, 2008 at 9:50pm

There is alot of wisdom presented here by the above comments.  I only want to add that should the conversation return to discussing Jehovah's Witness beliefs, then I would keep my end of the discussion going by asking questions.  This is disarming and shows a genuine interest to want to learn and absorb what your friend has to say.  And when she's finished, then (in question form) ask her to explain some of those passages that seem to support your own views.  Of course you'll want to brush up on your biblical information, but not much goes wrong when you take the Socratic Method.

    "Can it be, Ischomachus, that asking questions is teaching? I am just beginning to see

    what is behind all your questions. You lead me on by means of things I know, point to

    things that resemble them, and persuade me that I know things that I thought I had no

    knowledge of" (Socrates, quoted in Xenophon's Economics).

Mrs_Van_Wie
March 12, 2008 at 7:58am
Ya know, I have to be honest guys, Tara's suggestion seems to be a great approach. I am also concerned about my friend because she has a cancer that is very aggressive, so I am really hoping to stay as close to her as possible because she is very important to me. Why? I have no idea, we started strictly as a business relationship because she babysat my kids. Now it is like she is part of my family and that is how I view her. Maybe the reason it concerns me so much is because I Like Guthri says, need to be geared up in the word and know my beliefs before I try to have a debatable conversation with her.

Tara, thank you so much for your information I am going to try that and, you other two, I appreciate the verses, they are very powerful and your advice is also important. I want to be ready when I tell her what I am going to tell her so I am going to just start my prayer today and keep looking for more info to absorb before it is time for me to talk to her.

I also need to be honest and tell you all that I thought it was ok to read the word with her. It was kind of my fault in the first place but now I know it is time for me to do bible study with other VBF members. If I do bible study with others that have the same beliefs, I will be stronger in the teachings and more geared to follow my path.

Thanks again all of you! I am going to use each of ya'lls advice some way or another. I got to go and drop off my daughter at school, Thanks again!
Love ya,
Lisa
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