Posted by ros on March 15, 1999 at 18:21:13 {MWiPgYg2nZn0g}:
In Reply to: *Frequently Avoided Quandaries posted by jimmyjames on March 15, 1999 at 10:03:00:
That's another thing I've noticed that is very different from when I was associated. In my days, any self-respecting Jehovah's Witness would rise with relish to the occasion of anyone criticizing our doctrine, viewing wholly as an opportunity to do "incidental witnessing." We would consider it a sin not to meet a challenge to defend our faith and beliefs. We were exceedingly confident with anyone who believed the Bible, being quite aware that most people in mainstream religion were ill-equipmented to match us in scripture. If anyone would delight us by criticizing our beliefs, we would rise to the occasion delighted to engage in the discussion. Course, people soon realized not to do that because then the problem was to get us to shut up. And we were quite proud of the fact that we were known for this.
Not these days. I have been noticing with increased interest that JWs venturing doubts, some DF'd Witnesses considering going back but needing to discuss some of the issues, meet with very little support from loyal Witnesses when exWitnesses are present--even friendly, Bible-believing exWitnesses. Also, I've noticed that some doubting JWs still refrain from discussing their doubts with former Witnesses. Interesting.
Ros