A Letter From My Religious Extremist Mother

one quick thing before we get into it March 11th 2019 is gonna be my 3-year anniversary on YouTube it's been an amazing three years and I couldn't possibly be happier with the results I just celebrated hitting a hundred thousand subscribers the other day with mr. atheist so I'm pretty happy with that thanks to everybody here for supporting me and giving me the opportunity to do this for a living so while back some family members of mine received letters from my Jehovah's Witness mother some of us are disfellowshipped or excommunicated so I thought it would be an interesting exercise to take a look at the letter she wrote to me to get a glimpse into their mindset to see how they think before we take a look I wanted to mention that'll be at faithless forum on April 27th in Dallas Texas so if you want to meet me in person that's a good way to do it links are in the description for more information okay let's get into it [Music] before we get into the letter let me provide a little context both my parents joined the church probably 10 years before I was born which means my older brother and I were both born into it my other two older siblings weren't born into it but my parents joined when they were both really young probably like 1980 or so so we all pretty much grew up in it years past and I'm born in 1989 when I was little like 4 or 5 my mom managed to convert my aunt which means my two cousins started going to meetings too eventually my older cousin ended up getting baptized but my younger cousin didn't for those of you who didn't really grow up in the religion that's relevant I'll get to why in a minute since my parents were first-generation Jehovah's Witness that means my grandparents were never affiliated with the church I was reasonably close to them when I was young before I left Connecticut but then I left and lived the rest of my life not really seeing them more than once every couple of years okay back on track so my parents my siblings and I ended up leaving Connecticut and moving to West Virginia when I was younger leaving my mom's family behind about 12 years ago my aunt and two cousins kind of split off from Jehovah's Witnesses they were the only family members my mom managed to convert I think they've all disassociated themselves at this point except the one cousin who was never baptized in the first place he just stopped going to meetings with everybody else but since they were the only Jehovah's Witnesses in the family except my mom and since my mom was in a different state life went on as usual I mean my mom wasn't talking to them anymore she said some really harsh stuff to them she refused to talk to them just like she's doing to me but they had other family up there they were living their lives hanging out with my grandparents and everything like normal about nine years ago my mom moved back to Connecticut with her family and she wrote these letters to every ex-jehovah's witness in her life now before I move on let me explain why it's relevant that one of my cousin's never got baptized Jehovah's Witnesses relationships are very strained at best there are lots of rules about who you can and can't talk to for relatives you can be close with them if you want but the moment they say anything critical about your beliefs you have to cut contact if the family members were baptized and are no longer in the religion then you can't talk to them they won't outright excommunicate you if you talk to an ex community family member but you'll be a social pariah your friends group will disappear it's taboo even if it's family if the person you're talking to isn't a family member and they've been excommunicated you'll be excommunicated yourself no ifs ands or buts they'll just disfellowship you if you make friends with people who aren't critical of the religion but aren't members then it's kind of like talking to an excommunicated family member you'll be a social pariah but not technically disfellowshipped for it so here's the situation my mom finds herself in she has a sister and nephew and four kids who were once baptized members but all left it behind that means she can technically talk to all of us if she wants and my cousins and aunt are over at my grandma's house all the time just hanging out there as they always have now my mom moves back to Connecticut and starts hanging out at my grandma's - so she wasn't in their face and now she is in their face in their lives this all went down in like 2011 now let's give this letter a read and see what she has to say to me I haven't read it up to now because I wasn't sure I wanted to give it exposure to the light of day but I decided it's worth it maybe somebody else can benefit from hearing what it had to say it says dear Owen I am happy for you that you have a nice girlfriend who seems to come from a good family and that you're going to college so you'll have a career I'm happy that you've gotten through some hard times and have grown and now have some solid goals for your future you seem to be on your way your brothers and your sister are very proud of you okay let's pause here and analyze this paragraph my girlfriend wasn't a Jehovah's Witness but in Jehovah's Witness world that is so insanely wrong you don't make close friends with people outside of the religion you can have acquaintances but you just don't befriend outsiders it's a cultural thing more than anything but you certainly don't date an outsider that is a one-way ticket to pariah town population you and literally nobody else my mom also noted that I was going to college so I'll have a career college education is something Jehovah's Witness is seriously frowned upon especially postgraduate education like a masters or a doctorate degree you just don't do that so that's why this first sentence is significant now make note of what she says next I'm happy that you've gotten through some hard times and have grown and now have some solid goals for your future your brothers and sister are very proud of you do you notice somebody missing from that list of proud people she didn't tell me was proud of me because she isn't I'm a disappointment in her eyes I left Jehovah to get a secular education okay let's take a look at the next paragraph it says I found myself unable to speak honestly and frankly about my relationship with you and Jehovah our Almighty God one reason is that I don't want to make a big ruckus in the family but this is between me and you I know that you know where I'm coming from spiritually and you understand I'm sure you know where this letter is going - you've probably been waiting for it and expecting it so this is it okay let's break that down notice how she said Jehovah our Almighty God she was trying to reaffirm her feelings and beliefs then she says I don't want to make a big ruckus in the family you know why I'm about to do this the others don't understand so instead of causing negative repercussions for me I want you to keep your mouth shut and let me apply this punishment to you without pointing out how disgusting painful and wrong it is to everybody around us based off of what she said there actually I can tell that she thinks she's doing the right thing this isn't a vindictive or angry action she's about to take this isn't done out of spite and I don't even think she wants to do this it seems like she's doing it because she feels like it's right and just I don't think she takes any pleasure in it and she knows there's gonna be fallout in the family as a result okay let's continue with the letter she says it pains me and breaks my heart to have to remind you of a couple of scriptures first of all I love Jehovah I know he's real and that he doesn't change if the Apostle Paul said at first Corinthians 5:11 to quit mixing in company with him not even eating with such a man then that's what I'll do the rules didn't change if 2nd John 911 says never say a greeting to him then I won't okay lots to talk about in this paragraph first of all let's take a look at those scriptures she cited what was first Corinthians 5:11 all about did the author actually say that what was the context behind it the author actually did say that yes I don't really believe it was Paul nobody knows who it was but either way they said it it was a letter to the Corinthian congregation after Jesus died his apostles were trying to establish and maintain the early Christian congregations the Corinthian congregation was seeking advice on what to do about somebody that broke a serious rule and that's the advice they gave him quit mixing in company with him don't even eat with him now this is practically an Iron Age society and they knew nothing about our modern world they had no idea how to test if what they had just witnessed was a magic trick by a really clever Jesus or what it was but let's pretend for a solid second that Jesus really is the son of God and let's pretend that Paul is actually getting direction on this from Jesus in heaven that Jesus passed this info down to him to give to the Corinthian congregation let's just pretend that's the case for a minute the one thing that confuses me the most about this pretend situation is the fact that Paul backed out of that in the second letter he sent to the Corinthian congregation the congregation wrote back to him telling him what they did with the guide and he wrote the second letter to the Corinthians chapter 2 verses 6 to 8 says sufficient for such a one is his punishment which was inflicted by the majority so that on the contrary you should rather forgive and comfort him otherwise such a one might be overwhelmed by excessive sorrow I urge you to reaffirm your love for him so even in this pretend scenario my mom is wrong Jehovah's Witnesses are wrong that's called quote mining picking one verse that supports what you want and throwing out literally everything else including context which is what I just provided now let's take a look at the other verse she cited 2nd John 9 to 11 she has a nice big ellipsis in the quote she said if 2nd John 9 to 11 says never dot dot ellipsis say a greeting to him that's an awfully short quote for being three verses long let's give it a read it says anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God whoever continues in the teaching of Christ has both the father and the son if anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching do not take them into your house or welcome them anyone who welcomes them shares in their wicked work I could point out that they specifically said if anybody doesn't accept the teachings of Jesus then you can't greet them or invite them into your house which would cover every single Christian on the face of the earth because that's the definition of Christian somebody who accepts the teachings of Jesus but I'm not even gonna bother I'll just point out that that's a marker on the bight model that's a sign that something is a cult isolating you from the rest of society threatening your friends and family even if it's just through preventing you from associating with them so sure enough the Bible says you shouldn't talk to people who aren't Christians themselves it's right there in black and white I don't know the context behind this one like I do the letters to the Corinthians maybe there's more information on missing but it really doesn't matter anyways that's wrong and dangerous one step in the wrong direction okay here's the next paragraph from the letter the love of God means that we observe his Commandments first John 5:3 and that's what I'm doing I will make every effort not to be at the same place that you are we both know that there will be times that we'll run into each other don't tell me you love me and give me a hug I will do what I can to not sit at the same dinner table as you I don't wish anything bad for you I wish you great happiness I leave you with great love and sadness in my heart mom that's how it ends in that last paragraph you notice she said some strange stuff specifically she talked about not eating at the same table as me that's significant because that Corinthians verse says not even to dine with such a man if it had said don't play tennis with such a man then that's what she would have put down now here's the question why did I choose now of all times to talk about this letter my daughter got a letter in the mail from my grandma a couple of days ago and it has her phone number on it so Kiley calls my grandma and my grandma asks to speak to me kind of confused by that because I haven't really seen or talked to her in like three years at this point so I pick up the phone and she starts begging me to send Kiley to Connecticut with my mom for the summer I've done that before now those of you who know my history you'll know that my mom's been trying to brainwash Kiley since day one I stopped sending her with my mom for the summer because Kiley started talking about Jehovah non-stop I'm not getting into that here but the point is that have been really hesitant to send my kid with my mom because she insists on taking her to meetings while she's there either I let her take her to meetings or she doesn't go at all and now I have my grandmother who kind of has one foot in the grave and one on a banana peel specifically asking me to send Kiley to Connecticut with my mom for the summer she's seen what my mom does to me she knows she mistreats and shuns me she knows it's wrong but she said Kylie's old enough now to know it's not true I said to her I know she probably won't get indoctrinated but she won't even look me in the eye how can I justify sending my daughter to somebody who refuses to look me in the eye in the end it doesn't matter how my mom treats me what matters is that my grandparents get to see my daughter again so as much as I dislike the whole situation as much as I don't want to reward my mom for bad behavior I feel like I have no choice but to send her there for the summer Kylie brought her phone to me on speaker which means she heard the whole conversation and she saw me sitting here with my head in my hand for the following 10 minutes she knows my own mother won't even look at me she knows my mom uses her to pass messages to me all the time instead of just calling or texting me herself she knows how it affects me it's a very painful thing to experience want to talk about unnatural let me tell you about shunning your own son that is unnatural anyways that's all I've got for you don't forget to check me out on patreon if you like what I do and you want to see me continue to do it then you can support me there YouTube is pretty volatile so patreon gives me an added level of stability also check out my podcast where I talk about all kinds of random stuff and finally check me out in Dallas Texas on April 27th at faithless Forum all links are in the description as always ok thanks for watching guys [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Telltale

Views: 560,966

Keywords: youtube, telltale, jehovahs witness, jw, ex jw, cult, bible, jesus, god, extremist, letter, mother, shun, family, letter from my mother, john cedars

Id: bASgP_SDU9g

Length: 13min 20sec (800 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 10 2019