Mixing Religions, Methodist vs. Jehovah Witnesses??? Possible?

Question

Possible Big Dilema. Been with boyfriend for 2 years. We live together. I have full custody of MY 2 kids by ex boyfriend. I was raised Methodist, with all the holidays, birthdays, ect. His entire family are Jehovah Witnesses. We all get along great. He was raised as a JW, but after he got moved out of the house, he never went. When we got together, I was happy that he did not want to pursue being a JW. I figured that we are both not TOO religous, and it's never brought up any problems.
Well, recently he's held an interest in becoming a JW again, citing that it's the RIGHT thing to do for his family, that the man, as head of household, should show his family the "right way".
Well, I am not okay with becoming a JW just because he was, and wants to join again. I was raised as a Methodist, and dont really want to PUSH the notion of "You should pray and believe what I believe" while I knock on peoples doors!! Nor do I want to completely disown anything I've taught my kids about God..Help!

Answer 1

It should be clarified that an actual Jehovah's Witness would not "live together" in a sexual relationship with any individual but a spouse. Admittedly, a lapsed Witness or a person familiar with (but uncommitted to) Witness teachings might do so until his spirituality was rekindled. A person genuinely interested in pursuing a godly lifestyle would likely work to legalize his common-law marriage, and postpone the sexual part of the relationship. Perhaps the "Witness" boyfriend still has not progressed to that point, but intends to.

What is interesting in this question is to compare the questioner's motives with the motives of the "Witness" boyfriend.

Does the boyfriend wish to pursue Jehovah's Witnesses because is it convenient? ...because of family pressure? ...because he enjoys one activity more than another? No. The boyfriend wishes to do "the RIGHT thing to do for his family" and in sober recognition of his responsibility "as head of household, should show his family the 'right way'" to believe in connection with his years of bible study. His bible study convinced him (perhaps years ago) that Jehovah's Witnesses teach the truth about the bible and God's will.

By stark contrast, this selfish questioner demonstrates her motives. She objects to the notion of encouraging others to pray. She objects to the notion of sharing the bible's message with her neighbors. She objects to any circumstance whereby she might have to admit that she may possibly (just possibly!) have believed and taught something about God that is unsupportable from Scripture.

(Matthew 15:3,9) [Jesus] said to them: “Why is it you also overstep the commandment of God because of your tradition? ...It is in vain that they keep worshiping [God], because they teach commands of men as doctrines.

(Mark 7:8) Letting go the commandment of God, you hold fast the tradition of men.

The answer is obvious: Study the bible together as a family, or at least as a couple. Follow the direction of the bible, rather than personal preference or human tradition.

Answer 2

Well, obviously, your BF has some things to work on. We Witnesses do not feel that when one mate decides to be a Witness the other mate MUST follow along or should be badgered into it. Jehovah gave ALL humans free will, it is not the right of ANY human to try to remove it. That said, if he feels this is the right thing for him, good for him, if he feels he would like to share with you and your children, good for him, BUT only if you are OK with it. We do not ever want someone to feel that they must say they wish to be Christian just because we are.

Now once again as mentioned above your boyfriend has a long way to go before he is following the Bible. We Witnesses feel that it is wrong to live together without being married. Chances are something in his life resparked an interest in being a Witness again and because he is feeling excited his excitement is clouding his judgement so he is coming off as being pushy when he probably does not mean to.

Now as for what you need to do, first please understand we ARE Christians. I do not know much about the Methodist faith(Other than it is supposed to be a seperation from Calvanism, and I only heard that on King of the Hill) however, I suggest since you do know your faith, you should probably learn some BASICS about what we believe, you might be surprised to find out that there are at least some similarities. If you are not totally opposed to it, I suggest attending ONE meeting. No commitments will be expected of you. I just suggest it as it will give you an idea of what he is wishing to be involved with, and also, if this becomes a point of contention with you 2, you will be able to better describe problems you may have with our beliefs. If you do not feel like going then you could also try http://www.watchtower.org or better yet, you mentioned getting along with his family, if this is true maybe you can find a family member who is currently an active Witness and ask some questions.

Hope this helps, and thank you for being concerned over what your children are taught.

Answer 3

You as the woman should have learned your proper place by now. But alas this is what american women do. You seem to think you are liberated from men and have the right to think for yourselves. Well you do not have that right. You are inferior and subordinate to man and you should be doing as he says. Also you should not be living in sin, you should be get married and not practicing abomination.

Answer 4

NO.
One is a Christian religion and the other is not.
JW is not Christian.
Methodist is one of the older main line denominations.

Answer 5

I'd stick with Methodism... forgive me, but JWs are just WEIRD...