I'm in something of a quandry about a certain situation. As you will mostly be aware by now, I am in the process of converting to Catholicism. The more that I learn about the Catholic Church, it's Dogma and Doctrine, the more I simply yearn to belong fully to it.
Shortly after I moved to my present home, 4 years ago, I began to have the Watchtower magazine posted through my letterbox. A short time later, there was an accompanying knock at the door. The lady introduced herself rather enthusiastically and I could tell from her demenour and her manner of speaking, that she was fully reconciled to the belief that she needed to help 'save' me . At the time i was quite seriously ill, i had been in hospital on an IV drip for a week, so i was too weak to stand at the door and i didn't really want to invite her in ( i'm not usually so mean, honest - i just felt that in such a weak state, she could whitewash me with her words and i would be unable to respond as i would have liked to), so perhaps she mistakenly thought that my lack of 'spirit' was a conceding nod in the direction to her 'witness'?
Anyway, as time went on, she would visit twice a month, have a little chat, sometimes bring along one of her new recruits etc. We struck up quite a rapport. Not knowing a great deal about the beliefs of Jehovas Witnesses, and due to her not wanting me to know parts of it, I dare say!, I asked for some written material to read. She provided me with a book. I read it, and i promptly returned it to her, stating categorically that i disagreed with practically everything that i had read. She continued to call at my house, and i continued to be pleasant. We conversed one day about my children, and in the course of our discussion, it came out that she was an occassional supply teacher for my son's class. I had mixed feelings about this. I knew her to be a pleasant women, but i wondered if she ever had to teach RE, whether the headteacher was aware of her beliefs, whether or not it mattered at all? It niggled at me. But i didn't say anything about it.
During these past 4 years, the lady has known of my attendance at the Church of England Church, my firmness of Faith and a little of my spiritual walk.
The thing is, now that i have left protestantism and embraced Catholicism, I feel that I should talk to her about her beliefs. She is well versed in 'scripture', or at least, in her version of it, and to be truthful, i have a brain made of mesh, everything slips through it!
If I were to engage her in conversation about why I feel that God is leading me to the Catholic Faith or attempt to question her beliefs, then i just know that she will slaughter me with words. I do feel , now more than ever before, that i want her to know of my conversion to Catholicism. Everytime she calls, I want to tell her of what I have learned and to give her the opportunity to know the untruths that she has learned. I even bought a booklet yesterday at Chruch entitled, "Jehovah's Witnesses" - Catholic Truth Society Explanations. I want to read it through and then give it to her, but i am not at all prepared for her possible response.
To summarise. Would it be wrong, to continue to allow myself to engage in communications with her without telling her of my conversion ? I want to be honest and open with her, but i am afraid that i will be unable to respond. Often, when confronted face to face, i have a hard time putting my brain in to gear ( although some of you may have noticed that i do have a tendency to do that with the written word also!).
I wonder if it might be best to wait, to continue to grow strong and more knowledgeable in my Catholic belief and then approach her. The problem is that I feel that my Faith and conversion are not something that i want to be secretive about. I am greatly pleased that i have finally 'come home' to Catholicism, and i want to share that joy with everyone.
Any thoughts?
Shortly after I moved to my present home, 4 years ago, I began to have the Watchtower magazine posted through my letterbox. A short time later, there was an accompanying knock at the door. The lady introduced herself rather enthusiastically and I could tell from her demenour and her manner of speaking, that she was fully reconciled to the belief that she needed to help 'save' me . At the time i was quite seriously ill, i had been in hospital on an IV drip for a week, so i was too weak to stand at the door and i didn't really want to invite her in ( i'm not usually so mean, honest - i just felt that in such a weak state, she could whitewash me with her words and i would be unable to respond as i would have liked to), so perhaps she mistakenly thought that my lack of 'spirit' was a conceding nod in the direction to her 'witness'?
Anyway, as time went on, she would visit twice a month, have a little chat, sometimes bring along one of her new recruits etc. We struck up quite a rapport. Not knowing a great deal about the beliefs of Jehovas Witnesses, and due to her not wanting me to know parts of it, I dare say!, I asked for some written material to read. She provided me with a book. I read it, and i promptly returned it to her, stating categorically that i disagreed with practically everything that i had read. She continued to call at my house, and i continued to be pleasant. We conversed one day about my children, and in the course of our discussion, it came out that she was an occassional supply teacher for my son's class. I had mixed feelings about this. I knew her to be a pleasant women, but i wondered if she ever had to teach RE, whether the headteacher was aware of her beliefs, whether or not it mattered at all? It niggled at me. But i didn't say anything about it.
During these past 4 years, the lady has known of my attendance at the Church of England Church, my firmness of Faith and a little of my spiritual walk.
The thing is, now that i have left protestantism and embraced Catholicism, I feel that I should talk to her about her beliefs. She is well versed in 'scripture', or at least, in her version of it, and to be truthful, i have a brain made of mesh, everything slips through it!
If I were to engage her in conversation about why I feel that God is leading me to the Catholic Faith or attempt to question her beliefs, then i just know that she will slaughter me with words. I do feel , now more than ever before, that i want her to know of my conversion to Catholicism. Everytime she calls, I want to tell her of what I have learned and to give her the opportunity to know the untruths that she has learned. I even bought a booklet yesterday at Chruch entitled, "Jehovah's Witnesses" - Catholic Truth Society Explanations. I want to read it through and then give it to her, but i am not at all prepared for her possible response.
To summarise. Would it be wrong, to continue to allow myself to engage in communications with her without telling her of my conversion ? I want to be honest and open with her, but i am afraid that i will be unable to respond. Often, when confronted face to face, i have a hard time putting my brain in to gear ( although some of you may have noticed that i do have a tendency to do that with the written word also!).
I wonder if it might be best to wait, to continue to grow strong and more knowledgeable in my Catholic belief and then approach her. The problem is that I feel that my Faith and conversion are not something that i want to be secretive about. I am greatly pleased that i have finally 'come home' to Catholicism, and i want to share that joy with everyone.
Any thoughts?
