I'm not a JW and never was, but this friend is the brother of my PIMO gf, and we would both like to see him out, or at least be privy to the sort of stuff most JWs don't know - then he can do with that knowledge whatever he choose. I've been making a list of mental defenses that might spring up and possible fixes I can use. We're currently doing a bible study and he's open to using secular sources to prove to me that secular sources agree with the bible, so there's hope.

Can you help me figure out what defenses I'm missing and also any possible fixes you know of? Any thought stoppers that negate other thought stoppers? etc. Here's what I have:

If I present dissonant information Then He'll question the source. Fix - Use JW materials only.

If I present old JW materials then Then He may think it's apostate. Fix - Use the Bible and recent JW materials only; if quoting secular materials, stick to encyclopedias, etc.

I'm critical of the leadership or organization (or accusatory or argumentative about teaching in general) Then he'll see it as a Satanic attack. Fix - Ask, not accuse. E.g. Can you help me to understand X? or I'm struggling to figure out how X works with Y. Can you help me understand how you reconcile X and Y?

I'm not accepting or progressing Then He'll dust of his feet as I'm infertile soil. Fix - Give cues of progress by agreeing with more neutral ideas.

I'm asking a chain of controversial questions Then He'll question my the motive behind my questions. Fix - Maintain a ratio of easy to hard questions, i.e. Ask easy questions about neutral ideas that he can easily answer, and I don't really find problematic. Then sprinkle in questions to help him discover dissonance. Also, try to subtly guide the conversation so that we 'run into' the harder questions so that they appear organic, vs out-of-the-blue.

From the above, it seems like I should:

1) Have a goal question I'm trying to guide the conversation toward so that it seems organic vs out-of-the-blue

2) Use the bible, publications, and enclycopedias as much as possible

3) Give him small but trivial wins to give a sense of progress

4) Sprinkle in questions that can help him discover dissonance - e.g. If we encounter the fall of Jerusalem in our conversation, then I can say that I'm seeing 587BCE in the enclycopedias, then ask if he can help me understand why he holds 607BCE. Seeing that he's open to looking at secular sources (for now anyway) hopefully this helps him discover the dissonance.

My goal questions that I'd like to navigate to (to help him discover dissonance) revolve around these topics - which seem to be the most common reasons people wake up:

607, 1914

1975

GB not inspired; not the only spokesperson

Contrast with Russel's organization

Overlapping generations

Worship Jesus, celebrating pagan holidays, pyramidology

Blood flip-flops

UN involvement

Secret Elders Manual

Beth Sarim

Global Flood Conflicts

Millions now Living will never die

Generations calculation

2-Witness rule

Eventually, hopefully I reach a place where he's open to Crisis of Conscience and the ARC.

Any help is appreciated and if anyone is following along and help me with this, I'll post regular updates. Hopefully we can evolve a model that works, although I know I'm in a unique position since I'm a non-JW under the guise of a bible study.