Hello everyone,
Being new here and reading some of the stories here I thought I would add mine. Not being as dramatic as some of them out there still thought I would share:)
I was born a JW as my mom was raised one from the time she was a toddler. My dad met her at meetings when he was attending with his brother and so they wound up getting married etc.. etc..
My father was never much of a JW though he was baptized. He went to the hall most of the time but never really got into it. He was disfellowshiped in 1974 for refusing to quit smoking..LOL This caused some problems at home but my mom stayed and always went to the meetings which of course beings I was 4 years old, I found myself always going along as well.
It was around the time I was 13 I guess when I started to really take an interest in "the Truth" and decided to start doing more. I found myself going out in service virtually all of the time as well as being very active in the ministry school and things like that. I always got along with everyone very well including elders it seemed so I took to it naturally I suppose. It was 1985 when I was 14 years old that I decided to take the baptism step myself at a district convention in Madison Wisconsin. From there I aux pioneered all the way through the summer of 1986 and that was when I started having some problems. Problems for teenagers I guess can be expected and when I took the dip I just didn't realize how it could happen. Sure enough I started slowly fading away from meetings little by little. My mother wasn't very happy with that but it came and went in streaks. I started hanging out with worldly friends from school and yes even started smoking cigarettes here and there and took up a bit of a liking for beer:) Anyway somebody spotted me smoking one day so I was told and my mom and I were called into a commitee meeting. Needless to say I was told how wrong I was and blah, blah, blah.. Well first of all I felt like telling them what I really thought but not wanting to hurt my mother I went along and agreed to knock it off and tried my best to be a good JW. I was privately reproofed and that was that. Then myself and a couple of other JW buddies were out one night about 6 months later and we had some beer in the car, and were just having fun. Well the kid who was driving didn't clean up his car very well and his mother caught wind of what was going on.. So there was another meeting with the elders all 3 of us and our parents. I was the only one baptised at the time and while they were reprimanded heavily I once again found myself privately reproved. Little did I know at that moment I became a target by one elder in particular. A little time went by and my mom and I were at the Sunday meeting when this elder came up to us afterwards and asked if we could hang around a little while so he could talk to us. At this point by the way I was doing everything in the world to be "good" so I didn't think anything of it. Next thing I know he calls us both into a makeshift judicial hearing with 3 elders there asking me about some party a few JW teens had thrown the night before from the other cong in town. They boozed it up big time I guess in what started as a JW gathering..LOL Well they weren't people I hung out with anyway so I didn't know anything and told them so. The one elder didn't want to believe me and I picked up on that right away. I was pissed to say the least.. I almost told them to go straight to hell then and there. Alas for the fear of hurting my mother I did not and after verifying with her (who was pretty pissed at them herself) that I was home the entire evening this took place they let me go. That was the beginning of the end for me as it was 1987 at this point and I started not going to the meetings and fell right back into smoking, drinking and hanging out with guys from school. After not being to the hall in a few months I got called in again where one of the guys I got caught drinking with the other time said he seen me smoking..LOL Here we go again I thought, this time stabbed in the back by a guy who had NO room to talk. So I told them that is possible and they publicly reproved me which surprised me considering I was showing little remorse at this point and flatly told them everything I could think of about the SOB that told on me. My mom was hurt but at least I wasn't disfellowshiped so to her that eased her somewhat. I may as well had been. I attended probably 2 meetings after being publicly humiliated with that one. Finally by the end of 1988 being 18 by now and totally not ever wanting to go back I DA'd myself the first week of 1989. My mom was hurt but I couldn't go on with even attempting to be something I was not, nor was I going to be involved with an organization that totally witch hunted people. Many if not most of the JW's I grew up with were hunted down the same way and some in worse ways. I joined the United States Navy at the age of 18 (which really got some scrutiny from them I later heard from people) and fought the Persian Gulf WAr.. I stayed in the Navy until 1998. I was married and had 3 kids then my wife left me with the 3 kids so I got out to care for them as being a single parent in the military wasn't something I wanted to do. When I came back home afterwards an elder stopped by the house. I knew this guy since I was a kid and he was nice asking me if I ever thought of coming back and inviting me to the hall. I thanked him but declined. Since that time I am remarried to a wonderful woman and we are expecting our first child together making a nice total of 4 great kids. I have a great job, a great family and a lot better life then i would have if I would have continued pretending all of those years. The funny part though is it took me close to 10 years to de-program myself. I really thought I was doomed all of those years. Finally after searching and studying the bible on its own merits I understand that isn't the case. Also my mom has been inactive since about 1991. Never happy with the way they dealt with me she just stopped going.
I guess to me it's amazing to read the horror stories of many people and I feel so much sympathy for so many of the stories that I've read here. In my own dealings with the JW's I found it amazing at a young age as to how hyprocritical they can be. 1 day they're your best friend but if you make a mistake you're flagged and then they got you.
It is a shame.
Sorry for rambling.. and thanks for listening.. I hope to talk to you all on here quite a bit.:)
Rick