So the Elders want to get together, and I kinda want to.

by Darkknight757 37 Replies latest jw experiences

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  jeanniebeanzz

  Dude, if you don't want to be part of the religion anymore just ignore them. :/ Meeting with two elders is a bad idea tho because, as has been stated, once you give them the middle finger, you WILL be df'd. If you still want to have contact with any other people in that group, don't meet with them. If they have nothing 'on you' they aren't in a position to make the announcement that severs your ties to any friends you may have that are still stuck in the lie.

  I wouldn't meet with them even if I did not have 'friends' in the group; it just feeds into their power trip and validates their authority over you to others. :/
• 

  sparrowdown

  Taking into account the gaslighting techniques of elders means you run the risk of feeling worse after it not better. But, if after considering the pro/cons of that you think it will help you move on and you want to stick it to them then I say go for it.
• 

  Darkknight757

  Thanks for all the support. The wife and I are going to talk tonight and figure it all out then make a decision. Was PO'ed earlier and needed time to cool off.
• 

  blondie

  So you were invited by someone giving a party/dinner, and then uninvited. So the gossip mill must not be working efficiently.

  -------------------------
  

  I refuse to join any club that would have me as a member. Groucho Marx
  Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/g/grouchomar122546.html

  or my favorite:

  No pearls before swine
  
• 

  FedUpJW

  You may want to quote the Feb 2017 WT, regarding the new light on the GB...

  I am getting my perfunctory how the hell are you doing meeting with the CO and one of the local elduurs in two days. They say they just want to get to know me better. Yeah, right! I've been here for over twenty years. What more is there to know?

  Anyway, I have this quote printed out with the direct reference to J Double You Dot Org and believe if we get into that area I will ask THEM to read it out loud, and then ask what exactly does that mean? I have fifty years of TMS "teaching" me how to converse and reason with people, plus I spent time in high school as the captain of the high school debate team. I really like getting into face to face "discussions" and using those pinheads own words to tie them in knots.

  As far as any congregation actions, to hell with them!
  
• 

  jwleaks

  Send them a short two sentence letter with the following quote written in it without referencing the source:

  The Governing Body is neither inspired, nor infallible, therefore it can err in doctrinal matters or in organizational direction.

  from the February 2017 watchtower.
  

  If you want to write more or throw in a red herring quote from a previous paragraph first which talks about CT Russell who was not a member of the GB or FDS. The elders won't know what to say or do, but maybe put you on trial for apostasy:

  In the late 19th century, Charles Taze Russell and some of his associates endeavored to reestablish true Christian worship. To help them disseminate Bible truth in various languages, Zion’s Watch Tower Tract Society was legally incorporated in 1884, with Brother Russell as president. He was an outstanding student of the Bible, and he fearlessly exposed as false such doctrines as the Trinity and the immortality of the soul. He discerned that Christ would return invisibly and that “the appointed times of the nations” would end in 1914. Brother Russell devoted his time, energy, and money unsparingly to share these truths with others. Clearly, at that pivotal time, Brother Russell was used by Jehovah and the head of the congregation.

  The Governing Body is neither inspired, nor infallible, therefore it can err in doctrinal matters or in organizational direction.
• 

  Darkknight757

  The whole thing about this is I just want out and away from these weirdos so that the wife and I can move on with our lives. We really have nothing to lose at this point since our family has already begun shunning us since they found out we are inactive.

  I see these stories of people 5, 10, 25 years out still being haunted by these goons and I don't want that for us. We just want to live a long and happy life away from the cult.

  Our "worldly" family is fully supporting us and we already have some good new friendships that we are working on. So the loss of these conditional friends is more of a relief at this point in time.

  Either way I'm going to call my local elduuuur from the fade hall and tell him to get ready for a call from my lawyer if he doesn't figure out how to leave us alone and forget he ever met us.
• 

  smiddy

  Why dont you and your wife DA yourselves from the religion of JW`s , in that way you take away their percieved control over you , because you are in effect DF them out of your lives once and for all.

  Who cares how they word it to the congregation , you know you have disowned them ....End of story.
• 

  jeanniebeanzz

  if i knew then what I know now i would not have been excluded from so many family events,,, the marriage of my brother, the death of my father and grandmother and the life events that make life life. it is all legalistic bullshit, but if your family and friends believe it, and you can find a way to skirt their 'laws' you will be better off. I have spent the last 30 years wondering if I could have found a way to keep the good and lose tha bad. it's a fine line. but I wish I'd known how little power the elders really had. life would have been very different. and, frankly, i don't think i'd have lost my family.
• 

  jwleaks

  Darkknight757 - Then turn the tables. Follow my suggestion and give a copy of the letter, or postcard, to your family as well. Don't turn up to any meetings with the elders and have nothing to do with them. If they d'fed you in absentee then later reveal to your family where you got the quote from and give them the choice whether to completely shun you for sharing a quote from the latest Watchtower. You will always have a story on why you were d'fed.

  The two above suggested quotes from the one Watchtower article can be reversed if it makes more sense. Remember, some elders have already made up their mind and are only looking for a pretext. Imagine the shock when they eventually read the Watchtower magazine and realize what they did. They cannot claim the d'fed of you and your wife by the boe was inspired or infalluble if even their beloved gb are not. Cheers.