This post was originally a response to the "Passionate Confrontations With Elders" thread, but it got to be such story that I decided to create a new thread for it, lest I hijack the former or be accused of posting off-topic.
About a month before I decided to DA myself, two elders came by to set me straight and question me regarding the "considerable talk" that was going on about me. My visitors were the PO, who we'll call S, and an "annointed" brother, Z, who was widely believed to be playing with just a few cards short of a full deck.
I liked the PO a lot. He was a nice guy. He was the kind of guy you wouldn't mind going to a ballgame with. Very straightforward, rational, too. The annointed brother, on the other hand, had totally defied my efforts to relate to him from the very first time I saw him. His meeting parts were outrageous for their unorthodox quality. He would customarily insert very long, obscurely related anecdotes into very short parts, like the counsel segments of the Theocratic Ministry School. Of course, everyone thought it was adorable, since he was annointed ("You can really see the spirit on him!"), but I could never get into it. He was just loopy, to me.
So it was this unusual pair that showed up at my house. By this time, I was strongly convinced that the WT's take on the universe was horribly out of alignment with reality. As S and Z came in, I felt a sort of pity for S. He looked dejected in advance, like a man walking into a losing battle.
After a few introductory remarks by the two elders, I discussed my issues, and what I had learned in the last few months. I presented a lot of straightforward arguments, to which S listened and nodded silently. Z seemed to be missing the meaning entirely. At one point, I asked a question as a part of my argumentation. It was a question that had a very clear, unavoidable answer. Z made an evasive remark, but when my eyes met those of S, I saw a lucid understanding stirring somewhere deep inside.
After about 40 minutes, the elders made a few remarks about how people missed me at the meetings. I thanked them for their time and watched as they left quietly. It was at this point that I realized that S had said almost nothing for his entire visit. In fact, mostly he had sat in a contemplative pose taking in everything I said without offering the slightest counter-argument. Since Z had shown from his responses that he was a lost cause, I spoke directly to S for most of the conversation, and I remember an expression of creeping realization in his eyes for much of it.
A couple weeks later, I was shocked to hear that S had stepped down as PO, and that Z had taken his place. The news inpired hope in me that S might be coming around, but it also made me a bit sad to think that my former congregation, once renowned for its reasonableness compared to other KHs, would soon likely be among the absolute weirdest in Seattle.
I continue to hold out hope that S is moving along his own path of spiritual awakening. Time will tell. I'm rooting for him.
SNG