I recently recalled an incident with my JW ex-wife while we were separated and waiting for the divorce procedure to go through.
It was a fairly amicable process so we kept in touch during that time. About a year and a half into the separation and a few months before the official divorce the ex-wife was concerned about the scriptural divorce part. She was worried about being "free" to move on of course….at least in JW world.
By that time I had started seeing who is now my wife….married last summer. So in a phone call to the ex-wife I let her know that the "deed" had been done….she had her scriptural divorce. All was good, she wasn't surprised and was relieved to know she could officially move on.
That's where it got kinda weird. A few days later she called back and said the elders told her she needed to have a second witness hear me say I had slept with another woman. The elders wouldn't take her word for it, hence they said the need for another witness.
So get this...she suggested either her father (an elder) or a close friend of hers listen in on the phone call...they wouldn't talk, just listen to me repeat the same thing I had already told her.
Immediately I was pissed off with this, that it was complete BS and I had long ago had enough of the Dubs. While fading I had always refused to speak to anyone (other than my ex-wife) about why. She pleaded and said she needed it. I wouldn't budge and said I don't care about their damn rules anymore. If she wants to believe that crap and to live by those rules, that's her problem now. I had cooperated enough.
Another few days passed and she called again. This time all was fine. She wouldn't need that second witness. At the time I thought it was a bizarre request to start with, and then to rescind it was just as strange. As a JW I hadn't heard of that before. Until recently, I had forgotten all about it.
So the question….is this a standard elder procedure for proving a scriptural divorce?
Anyone else have the same thing happen to them, or hear of similar incidents?