I cannot believe what I saw happen today at the store.
I was at Wal-Mart browsing various electronics and digital cameras and such, when I heard behind me, "Brother Hardy, HOW ARE YOU!"... First thing I thought was Oh shit, they found me, and forgot my real name, or have me mixed up with someone else.
Turns out, this disfellowshiped witness was there at the store and saw one of his congregation members there. Now I personally have never been part of the shunning process myself, but here I am, an ex-jw watching from the other aisle, a bunch of shit that I never thought I would see the lights of day on...
The brother, this "Hardy" I guess, looked up at the man with a smile, but then when he realized who it was, he immediately frowned and started pushing his shopping cart away looking straight ahead and not even acknowledging the man... (here's where I jump in..)
I approached the gentlemen in his suit and tie and said "hey there bud! that guy over there is trying to talk to you!"... The witness looked at me and said, "sir, you don't understand, it's a personal matter"... I said "Why? What happened?"... The DF'd guy approached me and said "I used to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses, until they excommunicated me from their church"... so I said to the brother, "Why'd ya do that? Doesn't Jesus love everyone?".. (hehe)... this brother then gave me a squinty look, almost as if he could tell, that I too used to be a JW.... the suspense was killing me...
The brother looked at me and said, "Sir, do you have some extra time to talk today? I can explain this to you if you do"... So I said, "Sure, but can... excuse me buddy, what's your name (to the other dude)" ...(he said "Gary")... "Sure...but can Gary join in on this too? I want to know what kind of church doesn't forgive people for their mistakes....Gary? Did you kill anyone? rape anyone?..." Gary said "no, I was caught cheating on my wife with"... I looked at the JW and said, "Look man, we all fall short of the glory of God, right?"..."Who are you to judge your weak brother (Romans 14)?"...
This man looked right at me and said "Catholic, right?"... i said, "Uh..no.. but that's ok.. Um, look, I read the bible a lot too, and I don't know what you people do in those kingdom halls, but it doesn't sound like the church that christ built. Did not Christ come to save the lost?"... the jw said, "he came to save the lost house of Israel, yes, but a gentile that becomes Christ's and accepts the word, must remain stable..." so I asked him, "Are you stable?"... He said, "my problems are not your concern..im not getting into that...'...
He then ended the conversation and wanted to talk more about the end of the world. I told him that my world is fine, and I have plenty of money in the bank and lots of dope growing outside my property line to keep me high for a while. I told him that he needed a few bucks to hold him over I could spot it to him (this really pissed him off)...
I then proceeded to give the JW this web site address and told the DF'd guy also... I also gave the JW some links to sites that prove beyond a doubt that Michael is not Jesus. Amazingly enough this JW actually agrees that he is not sure the Michael/Jesus thing is all that important, as long as you believe Jesus preexisted in Proverbs 8... I said, no, I don't believe that either. I believe Jesus is a human, born from Jospeh and Mary. I believe that Greek Platonic Philosophy crept into the early church and the early MSS were corrupted by constantine and others. I believe that the Roman Catholics are the beastly religion which is the harlot. It holds the spirit of Babylon and all her fornications, including your false JW religion. I said that you peolpe profane the Sabbath day, and Jehovah is going to burn you with fire for not keeping the Sabbath holy. (I was being extremely facetious)...
Anyway, long story somewhat short, the exjw and me sparked up a fatty in the parking lot and got stoned... Then I came home. Now I cannot find one blue bag from wal mart that has my bob marley cd in it and my deodorant... damn it... Luckily I got the bag with the chocolates though. In case anybody is wondering they are havign a sale on snickers bars right now too...
Butters