Great topic Scully, I see it's been up for a while, I must have been off
the board when you first posted it. Anyway, I don't know if this is what
you are looking for, but here goes.
Around 8.5 years ago, I was a ministerial servant, and very popular
in the congregation, especially with the boe, as I was a real "company
man" at the time, and there was every likelihood that my name would
be put forward at the next circuit visit for appointment to elder.
It was a Sunday in April 1999, about 30 minutes into a public talk that
I was delivering, that my personal epiphany occurred. I had just said
that a mark of the true religion would be consistency in it's teachings,
and the thought came into my head that maybe the watchtower weren't
so consistent with theirs. I finished the talk, but couldn't get the thought
out of my mind, although I tried.
I did nothing about it at the time, but a few weeks later I started my
own independent research into watchtower history, and soon started
to discover things about them that I could barely believe. When the
co visited a few months later, I was recommended for elder, but
eventually turned the appointment down when it was offerred. By
this time I wasn't sure that I wanted to be part of the watchtower
any more, and I guess it showed in my attitude.
Once I'd refused the elder appointment and resigned as an ms,
the attitude of the boe towards me changed almost overnight. From
doing everything right, I was now doing everything wrong in their
eyes. They accused me of a variety of offences, none of which
were true. I had been accounts servant, and had been previously
commended for the accuracy of the accounts. Now though, a
rumour went around that I'd misappropriated congregation funds,
and I'd been taken off the job because of it, complete bullshit, but
some believed it and maybe still do.
I had to cancel a talk in the tms due to illness, but I phoned a
brother to ask him to take it to help the school overseer out, and
he agreed to do it. I then phoned the overseer to tell him about it,
and he thanked me. The night after the meeting however, the overseer,
and another elder came round and accused me of simply not
turning up and not informing them of my situation. I phoned the
brother who'd taken the talk, and he denied I'd rung him - he
later admitted that the elders had pressured him to lie.
I was rumoured to be having a secret affair with a "worldly" neighbour,
presumably because I'd been seen giving her a lift home from
shopping. This was again completely untrue, but the elders and
some servants started watching my flat on some non meeting nights,
and if I went out I was questioned by the elders about where I'd been
and who I'd been with at the next meeting. I told them to mind their
own business, which turned them against me even more.
I was receiving phone calls in the early hours of the morning, with
no one at the other end. I guess they forgot where I work - I was
able to trace some of them despite them being anonymous, and once
I'd confronted the persons concerned, 2 elders and an ms who I knew
had early morning cleaning jobs, the calls stopped, even though they
denied being responsible for making them.
I was ignored in q&a items like the watchtower study, despite raising
my hand several times, then counselled for not commenting. I was
accused of not turning in my field service slip, although I knew I had
done so. When I was an ms, I had at times tried to involve some of
the children in my service meeting items by asking them to read a scripture
or make a comment. I was praised for this at the time, but once I'd
stepped down, the po inferred that my interest in children might be
"unhealthy", in his opinion. I was well aware of what he was inferring,
and have often thought since that I should have gone with my initial
thought when he made the comment, and punched him - he definitely
deserved it.
Apart from the elders campaign against me, the rest of the congregation
had been advised to have as little to do with me as possible. They
didn't all follow the advice, but most did, which of course served to
isolate me even more. By the time I walked out of the kingdom hall
for the last time in November 1999, only about 9 or 10 people were
on friendly terms with me.
Looking back, I guess the elders were trying bully boy tactics on me.
I'd rocked the boat by resigning, and refused to reconsider when asked
to do so, and I deserved punishment in their eyes. While this was
happening, my attitude towards the org was changing, not because
of the bullying but because my research, which they didn't know about,
was convincing me that the watchtower religion was false. I began to
miss meetings, stopped going in fs and eventually left altogether, all
of which was inevitable I suppose once I started my research, but after
having a pretty smooth ride in my first 8 years in the org, the last few
months were pretty rough, and I was thankful when they ended.
I don't know if that's what you're looking for Scully, but you are welcome
to use it if it is.
Trev
