Quandry
Sorry to hear about the smoking thing
It's not very wise, I agree, though lighting up in front of the elders was sort of satisfying. It was my statement to them in a way, as if to say I'm tasting forbidden fruit nowadays, smoking, having a "worldly" boyfriend, reading apostate literature etc, and there's nothing you can do about it. As for the smoking, my bf smokes, and I just wanted to try it. I've not become a heavy smoker, just a few a day, but I amit I'm getting a little hooked and I enjoy it. I ought to stop before it gets out of hand, but I'm not promising I will.
cyberguy
Welcome JulieM! Who knows what got you kicked-out. The sad part is that they could have fabricated everything and painted you in an ugly picture, and created an entire fiction! Have you tried to keep some kind of spirituality? I’m just a little curious.
They are probably painting an ugly picture of me now, but I don't care. It's the norm in that congregation, and others I suppose, when anyone gets df'd. The rumours of what they've become since rejecting Jehovah start circulating immediately, started by the elders. I haven't heard anything yet, but I expect I'm being painted as a chain-smoking, drug abusing fornicator by now, with a penchant for reading apostate literature since I stopped reading the Watchtower's delightul words of truth. The PO and his main cronies are probably angry that I robbed them of the stimulation of asking me about the lurid details of my sex life as I didn't turn up for my JC. Knowing their wives, I'd think that they were looking forward to that, it's probably the only excitement they get nowadays.
As for spirituality, that's something I will have to deal with at some point in the future. I still believe in God, and I think I always will. Marion has invited me to her church, but I don't fancy that, not at the moment anyway. After spending my entire life in an organised religion, I'm not keen on the idea of joining another one yet, if I ever am. I'd be very apprehensive, if not scared, of jumping out of the frying pan into the fire by going anywhere else just yet. I still have a lot of issues to deal with after a lifetime in the JWs as well, so for now I'll just enjoy my freedom and deal with the aspect of faith when I feel ready.