I'm almost six months past walking away from the religion, and one of the elders has risen and thrown a monkey wrench into my entire plan.
Things have been great actually. Since i've managed to shed myself of congregation responsiblities, the elders have gotten off my back quite a bit. This has been the case especially since the CO visit over a month ago, when they were doing their mandatory check-ups on me.
Now, suddenly, this elder comes out of no where and now needs to talk with me. I will say that he's never showed any concern for me, not even talk to me much, except when it came to congregational duties. I haven't answered any of his calls and I don't intend on calling him back. The first voicemail he left me was in a very strong, authoritative tone. He said he plainly, "I need to talk to you". He called later that day in a more gentle tone, asking me to call him back immediately. I knew right then that this wasn't your regular courtesy call, he's out for information.
He's left a few more voicemails and his tone keeps getting more gentle each time. It seems as if he's realized I don't want to talk to him and now he wants to show that he cares. He then went on to contact my parents, telling them to ask me to contact him Then the other day, he sent a letter by way of my father to me. He told dad not to read it, that it's confidential. Mom gave me the letter when I went to go visit them the other night. If the letter is so confidential, why not put it in an enveloped? It was simply folded in half, no tape or anything. Perhaps i'm reading too much into that, but it seems like that could be a potential pot-stirrer. No doubt my parents are wondering what is going on since this elder so hell-bent on talking with me. Mom now says..."well the brothers are so concerned about you...you need to call them!" I'm quite sure her to let her know how "concerned" he was.
I still intend on avoiding him, but i'm just wondering how this all will play out. I can see how this can potentially blow a good thing I have going here. I'm living quietly without JW burdens now, and my parents don't question me much about meetings anymore, but this has given somewhat of a spark to the issue.
I'm also wondering what he could want. My first thought is that he wants to know what I believe now. Right before I ended the engagement with my ex-fiancee, I told her how the 607/1914 thing was something I lost faith in, and that it's definitely something she should look into more herself. At first, she agreed that she should, but a couple of days later she said I scared her. I'm wondering if she's shared this bit of information with him. In fact, she's told me before that if she needed to talk to any of the elders, it would be him.
I also will say that this particular BOE doesn't seem to take much action on anything, or show much concern for others, unless they do something "wrong".
Hopefully this will all go away by further avoidance. I'll keep you posted with further developments.
R.F.