The Prodigal son...rejected.

by Londo111 13 Replies latest jw experiences

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  diamondiiz

  You will regret if you try going back. Going through all the hoops as some have done just isn't worth it. If your friends actually shun you then what are the chances they won't go tell elders the first chance they sense you are spreading "apostate teachings"? If you have a good friend, call him up and talk to him, tell him what you think he should know so he can check his references, you can do likewise with whoever.

  I thought I had a good friend too, we talked about anything and everything until the day I told him to read old WTS publications and that I am leaving the WTS. Well, that was the end of that "friendship," since according to him we had nothing in common. I don't regret leaving and have no use for the dubs who shun others. My inlaws still talk to me while they know I HATE WTS with a passion. Sometimes we make ourselves believe that we need to stay away from jw "friends and family" as if it's our own duty to do so. If you want to know if your friend(s) are real or false, call them up and talk to them . Don't waste any more of your life by going back to be pushed around by elders so they can decide if you can be reinstated after 6 months or 2 years.
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  Londo111

  I have to say, there is wisdom in what diamondiiz said here. Things were never the same with my best friend after reinstatement. He held me at arms length. And at the leaf rustle of “apostate”, he bolted. I was in the middle of a fade, but after that, I didn’t see the point anymore. I stopped going and never walked in the Kingdom Hall all again.
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  Julia Orwell

  I understand from JWStruggle you did get reinstated...how is it now with your family? Are they loving you again?

  I'm fading atm, and I'm slowly fading from talking to my JW friends too, friends I've had for years, because I know from experience that one; I'll lose them anyway; and two; if I don't it'll never be like old times because I now believe differently to them and when your beliefs permeate even your interactions with those around you, it's hard to be really close friends when you differ in so fundamental a worldview.

  I know because I resisted the urge to be friends with 'unbelievers' too...
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  Londo111

  It’s kind of always walking on eggshells with them. I’m living on the other side of town, where I go to church and live a Christian life out of their view. I don’t lie to them, but I do practice “theocratic warfare” sometimes.

  For instance, if they ask, “Did you go to the meeting today?” I might say, “Jesus said not to practice your righteousness before men.” If they ask about the circuit or special day assembly, I remind them that I am in a different circuit with a different schedule than they.

  Sometimes I say things, like in an email exchange with my father last November about the “Slave”, that I shouldn’t have. It’s hard to bottle up my thoughts, especially when they carry the magazines with them everywhere they go, and are constantly referring to this or that article in the ‘holy’ magazines as if it were the Bible.

  As you mentioned about friends, so it is with family. Their worldview is vastly different—they live in a world of Watchtower law and Watchtower works, where Organization and men are glorified and idolized. That is the “Jehovah” they worship. If they perceive me leaving this manmade construct, they will leave me in the drop of a hat. I came back more for my best friend, then family, but of course, that did not work out at all.

  I want to save these people from this cult, but rescue attempts can easily turn into massacres. It’s like diffusing a bomb: you get one shot. Pull the wrong wire and the show is over.