cedars wrote If this IS shunning, and not merely a difference of opinion, then it wouldn't be the first time I've witnessed it. When I first "awakened" I became aware of a friend who is also effectively an apostate as regards the organization, but he chooses to remain a JW nonetheless (despite not having much by way of family ties). However, he is one of those reformists who believes that the Watchtower once held a special relationship with God but has forsaken it. He therefore apparently believes the organization is due to be divinely disciplined, whereupon it will return to God's favor, and therefore it shouldn't be left entirely. I understand there are many who feel similarly, and therefore continue to call themselves JWs despite disagreeing with much of the doctrine.
Anyway, after we "compared notes" I slowly heard less and less from him, and now I hear virtually nothing at all. Last time I went to visit him, he made it clear that he would need to shun me if I were ever disfellowshipped. It's quite sad really because he's a genuinely nice bloke, and we get on well. However, there are certain elements of JW belief that he refuses to let go of, and he seems to view me as a heretic for daring to turn my back on things entirely.
It's worth remembering that there are lots of different "shades" to JW apostasy, from chaps such as my friend mentioned above right through to atheist ex-JWs. The different groups don't always see eye to eye (as we've witnessed on this forum) and shunning (or rejecting "bad association") is obviously part of the JW DNA.
I refer to it as E-shunning lol, but I agree that we are not all the same, a friend who is sitting on the fence when spoken about apostates he gets unconfortable and avoids such topics, some even started their own cults. I had a phase after reading CoC and ISOCF that I believed to be free thanks to holy spirit, and during that time I did suffer from confirmation bias, but never did I shun others, and after leaving the borg my motto was and still is truth should stand up to scrutiny what ever it may be. I mean how dumb do you have to be not to see the double standard and the hypocrisy, ex-jw seen as wolf in sheeps clothing and ex-jw's judging atheists as a wolf in sheeps clothing, the irony.
