Hello everyone,
Haven't posted anything here since my first post almost 5 months ago (you can read it here: http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/experiences/255032/1/Great-ROI-successfully-fading#.UoPJv-KDZyI), but I'm lurking around here almost on a daily basis.
Short update:
- all JW's on my part of the family are fully awake about TTATT and have fast-forwarded into 'fading mode'. They are missing meetings, no longer go out in field service (but still send a fictious time slip at the end of the month), have missed the recent assembly.
- my father is now an ex-elder. He resigned from his position. It's not as easy as it sounds to do so. You can't just quit. Resigning as an elder from the organization is like resigning from the Mafia. He handed a copy of his resignation letter to the COBE while sending a certified letter to the local branch with the original. He kept it short :"Effective today, I'm resigning from my position as an elder in xxx congregation". He hasn't heard back from the branch or from the C.O. as of yet. The other elders have talked to him in private about his reasons. He played the 'doubts' card, saying how he can't grasp the last "new light" we have been receiving and and so in good conscience he can't teach others about something he doesn't fully 'understand'. He used this opportunity to bring back memories from his 20+ years as a JW of other "new lights" within the organization that are now already old and obsolete. He shared TTATT with 2 elders and quite a few from his congregation. I have honestly advised against doing so. He's good with words, is appreciated within the community; he was the guy you would call whenever there was a "necessity" within the area that involved a fellow witness, always having a listening ear, would never say 'no' to whatever Watchtower related demand. So, I guess, he knows best what he's doing and how far he can take it. Almost forgot, there wasn't an announcement made at the hall yet about it, but he made sure all the congregation knows he resigned and wasn't removed.
- my parents have divorced when we were teenagers. My mother was disfellowshipped in the process (a JW kangaroo process, you know what I mean. With my father being in the old boy's club, it was a matter of formality only, blitzkrieg speed). They were fighting against each other for us, it wasn't something nice at all. Anyway, my father ended with full custody. We had limited contact with our mother over the years, she being disfellowshiped. Things are fastly changing in this regard however. This is something I will always regret. We were bullied into doing this by my father back then, the congregation, well, you know the pressure. Even if my mother was away from the organization all these years, she wasn't awaken to TTATT. Honestly, she was quite shocked when we told her of our recent 'exit' within the organization. I have shared TTATT with her and also gavea copy of Ray's 'Crisis of Conscience'. As the Watchtower always said "the magazines will do all the work. There's nothing we could say better than the magazines do", I find that to be the absolute truth about Ray Franz books. (In this regard, I think most of the disfellowshipped persons that haven't learned TTATT are still in some way trapped inside the cult's mind control)
- on my wife's part of the family, things aren't on 'full-speed' so to speak. My wife isn't such an activist like I am, lol. I did talked with my mother-in-law and shared some TTATT with her on one occasion and later on gave her 'Crisis of Conscience'. I know for sure she has read at least 150 pages into it. I don't know her opinions on the matter. She hasn't brought out the subject again yet. I'll patiently wait for her to bring back the subject. Although I don't know exactly what she thinks on the matter, I can draw a few conclusions from her actions: she doesn't shun us at all (in fact we meet far more regularly now than we did before), she prefers to play rummy, scrabble, domino etc on a Sunday afternoon rather than going to the hall (:D), I'm a "Mo Bro" activist (actually growing a beard...to understand what 'Movember' is check this wiki link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Movember) and she says I look better this way (she hasn't been sarcastic, lol; growing a beard was my first "rebelious act" since I stopped attending meetings. In my country, beards are a big NO-NO for a JW. That's why I see this as a positive sign.), she has celebrated 2 birthdays since then (hasn't yet sung "Happy Birthday to you" song, but has been present and enjoyed the whole thing. Oh, nobody was beheaded at any of the events, btw, in case you were wondering). I thinks she makes it to 1 or maybe 2 max. Sunday meetings per month. Probably 1 mid-week meeting per month as well. Doesn't go in field service, doesn't report any time (she has been irregular before as well). She's fading without knowing it.
- my brother-in-law, well, he's young and reckless. I'm pretty sure he'll find he's way out of the Org. pretty soon like 2/3 of JW teenagers do. I haven't talked about anything TTATT related with him, well, because he's reckless and I don't think it will be a wise decision on my part. Not yet at least. I'll make sure he stays out when that happens. Not shunning us, celebrated birthdays with us etc. He does make it to more meetings per month than his mother, but rarely goes out in field service. He still has to keep some sort of a status within the Org. so the girls will still like him, lol. Isn't that crazy ?
- about us; Elders no longer have tried to contact us. When they had the C.O. visit, they did tried to get us to talk to him. We told them they can **** off, but in a more polite manner. Some "friends" are shunning us (more like avoiding us, not real shunning, as they still talk to us if we bump into each other; they just don't make first contact with us unless we do so), some don't. Those that don't kinda envy us and our new found freedom. We'll be there for them when the time comes for them. We have learned to be patient.
Life out of the Watchtower organization it's good. I meant it as a 'short' update when I started typing but it got really long.
Take care everyone!