As ABibleStudent says, go see him face-to-face. Don't acknowledge the text any other way except a personal visit. How does he know you even received the text otherwise. I assume he doesn't go to your hall so you wouldn't have heard any announcement about it. Just go over and see him and maybe bring something for his little baby and set aside some time to spend with him. If he wants to talk to you about his situation you could say "i thought it was a spam text" or just say it must not have gotten delivered (that happens sometime) and just listen to what he has to say. That way you can gauge how he feels and since you are already there to see him and bring something for the baby you can continue asking about how he and his family is. As others have said, don't text him and calling is really not enough to get proper feedback or give proper comfort to someone in his situation. At least that is what I would do...and then see how things go after that.
Help me help my DF'd friend
by OneEyedJoe 22 Replies latest jw friends
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OneEyedJoe
Thanks everyone for the feedback. I did end up texting him back to tell him I wouldn't shun him and my friendship is unconditional. Haven't heard back yet, though, so it's possible apognophos might be on the right track.
Just showing up at his door wouldn't be likely to work. His schedule is unpredictable, so I'm not likely to find him home without advance coordination. I tend not to 'get' the rules of social interaction, so this type of situation is difficult for me. I usually prefer to be left alone, so I usually avoid doing anything that could be seen as pushy, so I'm having trouble finding the line between friendly and supportive and weird stalker. I'm thinking I'll try giving him a call in a week or so (it won't even be announced until next thursday) to see how he's doing.
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wisdomfrombelow
If it wasn't announced from the platform yet then he is not disfellowshipped yet and you and therefore violated no rules. Since people are given up to 1 week to write an appeal letter you can still talk to him and associate with him under JW terms until it is announced from the platform.