Are You "Technically" Still A Jehovah's Witness?

by minimus 60 Replies latest jw friends

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  stan livedeath

  i resigned in 71--never thought of myself as in any religion after that. occcasionally attended a meeting to stop my born in wife nagging me to detonation point.

  she divorced me in 81--so no more boring arse-flattening meetings for me.

  i attended a relatives wedding ceremony in a local kingdumb hall a few years later--but that whole family are long gone from the cult now.

  last attendance was in 98--my late mothers funeral in the crematorium--but purely to support my jw dad--who had just had a cancer op.

  it must be interesting what some of you put on "official" forms if theres a box for religion. i write--none.
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  minimus

  Still, when JWs talk about us, how do they view us?? I think if we don't create trouble for them, we are considered Witnesses that are hopefully going to come back to the fold.
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  My Name is of No Consequence

  I am technically still in, but inactive. I still go on occasion to please my wife.
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  Vidiot

  *grumblegrumble*

  As long as my JW mom is still alive I'll stay "in"; my children are her only grandkids.

  After she passes, I don't give a shit.
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  What Now?

  We have not attended meetings or gone in field service for over two years.

  According to my mom, that makes us "not witnesses anymore".

  However our families continues to associate with us, things between us are probably better then they have ever been.

  BUT my mom has told us that she would respect the disfellowshipping arrangement if we did officially leave; my in laws have said that they wouldn't be able to share a meal with us if we left the congregation.

  So I'm not sure what that makes us. I guess they consider us to be inactive witnesses. But that would suggest there's hope that we may come back one day, which there isn't, at all.
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  WasOnceBlind

  I have been inactive for 10 years now, I was publicly censored (not sure if that is the term) when I got married to my non JW wife ...for marrying her. I use to go to assemblies mostly because of my mom but lately haven't been to any in like the last 3 years. I still attend memorial mainly for my mom. Now that I think about it, not once has any elder even tried to contact me to get me back....then again towards the later parts of my active days I was kind of considered the black sheep. The only one that hounds me about going back is my dad. I once thought about calling an elder out of the blue and giving so,e outrageously high time report (fake, always was fake anyways) and kind of leaving him dumfounded.
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  EdenOne

  I've stopped attending meetings and reporting time following my JC last September. When my public reproof was announced on the mid-week meeting, me and son stood up in the middle of the KH and walked out. I only returned for the memorial (for my wife's sake) and to my wife's mother funeral. I'm thus inactive and fading. Most people still talk to me, but only if circumstances force contact, and otherwise I'm ostensively shunned from any social activity with other Witnesses. No one has reached out to me, elders included - although I told one of them informally, that I wouldn't welcome any shepherding visit, and I suppose he passed the message along to the BOE. To my dismay, my wife went back in, and is having a 'recovery study' with a Bethel heavy's wife. I can tell she's been instructed not to discuss anything "spiritual" with me. In my professional circle of contacts, if the topic comes up, I identify myself as having been in the past a JW, but no longer actively associating with them. I've been facing a mild and prolonged depression because of this whole process, but it'll get better.

  Eden
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  lrkr

  Walked away 8 years ago. Never was acted against by the org. My family asks what my "status" is. I reject the premise. I have no status. I don't acknowledge their power to count or uncount me as a member.
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  LongHairGal

  I have been "inactive" and "faded" since 2001.

  For years I went to their memorial (lower case on purpose) but haven't for the past several years. In the early years I may have attended a special talk but that was a mistake because I was besieged with questions. They just don't leave people alone.

  I have also over the years given a piece of my mind to some JWs I have run into. So they know how I feel.

  I am sure most people there think I am "Out" which doesn't mean anything to me anymore at this point!
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  FusionTheism

  Never baptized.