It never failed, when someone got disfellowshipped or left the organization, their life became shambles. If married, a divorce ensued. If the person had a great job, the company would lay-off or close. If the person was healthy, they would get cancer or a serious ailment.
And you could see it with your own eyes, so you would crawl back into the cave.
But things are changing. This week I ran into a sister that I hadn’t seen for about 25-28 years. She was a pioneer who made just one mistake-- with this brother who convinced her to have sex and she felt so guilty that she went to the body of elders and confessed that same night. They formed a committee that same night and she got disfellowshipped. She worked hard to get reinstated. It took her close to 3 years of writing letters, sitting in the back of the hall, and putting up with everyone ignoring her.
Finally she got reinstated but it was never the same. The friends treated her with contempt and would limit their association with her because she gave in to sex.
She met this young man who was not a JW and started dating him. Immediately when the sisters found out, they reported her and she was counseled and was reproved and put on restriction. (Just for dating a non-jw)
I could tell she was totally depressed. Then she disappeared. Stopped coming to the hall, changed her phone number and moved to a new address. A few years later we heard she got married to this young Non-JW. Some of the Elders would say; OOOh is she going to pay for leaving the truth. We’ll get her when she comes back crawling.
Well I saw her at the store this week. Visiting for the holiday. About 25-28 years have passed. It’s still freaks me out what some 25 years can do to a person. She was a young (20+) year old girl when I last saw her, and now she is a (50) year old lady. It turns out that the young man she married went on to become a doctor, she has 4 children the oldest one in his 20s and almost done with College. She lives in an area that the JWs don’t like to work in the door to door because of its affluence. When they do knock on her door she sees them on her monitor and won’t give them the time of the day.
She did say something interesting. She said, “That when they walk away, she wonders about them. How can they be so blind and not see that they are being manipulated. I can understand young people being manipulated, but adults!!!”
I was real curious so I asked her straight out if she knew TTATT?
She replied, “What’s that”
I started explaining and she had no idea of 607 BC, no idea of the lawsuits, no idea of all the new light, she knows zilts, nada, nothing of the Watchtower.
She’s been busy raising her kids, traveling with her husband to Africa, China, Japan, and other places just for vacation. She does a lot of interesting things with her friends, many who are wives of other doctors, lawyers, and entrepreneurs.
While she is telling me this, I am beginning to see that I have missed out on a lot in life. I was really trapped like a slave and didn’t realized that great possibilities were taken away from us when we become one of Jehovah’ Witness. It’s not just about wasting your time in the door to door, conventions, etc. It’s about stealing your identity, stealing your potential, stealing people that could have been good friends of yours that would stick to you through thick or thin. Friends that would add and not take away from your happiness.
Finally she tells me, “You know, I really don’t care to know anything about the Watchtower. I don’t care if they are a cult, I don’t care if they are the true religion, I just don’t care to know anything about them. I have a great life, I have a great husband, I have great kids, and I don’t care to know anything or want anything from those people. And I’ve already warned my kids about the WT and they promised me they would stay far away from them.
You don’t have to know TTATT to leave the organization. If you happen to make a good life for yourself, nothing else will matter. I think that’s the key.
The only bad thing about this experience is that I can’t relate it to all those JWs that made her life miserable. They are still thinking;
That’s What Happens When You Leave the Truth.