THE ESTRANGED FAMILIES LIST (page 3)

kls

HI LadyLee ,so glad to hear from you

That is all i came to say because this post makes me wanna cry

Swan

My whole family on my Mom's side, with one exception, but I can't reveal who because I have promised my family that all correspondence will be kept in the strictest confidence.

My Dad's side were all "non-believers" and lived 2000 miles away, so we didn't associate with them very much throughout the years. I really don't know that much about them, although my Dad's niece's husband (nonJW) happened to visit once when he was in town.

So basically, all the family that I was ever close to has estranged themselves from me for the last 11 years, with one exception. It has been so bad that even though several family members have died, I was only told about two of those deaths, and one of those was a blunt message left on my answering machine.

Tammy

LeslieV

Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, cousins. Everyone on my father's side of the family. Since we are all JW's and my mom's side were not, I don't know any of them either. So when I left pretty much everyone I had ever had as family and friends.

Leslie

garybuss

Hi Ian, Thanks for the thread. I don't know of one family touched by the Witness group that is not fractured at some level. We all know many of the Witness people personally choose to shun us when we are no longer useful to them. When people join the Witness group they are encouraged to reject their "worldly" contacts, even family. Many of us here are representing families that are silently fractured. They may look fine to the casual observer, but the reality is, many are hostages, acting as if all is well to hold it all together.

It's a social Holocaust. All done with smiling faces, all legal, tax free, and all done under the name of religious love.

talesin

I see my mom and dad. That's it.

Estranged? I'll just list the ones who were close to me emotionally, and not all of them. Please note these are only the JW relatives, and not all the others I am estranged from because I didn't get to know them. We didn't have much 'worldly association'.

grandmother, grandfather, brother, two nephews, my 3 aunts, 10 cousins (and some of their kids)

Oh, I hear I am soon to be a "Great Aunt" ... does it count if I only met my nephew once?

also, I would like to mention my best friend "K" who will always remain a sister to me

Kwin

It will get better, I promise! I'll see you & H2H tomorrow ----> tonite, doesn't matter how late, I'll be up!

tal

hamsterbait

I remember a Catholic girl who became a witless, and when she married a pioneer, not one of her Catholic family (even parents) came to the wedding as she had rejected the faith. No presents, no contribution to the reception de nada.

What a field day the congregation had, villifying them. How cruel, closed minded, selfish &CO.

One day I quietly remarked that "JWs do that sort of thing all the time." From the stunned looks and silence I suspect I spoke for Satan...

HB

tweety

The family that I have lost are

* son & daughter-in-law (I do contact him about 2 or 3 times a year)

* daughter & son-in-law (she hasn't seen me in 4 years - even though I have gone to her house to see her, she won't answer the door)

Just writing this makes me sad, because I do miss and love them very much!

Dee

fairchild

I lost my entire family through very unfortunate circumstances in life. However, the WTS had nothing to do with this, as my sister is the only JW in the family.

Although it is different for me, and I didn't lose my family because they shun me, the loss is and always will be a heavy weight on my heart, so in a way I know what people go through.

I have seen my mother 3 times since 1972 and completely lost touch in the mid eighties.

I know my sister and used to have contact with her about twice a year through e-mail, but it has been a couple of years now since I heard from her.

Lost contact with my oldest brother in 1976. He was 12 and I was 14 back then.

Lost contact with my other brother in 1990, have no idea where he is.

I have seen my youngest brother about twice since he was 10, he is 25 now.

The last time I saw my dad was in the spring of 1994. I miss him most of all.

If I had like 10 million dollars, I would hire a team of private investigators to find my family. Then I would give each member of my family a million dollars, on one condition, that they would be in a certain place at a certain time and we would all be together just once. I have never in my life seen my whole family (parents and siblings) together in one room).

A dollar and a dream..

FlyingHighNow

It's a social Holocaust.

Gary, that's a good way to describe it. And it's a two way holocaust. We lose: they lose. No one wins.

Preston

All of you are my family as far as I'm concerned

- Preston

THE ESTRANGED FAMILIES LIST

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