Often, more so then not, my former Witness friends have the habit of wondering why more people do not hear or know about things Witnesses do in modern history. Yet in time, from being on boards like this one and from knowing far more people that are not Witnesses, then ones that are or were. I have learned that Witnesses are really a non-issue in society. The crazy acts of the early 1900's that gained public attention, were replaced with a more invisable conformed organization that really does very little to be noticed. Even a negative story, finds back page placement in newspapers, when compared with other larger religions.
When I mention my Witness past, often my friends say things like, "I knew one of you in high school" or "I work with one of them." My seperation from the faith, often finds me answering questions that they were afraid of asking activite Witness. Yet their fears of offending are still in place, when they comment on my past faith. Often pausing to say, "...sorry if I am wrong ..." or "... is it really true ..." I have found in my conversations that they knew very little truth to the supposed "true" religion and often believed what their priest told them or hearsay from other third party books or specials. What I have concluded is that most people, I have meet, know or think the following about the Witness
1. They are those people that knock on your door on Saturday morning
2. They are the people who do not celebrate holidays.
Often too they do have wrong information about the Witnesses, and this kind of still bothers me. For one, when they say things like, "Witnesses do not believe in Jesus." To which I often find myself defending the fact that they do, while explaining that I (myself) do not. Yet it just does not seem right to say crazy fault stories about the Witnesses, when so many true crazy stories are just waiting to be told. Another thing I notice, is that many people think they (the Witnesses) are a new religion or a religion that has appeared recently on the public scene. I like to explain that they started in the 1930's, under a man named Knorr, and were a off-shot religion based on some teachings of men who ran a Bible study program before that. Why the edit from the Witness history we knew, well I have a hard time lying now. I have also learned that coming out with comment like, "... they are crazy" or "...they are terrible people" or any other negative about them, makes me look bitter. It also says something about me, when I then face the idea that these people look at me and think, "yes, but wouldn't that mean you were crazy and terrible in the past?" So often I just say, that my beliefs evolved along a different path from their teachings and found me taking a different road. Trying more and more, as the years go by, to not present my past in such a negative tone. As I do not see it as such, anymore.
It's sometimes hard for me and my former-Witness friends to believe this and we talk about it from time to time, often joking. That the world really does not notice the Witness religion, or revolve around it, when it seemed so important in the past. Much like the world does not care about the new stop light in down town, in this small town I live in. It was front page news here though. Yet the world is a big place, and a group this small and this invisable from the real world society, truly is nothing but a period in the world novel we read from each day.