THE SHOOTIST
JoinedI love John Wayne movies and one of my favorites was his last, The Shootist. My heroes have always been cowboys. My friends say I'm one of the few people they have ever heard of that successfully hunts rabbits and grouse with his trusty pistol. That's why I call myself The Shootist. My religious history is as follows: My grandmother became a witness is l931 which led to the conversion of my father, a forever congregation servant and prominent elder since the arrangement began. I was bapized in 1963, was a teenage MS, pioneer, elder, and P.O. until 1998. My whole life revolved around the JW religion until one day a friend of mine sent me a special packet with things he said I needed to read. Let just say that Ray Franz's books Christian Freedom and Crisis of Conscience and Carl Josson's book Gentile Times Reconsidered were the beginning of my end as a JW. I started reading and researching everthing about religion, leading to my current status as disfellowshipped. At least my wife and 2 teenage children came out, they being the only ones of my immediate family that have anything to do with me. I grieve for the loss of my relationship with my dad and mom. We have not spoken to each other in 4 years. My children have not been df'd and my parents refuse to even talk to them, their only grandchildren. My current religious conclusions are that God has to be bigger than all religion. I believe that religions are man made tools to control the masses. To explain all the research I've done to reach these conclusions cannot be done in this biography and I hope to discuss them on this board as time allows. I AM NOT A LOST AND GRIEVING X-JW. I feel confident in my research and have helped over 20 others in the past 4 years to achieve freedom with a good conscience from the JW religion. I hope to help others as well as learn new things as the years continue. THE SHOOTIST