My wife learned a lesson early on. Our C.O. visited and she opened up to him somewhat. He gave her council and prayed with her. She didn’t attend his talk that week. He used his time on stage to talk about her. He classified her as more or less dead before Armageddon. One of her close friends phoned her and told her everything that she had said to the C.O had been repeated on the stage. She was livid and wrote the C.O telling him he hadn’t helped at all. He wrote back and apologized. From that time on she has used the phrase “I’m just don’t feel comfortable sharing my thoughts” which has worked very well for her. She’ll even repeat it if necessary. It’s her version of taking the Fifth.
I use a different strategy. I make it clear I don’t have problems with local brothers or the local congregation. I’m not depressed or suffering from a guilty conscience. I have issues with the Watchtower…the Society…the Governing Body. Issues with their unapologetic and dismissive attitude toward the mistakes they made that affected people’s lives, that we now jokingly call “old light”. If they need examples I furnish them. There are plenty to choose from. But it’s batshit crazy WT history, not ‘apostasy’. So my phrase is “I have issues with the Watchtower”.
JW.ORG and YouTube have opened up whole new dimension of reasons to longer trust their direction. Teepee’s, vehicles and fiddling in Assembly Hall lobbies, line dancing and teaching the hustle on the KH stage, while crowing about Jehovah blessing on all this. Promotional buttons, key chains, umbrellas and Frisbees. Even a video of ‘Psy’ dancing around Bethel to the tune of Pharrell Williams (Goggle his songs and lyrics, you may ‘cringe’… as one sister told me she did). I tell JW’s I’m shocked. I even rub it in a little. I’ve said it’s the only positive aspect of my parents both suffering from dementia. They didn’t get to see how far down-hill the brothers have gone.
Because of family situations we are careful. We don’t hide our point of view but we don’t advertise it either. And we will never answer questions destined to df us.