6 months or so ago, me and my wife decided we will never set foot again in a Kingdom Hall. About 4 months earlier than that, I stumbled upon an article about the WTS being associated with the UN. That got me into finding out TTAT eventually. My wife wasn't aware of my doubts, I was doing everything when she wasn't at home or late at night. We are in our mid 20's, recently married, both born in's and so our family, friends, basically, everyone we know are JWs.
2-3 months into finding TTAT, in one night, I simply bombed her with everything I have found out. I know, it wasn't the safest way to go, but it did worked. Oh well, at first, she started crying saying that how will she go all by herself to the KH ? She doesn't want to go alone like her mother (my father in law isn't a witness; never was), what will others think ? Funny how, the very first thing she thought about was the impression this will create on those around us and not the fact the she was lied to, lived her life until now in an illusion. The whole organisation is a cards castle, if you ask me, just keeping up appearences. Some day, everything will fall apart.
The next days, we sat down and I logically explained to her all the topics that I have researched and I have provided her with the resources to do it herself. She also read 'Crisis of Conscience", part of which she read at the CA (the last convention we ever attended as well) on her iPad. I was keeping watch (I think that's how you say it in english). Didn't had anything else better to do anyway. It was hilarious!
So, we stopped attending meetings, field service, everything. At first, the elders starting calling, coming by unannounced, the usual. We completely ignored them, didn't answered the phone, didn't opened the door. We felt harrassed. We didn't want to have anything else to do with them from now on. ("I will surrender my mind no more". I think I have read that in someone's signature here while lurking. I really like that one.)
My father, an elder in another congregation, 'heard' that we aren't attending meetings, weren't going out in service, were ignoring the elder's help etc. and so he started asking questions. I simply told him that what's happening is personal and that I would want him to respect my decision and I promised him that when the time will be proper, I'll approach him and talk about what happens. That didn't worked for too long of course. So, one day, while on the phone with him, I simply told him what's been on my mind in the last months, what I have discovered etc. I started with Deut 18:20-22 and all the false prophecies WTS has made. I left him with that thought.
He called me again a few days later. Note that I never brought the subject up first in our conversations. He was bringing it up every single time. I didn't want to be labelled as "the evil apostate that talks bad the organization with every single chance he gets". And he said that he really thought of those verses in the last days and that he doesn't know what to do now. "Okay, so where will I go? What will I do ?" Long story short, I gave him 'Crisis of Conscience' and 2 weeks into talking about TTAT to him, he calls me up again (we now would talk almost every day about TTAT, where before I would avoid calls from him knowing how he'll question me about what's happening) and says that he is going to resign as an elder. 2 weeks! That's how much it took my elder father to wake up. I advised him not to do anything in a rush, but think very well over it, let the time pass a bit and things settle down within his mind. But he is awake now! He confessed to me that he had always had doubts the he constantly tried to ignore. I'm sure that everyone in has doubts but they are afraid to express them. If all would start expressing their doubts and all would know about all the other people's doubts, well, that would be the end of the organization. So, for as long as they'll still be able to control what its members think, it will continue to survive, sadly.
Of all the 5 family members, I gave him the lowest chances to wake up to the truth about the truth. Now there are 4 more which I'm very sure we'll be able to wake up since they're my younger brothers, my wife's younger brother and my mother in law.
Oh well, I'm very happy to say that nobody ever listened to me and my wife while preaching and so we never brought anybody into the "truth", but we are on the course of getting at least 7 (including us) out of it and once this is done we'll try to wake up some close friends.
Now that's what I call a great "Return On Investment".
