Excellent letter Auldsoul. Very nicely written! I am sorry they opted to DA you. One would think they would think twice about doing that with the way you worded it. They must not fear becoming bloodguilty in the least. (shaking head with disbelief)
My "un"association letter
by AuldSoul 53 Replies latest jw experiences
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Rabbit
That was a great letter, it is sad, but not unexpected that they reacted in such a shallow manner. They never 'got it'...your reasonable & kind words were 'over their heads' and hearts, too.
Some day I'll have a letter to write. I can't decide if I want to 'rip 'em a new one' or try to be reasonable with them. It probably won't make much difference.
Well, you can say "I tried," anyway. Do you think any of the elders in your old congregation are the 'thinking' types who will at least consider privately some of your 'points' ?
Rabbit
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Balsam
Auldsoul,
I think the advantage to disassociation is that they will never approach you to see if your interested in working toward reinstatement. Basically with disassociation you make it clear you don't agree with what the WTBTS teaches as you did. So they don't bother with you anymore. I liked your letter it was clear and to the point. I am all for making it short and sweet. I basically don't think they even bother to read anything but the end of the letters.
I know your glad to have this over with, good for you. After I ran into a very kind Elder who was on my JC and him showing me a friendly smile I decided to write him and let him know to never have any Elders call on me for reinstatement now or in the future. He is the kind of Elder who told me that we'll be here waiting for you when your ready to come back. I have been hearing here and there that those who are disf'ed are sometimes contacted to see if their interested in coming back and working toward reinstatement. I wanted to make sure I am completely off their radar for good.
Balsam
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JackC
Auld Soul, In 2005 my husband and I watched one of the "pillar" couples in our congregation fall apart. No big deal, right? Happens all the time, right? Except, this couple had been assigned to oversee and help us overcome a problem in our marriage only years earlier... Herein lies the problem; elder and pioneer (previously) wife, daughter and son in Bethel service, very, very openly opinionated family, ALWAYS voicing opinions on who should be or shouldn't be doing what. Oooops, the pioneer dumps the elder - leaving an ugly mess for the congregation. To make a long (admittedly all too familiar story within the Org) short - elder begins attaching himself to us. I think his wife put it to him this way; 'I'd rather die at Armageddon than live forever with you'...ouch! Well, enough said, we became surrounded by more and more crazy. This propelled prayers in directions that had never been sent before. Pretty soon I was just praying for the truth. The prayers were so strong, the heartache would wake us (not the break up of the marriage of these former friends but rather the lunacy that followed - just to clarify) drove us to start asking questions and we found answers immediately. I should also mention that we were praised for our attendance, how we raised our children, how informed they were, well spoken, well behaved, well prepared, our CO commented on the diction of our 7 year old, we definitely had presence in our Hall. We have come full circle. Life is so beautiful, there is so much to see and be. I too was raised a Witness. My father still serves in a neighboring congregation. My mother pioneered most of my childhood. I was baptized at the age of 13. I never went to college even though I graduated a year early from High School, my gifts were never viewed as gifts to be used outside of the organization, certainly never in this world. I am responding to you because of your desire to let the record speak for itself. My friend, I applaud you. I just finished my first semester in College. After all of the heartfelt prayers (the only reason why I reiterate that to you is due to the fact that we were taught from youth that those who were on the outside of the congregation might as well be praying to themselves - that and I have the overwhelming need repeat things, for emphasis) It was amazing how my History and Geology class worked hand in hand to reveal the answers to questions that the society would never or would only scratch the surface on. I often left my history class with knots in my stomach, in conflict with my inner voice, my "bible" trained conscience and I took more notes and read more books and attached myself to my professor pressing for more resources. All the answers I needed were in my history class. The sad part is that most of us will all suffer the same fate. In the end, history repeats itself. Just the other day I'm afraid I "lost my cool" when an elder who just recently moved into our congregation called, I guess he needed to take a stab at us. When we implored him to read our file he was very reluctant to even speak about it. I told him that I was amazed at how he could just call us up cold and provide answers to all our questions without even knowing what they were (especially since he denied even knowing we had a file). I'm not sure but I think they call that, a miracle. Knowledge is power. Amen. I loved all your letters. You do a great job of expressing yourself and I look forward to reading more posts from you.