Well, after fading for 5 1/2 years, keeping a low profile, hoping to keep the lines of communication open with the ones we loved for the last three decades, I got the phone call today. They let me know it was two elders on the phone and they needed to talk with me about a judicial matter in that some serious accusations were made against me.
Background: In March of 2005 I was contacted via email by a "sister" we have known for 25 years who we have always felt very close to. I'll call her Julie, because that's her real name. Of course, she used to live here in Virginia, but is now in CA. It was odd for her to contact me, rather than my wife. (My wife was still going to meetings at the time. My last meeting was Feb 2001 and she knew I was inactive, after being very devout for almost 30 years.) She encouraged me to confide in her as to what was going on with me spiritually. Since I felt so close to her, I was inclined to open up, but I didn't. I told her that if I did, I might make some comments that some elders might think worthy of disfellowshipping. But she continued to encourage me and promised me absolute confidentiality. I was torn, but I felt, she's asking, and she really has a right to know about some of the stuff I've been learning about the WT, so I told her all about the UN deal. We exchanged emails for a week. At the end she informed me that I had identified myself as an apostate and that I should go to the elders and confess. She gave me 24 hours to do it or she would tell them. (She still knows a very prominent elder in this area.) Well, you could have knocked me over with a feather. I couldn't believe the degree of betrayal by this woman.
A month later (April 2005) two elders came by to visit us and stayed for 4 1/2 hours. I enjoyed our discussion very much (and recorded the whole thing) as it was interesting to see them bob and weave as I posed many questions I could tell they didn't like dealing with. So it's been well over a year since then, and I get the phone call today. They didn't bring up the UN thing at all, but seized upon one statement I made in one of the emails, that I had become active in the anti-war movement. And so their goal was to derive a confession from me that I had violated my "Christian" neutrality. They kept asking, "Have you gotten involved in any political activity? Attended any anti-war rallies?" I told them that I would answer their question if they provided me the name of my accuser and allowed me to see the emails they were referring to so that I could validate that they were legitimate. They refused both requests. They said they would share those things with me when we met. I told them we wouldn't be meeting unless I first of all knew who my accuser was and what the evidence was. They kept saying "That's not how it works." And I kept responding, "Why? Where does it say in the WT or the Bible that I am not entitled to know the name of my accuser and see the evidence before we meet?" They just kept evading the question and repeating that they would share that when we got together. So now they may just make their decision without our cooperation. (They asked to meet with my wife as well.)
They indicated my email had been "passed around" and I let them know how indecent I felt it was to have my personal and confidential correspondence "passed around" among strangers. I asked him how he would feel if I had found his wife's diary, read it, and decided to share it with others. His response was, "It's not a diary". Guess he needs to work on understanding illustrations.
Stay tuned. Film at 11.
Uncle Lenny