Hi all.
This is my first post, although I have been an avid reader for quite some time now. Please bear with me if I seem long winded. (I have no one else to talk to, and my husband says I talk to him too much!)
Anyway, a bit of background, my husband and I were raised as JW's. We married 10.5 years ago, and mutually decided 9 years ago (when we had our 1st child) that we no longer shared the same opinions of the WTS, so we stopped attending. We were never disfellowshipped or disassociated, and we have never done anything 'wrong'. We are honest and hard working and generally down to earth and friendly. I like to call us 'normal'.
My family - We decide to move to another state. My family (Dad, Mom, 2 x brothers and 1 sister) follow about 1 year later. After a disagreement relating to a business venture (my mother wanted to 'hide' monies received and we did not agree to this happening), we mutually agreed to part ways regarding work related issues.
Then their 'true' nature came out. They turned all JW's in town, which was quite small, against us (maybe for fear we would disclose what they were up to), and generally made life so unbearable for us that we had no option but to sell up and move. Prior to moving, I had our 3rd child. While in hospital, they went to their assembly, passing by the hospital I was staying in, did not come in to see their new grandchild, and then had the nerve to tell people that they still hadn't seen our new baby as we wouldn't 'allow' it.
We move states and about a year later, I decide to 'do the right thing' and send them a couple of photo's of the kids. When I rang them to see if they got them, my sister (14 at the time) called me a f***ing b***h, and my brother gloated about the fact that they 'ran us out of town' as they put it. (To this day, I still can't work out what we did wrong, or what we did to deserve such treatment.)
That was 3 years ago, and since then, 1 x brother has married a 'mail order bride' and are [happily] attending meetings. My sister has gone completely crazy and anti-social, threatening my parents with all sorts, and my other 21 yo brother made headlines recently when he went to court for permission to marry his 17 yo girlfriend, openly admitting to sleeping with her since she was 15!!!
Meanwhile they have never seen 3 of my 5 children, their only grandchildren, and never make any attempt to do so. When sent photo's they have never shown any interest, so I have given up on trying. Their loss!!!
And they still continue to plod along to all the meetings like good little christians, and preach about what happy families they make, and what good, kind, loving honest people they are!!! (NOT.)
My husbands family - his brother and his wife had sex prior to marriage, and after marriage, his wife left numerous times, chased other men, has countless arguments and are generally unhappy as I see it - they look miserable all the time, (or maybe they just don't know any other way to live). They later 'confessed' to having sex prior to marriage ( or as us in the family know - she ran to the elders to confess while he packed her bags and chucked her our for 'dobbing them in') received a 'slap on the hands' and went on their merry little way.
My brother in law, who is an elder by the way, boasts about his numerous schemes for gaining/saving/scamming monies dishonestly, but always has an excuse handy if questioned. Is generally a lazy 'bum' who does not want to work, lives on government handouts, knows all the 'entitlements' and how to get them, constantly criticizes and judges others, and has the nerve to preach about what good, upstanding christians they all are!
My sister in law moved out of home*, lived with her boyfriend*, got disfellowshipped, got pregnant*, got married, got re-instated, had baby, seperated from husband, moved back home and is getting divorced all in the space of 1 year! (Is commented on locally that it was the fastest re-instatement anyone had ever seen! I wonder if her father being P/O had anything to do with it...?) *all done deliberatley and with forethought.
1 other sister in law we never see of hear from.
The other sister in law does not speak to her parents or select other siblings and has moved to another state to get away from them. She is the only semi-sane one. She celebrates x-mas, b'days etc, but still hides it from the family she still speaks to.
My mother in law has told my husband numerous times that it would be better if we (me, my husband and 5 kids) were to all die in a car crash...at least then we would have a chance of a resurrection. (What kind of warped thinking is this???)
My father in law, despite being P/O just buries his head in the sand and plays happy families!
And they all go about their daily lives preaching about what upstanding loving, happy families and people they all are, all the while b***ing behind everyone's back, yet smiling to their face!
Meanwhile, all of the above think they are justified in shunning us. The mind boggles!
Anyone else have family like this or are we the only ones???