I have to be sort of careful here because I have a feeling my younger brother, who is an active JW may lurk here. Not that I really care what he thinks, but he could make it very difficult for our elderly Mom with her cong. He lives in another state but it would not bother him in the least to call her or her elders to "warn" them of my now apostate status.
I guess he and Mom still think I believe it may be the "truth". I've let this state of things continue for the last 15 years because I first took care of our Dad when he died, and now Mom is on her last legs and we all know that the local cong and elders do little or nothing to care for the elderly--especially ones like Mom who have been inactive for years. (She and my bro think this is all her fault, as we all know about the sick and elderly who still manage to pioneer out of a wheelchair and from a deathbed, etc, etc, ad nauseum)
Anyway, my Mom told me yesterday that my brother has joined a motorcycle club and she was bewailing the fact that this will make him "fall away" again. He has told both of us that he is unhappy with his congregation since they won't give him privileges and that they exclude him from most of their social cliques. He feels that it is because he is married to a non JW and Mom says it is because he has been DFed 3 times in the past and is now on his 4th marriage.
I pointed out to her that the fact that he has been reinstated should mean that he is back in the fold and they should have joy, or whatever, over this -- but I know she is probably right. He has had a lot of problems in the past, as you can surmise from this history, but he keeps plugging away. He really and truly believes that the borg is God's channel. Of course I know this is brainwashing, but he was raised since birth as a dub and I, at least, didn't come around them till I was nearly 6. Maybe that gave me an edge, Even with me, though, it took many years before I could throw off that "fear" of God's wrath that the borg so carefully instills.
A few weeks ago he called to tell me that he had grown a goatee since the local cong was never going to appoint him as a MS. I carefully remain neutral when he tells me these things but I was secretly overjoyed at this small step. Then, he told me about his new motorcycle. I of course went on an on about road safety--he is my baby brother--but I guess to our Mom the real danger of this motorcycle is that it is now leading him away from Jehovah. They way she puts it--he's practically joined the Hell's Angels, or worse.
He's had so many problems in his life, most of them due to his association with the WT org and all I can do is hope that someday he will be totally free and happy. (Our other brother is a flaming apostate already and makes no bones about it, haha.)
Keeping my fingers crossed...I would love to have my brother back.