May I relate a brief experience? One that is one of those 'milestones' that you look back and recognise as a turning point in leaving the cult eventually?
Eight years ago, our only daughter, disfellowshipped, delivered our first grandchild. She was, and is, among the most precious gifts in our lives, and always will be. She was the first one.
Wifey was a proud grandma. Our daughter left our granddaughter in our care for a Sunday. We did the usual thing - Sunday meeting. After the meeting my wife was standing holding this newborn [just a few weeks old at that time], proud as a peahen, right in the center of the Kingdom Hall. I was standing at the back of the Hall. I noted a small group of sisters closing in for a look. But as I observed, I noted that with the exception of one, every one of the elders wives made a full circle to the front of the Hall and up another aisle, so as not to make contact with this 'child of fornication'. My daughter was not even there.
Wifey noticed it too. I think that was the day she knew. She knew that there was something too terrible to understand whilst still standing in the midst of it. It just felt evil. It was evil. How can god-fearing people 'shun' an infant? It was just unnatural. I think that had we allowed our anger to rule, instead of our mislead mindset at the time, we would have never returned after that. We left forever 4 years later, but the memory of the 'child shunning' was forever a reminder of what happens to those who judge everyone as worthy of death, even babies.
Jeff
