My last meeting was September 2007. I was deleted as an elder at the end of Dec 2006. I changed congregations and circuits for the sole purpose of fading. I knew the PO of the congo I went to. If I hadn't been deleted, it is likely they would have reappointed me almost immediately. I forced the hand of the elders in my previous congo to delete me rather than "step aside" as I originally intended. I did that just so that I could not be immediately reappointed in my new congo.
In the new congo, I went to both Sunday meetings and the Theocratic Misery School and Sales Meetings at first, but never the Congo BS..I was love bombed..but that ended quickly when it was learned I couldn't be reappointed...... then I dropped the TMS and SM....then started leaving after the Public Rant......then I just started going to that once a month......then after about 6 weeks of not going to any meetings. I attended my last Grand Boasting Session in 2007, I attended one last meeting after the GBS at the local KH (mostly to see what the new remodeled KH looked like)...and that was that.. I have not been back since.
My last day in the field circus was the week of Christmas 2006...during the CO visit...the visit during which I was deleted. I turned in "phantom reports" through August 2006...and then stopped doing even that. Nice round end of Service Year ending.....
Why did I leave? I wish I could say it was over a lot of the issues that have been mentioned already...(UN, Malawi, pedophiles, etc)...and those things did have a cumulative effect on me. It was really the hypocrisy that I seen on the BOEs that I served on that bothered me the most. I truly cared about those in my charge as an elder. When fellow elders began to beat the sheep with their opinions instead of showing true love and kindness, and this began to affect my attitude toward the friends, I knew I could not continue in good conscience being an elder...Eventually, I realized I could not even be a Witness anymore. I had doubts for a long time prior..back in the late 80s/early 90s...my intense study of "Bible" chronology vs. "secular/historical" chronology told me all I needed to know about the 607 issue and especially the "generation" issue ...the Borg tried to "resolve" in 1995 and again recently..... Lies...all lies....
Since then I have completed a college degree and am working on another.....working hard, studying hard, paying off debts very quickly...not wasting my time in "useless" things anymore...taking care of myself...maybe one day find a nice gal to share the second half of my life with. Sorry so long....
Snakes ()