What good would a DA letter do?

dogon

I have long thought of doing this, but could never see any good it would do except make me feel good for a few seconds. I also feel that when you do this you let them win. They always say that we told you so, or now he is gone and our congregation is clean bla bla bla. I felt that if you kept your "in good standing" even though they did not think you really were a believing member. Then you get under their skin. I have been marked but they could not get me DFed. Not for lack of trying. The only reason they try so hard is that they want you gone if you do not believe. So my question is why give them what they want? I feel that by denying them this victory you show them that god is not keeping his org. clean and all the other clap trap that they try to believe.

momzcrazy

My husband never wanted to, he felt like it was still playing by their rules. I felt the need to just cut the ties nice and clean. But you are still supposed to get a shepherding call once a year, DA or DF. So they really never leave you alone, just keep popping up out of the blue.

leavingwt

Do what is right for YOU. Everyone's circumstances are different.

My letter was mostly for my own peace of mind. I carefully articulated why I could no longer be a JW.

The JWs are not going to read it. It's "spiritual pornography" to them.

WTWizard

I realized that a disassociation letter might not do its job at stopping the hounding (or even the recapture). If they choose to not uphold it, or if the hounders are inclined to want you back in anyways so they can run your life, they have the option of just pretending they never saw the letter while feeding the letter to their shredder. And then they will clamp down on you to prevent you from doing anything you could get disfellowshipped for.

On the other hand, if you do send the letter and they uphold it, they will still hound you every year when you least expect it. They will always pick the time when you are busy or have other things going on, like a party or major work projects. They will do all they can to use their hounding call to disrupt whatever you had to do, in an attempt to kill any other opportunities to succeed outside the religion (and thus you go back for no other opportunities) or harass you into going back. Look what the witlesses did to Danny Haszard, a known apostate with No Trespassing signs prominently displayed on his property! He should have been disfellowshipped. He has made it clear that the witlesses were not welcome to hound him. But they repeatedly went on that hounding call anyways.

Either way, I do not trust those cockroaches. I would rather make extra work for them so they can waste their energy worrying about my going back to the boasting session, give them a tiny morsel of false hope so they can be let down again, and then just go back to this board and its offshoots and do apostasy again.

boyzone

My letter did me the world of good. It wasn't easy being shunned especially by friends but I really NEEDED to be totally seperated from the deceitful liars that is the Society.

Now the witlesses see me happier than I've ever been before, they even do a double-take when they see me they're so shocked at the change.

So I guess whats best is down to personal circumstances and the individual. Best thing I ever did.

dogon

If it helps some than I would say it is a good thing to do for them. I have a bit of a different feeling for me, I want to keep them from getting rid of the "apostate" This in my mind keeps them from saying that Jehovah keeps his congergation clean. I am an apostate who has made it known in such a way as to keep them from DFin me. They know but I am also still in good standing. I know it buggs the hell out of them, and for me that is very healing.

chickpea

several people have posted their DA letters here
( and other places) and for the most part they
are eloquent, well-researched and pointed....

that being said, i doubt sincerely that elders go beyond
just looking for the words that indicate "i quit" and
discount the rest as apostate garbage.....

chickpea (of the dont-make-their-job-easier class)

OnTheWayOut

Do what is right for you. I echo that thought.

If you think keeping "in good standing" is bothering them, then go for it.
Others see the DA letter as freeing or purging. Some want the elders to
leave them alone.

I feel that the DA would do a tiny bit for my mind- the personal freedom
and purge thing. But I feel it might hurt my opportunity to discuss things
with the wife. By staying in good standing, I let her see how the cong.
elders and C.O. do absolutely nothing to help me back. I feel I get more
mileage out of that condition than any DA would do me.

Still, the purging of that part of my life. I had my own ceremony of
renouncing the WTS and it involved burning some literature. I have clinked
glasses in a toast with other ex-JW's. That was all purging enough for me.

oompa

momzcrazy: But you are still supposed to get a shepherding call once a year, DA or DF.

LMAO!....does this ever even happen?....not for me, and i am not either...but don't think those df around here get a visit

OTWO: By staying in good standing, I let her see how the cong.
elders and C.O. do absolutely nothing to help me back. I feel I get more (insert poontang here)mileage out of that condition than any DA would do me.

How is it that by our "standing off" or "standing away" from everything JW........that we are still in "good standing"....i don't get that otwo....do they do they not have some other label for us than that?....they have so many labels and all....................................oompa

wanted to add my wife is gettin pissed my shepherds have not come looking in two years now

darth frosty

I wouldn't seek to hand them a DA letter, I look at it as giving them power that they dont have. I am not going to make their job easy for them.

On the other hand (there is always another hand) If they were pressing me and trying to smear my name, thats another story. I believe it was blueblades who posted what was IMO an air tight legal DA letter. Basically he told them any announcement made about him in a public or private forum he will consider slander and hold them liable. If they were to talk this over with the WT society or there legal department the society would than too be liable.

I always said if I was forced to DA I would be printing out that letter and making the necesary name adjustments.

What good would a DA letter do?

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