I was a dyed in the wool Jw. He was a 'call' turned over to me by my best friend when he headed off to Bethel in '73.
The first time I called there, I nearly gagged with the filthy living conditions. The tattered plastic curtains that were shrouded in decades of tobacco smoke, the box that acted as a coffee table catch-all and was filled with a couple dozen packs of various brands of cigarettes, some cans of snuff and chewing tobacco, the two other brothers that lived there coming and going in dirty clothes and unkempt appearance.
Max [not his real moniker] was a humble man, never married, and I assume never kissed. He did odd jobs around town for meager wages. His parents had passed down the house to the brothers, and they lived like three misers in it. I assumed that the other two did the same, though I later found out that the eldest of them had a full time job, and drove a car. Brother number two was a deaf-mute and did not work or ever leave the house as far as I could tell.
My target was Max. He spoke with a deep lisp, his ears were literally overflowing with earwax at times. He had not ever been out of the city except to visit his retarded sister in a city a few miles away, at least as far as I could determine. We studied every week faithfully. He worked like a trooper to understand the doctrines from the 'Truth' book. No one that I ever took to his house came out feeling comfortable about the surroundings. I never took sisters that I can recall.
Over time he 'progressed'. He got baptised. He began to store his clothes in a sealed bag so that he could come to the meetings without smelling like a tobacco stain. He cleaned up his ear infection. He began to read out loud and moved from what appeared to be a second grade reading ability to at least Watchtower level. Over time he became a student in the TMS and gave readings and then talks, though he was so nervous that he would literally shake all over when he climbed on the stage.
Eventually one brother died and he and his deaf brother rented a government assisted apartment, which was always neat and clean as a pin. His deaf brother eventually died too, and his sister. Max was [and is] all alone without the 'brothers'. He happily attends every meeting, eventually working full time in a grocery store until retirement age. He looks clean and nice. He converses well with others. He is a productive member of the community.
Now - before it looks like I am defending Jehovah's Witnesses. I am not. But there is a place for religion in some cases. And this is one of them. Max would have progressed under the tutelage of another religion or secular organization willing to take him under it's wings. Of that I have no doubt. But I seriously doubt that he would have moved as far as he did. Other organizations don't have the TMS for example, and without that he would have been stymied in some significant areas. Other organizations do not insist on such rigid conformity, conformity that aided this man to develop personal habits that did not exist in his life beforehand.
For Max, this organization was true blessing. His parents died before they could teach him living skills. The three brothers taught each other, and very poorly at that. He would likely have not lived long enough under the conditions he lived to have reached retirement. The organization did him tremendous favors.
I hate the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses. I hate it's mind control tactics. I hate it's lies and manipulation. But in this case I must give credit to it's positive side. It is ironic, that on the eve of Christmas I am moved to see a positive from a negative organization that repudiates all that Christmas stands for to me - peace and goodwill among men.
For some reason I was moved to write this today. It has been on my mind.
Max will no likely refuse to speak to me should we meet nowadays. As a faithful Ministerial Servant in that religion he feels compelled to shun the one who started him down the pathway that has become his life. But I am proud to have done so in this case. This religion does not need Max. But in this case he needed the religion. It would have been so much better if it had been a secular organization that has made such remarkable progress for this onetime backward and uneducated man, for a secular group would have likely moved him even further along in life. But if one could divorce the religious wrongs from this one work of goodness and training, one would be moved to laud the example it has set.
I am proud of Max. He is a good man with a good heart. He still believes the lies I taught him. He likely will die believing them. But his life in the meantime has been enhanced. At least in part he owes that to the false religion that we know as Jehovah's Witnesses.
Merry Christmas Mrs. Kalibash, wherever you are.
Jeff