Hi James,
I see you are from Haslemere..... I'm from Liphook (4 miles away).
I don't post on this forum any more (till today!) but I do read it frequently and find it fascinating. ( Sorry, I would be one of those tiresome people you mentioned on another thread that would question you madly in a social situation if I heard you had been a JW!)
I have never been a JW and none of my family were JWs but I got involved with the forum a couple of years ago because a young vulnerable friend of mine who was in the Haslemere congregation (on Wey Hill) was being sucked in and torn away from her family, and I was appalled at the way her study conductor was controlling and indoctrinating her, so I looked on the internet to learn more about the religion.
I now know that to start with, (being very ignorant about JW beliefs at the time), to my great regret, I was reasoning with my friend in completely the wrong way, attacking her belief in Jehovah directly rather than getting her to question for herself the basis of JW teachings but I didn't realise this until later.
Once I joined this forum and started learning what the Watchtower Org is about, several people gave me good advice but particularly a poster called 'Mr Majestic' who emailed me regularly and taught me how to behave and react and drip-feed information to my friend without setting off her 'apostate' alarm bells.
It took some time and ingenuity, but I eventually managed to get Mr Majestic and my friend together (long story). He used the bible and the WT Societies' own literature to open her eyes and thereby restored her sanity and returned her to her grateful family. As a JW she was constantly fearful and depressed but now she has a life and a future. (She will be in London auditioning for the X factor on Monday!) Another success story thanks to this website. She posted on here as 'Blooming Marvellous' a few times.
She and Mr Maj are now best of friends which is great, especially in view of the fact that when they first met, she acted as if he was the devil incarnate.
Seeing as we are just in the next village to you, if you would like to get together with the three of us for a chat one day, that would be great, we'd love to meet you. I am off on holiday on Saturday for a week, but on my return I will send you a message and see how you feel about it.
Heather