"Sorry, we were wrong." - WHAT IF

by irondork 3 Replies latest jw friends

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  irondork

  If your parent(s) / children / siblings / friends apologized after all the years of shunning, can you forgive or has too much damage been done?

  For me it's kind of a double whammy. Got kicked out at age 19 for being gay AND disfellowshipped. The amount of turn-around they would have to do would probably never happen. But after many years I could see them realizing the kind of organization they are in and leaving. Sometimes I feel like I would embrace them back into my life while other times my anger makes me want to hurt them by rejecting them.

  I know. That makes me as bad as they are. As sick as it is, that's how I feel sometimes.
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  thetrueone

  Anything can be forgiven particularly in matters such as this.
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  jamiebowers

  Irondork, I think it may be particularly difficult for df'd gay people to forgive shunners, because you were df'd for something that is part of your core being. But if your jw friends and family learned not only the truth about the "truth" but were also enlightened about the naturalness of homosexuality, you may be able to forgive them.

  I'm pretty sure I could forgive my jw mom for shunning my brother and me, but I could never trust her completely as long as her husband is in the picture. But that's because he was evil even before he became a jw.
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  blond-moment

  For myself, I used to blame them, my family the elders, congration members etc. Now, that I am awake, and see the control, I don't fault them at all anymore. They are victims as much as I was. I am now hoping they too can wake up, and I am now in a postition to help them. I'm probably not articulating this well, but I no longer have any anger toward them, I have more pity.