The New Diary of Winston Smith

by WinstonSmith 336 Replies latest jw experiences

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  life is to short

  marked
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  WinstonSmith

  Hello K99,

  Yes indeed the WTS likes to add whatever the heck they like to the scriptures. The good thing about 1 John is that in verse 22 the writer goes on to explain exactly what he has been talking about. Anything additional to that are the additions of men.

  Of course, mum is smart enough to play a cool game, and if I know her at all, she simply won't tell anyone that I am DA and never bring it up. "Our little secret."

  Thank you for taking the time to read through and comment!
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  WinstonSmith

  So in my earlier post, I mentioned that we were planning to catch up with Sister T this past Saturday night to let her know that I was going to DA. Sister T has been very supportive over the last year, so we kinda felt we owed her to tell her ourselves rather than just let her hear an announcement out of the blue.

  In the email exchange we had while we arranged dinner at a local restaurant, I pretty much wrote again what I had written in my email to mum. Remember the message didn’t say that we were DAing, but that there were some things that we were not okay with within the organisation.

  Her response was “Please don’t disassociate, leave the door open” and she admitted (as she has in the past) that the organisation has its faults, as do the elders, but all we need to do is love Jehovah and be obedient to those taking the lead. On hearing that I thought that after hearing all of the things we have talked about over the last year or so, if this is still her line of thought, then perhaps I won’t get through to her. She is such a lovely person and has been on occasion treated like crap by the congregation, but for her there must be an organisation I guess.

  I didn’t get a chance to reply so the next opportunity we had to catch up was Saturday night for dinner. I had no real plan as to how I was going to tell her, I thought I would just let the conversation flow and when it gets round to WTS stuff like it always does, I would bring it up.

  That was not to be.

  I have never seen her so high in my entire time knowing her. She was like the energizer bunny talking non-stop. We could not get a word in. I think her reaction was to cover over it and talk about other stuff in the hope that it would go away. We literally had no opportunity to say anything that we wanted. We went our separate ways at the end of the evening and Mrs Smith and I were like “Poor thing, she is so wound up she can’t bear to even think about it.” It was obvious that the way she was acting was way different to normal. At one point, even her daughter told her to calm down.

  So that was my last chance to try and talk to her, but it turned out to be nothing.

  I plan to send her an email this afternoon explaining and making it clear for her. I will be emailing my letter to the COBE this evening, and at the same time sending a PM containing the letter to all 215 of my JW friends on Facebook.
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  Phizzy

  Thanks Winston for the update. I think your friend just doesn't want to lose you, and perhaps thinks that if a bit of time goes by, you may change your mind.

  The thing is to reassure her that you will always be there for her, and that Mrs Smith can still be her friend officially, as Mrs Smith is simply inactive.

  Good luck with all of it, you can now really move on.
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  WinstonSmith

  Hey there Phizzy, great to hear from you! I agree completely that she is probably most worried about about losing me as a friend. I have reassured her that my view of her and relationship with her will not change as far as I am concerned and that the ball is in her court as to whether she wants to keep contact. We'll see.

  I emailed her this afternoon and told her the news. She replied and said that she is not going to respond straight away, and that she really needs to think about how to respond to me. She said she feels like she has been hit by a sledgehammer.

  I fired off a quick reply to reassure her that whatever her decision I would still be her friend. That's the honest truth. I'm at the point now where what will be will be.

  BE WHO YOU ARE, AND SAY WHAT YOU FEEL. THOSE WHO MIND DON'T MATTER, AND THOSE WHO MATTER DON'T MIND.
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  tornapart

  This is one of the best threads on the whole board!
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  WinstonSmith

  Cheers Tornapart, I hope that some members, or lurkers can read it and take away some encouragement to never give up on getting themselves and / or their loved ones out.

  :-)
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  WinstonSmith

  Well, it is done. I just sent off my letter to the COBE, and sent it as a PM to all of my JW Facebook friends with some introductory comments.

  Here is the letter:

  27 August 2013

  To the Body of Elders,

  This letter is to advise you that I, <Winston Smith>, no longer consider myself to be a member of the religion “Jehovah’s Witnesses” and to request that you destroy any records that you hold on me.

  This religion was assumed from an early age, however now as a mature adult I have compared the doctrines and policies of “Jehovah’s Witnesses” with the contents of the bible and can see a vast difference. My personal beliefs and the doctrines and policies of “Jehovah’s Witnesses” no longer align. For many decades now the Governing Body have claimed to represent Jesus, and in that position have either predicted dates for the end of the world, or dangled the thought of it being “soon” yet Jesus was very clear in his words at Luke 21:8:

  “He said: “Look out that YOU are not misled; for many will come on the basis of my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The due time has approached.’ Do not go after them.” - NWT

  I hope that our friendships will transcend the difference in our beliefs, however I know - despite there being no sound scriptural reasoning for it - the Governing Body requires that no contact be maintained, even on a social level. This is of course ironic given that the July 2009 Awake on page 29 states:

  “No one should be forced to worship in a way that he finds unacceptable or be made to choose between his beliefs and his family.”

  It would appear that what is printed in the magazines, and the behind closed doors policy of the organisation differs markedly. This is but one of the many issues I have with the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, along with its policies that allow the committing and cover up of sexual abuse against children.

  <Mrs Smith> is a loving wife and amazing woman and as such she understands and supports my decision. I alone am disassociating.

  I do not wish to be contacted with regards to the contents of this letter except for it to be confirmed by email that you have received the letter, and have destroyed my records.

  We may no longer be sharers of the same faith, but as far as I am concerned we will always be friends.

  Yours sincerely,

  Winston Smith

  <email address>

  I sent it, and then we went out and got some ice cream.
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  tornapart

  Simple, sincere and straight to the point... Nice one Winston!
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  WinstonSmith

  Cheers Tornapart, I wrote it, rewrote it, started over, rewrote it, and then decided on this final version. Any and all are welcome to copy, paste, and plagaragise it if they think it is something they can use.

  Well, within half an hour I have 5 less friends on Facebook. No reply, no comment, just deleted me out of their lives like an un-needed file. Their loss. I don't blame them, they are simply following their programming. I wonder how many will be gone by morning?

  I have received one message via Facebook, and it was nice and positive. The guy said "Thanks for your message, I respect your decision. So many spend their time half in and half out which I think is worse. All the best for the rest of your life!" His name is still showing on my friends list. Such a nice comment, and more so when you consider that we were much closer to some of the people that have deleted us without comment.