by RubaDub 10 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
I know that people jump through all sorts of hoops to get reinstated, typically for family reasons.
If you happened to move to a different area, wouldn't it just be easier to accept some literature, study, get love-bombed, etc. ??? You could then switch congregations and fade and not have the DF status anymore.
Am I smoking something ? I can't believe this has not been done before ?
Rub a Dub
Why would someone want to do that? I have heard of people just attending meeting and resuming the JW lifestyle after moving and just not informing their new congregation about their old congregation. I know of people that have moved BEFORE getting DF'd and attended meetings not worrying about what happened before. I believe if you are not a member of the congregation then they can't disfellowship you. They wouldn't be able to fill out the form properly if they don't know your baptism date (perhaps i am wrong about that)
but they have to send your cards so technically, u are still in the same congregation. No elder would send out your cards in the middle of a commitee.
But I have heard of others just allowing a 'dub to knock on the door, accept lit and become a study
It's may been done a few times, but why?
When you were DF'ed it would have been announced, and every JW who knows you would have heard about it.
Suppose you move 1000 miles away, study, and get baptized. How does that heal the relationships with the JWs who knew you when you were DF'ed?
Maybe you could fool some lazy JWs, but if your new "approved" status ever gets back to the congregatiopn you were DFed from, the jig would be up.
That's why the Society requires that "reinstatements" must be done by the congregation that DF'ed you. If you suddenly show up 5 years later claiming "I got reinstated", the elders will know you are faking it, and will tell everyone else.
I know of people that have moved BEFORE getting DF'd and attended meetings not worrying about what happened before. I believe if you are not a member of the congregation then they can't disfellowship you.
You may be technically correct but though not officially DF'd, they now just state that you "are no longer one of JW's" which has the same effect. For example, you may leave the congregation, join the military, and as soon as the elders find out about it, they read the letter. The same with taking a blood transfusion.
I was just thinking more about people who want to keep a foot in the JW door for family purposes if they get DF'd.
Rub a Dub
There was this sister I knew that never seemed to be able to find anyone of her own. There werent any eligible brothers around and even though she was attractive and a nice person,she wound up a single pioneer in her 40's alone. A guy her age showed up at the hall saying he just moved here from Alaska looking for work. He apparently came by bus and had obtained the latest magazines at a bus depot along the way and wanted to study. Long story short, he was welcomed in with open arms, studied, got baptized and engaged to the single vulenerable sister...she was over the moon to have someone at last. The Sisters family saw some inconsistencies in his story and had him investigated. Turns out he was DF'd and married in another State and had a kid. It was all very sad and humiliating for the sister. This happened in the 90's before the Internet was everywhere and people were a little less savvy about these things. it would be harder to pull off nowadays but a few hall changes in a row might do the trick...but why?
Hubby has always been a slippery fish. The first time he studied he did a successful fade, under embarrassing circumstances. I think the elders were just as happy to show him the door and hopefully never hear from him again. Ten years later and dating me on the sly, he starts studying again. A few months after that he moves to my city, and starts all over studying at the local hall. Those elders were a little more hard-nosed and they made him go through three books and had him "marked". It might not have helped that he married me on the sly while all this was going on.
Hubby then switched to a kinder, gentler congregation and he was approved for service within months. He couldn't be picked up for various events, however, as he was technically "out of territory".
Oh, how they make you pay.
When we moved here it took months to figure out that the local hall was closed, and who he should report to. There wasn't exactly a notice on the door or anything.
I passed on to hubby the term "Submarine Witnesses" that blondie shared, and he's tickled. He likes it.
P.S. Hubby's never been DF'd. - JG
I live in an area with a varied foreign community. A man started studying with an African brother from Ghana. He was approaching the "point of baptism" when a speaker from another nearby circuit visited he recognized this man as being a df'd brother from his home country. Small world....
A df'd sister from Alaska moved to Hawaii, pretended to be a non-jw, studied, baptized, engaged to a brother, wedding at the KH, and in walked brother from her old congregation...busted.
The WTS can be a small place; we stopped randomly at a congregation in the great plains of the US and found a family from an old congregation. We thought they were in another state but had moved recently. At least 10 other times in our travels we have run into jws from our past...six degrees of separation?
Okay, if your family knows the people who announced you are "no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses," then this would only work if:
a. They moved away from that congregation and have absolutely no contact with those people.
b. They don't ask your current congregation any questions about your past or make even small-talk comments about your spiritual recovery.
If your family doesn't even know the people who announced it, then only (b.) is necessary.
Instead of pretending you were reinstated for your family and pretending to be a newbie in your new congregation and hoping your worlds don't collide, this same person would be taking less chances if they simply pretended to be reinstated, but not actually attending ANY congregation.
Personally, I think any of those attempts (even the one I suggested) will blow up in your face and make things worse. Do a search for the fake congregation secretary with the fake reinstatement that gets a real announcement at your old hall. It's on here somewhere.
At least 10 other times in our travels we have run into jws from our past...six degrees of separation?
Blondie ...
I guess you are right. When I was young, I recall us being on vacation about 500 miles from our home, pulling up to get gas and there was one of our prior CO's buying gas at the same time.
Another time, we were visiting some family members several states away. We went to their Sunday meeting and in walks a brother my father knew for many years who had moved away.
Yes, I guess it would be pretty hard to just disappear and then re-appear again.
Rub a Dub
