Shun Run 2013 (page 4)

rawe

Hi Robert,

Last year the sub-title was "Coping for today, Hoping for tomorrow." This year I tossed around a few ideas, but in the end wanted to focus on the fact that shunning hurts and I personally don't mind saying I feel the pain in my own case. I like your suggestion. I also like the idea of highlighting the courage of folks willing to break away from the faith, then stand up for right principal.

Cheers,

-Randy

Confession

I will definitely be participating in this year's Shun Run, and am looking forward to it! There was a time when I identified with Steve2's initial perspective. For instance, when I first came to this site, I was concerned about the way people expressed themselves, feeling that we should take extra special care not to be seen in the way the Watchtower Society frames "apostates." While it's true I'd still *prefer* not to be cast in that light, I also don't wish to allow this organization's delusions of power to have any effect on my decisions or behavior.

While I enjoy meeting with our little ex-JW group and chatting with the new ones who come, I don't feel any special calling to create a ministry or outreach for troubled or doubting Witnesses. I tend to think that active JWs, faced with red-faced ex-JWs, jumping up and down and calling them names, will mostly use the experience to further bind them to the WTS. But that doesn't mean that pleasant-but-respectfully-critical efforts can't have a positive impact at some point with some. In the story it was a little boy who, with very few words and very little effort, helped a whole city realize that the emperor wore no clothes. The emperor deserved to be faced with that fact. So does the Watchtower Society. Most JWs will scoff; some may be moved to a thought they never had before.