by minimus 32 Replies latest jw friends
I left as an inactive person. I pretty much have been left alone by the elders and Witnesses, as far as being hounded.
I know of many that either disassociated or got disfellowshipped.
I'm wondering if you think you would have remained a JW, in name only, if the religion (cult) didn't shun and penalize as they do.
When I got Df'd and shunned I surfed the net and went on "other jw websites". If I didn't get shunned I would still be there now in fluffy land as there would be no injustice for me to query, and I wouldn't really care about the doctrines I put on the shelf because everyone would be loving like Christ said at John 13.34,35.
In reality though, shunning is a fact the BOrg are a dangerous cult and many commit suicide because of shunning. So here we are out because of shunning.
Kate xx
I would have left because they lay such a heavy physical, emotional and spiritual burden on everyone. I just left. I stopped going because that had sapped me of any strength and health I had.
Figured out lately that I was not disfellowshipped because of an exchange on face book with someone who used to be a ministerial servant in our congregation. He was always nice. He was kind to me now and let me know how he and his family are doing. I know my sister phoned the elders there, back in the early 2000s, trying to get me in trouble, but it looks like she was unsuccessful. Ha. My sister turned into such an infernal busy body. I hate what the JWs have done to her personality.
I would openly discuss TTATT with everyone, in a respectful way. I would also leave. The WTBTS will never cease DF'ing and shunning. It's an incredibly effective weapon, just like the fear of the Spanish Inquisitions.
They could be similar to the Catholic Church and make you feel guilty, pay a fine and off you go!
Their shunning policy was one of the reasons I never got baptized.
BS, you were smart!
when I was a Dub the prospect of full shunning was a dreadull thought , I never planned on the outcome of my departure, DA albeit done in a totally underhanded way, I just got on with my life, I'd hit a far greater emotional downfall when I left my JW wife and my marriage was in ruins sometime before, life goes on thankfully.
I am not qualified to answer the last question of your post really, as I too am faded, not DF or Da'd. so technically I am still a J.W though many years inactive and non-attending.
The good thing is, I doubt any in my old Congo, or who knew me, if asked was I a JW, would say yes, I reckon all of them would say "He used to be".
But whether I would be shunned or not, when I made the decision to leave, I knew that to be true to myself, to be really me, I simply could not stay.
I did not know if I would end up DF'd (I came close to being, twice !) I did not know how Mrs Phizzy would react, she was a born-in and still attending Meetings at the time, though inactive in the F.S, 'coz she hated it. LOL.
I left because as a lover of truth I could no longer be a supporter of the WT lies.
Even if I could not possibly have been DF'd, or shunned for my views, I still would have left, and still would have wanted to lose the old JW Label.
Surely their shunning policy is one of the things that sets them apart. Without it everybody could speak freely about what they think of certain matters knowing that there would be no recourse. There would be much less fear.
It seems to me that the whole, "So-and-so is no longer one of Jehovah's Witnesses," schtick is a load of old balderdash. When you want to go back, you have to go through the whole re-instatement process, but you do not have to get re-baptised. You do not have to pledge your allegiance to the "spirit-appointed organisation". In that sense you are still one of Jehovah's Witnesses, you are simply one who is in a disfellowshiped "state".
The only way out of it, as far as I see it, is to readjust your thinking and come to terms with the fact that baptism, and declaring "Yes" to the questions was all a meaningless ritual. It meant nothing. Having to be a witness for Jehovah is an illusion - it isn't real life, it is an unreality.
They can carry on with the illusion if they want to, but you are no longer part of it.
