Thanks AnnOMaly.
So, this man has to "fight against improper desires at times", does he? I can remember when the WTS called all such desires "Satan-inspired." Now they are merely "improper" until some hardliner on the Governing Body decides otherwise and the pendulum will swing back in the former direction.
Many of us gay ex-JWs took the course this man did. We ended old associations. We immersed ourselves in full-time work such as pioneering and Bethel and/or Giliead service. We tried everything to numb our feelings and deny our nature. This man claims that has been his course over the last eight years and that while he still struggles, he has remained celibate. Well, it's not for me to call him a liar, but frankly, I don't believe he is telling the full truth. He says that he has drawn close to Jehovah and this has boosted his self-respect and that now he is a happy man. I think that like so many of us who have walked more than a mile in his shoes, he is simply deceiving himself.
How happy can he be as a "non-practicing gay", living in the strait-jacket of an unnatural and painful celibacy? How happy can he be when he routinely hears LGBT people ridiculed and condemned from the speaker's platform or in Witness gatherings? How happy can he be when he realizes that he can never have the love and support of a spouse like other congregation members can? How much understanding and support does he really receive from other congregation members? What is his message to other Witnesses who would frankly find the full time work a waste of their time and talents since that is the only remedy he and the WTS offer for their pain and struggles?
I find it disgusting that the WTS would say that LGBT people are acting out of a bad habit and not sexual orientation. A habit is acquired. Did no one tell David Splane that? That being the case, how could a child have done so? What circumstances caused this? What does this say to Witness parents who are bewildered when they discover that one or more of their children are gay? Wouldn't they blame themselves, believing that if only they had paid more attention to their child or provided better parenting that their son or daughter would have grown up straight? Statements like this only saddle both parent and child with guilt and shame that are unwarranted.
DJS is right to call the Governing Body "Dark Lords" and their headquarters the "Dark Tower." I can only hope that the old biblical saying will hold true for them: "But their end shall be according to their works." They are sowing to the wind and I can only hope that I will still be around when they reap the whirlwind. Their inhumanity and vicious disregard for the truth and other people never cease to amaze me. The old guard of the Governing Body is gone. Their successors have proved themselves to be even worse.
Quendi