Recently my wife saw an older brother at the grocery store. He used to be very friendly to us. She said he would almost not even acknowledge her. We are only inactive. She didn’t feel hurt; she felt angry because she knows he’s a nut, but he thinks she’s wrong.
stuckinarut2: Remember that YOU are NOT the one with the problem...THEY are!
I fully agree with that. You have to keep the proper perspective. Remember, they are the ones who follow seven men in a religion that tries to expose the history of other religions, yet hides its own. They are the ones who belong to a religion that won’t let its members question or read outside material. You get the point, right?
We experienced our first real "shunning" yesterday. We ran into someone we used to know at the grocery store. I smiled, waved and said "hello", she looked at me, looked away and kept walking.
It was awful.
Again, keep the proper perspective. What’s awful is that she is part of a religion that claims to have the truth yet hides the truth and the facts - a religion that is deceptive and that is interested in money - a religion that has a history of false prophecy of over a hundred years - one that has members who are ignorant, smug, self-righteous, corny, goody-goodies. You shouldn’t feel in any way hurt; you should feel indignation that she’s so stupid.
But right now, the organization seems exciting. All that the governing body has done to make the religion seem hip and modern and relateable seems to be working, among the membership at least. There's witness feeds on social media, pictures of "Jehovah's happy people"
I respectfully disagree. Nothing seems exciting about what is going on in the org. The org is way behind the rest of the world. The situation reminds me of Dr Evil’s coming out of his 30-year freeze and thinking that having a laser was something special when to the rest of the world, lasers were old news. The organization seems ever more shallow and ever more desperate to survive. I see the org as selling out. The bold, serious, dignified (at least seemingly so) stance and countenance of a few years ago has given way to buffoonery, corniness, shallowness, ignorance, etc. Please don’t feel that you need what the org offers now. Fill your life with learning, exploring, etc. If you seek some sort of social structure, seek it elsewhere.
What I miss is the old days when JWs studied deeper material and the district conventions seemed exciting and I really thought exciting prophecies were about to fulfilled, etc. I am sentimental about some of the stuff associated with old JWdom. However, I am disgusted by what I see now and want no part of it.
right now I just feel like the bitter apostate that they warn you about.
Again, wrong perspective. You have seen the truth. You’ve seen behind the curtain. Scales have fallen off your eyes. Look at it that way. They call you a bitter apostate, but that’s a textbook case an ad hominem argument – calling you names and attacking you rather than your argument. As stuckinarut2 said, they’re the ones with the problem(s).
