As another poster would put it: Let's review: It's a cult!
Yeah DOC, I'm kinda' fond of saying that.
I picked it up from 00DAD and have enjoyed carrying on his tradition.
I was drawn to this thread because my son was married this weekend and I was explicitly NOT INVITED with no clear, understandable explanation. I was hoping that objectivetruth might have been writing about my son. It didn't take too long to see that OT's experience, although similar, is about a completely different person.
A few years back I was disfellowshipped. I'm sure this was hard for my son. I certainly could have handled things better, I admit it. But even in retrospect I would still have resigned as an elder (I just wouldn't have told anyone why), I would have separated from my now ex-wife and I would have told her why, just not all of the TTATT details. During all of this I did everything I could as a DF'd person not living in the same home to maintain a relationship with my son. As it soon became obvious, everything was stacked against me.
Sadly, when my ex and I separated and later divorced she began a long and committed campaign to alienate me from my son. She is a very bitter and angry woman. Her vitriol aided by the social pressure to shun me from the congregation successfully ruined my relationship with my son.
I naively believed my love for my son and his love for me would be stronger than the rules of this manmade religion. I was wrong, very wrong.
I learned that lesson the hard way. It was and continues to be very painful, especially considering I was the one that first taught him these beliefs!
- Apparently I was better at teaching beliefs to his mind than I was at instilling real, unconditional love into his heart.
Since then, I have done everything I could think to reconcile with my son, even going through the humiliating process of getting reinstated, which was all the more difficult because I--as you all know--I think this religion is a cult. I have been reinstated well over a year and, inspite of repeated efforts on my part to reconcile, I have only had one short conversation with my son in that time. It lasted less than 5 minutes.
This religion ruins good people. It's hard to understand why they don't see it, but they don't. It's not about intelligence. It seems to be about a certain kind of humility and personal strength of character.
I keep hoping I'll find a way to reach my son. I won't give up, but it's still very sad. In the meantime, I continue to work on my own spiritual growth and emotional development. I'm glad to say that everything else in my life is really good. I know have a great deal of friends that love me for WHO I am and not WHAT (I PRETEND) TO BELIEVE. I have also managed to repair a few family relationships that were broken and/or strained when I was a JW.
Oh, yeah. One more thing ...
Let's review: It's a cult!
-