The following link tells what happened about a week ago. This post is about last year for Big tex.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.aspx?id=37549&site=3
First for Big Tex here is the scoop on what happened last year...
I had been online in the witness chat rooms on yahoo for almost two years. I was in the christian ones for a good two years before that wreaking various forms of comedic havoc. More than one witness accused me of lying, that I had never been a witness, and that my wife was not currently a witness. Which of course is complete idiocy, basically because they cannot fathom that someone would give up such a fantastic religion. That much I might understand, but it was ludicrous that they would think it nigh impossible for a sister to have an unbelieving mate, and that he would not like her being in such a faith system. Go figure.
In any case I provided her kingdom hall's phone number on numerous occasions and simply told them to call and verify my story. Furthermore many of them were claiming that if I was disfellowshipped and or disassociated. Both are and were false claims. At one point I started typing the following into the chat rooms:
I am not now nor was I ever disfellowshipped or disassociated. Your comments that I am are based either on misinformation that you were provided, or outright lies that you have fabricated. It is true according to the dictionary that I am an apostate, someone who has left a certain religion. In fact I have left many religions and am an apostate many times over. You may state anything else you wish about me, that I am evil, vile, disgusting, demon possesed or any similar comment. All of these are statements of opinion. However the statement that I am disfellowshipped or disassociated is a statement of fact which can be verified. I am willing to provide the number to my wife's congregation if you wish to verify. However if you continue to make lying statements when such things are easily verified, I WILL contact YOUR elders and bring YOU up on charges of SLANDER and LYING, activities which CAN get YOU disfellowshipped yourself. Now whether I am DFed or DAed or not, you have the right to decide not to speak to me. But again I say if you continue to lie I will bring charges against you. Good day.
Needless to say that put a stop to the comments that I was DFed or DAed. Many others were said both before and after that, I never objected to anythin that was not verifiable. And some were particularly funny so I let them stand. For instance it was oft claimed, as in fact more than a few of the exes have claimed here, that I was and am on state assistance. (As if somehow a person being on state assistance is a reason to demean or attack them). Now I am not nor have i been on state assistance since I was a child, my mother was on state assistance. But, because of the comedic value of such statements, I did not dispute them, or the ones that stated I was bird seed at armageddon, I was the worst apostate ever, I was satan, I was demonized and demon possessed, I was out to get JWs, I was a sexaholic, etc ad naseum. Many of these statements are far to funny to object to and are common among most christians I have run into besides Jehovahs Witnesses.
As it was, one of those attempted detractors decided to verify my claims. He goes by the handle BLDIT on AOL and on yahoo, and most likely other chat and forum systems. Many of you have probably had encounters with him. I thought he lived in New Zealand or someplace but it seems I am wrong. In any case after one particularly funny episode he felt the need to call my wife's elders. The episode first then on with the story.
He had walked into the chat room and I was hit with an inspiration. So I pretended that I was in midsentence, as I was in audio already speaking on the mic. The conversation went something like this....
Hygh in voice: after that you can see that it will burn and thus is the evidence that you have that Jehovahs Witnesses are from SATAN THE DEVIL (said in a demonic sounding voice and caps for the duration represent that same wicked voice. Normal typing demonstrates when I was talking in a normal voice..it was very interesting and sometimes is disconcerting to those listening as I pop out into the voice out of the blue)...
Others in text: Huh hygh?
Hygh in voice: Well it is like this. I can prove again undoubtably that Jehovahs Witnesses are a SATANIC and DEMONIC religion SPAWNED IN HELLLLLLL! All you have to is take *any* watchtower publication to Kinkos. Make a photocopy of that publication. Take the publication home and return it to your shelf. Take the photocopy outside with a match and light it. It will BURN. Thus since it BURNSSSSSSSSSS you know without a doubt that jehovahs witnesses are from SATIN THE DEBBIL (typo not a mistake that is how I said it).
Others in text: Hygh are you saying that the watchtower itself will burn, back on the bookshelf cause you lit the photocopy on fire?
Hygh in voice: No! I mean that the photocopy itself and only by itself will BURN. And this proves that jehovahs witnesses are DEMONIZED!
Others in text: But hygh the photocopy is made of paper, it should burn.
Hygh in voice: I rest my case. So even you all agree that it would burn and thus Jehovahs Witnesses are from SATIIIINNNNNNNN THE DEBBILLLLLL.
Well at this point BLDIT was beside himself ranting in voice, which he could not take from me, but I would put my mic by my speakers so the others could hear him. He was also ranting in text as well saying things like SEE SEE! Thats the lies apostates tell about us! and other silly things. It never really dawned on him what I was truly saying. All he could figure was I was saying SOMETHING about Jehovahs Witnesses and that something MUST be in opposition to them. There were many new people to the room who had no clue what I was doing but thought I was a complete loon.
After a while he stormed out so I explained to the chat room what I had done. There were more than a few witnesses there as well. Well after a few minutes he returned so we started again changing the conversation in mid sentence as if we had not ceased talking about the subject of Jehovahs Witnesses being from SATINNNNNN THE DEBBILLLL the entire time. He kept coming in prancing around then storming out. Even the witnesses, who were all smart enough to know I really wasnt talking against them or their god, thought it was funny and started to participate. A few of them started saying things like, You know hygh I never thought about it like that before. You have really opened my eyes and now I am going to leave this religion because it is from satin the debbil. All in all it was one of my best pieces of work. Alas I do not have a recording or an archive of it! But trust me it was hyghtabulous.
Well BLDIT called my wifes elders. The elder he talked to said SHE was a witness, but that I never was and had never been baptised and that as far as he knew I was merely an unbelieving but opposed mate who had complained that my wife had not given me the Watchtower CD. The part about the CD was correct so I knew he had talked to them. But I was baptised so they were misinformed. Thus it died out for a while.
That is until the end of the summer of 2001. Last year. They called and wanted to come by the house to talk to me. I was going away to a research study at the time and told them I could not make it. But that after the study they were more than welcome to come. Now here is the key...and pay close attention. I stated sure you can come by, as long as you understand that I am not one of Jehovahs Witnesses and that I am not under the authority of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, or the Local Elder Arrangement. To which he said he understood that. I then said, sure then you can come by no problem, I will have my wife make us dinner some evening. (Do not take a meal with such an one...) To which he naturally declined.
Well I was in the process of setting up my webcams, we had four at the time, in the attic, and a video camera to record to tape. That way I would have quality Audio and Video to send out, but also people could watch and hear it live. Cygnus posted a thread here about it and we got some 20 or more people in the room. The attic was a wreck, so it was going to be easy to make it difficult to leave once they got here, until we cleared away the boxes. Which we would have done when they wanted to go. I then used a couple of special tables I had, some milk cartons, and a board I sawed special, in order to make a Dias. An old ratty chair served as the Throne. And a few of my friends were going to play the part of Hyghfollowers. And when the elders were there, at various times they would break out and say, HAIL HYGHLANDYR. And other variously interestingly worshipful things.
The best plans eh? Well as it turned out they showed up one day unanounced. Surprise eh? I did not know it was them or I simply would not have answered. But I ran downstairs to answer and flung the door open thinking it was someone else. So I had to let them in. Fortunately the computer was in the livingroom already and I was on a cable modem so i was always connected. No cam though. My neices were there so I let myself be distracted with them for a bit while I thought of something, to either get them to return for the real show, if they turned out to be jerks, or just explain my position, and the watchtowers position, and thus prevent them from DFing me.
The conversation went along these lines, not particularly in this order. The evil elder said to me he was concerned that I stated that JWs had no authority over me. (If the rest has bored you pay close attention now, these thigns may not be funny but they are useful and worked well in my case)
I stated that there are only three kinds of authority. That by Consent. That my Acquiescence. And that taken by Force. I do not consent to the Authority of JWs. I am not simply letting you have authority by my doing nothing to prevent it, thus by acquiescence either, and I dont think the society takes authority by force, do they?? I leaned forward and punctuated the words "do they" to make my point. They agreed the society does not.
Then I stated, that the one elder I didnt even know. Had never seen him before in my life (evil elder) and had only met him on the phone but a few days ago. The other elder (nice elder) I had met when he helped us move a refrigerator into the house. But that neither of them were my elders even when I did consent to elders having authority over me. And that they were not my elders now even if I had consented, which I was not doing. To which they replied that I was in their territory. To which I replied that I often lived in territories outside of the Hall that I attended and those local elders had no authority over me simply because I lived in their area. But that those elders whose hall I attended, and again that only by my consent. Which I was not giving now. Then evil elder stated that they had my publisher record card.
Well that was trouble for them and they could tell by my face. I got a look on my face that matched my next question, a frown and a look like, someone messed up badly. Then I said, WHO gave you my publisher record card I NEVER AUTHORIZED it to be given to you! Evil elder sort of stammered at that point saying it was probably sent down with my wife's publisher record card. I replied that I neither authorized her to bring it, nor my former PO to send it nor you guys to recv it. And I made it clear at this point that I was very perturbed about that. The point is, I kept the control and power that they were trying to take. And, they knew then that the authority was mine to give or take, not theirs to impose.
I also said along the line somewhere that if the elders whom I used to consent to have authority over me ever wanted to talk to me I would be more than happy to talk to them. Evil elder said, You expect them to come all the way down here?? To which I replied, no in fact I am going up to wooster in a couple of weeks to see my sister. You can call them and if they want to meet me while I am there I would be more than glad to meet with them. As long as they too understand that I am no longer one of Jehovahs Witnesses and I am not under the authority of the WTBTS or the Local Elder Arrangement LEA from here out. LEA..I like that.
Then they wanted to bring up several things. Well I would not let them I said, until we went to the watchtowers website. Evil elder said anyone can make up something and put it on the web. I stated that was why I was taking them directly to watchtower.org that way they would know it was the official website of the society. And from there I would be taking them from a link on watchtower.org to jw-media.org and that they could also verify that this was also an official website of the society. So watchtower.org Then click Media link. That takes us to Jw-media.org then click search then type in SHUN then hit enter. Then two links come up, one of them the FAQ click it. Scroll down to "Do you shun former members" Read that. Read the Response. NO! Those who simply cease to be involved in the faith we do not shun. Read it.
Note: Now it says "Those who have quit the faith we do not shun.." Read comments on other post, hyperlinked at the beginning of this post to see implications of this change.
I stated at this point that most of the exes, apostates, opposers, disfellowshipped and disassociated people that I know in the chat rooms and online tell me that this is a BOLD FACED LIE. That in fact you DO shun former members. But I know that the society would NEVER lie about something like this, would they? No was the response.
From there it was brought up whether I was an apostate. To which I said yes I was. Do you know what the word apostate means? And where it comes from and its linguistic history and its etymology and how the dictionary defines it? No. So I take them to http://www.m-w.com punch in apostate. It leads us to apostacy, one who practices apostacy. I quote it to them. Thus I say, you see that paul gave an innaccurate defintion of apostate. While it is true that it is someone who leaves god. It is also someone who leaves ANY religion. When I left the pentacostals to become a witness I became an apostate. Apostate is not always a bad thing. For instance, would you not agree that it is a good thing for someone to give up satanism, give up being a member of the church of satan, to become one of Jehovahs Witnesses? Yes. Good. Then you see how the word apostate can actually be a good thing, dont you? Yes.
Evil elder then says "It sounds like you dont want to be thought of as one of Jehovahs Witnesses any longer" ie, couched language meaning, do I want to DA myself. I leaned forward and said, I am not thought of as one of Jehovahs Witnesses. My friends dont think I am one of Jehovahs Witnesses. None of the people I work with think I am one of Jehovahs Witnesses. My wife is a witness, she doesnt think I am one of Jehovahs Witnesses, and I figure she would know. I then leaned forward again with a quizical look on my face and said to them, Do YOU think I am one of Jehovahs Witnesses? No.
Well it sounds like you want to disassociate yourself evil elder says. Why would I need to disassociate myself, pointing to screen, finger under each word as I read it, since I am a.... Former .... member .... who ... has ... ceased .... to ... be ... involved ... in ... the ... faith? Several times throughout the afternoon he made the same comment. Each time he did I did the same exact thing. I stated as I did this past week when they came by, that they could break their rules if they wanted to, and that would simply prove that the others were right, that that website IS a bold faced lie.
At one point after I stated that I said, look, I associate with anyone. If someone doesnt want to associate with me I dont mind at all. Be they family friends or workmates. But I see no reason to shun you guys just cause I dont believe what you believe. I then at this point gave examples of my "horrid" behavior online, such as the one listed above which I mentioned specifically ..with bldit. Who btw is the one who called you guys. Oh well we dont know about that. Yes we do, because he said such and such and this and that. Oh yes that is the one you are right.
When I was finished with the story of the burning photocopy satin the debbil, I could tell even evil elder wanted to laugh at me. I then said, now if you heard someone say something like that what would you think of them? No response just a sort of stunned look like, ok we dont want to humiliate this poor ex witness. So I said, wouldnt you think iw as a complete moron, a total nincompoop an idiot? I mean its PAPER of COURSE its going to burn. At this point they could not hold back and did laugh with me. And I said, I have said JWs are from SATIN THE DEBIL because they believe in the MYTHICAL LAND OF CHINA...or because they think THE EARTH IS ROUND and because they think that TV is REALLY just a series of ELECTRONS and dont believe the TRUTH that there are people behind that glass! Obviously they thought that was funny. And were not as uptight, even evil elder, as the JWs Ive run into online.
Nice elder says, well Joe we really came by just because we would like to see you come to meetings. NOOO you wouldnt I said. I am not saying I would get the mic and say this is all hogwash and there is no god. If I went to a mosque or a catholic church or a witness church, church just means congregation its not an evil word, I wouldnt get up and say those things at all. But I am a loudmouth and something might slip. Now I know as elders your faith is strong and just because I dont believe in god doesnt mean you would stop believing in him. But I dont want my lack of faith to dissuade someone else. Unless they also dont want faith anymore. Which is why I dont degrade the JWs to someone who doesnt specifically ask me to degrade them.
Then the evil elder asks me if I believe that the Gov body and the faithful and discreet slave are gods visible channel in this day. Yes sir I do, I absolutely believe that the FDS and the GB is gods sole channel of communication on earth today. I just dont believe in god. (My mind is saying, didnt I just say that I dont believe in god?) They look confused and say, how can he be communicating if he doesnt exist? I leaned forward and said, just because I dont believe in god doesnt mean he doesnt exist (leaning forward more and stretching the words) doessssss it? No. Good, I mean after all gods existence doesnt depend on my faith or lack thereof does it? No. So then we are agreed on the matter, and I leaned back again.
And that is basically how it went. I showed that their own rules prevented them from DFing me and I was NOT going to DA myself. They COULD DF me if they wanted to break their rules and I would not object, but they better not announce I am DAing myself since I am not. Each time he asked if I wanted to I said the same thing, why would I need to since I am not a member?
We discussed several other things. I told them just about everything I could thnk of as to why I was not a witness, that the religion lies, but all religions lie so I really dont see them as superior or inferior to any other religion. It just is not my path. My view is if someone wants to be a witness let them. They have actually helped some people. And harmed others, just like all religions.
When they got up evil elder said, well it looks like there is nothing to DF you for. To which I finally stated that they could if they wanted, but it would be a pyric victory. And if they did I would just show up at all the meetings. I would sit in front. I would sing loudly. I would talk to everyone. I would involve myself in conversations. I would greet folks as they came in. Newcomers would wonder why you were not speaking with such a nice and jovial person. And the meetings would almost always be uncomfortable since no one likes it really when there are DFed people there sitting in back, much less right up in front.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.aspx?id=37549&site=3
IS the link that has the first part of this tale.