Help! Help! My son wants to tell elders about me

by LostMyReligion 49 Replies latest jw friends

  • LostMyReligion
    LostMyReligion

    Help! Help!
    I am floundering!

    Today my JW son told me that he had seen an email in our family account written to me from an exjw. It contained very little, but enough to let him know that I was in contact with outsiders about my doubts and feelings. I have private email for these correspondences, but through an unknown to me circumstance, ended up is the regular email.

    He has given me a week to confess and get help from the elders, or he will tell. If I do not renounce my doubts, I will surely be DF'd, or I can DA myself. He says he hopes I will change my mind. I told him that I would do most anything in the world for him, but I cannot sell my self. I have spoken not one word to anyone local except him. Still he feels it is the thing he must do to uphold his principles. We went back and forth for an hour or more. There is nothing to say to change his mind.

    Any thoughts on how to deal and how to proceed would be helpful. I am becoming more frantic by the minute, as this hit me unexpectedly.

    LostMyReligion (and about to lose my son)

  • WildHorses
    WildHorses

    Ok, I don't know if this will help or not but, anything you say to the elders is confidential.(or rather supposed to be) Why not tell your son that you will speak to one of the elders at the next meeting. Let your son see you as you speak to the elder and then tell your son that you will be going back later to speak to more elders about the matter? To be sure you could make up something to speak to the elders about, and your son will not know what it's about.
    I know from experience that if you speak to the elders first that anyone else you have confided in will not be allowed in the room with you and the elders as I confessed myself once before.
    Hope this helps.

  • ianao
    ianao

    This is really sad! If I told my mother I was going to "tell on her" I would be completely flogged by her and the other members of my family. Then again, if it was my mother, she wouldn't give a rat's butt if I said anything anyway. And if I was under age, I would be in some BIG TROUBLE for many weeks to come.

    Then again, my family doesn't suffer from this JW neurosis, so I was taught to have integrity for my mother and father.

    It would HUMILIATE me to have my mother beg and plead for me to do anything. Good lord.

    Can't do anything but rant LostMyReligion, wouldn't want to be in your shoes.

    Sorry.

  • Pathofthorns
    Pathofthorns

    Well what did you say?

    Perhaps there is no need to panic. Never admit to anything and you don't owe anyone an explanation or have to meet with anyone (unless that email is REALLY incriminating).

    It's okay to have doubts and concerns. Maybe you were just talking to a "friend" who might have been "helping you get over your doubts which you don't have anymore".

    Path

  • think41self
    think41self

    Hi Lost,

    Boy, oh boy! You have my sympathies, talk about hitting below the belt!

    I understand entirely what you are saying about being true to yourself, and therefore not wanting to tell your son that it was all a mistake, and you will never talk to those people again. Or, you could tell him how you really feel and live with the consequences. It is especially hard when you are hit with it unexpectedly and don't have time to mentally and emotionally prepare for it.

    It seems the decision must be based on which one is harder for you right now: Telling your son the truth and living with him "telling the elders on you", or deciding that he should not have the power to decide that for you, and telling him whatever you want that would convince him you are not "going over to the other side". Both are difficult, and only you can decide which is more painful. But rest assured, your son will feel he is acting out of love for you by turning you in, so that the elders will have a chance to "save you". There is a good chance he will talk to them anyway, no matter what you tell him. That is what he is programmed to do. In which case, you will then have to "lie" to them also to avoid being df'd.

    I personally would not have any problem whatsoever lying to those prying, nosy, ignorant men who are misguided in their diligence. But that is for you to decide. Good luck with it, whichever way you go, and let us know how it turns out, please.

    think41self

  • DannyBear
    DannyBear

    LMR,

    How can you renounce your doubts? Doubt's are part of a thinking process. Renouncing them, would be tanamount to 'not thinking'. Of course that is exactly what the org-elder's are assinged to do...police member's thinking process.

    Maybe this will give you an opportunity to unload a burden you've been carring for some time now. It could be just what you need to break the chains of oppression.

    I know the deep loss associated with repudiating your religion. Family is really not replaceable. So it is not an easy decision you are facing.

    Just take solice in knowing there are many here, who have survived the whirlwind...and come out the other side, happy and relieved of the terrible guilt, anguish and shame...involved in leaving this incidious organization.

    Hope your journey will be less bumpy knowing that we understand.

    DannyBear

  • LovesDubs
    LovesDubs

    Stay calm. Say as little as possible. If he goes to the elders, they will want to speak to you...but what other WITNESS does he have to these "sins"? There have to be two. And if he says he read this letter, you can play it down,,, unless you have said too much already. But you owe them no explanation and NOBODY online knows your identity. They might be forced to put you on probation...you know remove your privvies and watch you. If they cant disfellowship a person for PEDOPHILIA unless they have TWO witnesses to it..what can they do about one letter on the internet under an alias?

  • dedalus
    dedalus

    Yours is a uniquely difficult situation, and I can't presume to tell you best how to proceed. Others here are older than I am, can better relate to your particular situation.

    What I did want to say is this: after a year of worrying about other family members and whether they will or will not turn me in if I do or do not toe the line, I've finally developed a "do-whatever-the-hell-you-want" attitude when threatened as you have been. I hope that in time, with the help of those who can listen and relate, you'll feel something of the same confidence.

    Meanwhile -- there may be some deceit or subterfuge by which you can avert all this; however, I sense that you have too much integrity to compromise your stance. So, my advice is simply to say as little as possible when discussing this with Witnesses. Avoid explaining or dissecting your feelings and opinions ... and be prepared for elders to try to get you to say that the Organization isn't being directed by Jehover Gawd. The less you volunteer, the shorter your answers, the less likely they'll get the confession they want.

    Finally, your experience reminded me of one I had in high school, though it was less serious: in class one day I called another student an "asshole" (he was) in front of another Witness. The Witness told me to tell the elders about my "worldly behavior" or else she would. So I told an elder, only I played it down, a lot. Said I'd lost my temper (I had), used language I usually didn't use (true), and wished I'd thought of a better way to handle things (also true). Threw in a bit about how I'd prayed for more self-control (true if you equate "wished" with "prayed," which I sort of do).

    Your situation, of course, is a thousand times more severe. But maybe there's a way to tell the elders without being dishonest and at the same time deflating the whole situation. Pull aside the most easygoing elder in your hall (if there are any), vaguely mention the e-mail that has somehow (insidiously) found its way to your mailbox, etc. Have an easy demeanor, and maybe you can laugh it off as part of the quirkiness of the internet or even Satan's expanding repertoire of dubious snares for Witnesses ... then go back to your son, say you've discussed the matter with so-and-so, and the details from there are confidential.

    I don't know if any of this helps, and like I said, I'm probably too young to appreciate your circumstances precisely. I don't know I've gotten a lot from your posts these last few days, and hope you'll stick around.

    Dedalus

  • nelly136
    nelly136

    hi lost,
    sorry you're in this position, damned apostate mail gets every where
    theyre always moaning about it on the jw sites, hopefully youve blocked sender and deleted the incriminating....um I mean email by now?
    think theres somewhere in settings called paranoid that deletes history when you shut down or log off too,
    wishing you luck,
    nelly

  • Mulan
    Mulan

    LovesDubs is right. Don't volunteer anything. What evidence does your son have? There has to be two witnesses. Deny, deny, deny.

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