I'd like to know how many people out there are still JW (inactive)? And if you are inactive, what are you doing to stop the elder from disturbing you? Do you still have family in the org?
How many here are still technically JW?
by Nicolas 4 Replies latest jw friends
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Yerusalyim
I'm a 7-UP, never had it, never will.
My wife never FORMALLY DA'd, nor did my Step Son...the Elders don't come because they don't know we're here...great stuff if you can move.
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gumby
Nicolas.......You should have known Minimus has already covered that question.
Gumby
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jws
As far as I know, I'm still "technically" a JW unless they DA/DF'ed me in my abscence without informing me. After I became irregular, I still lived in the same city for about 3-4 years, then I moved about 1000 miles away. My father (still a JW) knows I don't believe in them too. I've never been hounded by elders back where I lived or here. I think I just slipped through the cracks in the system and got "lost".
Even before knowing I was leaving, I started hopping around, visiting other halls than my own, even out of state. At one point, I moved out of state for a while. When I moved back, I ended up in a different part of the city. Getting to my old hall was difficult. I started making up stories to my dad and others who would ask, saying I was going to such-and-such a hall across town (maybe my prior hall-hopping added credibility to that story - and sometimes I did go to other halls). Occasionally I'd even drop in where I used to go. Nobody elders asked to come visit. After a while, I stopped going altogether. During that time I read Crisis of Conscience and decided never to go back. Yet it was still 2 years before I left town permanently.
I don't know what kept me safe. The 4 years before becoming irregular, my brother and I were the type that did some minor "bad" stuff (drinking, going to bars, listening to rock, watching R-rated movies, not respecting their authority, etc.). They knew it, but we'd play innocent whenever questioned about some drinking incident and just like the "teflon-Don", we always escaped without a scratch. I got the feeling the elders didn't like us and maybe, in a way, were just happy we were gone and weren't going to question it.
I also think the hopping around helped. We started hopping to check out the "sisters" at other halls. I also had a JW & pioneer friend across town I would visit. The other side of town was in an entirely different district and their members rarely ran into ours and vice-versa. So, we started missing meetings at our own hall, but weren't missing meetings. When questioned, at first we could honestly state our whereabouts and have them verified. So, our congregation got used to not seeing us regularily, while we stayed upstanding by attending meetings. When trips to our old hall ceased, I think they forgot all about us. It's also helped that my dad moved to a different hall too. That means the old elders don't have him there as a constant reminder either.
I have no idea what he tells people when they ask about us. He knows why I don't go. I don't think he shares that though.