been there; done that.
After full time pioneering for four years, I left the "full time preaching work" to attend college to study architecture. This was back in 1977. And since my father was an Elder, we were given a very hard time. When I returned from studying in Italy, I was met with a judicial committee where I was accused of fornication. A young sister from the congregation ( who my parents said was interested in me; she was from a dysfunctional, untheocratric, family) told the elders that I told her I had "committed fornication" while abroad.
Truth is, at that age I had not even become sexually active, being from that pioneering background and mindset. I was too afraid to even experiment with a cigarette. ( that was a good thing)
It played itself out in loud, showy displays of power and anger from the local elders. The meetings were always at nite in the kingdom hall library, and the leading elder ( I do not remember if he was the PO at the time, ) screamed at me , waving his finger, like I was some criminal; that I was a liar. My father sat patiently next to me, we listened and I denied all the charges, because, in fact they were all false. The elders all were all irrational . I suspect that these elders from the Huntington congregation back then had something to prove, and that young pioneers cannot just leave the preaching work and go to college without being "marked".
They even produced this young sister at one of the meetings and she called me a liar to my face. After 2 or 3 meetings I told my father I had had enough; and that I was not going to any more judicial meetings. When the leading elder threatened me with DF, I told my father ( who was an Elder, but he was supportive of me) that I was going to sue the Elders. I contacted a prosecution lawyer and threatened to sue every elder of the Huntington congregation for slander and harassment. They were each sent warning letters from the attorney, who was prepared to proceed with the action.
It seems that the elders took the situation to the CO, who took it up to Watchtower and the direction came back to " do nothing". My lawyer at the time claims that WT did not want the negative publicity, and the elders realized that they would have been left holding the bag of legal defense to protect themselves and any assets ( like losing their house) they might have had. My father claimed that they were "railroading" me towards disfellowshipping, and another elder told hime that they had " secret investigations" against our family. At that my father blasted them, told him what he thought of all of them personally, and resigned as an elder. He and my mother faded away, just after I did. My sisters faded away also .
In hindsight this is all hilarious; at the time it was painful and stressfull and totally uneccessary. Life itself thows us enough curve balls without having to "create" situations.
regards, Frank
