WTWizard I'm intrigued by your story, and especially this -
And, when the hounders in our congregation made the Official Theocraptic Arrangement for me to just meet men...
...since they officially arranged that I should just meet other men (which to me is equivalent to Sin Against the Holy Spirit-TM).
I'm trying to cast my mind back to recall what sort of JW arrangements there are where men can only "meet men". Would you mind telling us a bit more?
As for me, I grew up in a family that was outside of the in-crowd in our conservative congregation, because my father wasn't an elder and my mother wasn't a pioneer. So thank god I never had the full-blown Witness Experience as a child but got to make my own choices on many issues, like hanging out with school friends.
Then as a more pious young adult, and by then in a more relaxed congregation, I became part of the core of the JW party animal crowd , and remained much-loved by most for my combination of throwing killer parties, occasionally pioneering and participating very diligently and eloquently in meetings. But not much-loved by all, due to a strong "independent spirit", and a tendency towards subtle rule-breaking and outspokenness.
At the height of my "doing all the right things" stage I was even interviewed on the platform as an example to all at an International Convention
But the dissonance was kicking in by then, and I slipped out of the organization's grip cleanly and neatly not too long after that, thankfully without being hounded by elders. I think I was too independent and intimidating for them to know exactly what to do with me LOL!
