Thank you Paul for taking the time to produce this very interesting, charming and also heartbreaking story. These life stories help any lurkers here to understand that the "evil" apostates are real people, with families, children, jobs, mortgages, and common human problems. They did not immediately set up a meth lab in their kitchen and turn to selling drugs to school children.
Your story also well shows the appalling damage that disfellowshipping does to families, to people like you and Sam, who would have preferred to just quietly walk away, but instead had to be publicly punished and experience the consequence of losing your mother and the grandmother to your children, your brother, and many who were close and loving friends, but whose friendship was completely conditional. Please, lurkers, think about a religion that would do this to a lovely family, who wanted nothing more than to walk away from a religion that they could no longer support with some dignity intact. Lurkers, please read any independent criteria of cult behavior and ask yourself how the WT stands up to it.
The WTS loss has been our gain in getting to know these lovely people. I thank Sam, Dagney and Wha Happened for getting in touch with us and helping to make the painful transition of leaving the WT after more than 40 years of involvement a little less painful.
Look forward to seeing y'all soon!
Love
Barbara
p.s. An Xmas card with a naked man on it - brilliant idea!
