I am new to this board and this is my first post. Some of you know me but most of you don't. My story is much like all of yours so I will not bore you with it. But I would like to make a few comments about this topic.
I see far to many exJW's worrying about what elders and other members of that religion think. There stated purpose for disfellowshiping is a twisted sense of discipline for bad little JW's who have not kept in perfect step to the marching orders of the twelve senile old men in Brooklyn.
Until your mind is completely resolved to the fact that they are wrong in their interpretation of how humankind relates to the entire universe you will always in some way be a part of them. If you except any of the labels they have so kindly put upon you then you continue to accept that they are in some way correct in their thoughts and actions.
The JW's say they set up the concept of disfellowshipping to keep the congregation clean but in truth it was set up to keep the congregation from hearing anything that might bring about doubt or open discussion resulting in freedom of thought. As long as they keep their followers in the dark with the fear of death for stepping outside the line they will keep the congregation in tact. It has nothing to do with keeping it clean. Their thoughts of a clean congregation does not include turning child molesters over to the authorities but rather hiding the fact that they are within the group and can find protection within their secrecy and denial.
They are more concerned with keeping a pseudo appearance of being gods people than they are about the victimized child that has to spend the rest of their life feeling that in some way they are at fault. This traumatic experience for them causes life long damage and effects the lives of everyone they will try and have a relationship with. I have had a personal experience with such a victimized woman that went through exactly that and I have seen the pain and felt the heart ache resulting from the practices of the JW congregations cleaning practices. Child molesters are hidden while open minded free thinkers are expelled. They did not kick me out, I chose to leave. My parents chose that religion for me, I did not chose it for myself.
With that in mind, they can consider me what ever they like and give me any label they wish but I myself do not accept their labels or their warped sense of discipline. Any category they wish to put me in is only in their minds, not mine. I do not accept their teachings, I do not accept their categories, I do not accept them as any influence in my life. This is why I did not go the elders meeting that was set up for me to discuss my future in relation to them. Four men that do not even have the ability to run their own lives and families are not going to try and make me feel I am wrong for making my own decisions. To accept their labels is to accept their thinking. I am not an apostate, I am not a disfellowshipped person. I am a free thinking human being that happened to spend my youth in a cult. That's it, no more no less.
Dave
