,I creating suspense xjw.
.....I love creating suspense,is what I was trying to say.....Wheres the edit on this thing?
hey all, im back.
looks like ive got an audience, thanks for listening to my experiences and thank you all for your nice comments.
it took me a while to get the nerve to post on this site, and im glad i did.
,I creating suspense xjw.
.....I love creating suspense,is what I was trying to say.....Wheres the edit on this thing?
hey all, im back.
looks like ive got an audience, thanks for listening to my experiences and thank you all for your nice comments.
it took me a while to get the nerve to post on this site, and im glad i did.
HAHA.Yeah,I creating suspense xjw. Hey am I coming anywhere near the rcord for the longest "my story" post yet? Im sure I'm not,but just curious.Anyway, this is kinda getting hard with so many details. Im starting to feel a little paranoid about relating so many details.....Don't know why,just feels a little strange.....
hey all, im back.
looks like ive got an audience, thanks for listening to my experiences and thank you all for your nice comments.
it took me a while to get the nerve to post on this site, and im glad i did.
The new stuff, like my dad being sick, my mom ordering her funeral plot, I have not processed yet. It is harder to write because I have not worked through it myself yet.
I think I know what you mean, and I hope in time that you can work through it all.My thoughts are with you.... Obviously,it takes some people longer then others to come to grips with what they have and are continuing to deal with. I guess it also depends upon how much each experience personally effects you. I'm not sure if I have worked through every thing myself and Im sure,since unfortunately I have so many close to me in the org, that I'll have much more to go through yet. Afterall, Im only 23.
Geez Death, your killing us here.
.....Thats kinda funny you put it like that. Okay,I told you I'd finish up to the present and I will. Give me a few more minutes here.....its comming....
im new to this board and new to computers so bear with me.
i was raised jw.
as soon as i could walk they put a bag of wts around my neck and pushed me out on the street.
Welcome NowISee!! I too am a newbie here. Unlike you though,I decided to share my detailed experiences on my first post. I understand how you'd feel a little aprehensive about doing that until you know people a little better,and thats fine. I should mention however,that I was hanging around a couple of months before I posted, so I felt like I knew a lot of people already.
I also look forward to hearing more of your story, when you feel comfortable sharing.....The way I see it is, that for most of us,espeacially for those who still have family in the org,there isn't a better group of people to share your experiences with. After all,though experiences differ,everyone here shares the same thing in common. There aren't any other people that can relate to your feelings more then those who were a part of the org, but now see through it. Once again, welcome!!
this is an edmonton case.
i came across this article today.
i wonder what his standing in the congregation is?.
This brings to mind my own personal experience with my parents......I once asked my Mom how she never once left my Dad, even by just seperating,for the abuse my entire family went through. She told me it was because she thought it was the right thing to do. She did say she often thought about it,but was afraid of displeasing Jehovah,so she stayed....
hey all, im back.
looks like ive got an audience, thanks for listening to my experiences and thank you all for your nice comments.
it took me a while to get the nerve to post on this site, and im glad i did.
Hey,be patient Liquid! My hands are getting stiff from all the typing as it is. I don't think Im gonna be able to finish this up today,though.
Does anybody else start to feel bad if they don't get to respond to everyones questions?.....So much typing,so little time!!
I found it harder and harder to write the closer I got to today.
Just curious,what do mean by that,jgnat? If you mean that in a sence that when you start thinking about all the crap you've been through,its overwhelming, I agree. Like you could write a book. Hey,that might be a good idea.
Good your're using false though names I noticed some listening in are posing as exJW's when they are really not!
Yeah, I figured you can never be to careful. I don't put much past some of those people. Now if someone in a certain position reading this story starts to reconize it a litlle to much,I should be safe. They can't do a thing without names
right? Or can they?....... Never hurts to be a little paranoid when it comes to dealing with JW'S.
this is my first post.
im not saying he was always like this.
thats the thing with this illness, i guess.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/7/48030/1.ashx - Part 2
That is why EVEN if the JW's had the Bible truth down to a tee, I want NOTHING to do with the organization and who they put to lead the flock. I would rather die. I am grateful that I know their teachings are wrong, and that one day they will be exposed for not only being liars, and for their coverups, they will be made to answer for the evil.
.................I couldn't agree more with that,L.E. Even if they had the truth, if supporting that corruptive arrangement is what I have to do in order to live, I'd rather die. However, I'd like to believe that thats not how God intends things to be. And if he is truly a just God, which I believe he is,he will take care of all the crap,to say it very nicely,that we see today. If he is not just and loving, then I want no part of him anyway.I still have faith in a just God,since it seems to me that for the most part, good in the world outweighs the bad. I believe one way or another hopefully through God himself,that good will eventually take over. I don't know if that makes any sense,but..... I don't consider myself a JW anymore, Im still to close to the org having just woken up,to think that much.
Anyway,thanks again guys, I'll deffinetely keep posting.
hey all, im back.
looks like ive got an audience, thanks for listening to my experiences and thank you all for your nice comments.
it took me a while to get the nerve to post on this site, and im glad i did.
Hey all, I’m back. Looks like I‘ve got an audience, thanks for listening to my experiences and thank you all for your nice comments. It took me a while to get the nerve to post on this site, and I’m glad I did. Its great to be connected with people that are and have been in the same situation as me. It felt kind of weird at first, the idea of digging up so many things about my personal life and relating it to complete strangers. Knowing that so many of you have been through the same and in some cases, worse situations, sharing mine with you just feels right. Its therapeutic.
Okay, so let me start the 2 nd part of my story at age 14-15. At this point in my life, my older sister had just moved out of my parents house and into my Grandmothers, who is also a witness. She wasn’t getting along with my Dad, (imagine that) so they gave her that option and she took it. She was still a pioneer at the time and remained one after she moved out. She’s still a witness, now. That leaves me and my youngest sister left. I think she was also a pioneer at that point, so I guess you could say that she wasn’t greatly affected by what John did to her. She was never attracted to him whatsoever and I don’t even think she ever really felt close to him, even when he was showing her all that ”attention”. She was mad of coarse, felt betrayed. Didn’t agree with the way it was handled. Still, it didn’t really make her question anything in the org. None of us lost faith in it. Its very weird to imagine yourself in such a blind state. We were always convinced that it was a perfect organization run by imperfect people, so there was always an excuse to let things slide. “Wait on Jehovah”. You know, you’ve heard it all before.
Also about that time I was starting to have a lot of heated arguments/fights with my Dad. I was pretty much just being the average obnoxious teenage boy. This time though, I didn’t accept any physical abuse from him. If he came at me swinging, I’d be swinging right back. I never started any physical fights with him but I certainly defended myself when he did. This pretty much got the point across to him and he didn’t try to get violent a whole a lot after taken a few blows. This, however led to a confession at a shepherding call by him, about some of the fights we had had. That led to me being removed as a publisher (I wasn’t baptized at the time) They announced it from the platform and everything. My Mom actually didn’t agree with this and felt sorry for me since she knew I wasn’t really completely responsible. My Dad didn’t get anything for it. They did counsel him a little, told him that he shouldn’t have been getting physically abusive. For the most part however, I was the one who was misbehaving and was the root cause of the problem. Disrespecting my father. You know back in Bible times I would have been stoned for that. Yup, that’s what one Elder told me. Imagine what everyone in the hall must of thought of me then. Who knew what sin I committed or what kind of juvenile delinquent I must have been to be removed as a publisher? Not that I really minded not being able to count my time. I figured “hey, I can’t count my time, why go in service”? I emphasize here the fact that I honestly didn’t do anything out of the ordinary for a 14 year old kid in regards to the arguments with my Dad. In fact My whole teenage life I was practically an angel compared to other kids, even a lot of witness kids. I don’t want to make myself look blameless, but I didn’t do drugs, I didn’t get involve with any girls until I was 21. I did have a few “worldly friends “,mostly just neighborhood kids and their friends, since I didn’t go to public school. Still never did anything really bad. Just did school work during the day, rode my skateboard with the neighbor kids when they got home from school. I did have one witness friend around that time that I regularly spent weekends with. He shared a lot of my same interests. He was in a different area about 30 miles from where I lived. He played drums, so we hooked it up musically too. We sounded pretty bad at the time, but we had fun. I felt pretty close to him, but I always got the feeling he was just a witness (he was baptized at 13 I think) because his parents wanted him to be. His actions and the way he talked about stuff he had done with girls in school, and other stuff he would tell me, showed that. I always felt bad when he’d tell me stuff like that. I’d even try to tell him if I thought he was doing something wrong. That’s when he’d usually change the subject. He’d be right back to talking about it before long though. He never really got into to many details. I think if he would have I would have told someone about it. I was kind of a “goody goody” like that. Actually I think it was more that I actually believed that’s what I should be doing. Like, that it would have been the best thing to do. Although, I failed a lot, (I think it’s impossible not to) I tried not to live a double life as a witness. I thought it was rather pointless to put so much effort into something and have it all be void because your just doing it for show.
My friendship[ with him, (We’ll call him Joe) went on until I was about 17.That’s about the time that he totally went all out ,got involved with serious drugs, and got Dfed. He happens to be back in the “truth” now, married with a kid. I have very little contact with him since he was reinstated, which was I guess about 3 years ago. Not much in common with him anymore. He a completely different person. Weird, huh.I did hearthat herecently relapsed and had a few incidents with heroin. It’s a shame. That’s one thing that nobody fully recovers from.
I was baptized at 18, I did feel a tad pressured into it. If I hadn’t been I probably wouldn’t have done it. Around that time in my life I made a couple more witness friends. Once again the ones I felt the closest to, faded out slowly until I lost contact with them. I did remain close with one friend I met at an assembly. He lived about 100 miles away. I would go over his house a lot. Actually I remained close to him until recently, but that’s a whole story in it self.( Good grief it’s hard to keep these posts simple!)
“Spiritually.“ I never really “progressed” to much other then getting baptized. I was in the TM school. I always knew I could give better talks then I did but I never put much effort into them. I went out in service. Averaged 2- 3 hours a month. So I guess that’s what? Once a month? I stayed pretty exemplary as far as conduct is concerned. Although since I wasn’t “spiritually” exemplary, I probably wasn’t viewed as such by others. I didn’t have any other, experience with elders until I was about 20.This involved watching Rated R movies. What happened was, a bunch of kids from my hall were watching them mostly together, I was there a few times. Anyway, one of the pioneer sisters involved who was dating an elders son from a neighboring congregation was also involved. Both of them were involved actually. Well they decided to turn everyone in. So we all got a little meet with the elders. I went in with 3 other brothers from my hall that were involved. Everyone but me had privileges to loose and so they lost them. Me, however, I had none. So one of the 2 elders says to me. ”Well, well, well, It looks like you don’t have anything to loose here, you must be just laughing this up …..Well don’t think your going to be getting any privileges any time soon!” Then a comment was made regarding the pioneer sister involved losing her precious title because of it,….”You guys should feel really bad about yourselves, that sister was a pioneer and now she isn’t because of this.” As if we were responsible. Oh wait, it gets even better. Later we find out that the reason this sister came forward was because she was involved in misconduct with this elder’s son, her boyfriend ,and was going to get reproved for it. so she came forward with this info also. That way it would look like everyone was getting in trouble for the same thing, Rated R movies. Yeah, we should have felt really bad about getting her privileges taken away from her….HAAAA!
My Attitude after going through that?....Unfazed. Still convinced. I was furious at the elders attitude and comments, but hey, “ I’m serving Jehovah. not men”. Right?
Well, I did change one thing, congregations. I switched to a neighboring one that my youngest sister went to . She had been there about a year since she had gotten married. So I was in a new hall, with new people. Some I knew. I didn’t know any of the elders though. So I thought it was like starting fresh.
Then I meet a girl (We‘ll call her Becky)…………..Not just any girl, a “worldly girl. I was 21. I met her online at a car enthusiast forum. I’m really into European Cars. I saw that she had the same exact car as me in her site profile, so I emailed her to talk about her car. We immediately hit it off with one another. I honestly didn’t have any intentions as to hooking up with her. It just kind of happened. I know it seems like a rather strange, maybe even risky( you don’t know who the heck your really talking to, in a way.) way to meet someone and start a relationship, but hey stranger things have happened. Anyway we had other stuff in common too. We both were into snowboarding, we liked a lot of the same music. Only problem is (I shouldn’t say only, since she was not a JW) was that she lived 300 miles away. Could’ve been worse I guess. Well we didn’t really get romantically involved, until 3 months after we had been emailing, talking on the phone,etc. (My work phone, not my parents) . It started right after I drove to visit her for the first time. Meeting each other in person got things going pretty quickly. Soon I was there every other weekend. Hmmmm. How did I pull this off, living in a strict JW house, as I still was? Well, my parents didn’t know at first. I told them I was going to other friends houses when I went to see her.
Becky knew I was a witness from the beginning. I hid nothing from her. I explained to her all of my beliefs and she said she accepted me for who I was no matter what. Deep down of course I was looking for any possible way to convert her . My parents didn’t know about her until about the 3rd time I saw her. This time Becky came to see me. Becky knew that I hadn’t told my parents about her, and although she accepted it I knew it made her feel bad, as it should have. I felt bad that I had to do it that way, but I wasn’t ready to deal with the consequences of telling them. I was sure I would be kicked out of the house and I was not financially ready at that moment to be faced with such a situation. Nobody knew about Becky, until the day after she came to visit me.
It was a Sunday. I had been feeling guilty about lying to them. Along with that it was exhausting living a lie. I knew most of all, it was unfair to Becky. I was being selfish. Something had to to change. So I told my parents about her. That I had been seeing her. They were shocked. That’s not all I told them, though. I don’t know where my mind was, but I told them that “loose conduct” had went on as well. They immediately said, ” call the elders.” If I didn’t they would. So I did. I told them. I know, you guys probably want to smack me now. I don’t blame you. Yeah, I told them. My intentions in coming forward weren’t to end my relationship with her. I guess I got talked into saying I would, with all that was going on. I told them that I would cut it off with her. Those were the conditions I agreed to when I accepted there counsel in the judicial meeting. As you’ll find out in a minute, though what the heart wants the heart wants. So….They reproved me silently. I went off. I then called Becky to call it off with her. I told her that it was never going to work. So we may as well stop trying to make it. She begged me to reconsider for 2 weeks, as I still kept in contact with her. After 2 weeks, I gave in ,and was back at her house.
At that point,as can be expected,things were continuing to get physical. Although , I told her that I was not going to be able to do certain things with her (the obvious) because of what I believed was right. You know, the whole marital arrangement thing. She respected that. We both decided that we were going to wait until we got married. Yes, at that point we had talked about marriage.I knew deep down however, that as long as I was a JW that this relationship was still not going to work. I talked to her a lot about the “truth” in the beginning of our relationship. At one point she even said she wanted to become a JW. My parents knew that I had gotten back with her this time. They were obviously not happy about it, but they didn’t kick me out, though they threatened a few times. They even threw some of my stuff out on the front lawn when we’d get in arguments about it. It definitely was not a good situation. It was completely emotionally draining at times. The only escape I had was seeing Becky.
She howeve,was beginning to tire of my parents attitude. They said that they accepted it one time ,while another time they would act totally opposite. Becky certainly felt the unacceptance at high levels. I always tried to make excuses though, saying that all JWs weren’t like them. That they were just very strict and eventually would tone down and accept her. I felt so bad for her. I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t want to break up with her. I wasn’t ready to move out. I still believed in doing what was I thought was right, so moving in with her was not an option. I know it all sounds so hypocritical now, but I was completely blind back then. So now what?……
Well things went on for about 2 more months the same way. By the beginning of the 3 rd month things were getting so crazy. The issue totally controlled our relationship. She now hated the religion. After all, it wasn’t exactly coming off as loving. And what about me ,how could I still support it after all it did to me, her, us, etc. Besides that fact, I wasn’t even doing what I was suppose to according to their standards, so how could I believe it. I was torn to say the least. I still didn’t want to end it, but I still wanted to stay a JW. She finally broke down and gave me an ultimatum. “ Her, or my religion.”….But,I could not give it up. I was actually mad at her for making me choose. Now I realize how selfish I was. That she was the one being truly hurt for the way she had been treated from the start. Though, I never intentionally tried to hurt her. It was unavoidable as long as I was in the org. So we ended it. The day she made me choose , I left her house, driving 4 hours home. Shirt soaked in tears. I never cried so much in my life. It was a 4 hour car ride and there wasn’t 10 minutes that went by, that I didn’t break down……………..
Well, I dislike my actions at this part of the story the most,but here goes ……………….Brace yourself…..Please…Try not to attempt to reach through your monitor and strangle me……I went back to the elders and confessed my sins………………
So was I Dfed? No. Despite this being the second time, I was let off with silent reproof. I was certain I was going to get dfed. I was shocked. If I had gotten Dfed I was certain I would be back. But I wasn’t Dfed. This time though, they assigned a ministerial Seravant to study the Unity book I believe it was, with me.
So where am I today? I mean I was 21 then, I’m almost 24 now. Not a lot can happen in such a short period of time, right?…………………Well, I may try to finish this “ 1rst post” up today but in case I don’t get to because of lack of time,(Im at work,I figure I should at leist work a little before I go home.) Im gonna have to post a part 3 which will take us right to present. To those of you who haven’t lost interest. Thankyou,for listening……………..I’ll be back soon to finish up....................
this is my first post.
im not saying he was always like this.
thats the thing with this illness, i guess.
Ok,so call this part 2 of 1. I felt bad for leaving you guys hanging at such a pivitol point in the story. So heres a little more until tommorow,since I've got to leave work in a minute and won't be able to finish til tomorrow. Oh and the user name refers to the way someones dealt with when they ask to many questions in a certain organization.Does that help? It also happens to be the name of a song that I wrote recently about that issue,so I thought it was kinda appropriate,but anyway,until tomorrow,heres a little more....
Okay so everything was out. The elders confiscated all evidence to “examine” it. That included, letters, cartoons, life size cardboard cut outs of John that my sister found placed in her bed upon coming home from a family vacation one time. EEEW it freaks me out just thinking about it. Anyway, it all came out. I can’t remember if it even went judicial to be honest, but I guess it did since they collected all the evidence. So what happened to John? Well he was removed or as they called it, he “stepped down” as an elder. What about his wife? Well, she had to forgive him, after all, technically no sin was committed. Forget about the scripture that say’s “ If you even look at another woman in a passionate way” its adultery. Nope ,not here, not with friends like these .(The elder body.)
And the daughter? Well she’s clueless to this day, Id imagine. No reason to tell her that her Daddy would have left her in an instant under the right perverted circumstance. Okay, so what of my parents relationship with the Thompson’s? Well, there was no relationship any longer with John and my Dad obviously, Close contact between the two of them at that point could have resulted in my Dads imprisonment. I think that would have been a price some would have been be willing to pay though. Sorry, I’m terrible….
And My Moms relationship with Cindy, (That is the name I gave her right? )Well,” it was just much to hard for her to remain friends with my Mom on a close level, it would have brought back to many bad memories”. Oh and did I mention that Cindy then developed many illnesses which in turn were the cause of John’s little spiritual privilege demotion, or ”stepping down” as they called it. Yeah, that’s what she told everyone. Im glad they covered all the angles to save his reputation.
So I guess that brought my parents back to square one. Indeed it did. The invites over anyones house were few and far between. Afterall, the Thompsons friends were our friends. Where the Thompson’s went, we didn’t go any longer. So I guess we were pretty much S.O.L.
So how did my parents feel about all this? Well they obviously weren’t happy. It didn’t stop them from “serving Jehovah” though. Which of course to a JW means go to all the meetings, in service,putting the past behind you.Getting right back under someones ass and puckering up. Which brings us to our next problem….
It wasn’t to long before Brother Thomas was appointed a Ministerial Servant. Oh, I will mention that before this happened one of the elders did ask my parents if they objected to this appointment. You know, as if what they said mattered. Strangely enough my Dad said he would live with it,although not thrilled with the idea. My mom however strongly objected. They then basically then told my Mom that she needed to forgive him and forget it….So a ministerial servant he was.
Well, my Mom wasn’t done yet, she decided to take it to the C.O. He told her the same thing. Then it was a letter to the society. Well, this prompted another investigation. The society told my Mom that he should not be given responsibility again in the congregation if there was evidence suggesting that any misconduct of this nature went on. So the evidence was to be dug up again. This time,however there was a problem…There was no evidence. It strangely disappeared from the halls files. Well,I guess that answers that….
So what now? Well he’s an Elder again, and get this,my parents are still in that hall. Going quite regularly still. That pretty much wraps up their story, because thats where they are to this day. I don’t think they’ll ever leave. Besides, “where else would they go”,
Me? I guess Im different.Actually the story I just related to you was only the first bad experience I’ve had in the org. The rest as I said are coming tomorrow. I’ve really got to get home now, as Im at work. I promise I’ll right more tomorrow for those of you that want to hear it. Thanks, also for the “welcomes” guys. Its nice to be here and I look forward to getting to know a lot of you and hearing your experiences. See ya later
this is my first post.
im not saying he was always like this.
thats the thing with this illness, i guess.
Hello! This is my first post. I’ve been lurking on here for a couple of months since I got over the initial fear of committing “the unforgivable sin.” I obviously no longer believe I’m doing that or that its possible for anyone to do. So I figured it was time to share my story to anyone who might be interested. I’ve enjoyed many posts on this site. Its nice to see so many different people with different views all getting along in a very friendly, even loving, (imagine that) atmosphere. (Most of the time, anyway.) So I guess I’ll get right into it. Oh and sorry, its long….
I was raised a Jehovah’s Witness along with my two older sisters. Both of my parents were raised as Jehovah’s Witnesses as well.
Growing up in my family was often difficult. My Dad suffered from Manic Depression. Although he showed severe symptoms most of my childhood life, he was in denial and refused to get any treatment for his condition. This definitely had an effect on me and obviously my relationship with him. He would often become quite angry over the slightest thing. Although he never seriously injured me, my sisters or my Mom, he would get physically abusive at times. Hitting, jabbing his fingers into us really hard. (For some reason he liked doing that.) Sometimes he would leave bruises. I’m not saying he was always like this. That’s the thing with this illness, I guess. “Highs and lows”. One minute he would be fine, the next I’d be running for my life out the front door to get away.
“Spiritually” speaking (My Dad’s standing in the congregation) he was, or at least appeared, to be relatively exemplary. Before marrying my Mom at the age of 26 , He was at Bethel for 4 years. In their first year of marriage my parents lost their first child, a son at 2 weeks old due to complications at birth. This obviously crushed my parents. It was about that time my Dad started to show symptoms of his mental illness. It is inherited and I suppose he always had it but was able to hide it a little better before the pain of loosing his first child. Also during this time my Dad was serving as a ministerial servant which he was either removed from or “stepped down” from because of his mental state. After having me, my mom decided to go back to school . This caused her to miss many meetings while my Dad and us kids remained regular. My Dad didn’t like this and they would often get into terrible fights because of it. My Mom once told me about one incident where my Dad had one of his violent outbursts and after throwing all her books around the house, he was grabbing her holding her by the shoulders tightly, while shaking her. This was while I was in the same room. My Mom said that when it was over I asked her “why she lets Daddy treat her like that.” This was at 3 years old. Sad, huh? This behavior of coarse, was never shown or brought to the attention of anyone outside the family.
After moving to a different area and cong, he remained regular at meetings and in field service. He commented regularly. He was always eager to fill in at the last minute on T.M. School parts if someone didn’t show. I don’t want to give the impression that my Dad was an evil man, intentionally living a double life. That’s what the illness did to him I guess. I love my Dad, I don’t blame him for being ill. Though, I realize it doesn’t excuse anything. The only thing I can say I blame him for is not realizing that he was and not getting help for it.
I’m not saying that my life was unbearable and that I had a miserable childhood. I know plenty of people who had it a lot worse then me. I did have some good times with my Dad. I still looked up to him for the most part when he was acting civilized.
Throughout my childhood and into my teenage years I was a pretty typical JW kid. We moved and therefore changed congregations when I was 13, or so. I went to public school till about 7 th grade. Then my Mom decided to take me and my sister out and home school us because I wasn‘t getting along to well with most of my peers. I was being bullied a lot. I Came home a few times with some bruises and my Mom didn’t like that too much. I guess I didn’t either. J My oldest sister had just about graduated at that point, and had started to pioneer.
As far as our new congregation went, it seemed great at the time for my parents. There were a few kids my age that I’d get together with on occasion. I never really seemed to fit in with them though.I was a "skater boy"(I apologize for using that term,its very annoying,I know) and everybody seemed to be into hunting or other sports that I never got into.Oh I was also really into music. I played guitar since I was 10. This was apparently also something out of the ordinary, being a JW kid. I think sometimes I was even invited over by these kids parents. At leist they were trying,I guess. Anyway, My parents were pretty happy. They would say how much more loving it was then the hall we had just moved away from. In the first 2 years or so we were there everything seemed peachy to them. We were being invited over for dinner to different families houses. This was something that we rarely did at our other hall. Then my parents started getting pretty close to a particular family, we’ll call them the Thompson’s. John Thompson, was an elder in the congregation. His wife Cindy was a Pioneer. They had a daughter, about 2 years younger then me. We did many things over a period of about a year with the Thomson’s. My parents considered them best friends. I thought they were nice. John was rather hyper and very active. Sometimes he’d ride his mountain bike to our house when he’d come over by himself to visit. Keep in mind he lived about 5 miles away. He often acted very silly, going to great extremes for a laugh. He seemed very down to earth at the same time, and I guess since he was an elder, that seemed pretty cool to us. His wife became very close to my Mom and there wasn’t many nights that they wouldn’t be talking on the phone if they weren’t with each other. I think it was probably the happiest my parents had been in a while having such close friends. That however, was soon to change.
I guess before I get into that I should mention that I had always believed strongly in the “truth”, or I what was taught. And as a typical JW family our life revolved around it. Also, I’ll mention that my Dad at this point in my life started going to a psychologist and getting medication for his mental illness. Though sometimes he’d forget to take it, and believe me we knew if he hadn‘t , his behavior had definitely improved greatly when he was on it. This was a particularly good thing in my opinion in view of what he was about to go through.
As we continued doing things as a family with the Thompson’s I think we all noticed a little favoritism John had for my youngest sister. She was about 14 at the time. He was a very good at drawing animated characters and he would draw her and him in cartoon sketches together. He did this with other people also ,which he showed us one occasion. Other members of my family including myself were even featured in these cartoon sketches at times. I guess that’s why we didn’t think it was to strange at the time. Then he started buying my sister things. Nothing to weird, just things she’d mention wanting. Cds, clothes, etc.
She liked a certain Rock singer at the time and he of coarse latched onto that, also claiming to like this singer. He even took my sister and one of her friends to see him in concert. At this point I think my parents were starting to see that something wasn’t quite right but they were in denial. After all, who would want to believe that their 34 year old, married with child, best friend who happened to be an elder, was trying to hook up with their 14 year old daughter. Well, in denial they were. At one point he had opened up a savings account for my sister and put $ 500.00 in it as a gift to her. I knew about this and was not happy. “How come this guy doesn’t take interest in me like a son he never had. He’s already has a daughter,” I thought. Now, I think I’m glad he didn’t, if you know what I mean. Anyway, I guess the shit finally hit the fan when he asked my sister to run away with him. She declined and told my parents who then went straight to the elders. Not to him, of coarse, different elders………………………………...
I’ll mention at this point, that the P.O off the congregation was one of Johns best friends also. I’ll also mention at least two other elders in the congregation were cousins and also close to John. Can anybody predict the outcome of this story?…..I think you can. Unfortunately I’m going to have to finish it in a continuation post because I’ve run out of time. Till then, thanks for listening…..My next post will describe my wonderful personal experiences with the elders. Also my wife’s, which led to her Dfing. Oh and by the way, I’m faded, not Dad or Dfed. My wife is also in the same boat now, as she was reinstated….More to come…Thanks J