The following message is being forward for Stephen Wolf

(who sent me the post inadvertantly).

Enjoy.

I am replying on a message by JoRiz on disfellowshipping practice of JW. (I hope this message is addressed the right way).

During my last months inside the WT Society (they would problable use the phrase “in the truth”) there were several attempts to disfellowship me. Yet, all of them failed. Do you know why?

It’s a simple trick (which worked, at least in my case).

I refused to talk to any elders, appear at any committee meeting or accept any “shepheding calls” in my house, unless there were also witnesses of my choice present. It is common practice among JW that always at least TWO elders visite a “weak brother”. In that way, it’s always a matter of two words against one and the poor victim has no means of defending himself. Note, however, I never refused to talk to them in general (which is something they would have used against me). I always politely expressed my willingness to have a conversation with them. It’s just that I insisted in someone else to witness the conversation. After they realized that they cannot play any dirty tricks on me, things quickly calmed down and I was never bothered again - until this day, which is more than two years after my last meeting attendacne.

One of my first steps towards withdrawal from the WTB&TS consisted in growing a beard (that’s a sign of rebelliousness, isn’t it?) The reaction was immediate: No more assignments on the platform (I used to give even public talks before), no more reading at the WT study and congregation bookstudy. I did not simply take it, but demanded a reason for this action (which is extremely difficult, since there is not a single scripture that speaks against wearing a beard).

Only after I repeated my demand to the Circuit Overseer (who was a rather liberal and unusually open-minded person) there was a response on the side of the elders. They invited me to a “conversation”. SIX of them appeared to discus the “beard issue” with me. This discussion lasted for FOUR hours and there was no other subject but my beard (and all the well-known pseudo-reasons used by the WT&TS against it).

Months later, all six elders said to the Circuit Overseer (a new one, who was a strictly in line with official WT doctrine) that they simply discussed “brother Wolf’s attitude in general” and my beard was no issue at all. It was a blut lie. But it was six elders against one ordinary publisher.

This experience prompted me to never again talk to more than one elder, unless there was a neutral witness.

I keep telling all the Witnesses who also face trouble with the elders to use the same tactics. However, most of them need to make their own negative experiences first, before they realize what “Jehovah’s organization” is really like. Often, they turn for help to the very same elders who caused them their problem in the first place.

Every individual is entitled to a sphere of privacy. But he has to protect it by telling others where to stop. If he does not, he will soon or later discover that others have taken over his private life and shaped his personality to their liking.

Stephan

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