JW / Ex-JW Tales
Just wanted to share this here cause it’s a massive change in our life and very few people understand:
My partner and I have been together for 2 years, but we were friends for about a year before that, and even further back she was considered family by my brother and parents for a long time. I didn’t meet her until years after my family as I lived in a different state, but they all mentioned how well we would get along with each other. (If only they knew at the time how well we would get along, but that’s a different story 😂😂) Over the years, I’d only met her family once at a funeral. She was DF’d 6 years ago and her family treated her as expected during the time she was living with them. For the most part she lived like an unwanted house guest in her family home. They were not completely terrible but didn’t including her in “family” events or talk to her if not necessary. However, in the past month, I noticed that her sister was texting her a lot more, even asking about me (were lesbians so this was a shock to me), and mildly badmouthing the org. I mentioned that she may be on her way out but my partner didn’t want to get too hopeful. Fast forward to last week, she called us to tell us that her position as a pioneer was on the chopping block. She’d already put in most of her hours for the year and even got invited to the school. But that’s when everything went to shit. She liked a single post on Facebook that on the surface wasn’t bad, nothing explicit, magical, or apostate. But someone recognized the show and reported her to the elders. She was removed from her pioneer position and her invitation to the school was revoked. Over a single liked post. Overall, I’m glad she’s out. She’s obviously been questioning for a while but we let her figure it out on her own. But what’s bothering me is, I thought TV shows were a conscious decision. Like yes some are heavily discouraged but having all her work this year (600 f*cking hours!!) be completely invalidated over one like? That’s so controlling and unnecessary. They claim to let people live their own lives but cast someone out at the first sign of nonconformity. She was justifiably upset, and that opened her eyes to the truth of the org. She’s making her way out now and I’m so excited to get to know her outside of the cult. We told her that we are here for her and we are willing to help with the adjustment to the outside world. My partner is overjoyed to have her sister back and I’m so happy to see some of her life back.
