Now this Guy Has a Lot to Lose if He Gets Disfellowshipped

He went from having no parents to being adopted by jws.  What will happen to him if he gets disfellowshipped or simply starts questioning the cult to which he belongs?  Sigh!

http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20090201_Adopted_in_adulthood.html?page=2&c=y

Yes, those who, when still children, have already lost parents, have the prospect of losing their adoptive parents if they decide to leave the religion. How this brings home the kinds of unfair events that we face as we go through life 

Clickable Link:  http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20090201_Adopted_in_adulthood.html?page=2&c=y

My parents adopted my brother when he was a few weeks old. Like me, he was raised as a witness. By 17 years of age he'd been DFd twiced (first time was quashed by appeal). He was, for sure, lied about at the second JC, with the elders doing a 'witch-hunt' against him, asking virtually everyone in the congregation if they 'knew anything about him'. My dad, who was an elder at the time, had made himself pretty unpopular for one reason or another. They couldn't get at my dad, so they got at him through my brother.

My parents still gave him a roof over his head and tried their best with him after he was DFd. However, because he was no longer allowed any association with his friends, he made new friends 'in the world', got in with a bad crowd, later with a very bad crowd and before long left my parents' home.

In 15 years I've spoken to him a couple of times. We've made contact, briefly, this year after he heard I was no longer a JW. His life is a bit of a mess, TBH, and it's been so long since we had a relationship that I don't know him/him me. I feel pretty guilty about that.

So, he was rejected by his birth-parents, adopted by JWs, baptised into a religion that 'kills it's young' whenever they step out of line and effectively lost his adoptive family too.

I think this story is rather sweet.  I hope nothing ever happens to break up this family. 

Obviously, all of the people involved are good people.  What a shame they're wrapped up in the WTS.

Serena