Ok, maybe I shouldn't post this, because I don't want to come across like how could you do this, I'm just genuinely confused. I've read this thread and others and I just honestly don't understand. In fact I wander around the house because I just can't get my mind around things.
I guess 1st I should say I was a witness for the 1st 25 years of my life.
When I was growing up I and my friends were never allowed to go to friends houses after school or any parties. The 1 party I had was all Witnesses with no "worldly" people allowed to be invited. This policy wasn't just in my family or in 1 congregation, it was the same in the few states we lived in.
Once I and about 1/2 of my work colleagues had to work overnight to reset the entire scheme of my job. In the morning my boss took all of us out to a quick breakfast before we went home to thank us. I was seen by someone in the congregation and at the next meeting was given a "gentle reminder" by 2 of the elders in a room about curbing worldly association.
And my friend, whose house book study was in, was showing an elder their new computer afterwards. The elders saw that he was a member of an online techy type chat forum and talked to him later using an article about the dangers of internet chat rooms and how just as we wouldn't associate with worldly people IRL we wouldn't online either. I heard the same information given as a talk during the local needs portion of the TMS in a different state that I was working seldom worked territory in.
My family won't have anything to do with me after I made it clear I wasn't coming back, except for discussing major health issues (I'm not DFed) and I know other families who have done the same thing to their children.
Like I said, and I know it will probably be taken this way, I'm not trying to bash the religion (my entire family are members, and I still love them)or question other Witnesses for what they have done (especially when i don't see how it is "wrong" at all) , but reading things about how others got to associate with their friends after school, or go to coffee with their friends now, or are even able to be on here just blows my mind. I can't believe that other people actually got to do this when I got in trouble for it. I've wanted to post this on other threads, but don't want to be taken the wrong way. I don't know why I'm so confounded, or why it even matters, I just literally cannot comprehend being able to do that. Sorry for the ramble, I guess I just needed to post to try to give my head some peace.
And please don't take it the wrong way.