Hoorah for me!!! Officially no longer a JW!!

[General Zod]

What is the purpose of that beyond momentary gratification? What is even the point of writing a letter to the church? is it supposed to give you closure?

Because it makes things "official"? I don't see why it needs any kind of deeper purpose than that.

[Darth Wong]

When my grandma dies, I plan on writing the Catholic Church requesting excommunication. I don't want to be associated with pedophiles and the people who facilitate their twisted desires.

You cannot request excommunication, but you can, AFAIK, request to have you baptism revoked (they are still not eager at all to comply, on the other hand).

What is the purpose of that beyond momentary gratification? What is even the point of writing a letter to the church? is it supposed to give you closure?

The fact that his name is listed as a member of a church which promotes all manner of policies he despises is annoying to him. You honestly can't understand that?

Let's take a different example: how would you feel if NAMBLA listed you as a member? Actually, on second thought, that's not much different.

[Kanastrous]

That's really unfair.

NAMBLA members wouldn't deny a child a necessary transfusion.

[Melchior]

What is the purpose of that beyond momentary gratification? What is even the point of writing a letter to the church? is it supposed to give you closure?

The political power of the Catholic Church depends in a not insignificant part from the number of followers that they are able to claim.

[Aquatain]

That's really unfair.

NAMBLA members wouldn't deny a child a necessary transfusion.

Ohh God ..this made me laugh so hard.

[RIPP_n_WIPE]

That whole bit about Jehova's Witnesses not being allowed to accept blood transfusions always gets mentioned in nursing school, and I always find it frustrating whenever it's mentioned and people just go:

"Oh well, we have to respect their beliefs!"

It's really frustrating to hear that, and I can't believe people just buy that whole shtick - to the point of getting people (themselves or otherwise) killed.

So, yeah. Go celebrate your de-conversion by donating blood or something (that isn't kosher for JWs, right?)

Giving blood is quite fun, especially when you have an attractive Med student who you can hit on the whole time and she gets to rub your head and arms to make sure you don't pass out...

[Manus Celer Dei]

Is that JW elder code speak for "we need this letter to hold up in front of the faithful so they know who to shun"? Do they still encourage family and friends to disown folk who leave?

Officially, yes, they are supposed to do the whole shunning thing. My experiance was somewhat different; when I decided to leave the religion (I was about 14, I think) their response was basically "Oh well, we hope you come back around someday" and it was left at that. I'm still good friends with most of the people I knew from the congregation. My sister, similarly, hasn't been on the recieving end of any shunning.

That said, a lot of them will confess that they don't know whether they'd give transfusions to their kids or not, I'd wager that most of them know it's sensible when it's in the child's best interests, and I suspect a lot of them might "give in" and take a transfusion themselves when faced with mortality. In all fairness to the JW cults, they will usually forgive someone for taking a blood transfusion to survive, so long as they repent of it and say the desire to have blood transfused, even for survival has left them and it was "moral weakness" on their part which made them do it.

When I was still a JW my mother told my sister and me that although it'd be nice if we were to refuse blood, she would much rather that we did because her religion was nowhere near as important as our lives. I daresay that this is fairly common sentiment amongst any JWs with any common sense, although that's probably just wishful thinking.

[Themightytom]

What is the purpose of that beyond momentary gratification? What is even the point of writing a letter to the church? is it supposed to give you closure?

The political power of the Catholic Church depends in a not insignificant part from the number of followers that they are able to claim.

yeah I think I missed the point entirely. I thought it was about choosing to leave the church because you don't believe in God, in which case, how would getting the church to acknowledge your decision have meaning. I didn't understand it was more a protest against the institution.