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I was born and raised in a Dutch reformed church, that was established in 1945. Due to some of the hypocrisy, I left around my 18th, vowing not to be a Christian any longer. When JWs first spoke to me in August 2011, it took some months before I accepted even owning a Bible, and then another 4 years of study and being critical, after which I got baptised. While having a feeling that something wasn't quite right for years, I kept my focus on the big picture. It turned out that I had been excessively positive in some areas. At several points, the matter of child sexual abuse came to my attention, and in early 2020, I ended up reading a news article about research ordered by the Dutch government. It was somewhat shocking to me, and I decided to dig deeper. The matter involved a court case in the Netherlands, where the Witnesses had gone to court to block the report, about the handling of child sexual abuse among Jehovah's Witnesses, ordered by the minister of Legal Protection that the Dutch parliament had unanimously requested. The brothers had lost the case, and I downloaded and read the full report. As a Witness, I couldn't imagine why one would consider this document an expression of persecution. I got in touch with Reclaimed Voices, a Dutch charity especially for JWs who have experienced sexual abuse in the organisation. I sent the Dutch branch office a 16-page letter, carefully explaining what the Bible says about these things. An English translation went to the Governing Body in the US. I received a respone from the Britain branch office, commending me on including Jehovah in my decisions. My letter was not greatly appreciated, but there weren't any noticable consequences. I ended up being informally shunned when I pointed out, during a congregation meeting, how John 13:34 relates to our ministry. If we spend more time in the public ministry than with each other, then we are misdirecting our love. I found out that the hosting elder tried to mute my microphone, never got the chance to comment again, and was isolated from the rest of the congregation. Being direct and passionate, I continued being critical until I had my JC meeting in 2021 and was disfellowshipped, never to return again. I had been speaking about that decision coming with a number of brothers, and am glad to see that quite a number still do greet me, and would even chat (briefly), despite the anxiety of being seen. I quite happily keep waving to and greeting them in the street, hoping that the discomfort all being on their side might help them to rethink what they are doing.
