I was a born in Jehovah’s Witness, my entire extended family, aunts, uncles, grandparents, cousins, and so on were all Jehovah’s Witnesses. We had a LONG tradition. Not a single one had ever left or to the best of my knowledge questioned their beliefs.
The earliest memory I have of being a Jehovah’s Witness is being ‘belted’ (that’s Scottish for being whipped with my fathers leather belt 5-20 times on the bare bottom) for telling a sister to ‘mind her own business’, when she asked me a question at the tender age of 5 or 6 that I didn’t see her need to ask. Yes I was arrogant and self assured back in those days!
My second memory was being belted once more for having a conversation with my cousin (who went on to work at Bethel) over how nice the lady ice skaters ‘knickers’ looked when the did a pirouette, or what ever the turn may be called.
Not great first memories! Please don’t assume however that I have any grudge against my father – this type of punishment was not that unusual in Scotland in the early 80’s.
As I grew I moved further and further into isolation in school – which I can understand as kids are tough on ‘weirdo’s’ – especially those that preached that ‘wrongdoers would die in Armageddon’! I can remember once incident where I was pinned down by a group of older boys and dog faeces was spread on me for these beliefs. The bullying began when I was six as I sat out for all the normal fun exercises and I was made to write letters explaining why I couldn’t attend my classmate’s birthdays and other parties. This was hard and I believe set the pattern for my personality in future years.
As I started secondary school I grew to be more of a recluse, not being able to participate in much of anything and generally being the class ‘wierdo’. Still, to the age of 12 I was strong in my faith, I even wanted to be a CO or join the Bethel – I remember my grandmother delighting in my desires!