I've only ever heard stories told by my family members, due to me being just a baby at the time, but my parents were, as were their parents, presumably stretching back at least a generation or two more. Can't say any of that with certainty; all I know for sure is that my parents and grandparents, maternal and paternal, were big on being JWs.
The cracks in the family faith began to form when my grandpa went on a work trip with his son to Japan. My grandpa still runs a family business for drywall repair, and were contracted out at the time for drywall construction in western-style homes around Fukushima. I don't know if it was the culture shock or the sheer lack of indoctrinating influences, but my grandpa, who was an elder in the church, was slowly growing more wary of the bullshit he was being fed. A few months later, after returning to the US, he started getting the rest of my family off the JW train.
Again, I was a baby, so all of this is recounted from what other family members have told me. Everyone was excommunicated, sans myself (again, baby). These days, my family (and extended family) are irreligious, and make an effort to keep in touch with other ex-Witnesses when word gets out that they've left the church. There's an amusingly large circle of friends my grandma has that consists exclusively of people she knew as a Witness, all of whom have long since left.
I'll add an addendum here, in case folks were curious what kind of things my grandpa meditated on during his time overseas led to his epiphany. For one, the way the elders went about dealing with crimes committed within the church. Reporting crimes to the police was a big no-no (threat of excommunication, if memory serves), and one person in the church was accused of pedophilia. What was the response? Why, it was for the other elders to have my grandpa, then a father of three children, house this man in their home. Considering how effectively brainwashed the JWs can make people, it's no surprise it took him so long to realize just how incredibly fucked up that was.
EDIT: Fuck me, this whole thread is making me so grateful that my grandpa was so respected and trusted by the rest of my family that he managed to get all of them out of the church. All this talk of being shunned by family members and abandoned by parents... it's too much. I don't think I could've handled that if things with my grandpa hadn't turned out the way they did. Just about every post here is making me realize how much I owe him.
Do I have to put a upside down cross on my door and start telling them off?
Just be firm. Growing up, my and her brothers were required to go from door to door. They didn't want to do it, didn't like doing it, and had to regardless of that. Chances are pretty good that the JWs knocking on your door, for all the enthusiasm they put on (or don't), aren't all that into it, either. Being a Witness is puritanical and dreary as hell. Once you're in, it's exceptionally hard to get out. That can really weigh on people. You don't have to hear them out, but don't shout them down.
By the way, Witnesses are actually taught to view persecution of their beliefs as validating their cause as just. If someone resists you spreading the word of God, after all, they must be unjust, and in need of saving.
- You cant have sex before marriage, which I gues is fine...but you also cant masturbate. You also shouldnt be thinking "impure" thoughts.
- Whenever something bad happens in your life, Its Satans trying to destroy your faith.
- NO BLOOD TRANSFUSIONS, even if you are on your death bed.
- JW's are discouraged from higher education since the world is gonna end anyway, SO GET TO PREACHING.
- Anyone who questions the sovereignty or direction of the Governing Body (Top of JW Pyramid) is considered an apostate and is disfellowshipped. JW's are VERY discouraged from critical thinking.
I could honestly go on forever...
There's also the strict dress code. Clean shaven. Men must keep their hair short and combed, women must grow their hair out and wear it long or tied back. The most absolutely boring puritanical outfits for men and women were also required as part of the dress code. Funny thing is, I realized while typing all that that pretty much what I wrote verbatim is demonstrated in that picture you posted. Witnesses have zero fashion sense, but even that had its purpose.
