Vinny said:
But if I had to do it over again I would never submit to it. The costs for most of the benefits you get are far too steep. Self doubts, never doing enough, no sports for kids, no holidays, risk and worries of death due to the sorry blood policy, no boyscouts for kids, cutting back on non JW people from your lives, including family, no voting or community involvement, viewing others as "worldly" and soon to be destroyed, and much more than I have time for listing here.
So yes, it's a cult, it is not the truth, it was living in a box, living a lie, a waste of much time and more. And you could say such things and such a life is nothing but "bullcrap".
I totally agree with this. The VERY few "benefits gained" from this nutty and very repetitive lifestyle.....far outweigh any "plusses" that you MIGHT end up with in the end.
I only feel the keen loss of so many years that I devoted to the WTS and what I put my kids through, raising them in this hideous excuse for a religion. I can never play enough "catch-up" to make up for all the hurt I have caused my family although there have been some wonderful advances recently being made in this area. I realize it is somewhat counter-productive, but at my age now, I often wonder just what direction our lives would have taken if I had NOT been caught up in all the clever WTS teachings. All families have their problems, but the WTS super-complicates things that other families are never even forced to deal with.
My best advice is to NOT EVEN LET JWs into the house to "chat" about their message, but then, I would guess that most folks that come here have already come to this conclusion.
hugs,
Annie