If Jehovah's Witnesses, which number about 7 million right now, are a small subset of the religious world today, what does that make former JW's? What does that make a small internet community like JWN?
As with any unique group, you have to be one to totally understand, esp if you were neck deep in it at one time. When I first left, all I wanted to do was say the things I never had a chance to when I was in. All the weird teachings, all the odd behaviors. All the things that seemed like bullshit to me.
....and so I got to say those things. Here at JWN and on Freeminds. And it got.... boring.
When I first came on this board, I didn't understand why people got so angry over things. I later figured out that it was because they were angry. I wondered why this board wasn't only about talking about JW's. I now know that former JW's grow, change, and become things they never could before.
Politics? Sure. Sex? Yeah, (I know we have to keep some decorum). But those are things that were totally suppressed as a JW. Can't talk about it. Can barely do anything. And it wasn't natural or normal.
This forum isn't about JW's, the cult/religion only. It isn't even about being a former JW only. It's just about people who come from that world, who are growing, and learning, and trying to learn, trying to connect, trying to reach out. Who need the common bond and the bread crumbs they can leave so that they can try things on, even if it is just an idea, even if it is just to argue a political point, even if it is to mourn the lost time, and to celebrate the possibility and hope that comes with new ideas for the future.
I am learning every day and growing, and what is cool about this board is that most of us are on all that same journey, just in different spots.
There are a lot of former JW's who come here and only want to read about how bad JW's (the leadership) is. Which confuses lurking JW's (the actual people) because I think that sometimes, even we on this board forget that there are two kinds of JW's, the people overall, and the leadership from the Governing Body and Service Dept.
Again, who else is going to understand that except people who have been through it?
It isn't my mission in life to bring down the cult. I don't want to spend the rest of my life exposing them. To me, it is good enough to know that they are batshit crazy, and I can leave it at that. That's just me. I am out of inspiration to write and comment on the fact that JW's have zero fullfilled prophecies, dangerous doctrine (like blood transfusions) and just out and out weird teachings and outright lies. I figured it out, got to vent, got to write about it, and for the most part, I am done.
I am now into the human part of this. We were people then, with real feelings, stifled to one degree or another. We are still people, hurt and damaged perhaps, but still people who need others around them who understand.
I sure as hell need that, and that is why I am here, still. :)