Hi all,
I will begin by stating that I have been an inactive JW for about four years now and I currently have no plans on returning to the organization at this juncture. I have read many of your experiences with the JW's and WTS and I can certainly understand the rage, hatred, depression, anxiety, and sense of hoplessness as a result of your association with the JW's. Personally, I have had simliar experiences with the JW's such as an elder constantly chastising me for every "bad" thing I did by always informing me that " If I continued on the course I was on I would be destroyed at Armeggedon." It was this fear of death at Armeggedon that kept me slaving away for this organization even though I rarely agreed with the WTS interpetation of bibilical doctrine. At the age of 18 I decided that being a full time minster for the organization was not for me. To get away from the Organization I simply just dropped off the face of the earth and never showed my face again to the congregation I was attending.
I am currently a junior in college with a major in Laboratory Science with concentrations in Chemistry and Biology. I also have the joined the military's ROTC program where I hope to be commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant next summer. Through the ROTC program I can now attend Graduate school and not worry about being deployed while I am in school. I still haven't decided whether or not I want to pursue a doctorate in chemistry or Law but at this juncture I am not particularly concerned with that.
As regards the JW's and their organization the WTS I feel no ill-will towards them even though by right I should. I do commend the JW's for their strict moral codes and it takes a real man or woman to live by them. Ever since my exodous from the organization, the moral values that were taught to me by the JW's has served me well and I partly attribute this to my secular and academic success.
I will say though it was nice to find this board
Nick
