Newwitness, welcome to the board. You will meet sometruly lovely people in your congregation. They will provide a great deal of support and make you feel welcome. By and large they are genuinely wonderful people. They will tell you that the organisation the safest place to be. That the world that you have left is full of evil and doomed for iminent destruction. People who ahve left the organisation will be described to you foolish, if they speak against the christian congregation they are wicked, working on behalf of Sata, he is angry that you have become baptised and wants you back in the world because he wants to take as many people down with him as possible.
You will also be told that loved ones you have lost in death will be seen again, in a beautiful paradise, in fact the christian congregation is a spiritual paradise and will give you a taste of what is to come.
But newwitness, as you continue to to grow spiritually you will have questions. Ask them, don't allow answers that indicate that time will reveal the truth, we don't have it YET. The truth should be simple, logical and clear. It should be verifiable and strong enough to withstand reasonable questioning.
Remember Jehovah is a God of love. Think about what you are being taught with regard to the destruction of innocent children, find out out what disfellowshipping really means to family members and investigate why a heamophilliac in the 1980's could not accept factor VIII and would die, but one today can be treated with factor VIII and live. Wpould a loving god want his friends to undergo suffering because of a policy, even if there was theopportunity for life everlasting in the future.
Ask questions about the year 1914 and the generation that would see the begining and end of the events leading to Armageddon. Ask why in the 1920's an announcement was made that millions now living will never die. Ask why Original sin of humans resulted in the cruelty found in the animal kingdom.
If you ask these questions and properly investigate them, using a full range of resources from liraries or the internet, and are satisfied that you have found the answers then I congratulate you. If not be careful that you don't isolate yourself from previous friends ,acquintances and family, because you may one day need them more than you can imagine.
Ohhh and read Ray Franz's book crisis of conscience with an open mind - there's nothing to fear, just an insight into how the organisation works.
