May I answer each of your questions and make suggestions myself that may be upbuilding for all here:
Podobear, the military is a lot more controlling than the WTS ever has been, it does indeed control just about every facet of your life, and if you work for them or with them, as a DoD civilian, you will be subject to the UCMJ, or the Uniform Code of Military Justice, especially if you wish to work for the US military organization, of which I am currently a part. The Navy is a lot like the WTS in many ways, a parallel could be drawn up like this:
Just as this many of you are fearful of leaving the WTS over fear of being disfellowshipped, because you would lose contact with your family and friends and the like, so also, many in the U.S. military are fearful of leaving the military due to the economic instability of our times- I know, I've become institutionalized myself and accustomed to being told what to wear, what to eat, and what to think for the better part of my adult life, so when I did get out of the military back in 2001 briefly, I informed my new boss that I 'didn't know what to wear to work', becuase there was no prescribed uniform, and no written guidelines to follow and such, the same it seems is simular to the situation that those wishing to leave the WTS are facing, are they not?
jwfacts, Yes, I know that Christians for 2,000 years have been proclaiming the return of our Lord, and I for my part will continue to proclaim the Coming Kingdom of God upon this earth, I do know this, we're closer now than we've ever been, and just as surely as He came then, His kingdom will come again as Daniel 2:44 states it will. If it comes in my lifetime, great!, O what joy! If not, then I'll die happy proclaiming His coming Kingdom until the day of my death, I see no better way to enjoy the REAL LIFE than to do that! I recognize, as did Moses, that sinful pleasures and seeking prestige for myself amongst the world's system of things is NOT the REAL LIFE. I once had plans to run for public office, for Congress and the Senate, and now I've abadoned those plans because salvation is not in political power, but by God's power, the Kingdom is the only TRUE hope of mankind! I appreciate your thoughts though.
From personal experience with those who were disfellowshipped, and/or left the organization I've only seen their lives go to ruins after leaving the Society and the Truth it teaches. How can someone leave the Truth and then begin to believe in the doctrine of eternal torment and hellfire and trinity and immortal soul, I mean, one does not have to throw out the true doctrines taught along with the Society, now do they? I don't think so. Our neighbor for the better part of 5 years was a disfellowship former elder in the local JW congregation of JWs and he and his wife when they left the Org back in 1985 left because their daughter was disfellowshipped for smoking cigarettes, and so the wife got mad at the WTS for disfellowshipping their daughter and so she left, then the husband left and eventually now their entire family is OUT of the Society, and what have they got now? Well, they all are chained smokers, ALL OF 'EM. Their home is caked in cigarette stains on the ceilings where their constant smoking has actually stained the ceiling in their home, and whenever I paid them a visit to just talk about the Bible with them, I left their smelling like an ashtray. They've hired their own private minister to come to their home, and even set a room aside as a meeting place on the side of their home where they now conduct what they call a 'Baptist church' and they have meetings each week, and invite people to visit and sing Baptist hymns and such, and I suppose in their own way, they've found peace with what they've lost, but to me, it makes no sense to leave the teachings just because you left the Teacher. They claim to believe in hellfire, trinity, immortal soul, yet I do not see any of them out door-to-door witnessing trying to rescue souls from hellfire, as I used to do when I was a baptist minister myself. They're smoking is slowly killing them, and ruining their health, and the spiritual smoke they send up each week to God is surely a foul odor in His nostrils because it's error and not truth and the fact that they've hired themselves a personal, private preacher to do their services each week is amazing indeed! I suppose their fear of organizations in general keeps them out of the First Baptist church down the street, or any other organized religion with a building and a board of deacons and a pastorate, etc...
For me, I know that my uncle was a heroine addict when the JWs found him, and he's alive today because they taught him how to read using the NWT and he couldn't be happier serving Jehovah!
From my own experience, I was sex addict, and a porn addict, and an adulterer, and I broke my wife's heart over and over again and slept around with many women, some with and some without condoms and I'm just thankful that I didn't catch any STDs or get any of them pregnant, and that a study of God's word with the JWs was what helped me to become a new man, to put on 'the new personality', as a study with the Mormons never did such for me, it only encouraged me to further godlessness and fornication and lust and porngraphy, etc...al.
For me, the WTS has done nothing but good, it saved my uncle's life back in 1984 when he was baptized and it's saving my life now as I've changed completely since beginning my study of the Bible with the JWs four months ago. Just five to six months ago, I was indeed knee deep in sex addiction and pornography viewing and fornication and having illicite affairs with numerous women, often at the same time, and my mind was just 'sex, sex and where can I get more sex', and my poor wife's heart was broken and I am grateful for Jehovah reaching out His arm and saving my marriage and saving me from further sexual encounters, which I would have sought out had I continued down that path, and I would have eventually gotten an STD and possibly AIDS or HIV, so I'm thankful for the WTS and I will join it when I am not longer in the military, of this I am sure.
We each have our way in life, and I hope you respect and understand mine. I've been set free by Bible truth, and I'm so thankful for it!
Thank you, O Jehovah, for the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society! May I ever be faithful to You, the originator of it, and to your Son, the leader of the Christian congregation for the remainder of my days.
