Hello everybody,
I've been lurking on this forum for over a year, and I thought I'd say a quick hello.
I was raised as a Jehovah's Witness and managed to endure past the encouragement that one receives from age 16 onwards about what is holding me back, and never got baptised. I figured that making one of the most important decisions of my life requires a lot more thought than people seemed to be giving it, and shouldn't be based on emotion as is quite common.
I'm very glad I never took the plunge, and I've managed to convince my parents that they should be glad to. I've pointed out that had I been baptised and reached the position I'm at now (agnostic to be specific, but atheist to be useful) then we would not be able to even have conversations with them about religion, or anything else.
I feel a bit like an imposter here - many of you have lost contact completely with friends and family whereas I'm just viewed as slightly peculiar. I dont share my views often with witnesses, although I think about what to say a lot. I do find it quite baffling that any of them believe what they do, but I think the best approach is to remain respectful and ask pertinent questions to make them think. I'm very lucky that I have the opportunity to be open with my parents should I choose to be.
I like reading threads here about the logical backflips that witnesses have to go through to believe what they do. It fascinates me when they say that I don't have the right heart condition, or that Jehovah will reveal things to me in time, and I (gently) call them up on it when they do. My view is that nobody should have a fear of information or opposing points of view, indeed it's essential to solidifying your worldview. And they are free to reject any information that they don't agree with. I think that Raymond Franz's books should be required reading for every Jehovah's Witness, and the avoidance and even more so, the non-acknowledgement of the existence of these books exposes a fatal insecurity.
Thankyou everybody for your helpful experiences over the past year.
Fresh Crepes x