It was a good idea to bring this to its own thread. I agree, the subject deserves it. Here is my response, copied and pasted from the original thread. My comments are in answer to questions asked by Ginosko.
Are you as a group better that the JW's?
The answer depends on what you mean by "better". In many ways, we are no different than JWs. In some ways we are in better shape. It would be best not to think of us as a group, though, because we are individuals and we don't have a group philosophy or goal.
Are you showing godly devotion acts?
I am meticulously honest. I take good care of myself and don't drink, smoke, or get high. I'm kind and understanding in dealing with other people. When a genuine mistake I made is pointed out to me, I acknowledge it. I encourage others and offer suggestions and observations when I think these will help them with some problem they are struggling with. I also give of my energy, time and resources in helping others. And, since I can feel the next question inherent in this one: part of the time I spend in helping others is spent helping them, to the extent I am able, to make sense of spiritual things.
Do you think that you have a better relation with God?
I would say that my relationship with God is much better now, because it is based on a far more accurate understanding of how things are.
Do you have better qualities with your husband or wifes and sons?
Well, I don't have a wife. I have two grown sons, and, yes, we do get along better now than we did when I was a JW. We have an annual reunion where one son and I fly up to visit the other son half a continent away, and we all bond all over again. But my girlfriend, and other people I have come to know in recent years, all speak highly of me. I assume that's because of qualities they see in me that they respect and appreciate.
Are you happiers?
Absolutely, without question, happier than I have ever been in my life.
Do you think that you know God better?
Let me put it this way. I do not know any truths about God now that I didn't know then; but I have gotten rid of some misconceptions and untruths that prevented me from seeing things clearly about God.
Don't you fell alone?
Not at all. Above anything else, I have myself; when everyone else is gone, I am still here, and I am my best friend. I love myself. Beyond that, I have made some good friends from people I work with, and from meeting the friends of my girlfriend and people I know. Today (Sunday) I spent the entire day out on a lake in a pontoon boat owned by a couple I met recently at a party my girlfriend hosted. We swam, boated around the lake, ate fruit and chicken at a picnic table on an island, and they drank beer, but not to excess. I drank water (I don't drink beer). We had a fine time, and are looking forward soon to going camping together. People are just people. Some of them are evil, and some of them are dangerous, but this is just as true of Jehovah's Witnesses as it is of anyone else. You just have to learn to recognize a con when it's being perpetrated, and dodge it. In my experience, the majority of people in the world are basically good people, worthy of having as friends.
What do other people that are not JW say about you, do they see that you are a better person?
Well, my mom and my brothers and sister sure do like me better now. Nobody else who knows me now knew me when I was a witness. But I will tell you truthfully, I have changed for the better. Part of it is just plain old maturity... getting older and having lived and observed more of life than when I was young and a Jehovah's Witness. But a lot of it is the particular lessons I have learned since leaving the organization, lessons related to my leaving.
Yes, I am a better person now. I was good then, and well-intentioned, but I was misguided and immature, as all JWs are immature, having no experience of life in the real world, and having a mind filled with fairy-tale ideas known only to their fellow cult members. It takes time to adjust to real life, and it isn't without its pain and stress (boy, don't I know it). But it is worthwhile. There is true peace in living in reality rather than living in a shallow pretense.
I hope you will join us here in reality. It isn't all pretty, and it isn't all good, but it's real. It's as real as it gets.
COMF
Come, fill the cup, and in the fire of spring
Your winter-garment of repentance fling:
The bird of Time has but a little way
To flutter--and the bird is on the wing.
