Hello, I'm new here.
I'm a college student who has been raised in the "truth" for my entire life. I was baptized at 10 years old, and looking back now I know I didn't fully grasp everything involved, for one thing I don't even recall ever going to Jehovah in a special prayer to dedicate myself to him, but anyway that's the past and my focus is really on the present. I'm currently pursuing an Associates Degree, but I find myself desiring to pursue a Bachelors in my chosen field so that I may have a somewhat more secure future. (I of course realize even that comes with no guarantee, but it is statistically better.) Anyway that is not the purpose behind this topic but it does factor in.
At this moment in time I am disfellowshipped and have been for some months. The reasons for that are of a personal nature and not ones that I necessarily object to, however, it has resulted in my being less afraid to question my beliefs and question the Watchtower Society, and even the Bible itself as in unimpeachable moral code, or that was certainly inspired by an all-powerful creator. (I don't claim that I know it wasn't, simply that I can't be sure.) Since being disfellowshipped I was also less dissuaded from avoiding "apostate" sites such as this one, JW Facts, and JW Survey. While I have reservations that the Society itself is evil and money-hungry, (the reason for this being that they do urge their followers to focus on the preaching work instead of wealth, and have yet to see a rationalization for this from their detractors), I do think it is possible that they are simply deluded.
The economy being what it is I still live at home with my parents and will probably continue to do so as long as I am in college. My parents and my only sibling who still lives at home with me are all still active members of the local congregation and I am still attending with them. Partly because I don't want to argue with them about it, and partly because I'm hoping that somehow by doing this I will eventually be able to rationalize the type of faith I know they want me to have. After having taken college classes in World History, and doing real research (not simply looking stuff up in the Watchtower Library) I have discovered how tentative much of their "evidence" is, and have begun to notice the many logical fallacies in their arguments.
That basically sums up how I have found myself in my current position. I feel as if I have to choose between ignoring my rational integrity (which I don't know how to do, even if I were so inclined, because it would always be nagging me in the back of my mind), being dishonest with my family and my closest friends for the rest of my life, or leaving behind everyone who I have ever truly known and loved. I have done what I fear may have been a mistake and brought up my doubts with my parents, they wasted no time in pushing a mountain of literature I have yet to read in it's entirety, partly because I have other things I want to do, and partly because when I do get started on one of the publications I try to take the time to research the claims it makes and oftentimes find that it's arguments are severely flawed in one way or another.
At the moment I think I would like to get reinstated and then move away and fade out after I graduate from college so that I will be treated better than if I simply walked away now and remained disfellowshipped. I would still be treated differently I know, but perhaps it wouldn't be quite so bad, though on the other hand if I fade then every time I do interact with my friends and family they would probably be trying to bring me back into the "truth." Has anyone else face a situation similar to this one?
(Sorry I know this is really long, especially for a first post, but thank you for reading it.)