A few years back I was in a meeting between fades and it was the CO visit. He said something I thought was crazy and a lot of JWs buy into this mentality. I don't remember the talk but he asked this question.
What if this isn't the truth? He answered by saying that basically you should still be happy to have been a jw for them giving helping you to live a morally clean life.And that it would be something to be proud of. So why would it matter if it's not really The Truth?
I pondered that idea for years and now I have my own thoughts on that logic.
My answer is Time , Time is the only possession that cant be bought or sold . Each person has a limited amount. You never know when it's gone.
I've been trying to put a number on it and it's like this. I was raised in an uberdub family. We made every meeting and every Saturday was service. Studied before all meetings and these are the numbers I arrived at.
13 hours per week
13x52=676 hours per year
676÷24=28.16 days per year
28.16x20years=563.33333 days of my life were wasted by the age of 20 that is almost 2 years gone . It's actually a lot more when you consider I pioneered ,the conventions,preparing for talks,travel time.
If you are a JW that has trouble finding the time to work and have a life and always feels overwhelmed. It's because you are. Quite simply you don't have the time. While the rest of mankind ages 10 years you age 11 .
So there is 1 reason it IS harmful to not be the truth!