"We need the reassurance that we are not "bad" like the JWs want us to believe."
In time, you won't feel the need to be reassured that you're not ?bad?. In time, you will fully understand, on the emotional level as well as the intellectual, that no one is 'good' simply because they belong to a certain group. But this takes time. It took me a while but I know fully well that I am not ?bad? because I left the Watchtower Society. It was simply an evolutionary step in my personal development (not one I volunteered for however).
Don?t make the mistake that I did (sounds like you aren?t). For years I just put the whole Watchtower experience out of my mind and psyche, only to realize that at like ten years out, I had unresolved issues. Acknowledge and even embrace the possibility that maybe you feel insecure about being a ?bad? person because you?re no longer a Jehovah?s Witness. Then start weighing that feeling with reality, and in time you?ll know on every level that being ?good? isn?t contingent on belonging to a group. Life will teach you this lesson. Trust me on this one.
Let me tell you something. YOU make your way in this world. YOU pay your bills. YOU get up and go to work everyday. YOU pay your taxes. YOU raise your children. YOU provide the three basic needs for you and your family (food, shelter, and clothing). The Watchtower never put a CRUMB of food on your table. You think about THAT the next time you feel ?bad? because you?re no longer one of it?s followers. You don?t need the Watchtower. It needs you! It places subliminal messages in its literature that makes it followers believe they are bad people if they ever leave. It?s just a simple mind control technique, and it works pretty well.
Now, do I think JW?s are ?bad? for being in the Watchtower Society? Nah, but I DO think they?re pretty stupid.
Steve
