Welcome to the forum, Amanda.
I'd like to clarify a point. You said that:
And you just go on believing it, no questions asked. That sounds like a sad world to me. A world where you don't question what is around you, what is thought to be true and good, where you don't try to seek truth for yourself, is a world that I do not wish to be a part of.
While it is accurate to say that those in authority have a very low tolerance of people who think too much or question too much, you seem to be under the impression that JWs are all no-questions-asked followers.
There are quite a number of JWs who DO ask questions. They only choose to limit themselves to close friends and family. Or they entertain such doubts silently. There are thinkers among JWs.
Read some of the posts on JWD and we shall impress you with how brilliant we can be!! lol. Most of us here may now be EX-JWs but it goes to show that JWs are not merely composed of silly simple-minded people.
I think referring to JWs as a cult is misleading. Why?
It gives outsiders the misconception that JWs are helpless simple-minded victims of their own brain-washing. That is not entirely true. We on JWD found our way out of that religion, did we not? So obviously we're not that stupid after all. The label "cult" is also misleading in the sense that some outsiders tend to assume that JWs, being a cult instead of a fringe Christian denomination, know NOTHING about the Bible. That they only do these weird things because they chant their own silly mantras or some nonsense. That is a dangerous under-estimation of the Dubs.
Some of their doctrines may be unique, but their worldview is not that far off from conservative Christian groups. Also, a certain amount of scholarship is required to debunk some of their doctrines. And that may come as a surprise to those who've never debated agst JWs before.
INQ