Hi, ya'll. I left JW's voluntarlily in 1987, still believing but thinking something was wrong with me that caused Jehovah to reject me in spite of my best effforts. After that it was "let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die". Eventually, I didn't die, so I got into alcoholic recovery, and in the process learned a lot about the JW religion, and all those other religions as well. Guess what...
In 1996 I discovered my first JW alternative website. It took me six monthis of reading, arguing and reasoning before I finally realized that the JW religion was all a hoax. That realization was devastating to me, and it took quite a while for me to work through the rammifications to the eventual ultimate conclusion... so were the rest of the Christian religions... and carry it on... so were the non-Christian religions (buddhism, islam, etc), and so were the pagan religions (forgive me, goddess, but...) aw, darn it. they were all bullshit.
I spent a long, long time here on these ex-JW sites adjusting and trying to cope, drawing strength from numbers of those like me. Some coped a lot quicker than I did, and moved on to other lives, other beliefs. Others, like me, were deeply scarred and needed closure; we wanted to take the Watchtower down simply to give our sense of foolishness and betrayal a respectable end.
Eventually, I had to let even that go, for my own sanity. 12 years in the cult, 10 years acting out as a result, 6 years of therapy on exJW sites, and finally I reached a point where I could let it all go.
ExJW sites are almost as addictive as drugs. Don't let your therapy become an addiction.
So... who's still here that remembers me?
COMF