We've had many JH and Minimus threads that start with questions. We've had loads of "why do you keep doing this?" and "get a life!" style threads from JWs, JW apologists, and ex-JWs who have successfully moved on.
I want to take some time and thank you all for being here and keeping JWD going strong. I have discovered that my posts as OldSoul and AuldSoul have helped people make up their minds to finally leave the religion, quite a few more people than I knew about.
We have entered a new era of information access. Never before in history have adults gone online before buying a car, a camera, or even a movie ticket. Never before have children gone online to check out the songs on a CD they are thinking of buying, to drop a line to a friend, to take a look at the latest fashions hitting their favorite store next season, or even to get their homework from their teacher.
It is important to keep posting because when a JW goes looking (and a lot of the young JWs are especially prone to go looking) they may only have one or two things that make them wonder about the Truth™ (Copyright 1879, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.) as given by the Faithful and Discreet Slave™ (All Rights Reserved, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc.). When they come to a forum like this as lurkers they begin to get more reasons to wonder.
When I first came to this forum I only knew one thing that wasn't right about the religion. Now I am well-versed in literally dozens. A few of these I came upon by myself, but the vast majority are YOUR fault. Even if I came up with my own version of the best way of putting things, you all have put me onto more reasons than any other source for rejecting the religion I grew up in.
It is comforting to find a place where we can freely share our tiny little perspective and read the tiny little perspectives of others. All these perspectives combine into a very large composite picture of what the religion is and what it isn't. An undeniable picture. JWD is responsible for making me doubt-free regarding whether or not the religion I left might have been the Truth™, after all.
But, if the WTS still exists ten years from now, when a 30-year-old mother discovers that her child is studying to become a JW she will come to this site and ask for help. We will assure her that she can get through this, we will encourage her to be non-confrontational and very curious, we will help her find the ways to word her questions so that she spares her daughter and herself from the horror of the perverse JW influence on family life.
If, that is, if we are here. If we keep doing this. In my opinion, posting here and reading here is a very important gift to the world.
For those who want us all to just find something else to do, the import may not be apparent to them. For someone like myself, who needed a long time to come to terms with what had happened to me and ample reason to give up my family over a religion, the import of this place is clear and difficult to put into words.
I really believe that I would be dead right now, if not for this forum. I do not believe I am alone. Just one year ago I could not have imagined how quickly my life has changed for the better. Now, I live life, and I understand how to squeeze the nectar from it.
Thank you all. Whether or not you believe it is important, you are here, and it is important.
—AuldSoul