Lol. Well let's just put it this way...I was going door to door by myself in the late 50's, pioneering in the 60's, doing elder stuff in the 70's and out on my ear in 1980. If you came along after any of these era's you definitely are younger! ;)
Did not mean to be talking behind your back (how do you do that on a public forum?), but enjoyed seeing you handel all the flack, without losing your cool. I can truly say, you have set an example few jw's visiting here have emulated.
Hope you stick around and let us hear your take on things. Most of us have been out of the org for many years, like myself.
A good sense of humor will carry you along way here.
I suppose there are many who wish they would have had second thoughts about donating anything to the society. I think about those family member's in or out of the 'cult' who have lost rightful inheritances, due to similar stories like yours. I wonder how many are suffering financialy today because some poor sod back in the 70's was just positive the end was near (1975) so decided to will entire estates over to the Tower, leaving children zilch. Not to mention all the hundreds and thousands of loyal jw's who avoided paying life insurance premiums, so their children could not even afford to bury them. It happened in my own family.
Maybe their new motto is 'Trust in Jehovah, but hedge your bets, buy a little Prudential, everyone should own a little peace of the rock'...
Personally, I wouldn't trust Jehovah alone with my pets .. the meat eating, fat guzzling bastard would have 'em roasting over an open flame sooner than you could yell "abraham put the knife down" or "moses, what's for dinner?" or "eat my son jesus" but, from the perspective of a JW starting to see the light, the issue of the fictional but very real Watchtower Jehovah's ability to look into ones heart can be an important one.
I remmeber, after much guilt over my non meeting attendance, the relief of suddenly realising my heart was basically good so God's examining it would hold no fear for me. It all seems very silly to me now but as the taoist once said: the longest journey starts with a few short steps.
