I'm finally getting to a point where I can read the Bible without having the WTS lean over my shoulder telling me how to read it. Here are some thoughts:
Although I no longer consider myself a Witness, and have not joined any other Christian religion, I occasionally read the Bible, particularly Jesus' words, for comfort. It was strange, because the first time I did it since fading completely, it didn't feel like some kind of religious experience. I took the Bible off the shelf in the same way as one might pick up an old book one has read many times and gets more out of every time he reads it; like Moby-Dick, or Letters to a Young Poet, although now it was like I had lost all previously acquired meaning. In fact, it was a great experience, it was like I was given the chance to experience something again for the first time.
I can't remove entirely the deep, primal tingling I get when I hear Jesus' words, nor do I want to. I don't understand it, and I may never understand it: the nature and needs of my own spirituality.
Simply put, I'm learning to take comfort where I can, regardless of which denomination attaches itself to which deity, and more and more as I grow older I seek the council and discipline that serves to purge bad things from my soul. Once you strip away all the trappings, all the chaff tossed on copiously by "disciples," I'm left with truly helpful thoughts for tough times:
“... Every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell of fire.
...Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you salute only your brethren, what more are you doing than others?
Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven. So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light; but if your eye is unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!"
