Hello, I'm a 'active' 17 yr. old JW, saw this site before when I was still searching for answers, I gotta say, it's not a good site to convert JWs, because most of the people on here seem to hate the "borg" (as you call it on here?) so much. I rather had to go on a scientific forum to get answers to my questions about JW (or rather the Bible in general) with a very open mind, and actually thinking to convert some of them if I was lucky. Rather, I saw that everything the society gave us was easily refutable, or on shaky grounds. Then I had a nice chat with an ex-JW, that just pinned the nail in the coffin. What I liked was that he was totally open minded, also, and didn't seem to hate the society. We both came to the same conclusions: The Bible is not inspired of God, but there probably is a creator / god / whatever you want to call it. Or an agnostic. I also, don't put down Evolution, I just see it as kind of rediculous, but I guess it's possible. It's not like it matters to know the truth, I guess we'll see when we die, right? xD We also both believe that the society is not intentionally trying to brainwash us, just like dictatorship in the beginning was never meant to be so brutal, it just happened. I think they believe they are truly doing God's work. It's evident if you read with an open mind.
I had a question, though. Is this site only have ex-JWs, or are JWs welcome to join, also, like that Topix section for JWs? Have you ever had debates with JWs and ex-JWs? If not, I don't see why not, it would only help bring people to see the true light, and if I had seen it when I was researching before, when I was like 14, I might not had wasted so much of my time studying.
Like I suppose many of you here who are 'active', I'm only so because of family. My parents aren't that strong, but I believe it would cause them too much hardache if they came to see the truth. Just like many of you felt after learning the truth, seeing that you wasted half or all of your life. Then, of course, there's always the chance that they become closed minded and fail to see the truth, then I would get the short end of the stick.
Right now, I'm just planning on going through the motions, doing as little as possible, then when I'm 18 - 19, move out and say I'm going to where the need is greater. :) Go there, spend like a month, enough for my publisher card to be transferred over, get the phone # to call in on the phone for meetings, then go to college. Then I would listen in while playing a game or something and call my parents up tell them what I 'learned' and make them think I'm still in. :) Good idea?
I also have an idea for a website, if there isn't already one:
Make a kind of JW archive website, where people post recordings of their meetings, underlined watchtowers, comments, etc. to help those of us who are just going through the motions because of family, I think there is a lot of those on here?
Unless of course there already is a site like this. Is there? I think it'd be fairly popular, especially with all the ones from JW.net, and we could keep it "apostate" free, so even real JWs come. Make a small amount of cash on ads? What do you think?
I don't want to waste my time having to come up with a comment, and underline my publications just so that I'd look good to my family, when there is a perfectly good comment made by an Elder, and a studied Watchtower in a congregation half way across the world. :P
I might be able to do this, if you guys think it's a good idea / there isn't one already. What do you think would be a good domain name? I have simple website design skills, although I wouldn't be able to contribute, since you know, 17 and still living at home, lol. I could probably tape the assemblies / conventions, since they are broadcast on a FM / AM frequency, which my recorder can pick up and record from.
- Garbonzo