Hello,
I found this site randomly the other day on an unrelated search, and its nice to find a place where people can discuss a relgion that in house cannot be discussed without either being quoted mantras or a very skewed view of the world.
Ok about me.
Im a 24 year old Taiwanese-American, and I have been raised as a JW from the age of about three to the age of 17, when i unoffically left. I started to have doubts around age 12, but did what i was supposed to to keep mommy and daddy happy. My parents are JWs, as well as my older 1/2 sister, and my younger sister. Ever since then, ive been trying to function in the outside world, but it has been tough. Ive finally been able to overcome many of the instilled fears and morality codes that ive been raised with, but building one's own moral code from practially nothing is difficult to say the least. My experience with JWs have rendered me pretty agnositic, and i am still having trouble building lasting relationships with everyone. I currently reside in Mainland China, with one of the major reasons i decided to move here was that there would be no JW harassment. Jws have left me cynical and maladjusted to the real world.
Other then that, im pretty much an ass to people who diserve it, spontanious, and very passion driven. I also have problems with authority, which i think stems from the BELIEVE OR DIE stand that most of the people in JWs i have known took, esp when i had serious questions they couldnt answer. My belief struture that i am working with is simply improving one's self. Be all that you can be and all that stuff.
So far what ive read on this sight has been pretty intersting. I was hoping to find a way to talk to my parents and "save" them, but i beleive now that Dogma said it best where (paraphrased) Ideas are great, Beleifs are terrible. Ideas can be discussed, and changed, but Beleifs, well people kill each other over them.