Hello Everyone,
To the MOD, if this is posted in the wrong place please feel free to move it to wherever is appropriate.
So here is another lurker turned community member. I might write up a life story at some point, but for the sake of time here are the ABC's of me.
Raised a JW. Family all JW's. Friends for the most part are all JW's. My closest friend is a former JW and we have always been like family. The wife comes from a family or really good people, with a little bit of "status" you may say. Generally kind heartwarming, and loyal people. Save for an issue I dealt with a year ago, I haven't had many run ins with elders. Generally my experiences with JW's unlike many of you, has been good. Not alot of judgemental people in my life, and I always have had the unique ability to ignore people at a whim. That has helped quite a bit.
I run a decent size buisness. I have a young baby and another on the way. I have been inactive officially for 6 months, and basically it all started with me questioning the power structure of the religion. That led me to questions about blood (which I firmly believe is a conscience matter at best), our history, the misuse of disfellowshipping to keep people in line, and a host of other things. I try to divorce myself from the socail issues within the group, because to behonest, they mean alot to the person going through them, but not much in the way of proof of an issue canbe extrapolated from those experiences. Its the same reasoning a Catholic who was treated like a jerk from their church could reason that JW's were so incredibly different. People are people, and I expect no more or less from anyone.
My wife is essentially in agreement with me on many things, but wants there to be a moral structure for our children, and just to teach them to think for themselves on the side. I think she will see that isn't possible. But with her entire world tied up in it, I don't see her leaving. She is a good person, and I believe is loyal to me beyond the elders in the local hall. So I am truely fortunate there.
Anyways, that is the short version. I hope to be able to contribute. I don't try to convince others to feel the way i do, but I do like to get someone thinking about things they may not have already considered.
Later gators
-PA