Back story, I left the JWs 13 years ago, just walked away, moved to another state, and married a guy I had gone to high school with 28 years previously. At first I was just happy to be away from the dubs and the thought of any organized religion just made me sick, and as most of you know, the dubs do a good job of tearing down other religions, so my thinking was still influenced by the WTBTS in some areas. I considered myself agnostic for a long time.
I occasionally visited my husband's parents church when we were visiting. My husband attended most of his life, but stopped attending due to an issue with a minister. It was strange at first, but everyone was very nice, it was a small close congregation. The music was great, really well done, the sermons were short and meaningful, I was impressed. I realized I looked forward to attending. I thought about going more, but I didn't feel I could say I believed people were going to go to hell and be tortured forever. I asked my Mother in law what the doctrine was. She said there was no doctrine about anything. Wait, what? I had a hard time getting my head around that, it's so different from the dubbies. Can you imagine an elder saying, "Oh, that's OK, you can believe whatever you want we will still love you"? The dubs will shun you if you don't believe everything some guys in Brooklyn teach, but the UCC will welcome you even if you don't believe in God. Being gay is fine too. My in laws minister is a lesbian. It's the United Church of Christ, congregational (UCC)
I finally decided this was probably the only kind of church I could belong to. I believe in evolution, I believe in science, but I guess I still identify myself as a Christian, and I realized I missed being part of a faith based community. So this past Sunday my husband and I attended the local congregation. It was very nice. The music was also very good (four piece band, choir, hand bells) It was so different that the JW meetings, in my view that is a good thing. The only similarity is the congregations are small, and the building is not fancy. We were warmly welcomed, afterwords they had coffee and food. They are involved in the community. The week before they took peanut butter and jelly sandwitches to the local day laborers. Their motto is wherever you are from or where ever you are on your life's path, you are welcome here. I felt spiritually refreshed for the first time in years.
I think this is something I will continue.