I could spend many of your minutes describing how helpful this forum has been for me, suffice it to say that it's the way things should be...offer an idea and everybody else have opportunity to put it on the table too, pro or con. My opinion is that JW's haven't realized (or have been denied) the benefits of such an appropriate arrangement that also provides the best method for discovery and growth.
My offering today is prompted by what I've found to be a recurring theme here...one that never fails to bother me. As many witnesses "get out", too often (for me) they along with now rejecting the WTS, reject many of the good things the WTS tried, however horribly, to represent. Namely christian behavior, religion as a whole, and even God himself. The WTS's all too common tactic is guilty by association, and as much merit as it has I am unaccepting of that platitude in this case. Just because the WT misrepresented so many things, it doesn't make those things then unacceptable.
My belief is this, if anyone studies the Bible and correctly applies what is taught, they are a better person...not only within themselves making life alot easier, but also to any others that they encounter. None of us, NONE know it all. Truly intelligent people will all likely tell you the same thing, the more you learn...the more you learn there is to learn. Whether physically, mentally, or spriritually, it never ends. So given that we're all under the same limitation, knowing that belief has nothing to do with truth and that the worst advice can be made to sound just as plausible as the best advice, go peacefully on. There will ALWAYS be greater and lesser than yourself.
So back to my point, I would ask all of those who have made the good things bad only because they had ANYTHING to do with the WT to reconsider. I hear objection to organized religion, fine, find yourself an independent Bible based place to fellowship and study. No doubt some of the good you've learned from the WT world is to verify what you are told...if they are going beyond what is written and making judgements, then they aren't the ones for you, but keep going. Start by eliminating the sectarian (we're saved and you're not) "religions" and various other self-righteous denominations and find those that have no headquarters and no centralized leadership other than the Bible.
I understand the pseudo-peace that comes from having figured it out, but real satisfaction comes from being unafraid to consistently put your views to the test of scrutiny. If you have the truth of the matter it can become the greatest preventative of reaching deeper understanding, a barrier called belief that allows us to only seek what we have already found.
Humility is happiness, not a disguise. Peace is a reward, not a vague description. Love is a gift and there is no limit. Knowledge is acquired easy enough but it's just information, apply knowledge correctly and it's called wisdom. Please don't disqualify the best things in life just because the WT taught you the wrong way to see them. The Bible describes a mature christian as one who, through consistent use, has developed the ability to determine right from wrong.
Gig, from the "just another friend of yours" class