"Rather, we need to show that we are happier, healthier, and better all round than we were as Witnesses.
Otherwise, they may decide being a witness is better than those angry and bitter apostates. And we don't want that, do we?"
Well this is sort of either/or thinking isn't it?
Getting out of a cult is no guarantee that one will be 'happier, healthier, better all round.' Whether one leaves or stays in the cult, being happy and healthy are individual things. As for 'better', that is a pretty subjective term. Better than what? Better compared to what? Whose notion of 'better', or 'healthier' will you offer as the gold standard?
This notion that we are somehow responsible to show JWs a better way to replace their evil one needs to be laid to rest. If they don't have enough moral fiber to leave the cult when confronted with the masses of evidence, it's NOT my job to babysit and coddle them until they feel strong enough to find some ethics and quit subsidizing that killer organization.
Anyone who decides 'being a Witness is better' deserves the life they choose for themselves. This isn't a club with secret handshakes and a rulebook. There is no guarantee of a happy healthy good life, in or out of the cult. This microcosm is IMO a good place for Jdubs to get a taste of the diversity that they'll find in the real world. Not everyone here is a newly-minted saint or born-again kinder gentler soul. Here, as in real life, 'caveat emptor'.
Anyone who wants to kill himself as a result of what he has read on a message board needs to be hospitalized PRONTO. WE ARE NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR THE MENTAL/EMOTIONAL HEALTH OF LURKING JDUBS. Laying that responsibility on anyone is just plain wrong. No matter WHAT they have said...