slimboyfat said JWs are not an evil cult, just good bible loving people. Your words here and your actions don't really compute. You are fully aware what these good natured people would do if they really knew you didn't believe in their teachings and posted on an apostate message board. I'm sorry you still feel like you must go the meetings and in field service. You seem to be able to shrug off most of the conflicting feelings a lot of us are bombarded with, and I think that's probably hard for a lot of people here to understand. But you seem to have found a way to look at your situation with a sort of perspective that keeps you feeling like you are in control. Whatever you need to do, man. I understand.
Underbeliever -- my heart goes out to you in your situation. it's one thing to be wasting your own life, but you are also worried about your own kids, too. and you are in a tough spot on that one. just know that kids are a lot smarter than we think. encourage them to think critically and trust their instincts. even if you drag them to the meetings, they can pick up on how "into it" you are really well. I always knew my parents were both super believers and I could never cross them about any of it. If I had a parent who I thought might not snap if I questioned the faith, things might have turned out completely differently for me. However, you never know just how much of what they are hearing and learning is reaching their hearts, ie is turning them into a lifetime believer, so it's gonna be tricky.
for anyone stuck in who feels like they must put in field service time, I want to say 2 things.
1) everyone who tried to make them feel like crap for it needs to shut up. you don't know what type of "time" is being put in. are they showing up for the service meeting and taking off? are they walking around and not ringing doorbells? are they just reading a scripture from the bible and not leaving watchtowers? You don't know, so you really shouldn't judge.
2) if you are stuck in this situation where you are doing field service, this is a rare opportunity to undermine the efforts of others you are in service with. If you note the addresses of their return visits and bible studies, you can easily send these people an anonymous letter explaining the true nature of the JW religion. If you leave literature with someone, you can make sure there are several pages inside with a sticker explaining how this literature is cult propaganda and the person distributing it is doing so against their will.
I haven't done actual field service in so long and I've gotten around it by turning in fake hours and telling my family I went out with someone from another hall. Not a lot of time, but enough to get by. I haven't turned in time in months and nobody has talked to me about it at all.
