coldfish
JoinedI was raised a JW and up until I was 19 my father was an elder. When I was 19 my father stepped down as an elder and a week later him and mum stopped attending any meetings. It was over doctrinal issues that he left. I got married to a weak JW and not long after being married he stopped attending meetings etc due to poor health. Not that he had a strong faith anyway so he didn't do anything spiritual at all. So I was the only family member still a JW and I continued being one for 9 more years all on my own. I genuinely thought I was doing the right thing. My brother convinced me in Sept 2003 to stop going. We'd regualary talk how God sucked and wasn't as loving as is made out, and how we didn't want to be part of the paradise if it the world was full of JWs. So I left. I wasn't aware at the time of serious doctrinal issues such as going to heaven, the 144,000, the faithful and discreet slave etc. A year later around Aug 2004 I chanced upon JW info on the net and was shocked to the core. To learn about doctrinal issues, the UN involvement, child abuse etc. Before learning about all that I thought that the JW were still right, just that I didn't want to be part of them. Now I know they're not the true religion and so it peaked my interest in the Bible again, to read it from cover to cover to see what it actually says. I still believe the overall message of the bible but I don't take some of the stories too literally eg the flood. In November 2004 I became a Christian. I like to think of myself as a generic christian, non-denominational. I finally feel free and that I have the truth, well at least more of the truth than when I was a JW. I don't have answers for a lot of bible issues, but it's better to say 'I don't know' than make up wierd doctrines to explain everything. I have learnt so much from this site and it's great to know that I'm not alone as an ex-JW :)