neverendingjourney
JoinedI was raised a JW. I didn't want anything to do with the religion until mid-adolescence when I hit a rough patch. I gave the Witnesses the chance to prove to me they had the truth, and I fell for it. I got baptized and was a regular pioneer for roughly a year and a half. Over time, I began to realize that the image in my mind of what the organization was supposed to be like just didnt square up with reality. In order to placate my growing doubts, I kept telling myself that the organization was perfect, but that Jehovah chose to use imperfect men to take the lead. The mounting evidence that something was wrong with the religion was just too much and my zeal for the religion began to slip. I stopped pioneering and got into trouble with the elders. From that point forward it was a slow decline away from the zealous and naive JW that I once was. In my early 20s I finally had a moment of clarity. I realized that the religion itself was flawed and not just some of the people in it. There was no going back. I slowly progressed towards complete inactivity. I've been completely inactive for over two years now. All of my immediate family is still in, so I have to really try to keep my fade in place. So far I've been able to do it. I don't know what the future holds in store. I suppose that at some point it's going to come to a head and I'll have to admit to my family that I don't want anything to do with the religion anymore, but I'll cross that bridge when I get there.