Resi, thanks for this post. It's a fact that people get, as Slimboyfat said, "sucked into" the jdubs when they are at a low point in life, or feel they have a hole to fill. Your story shows this to be true, yet you had the resilience to back away when you realized they were not truly a loving group of people.
It's sad that you are disconnected from those you befriended. Truly it's their loss as you seem to be a really compassionate, well-rounded person. Unfortunately, the same conditional thinking that led to you being turned down for baptism is what led to you being cast aside as a friend. Those young women are locked inside a cage not of their own making.