A true Christian

[Zazzy]

the JWs insist that non-JWs are to be cut off completely even by immediate family

This is disgraceful. No wonder your friend is having such a hard time. Most JWs don't really abide by this, do they? I mean- parents stop talking to their children? Not meeting their grandchildren if they're born outside of the faith? What does the church do to you if you refuse to comply and keep contact with an apostate?

Thank you for telling me this story, Tonus. It must take great strength of character to be able to do what you have done. Many kudos.

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To me to serve for much of my teenage life away as a christian only to find out it was wasted.

Do you really feel it was wasted? Are you really all that different now? I've wasted a lot of my time doing dumb things I regret, but a lot of those things made who I am, and I like who I am, so I guess I don't regret them after all. Would you change that growing up experience to one like mine (atheist parents, no religious issues) if you could?

It felt at first like I was abandoned, but then it settled into realization that there was no one watching over me at all.

This is interesting. You were abandoning your faith, and were feeling like you had been abandoned. Were you feeling abandoned by your god? By the people who taught you all the nonsense?

This is really interesting to me- I hope I'm not boring the socks off everyone else with these continuing questions.