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I honestly have to disagree with you on this point. LOL I've read through a lot of your blog, and on a side note, I have to say that it MIGHT have been a little easier for you to walk away if your family was drifting away and you had friends outside the congregation. We were ABSOLUTELY forbidden to have worldly friends and our WHOLE family was in "the truth", so my brother and I were a lot more susceptible to the cultish control than might have been the case for you. That having been said, more on topic, GOOD LORD I cannot even tell you how much I hated the thought of the new system. All my life (I just turned thirty and have only been out of the organization for about six years) I was TERRIFIED of the thought of Armageddon - not because of the great tribulation (even though that did scare me) but because first; there were people that liked and cared about even if I wasn't allowed to have friends in the world and it really made me sad to think about them dying - and not being able to express my sadness over their death because that would be traitorous to god somehow. Beyond that, I liked what we humans have made. Knowing that all art; painting, literature, sculpture, architecture, music, film, video games, any sort of artistic product, EXCEPT what the Witnesses made would be destroyed filled me with dread. No matter how beautiful and paradisaic the new system might be, it could never make up for the loss of all that humanity's created over the course of its existence. Plus, I'm not a nature boy - I like nature, I love natural beauty, but I'll admit - I like it from a distance. A picture of a tropical beach; a panorama of a lush jungle. I don't want to actually BE in the dirt and bugs and crawly things. Not my cup of tea. Having to farm; weave my own clothes; build my own house; live without cities (remember - Nimrod built the first city and he built it to be in opposition to Jehoprah; ergo, we'll have no cities in the new system) all of that was TORTURE to me. Having to spend ALL OF ETERNITY living in some sort of G-rated commune farming with no intellectual stimulation whatsoever? TORTURE!!!! I don't know about you, but growing up, most of the people I knew (older than me) seemed to be adamant in their belief that there'd be no (or hardly any) advanced technology in the new system. I can't even remember how many times I had to listen to people saying something along the lines of "and there won't be any cars or planes or trains; and it'll be fine! cuz we'll live forevar!11! if you have to take ten years to visit a friend or relative on the other side of the planet cuz you had to walk there, it's ok - cuz you'll live forevar!!!". TORTURE!!! No technology? Really? I have live for all eternity with nothing to read but the watchtower, nothing to listen to but kingdom melodies, living in my own personal little house on the paradise? HELLLLLL NO!!! I used to actually sometimes think I'd rather die in Armageddon than live in THAT eternity. Not that living forever (or at least a very much longer amount of time than I'm going to) isn't appealing; but living in THEIR version of "paradise" forever? No thank you.