No Paradise on Earth For Me

I'm currently feeling woozy and ill, and since hard physical activity is currently out of the question, I may as well do a bit of writing.

I got thinking about the things I do now (or have done) which I could not have done as a Jehovah's Witness (JW). Any one of these things could have gotten me disfellowshipped (to those not in the know, that's roughly analogous to Catholic excommunication). Here are my sins, in no particular order.

• Reading literature critical of the JWs.
  
• Celebrating birthdays.
  
• Celebrating holidays.
  
• Singing a national anthem.
  
• Singing religious songs which are not JW songs.
  
• Smoking tobacco.
  
• Reading/writing/watching pornography
  
• Donating money to the Red Cross
  
• Entering non-JW places of worship
  
• Attending non-JW religious services
  
• Taking religious studies courses at university
  
• Taking courses and workshops on sexuality
  
• Going to a women's bath house
  
• Playing Dungeons and Dragons
  
• Playing Vampire: The Masquerade
  
• Playing Demon: The Fallen
  
• Watching movies about the occult
  
• Reading/writing occult stories
  
• Knowingly eating food which contains animal by-products
  
• My score on the Purity Test. ;)
  
• Talking to disfellowshipped JWs
  
• Believing evolution is a perfectly logical theory
  
• Considering the Bible a great collection of mythology
  
• Thinking Charles Taze Russell was a charlatan
  
• Knowing that many Bible stories have mythological antecedents
  
• Fucking swearing
  
• Independent thinking
  
• Not keeping God foremost in my mind while having sex
  

There are more, I'm sure, but these shall suffice for now.