I think that even JW-lites have a grasp of the basic teaching that all humans have inherited sin from Adam and Eve, and hence all humans die. Jesus was a perfect human, and through his death......(from the WT website):
"His sacrificed perfect human life became the ransom price, able to redeem mankind from sin and death. Jesus Christ said: "No one has love greater than this, that someone should surrender his soul in behalf of his friends." (John 15:13) On the third day after his death, Jesus was resurrected to spirit life, and some weeks later he ascended to heaven to present the ransom price to Jehovah God. (1 Corinthians 15:3, 4; Hebrews 9:11-14) By doing so, Jesus was able to apply the merit of his ransom sacrifice to those who follow him."
I have been pondering the idea of the Ransom recently and I honestly couldn't remember to whom the ransom was supposed to have been paid. Looking at this article, the JWs teach that it is God himself who was demanding the Ransom. So was it God keeping humanity enslaved to sin and death?
How did you view the Ransom teaching as a JW, and do mainstream Christian churches also teach that the Ransom was paid to God? Why?