I've been here for about 2 and a half months so I don't know if I qualify as a newbie. Here is how I found JWD: One day during a dry spell at work, I typed CULTS into a search engine. Guess who was near the top of the list? You got it.
After nearly swooning and going into the restroom to recover, I returned to my desk and began to read. I followed a link to Freeminds and thence to here. This happened during the early part of the year 2000. I don't know what made me start to search; Y2K fever I suppose. Whatever it was, the rest is history as the saying goes.
The #1 thing that got to me was the WTS history of racism. I'd always wondered why the "anointed" that I knew of were Caucasian. It was one of those niggling things that was always there, but I pushed it aside. Now I understood why - from Russell's paternalistic assurance that Blacks were to turn white during the Time of Restitution to Rutherford's bombastic proclamation that Coloreds were/are a race of servants - the scanned copies of their own literature showed to whom the message was originally intended.
So to all others who are beginning to search, I say to you, keep digging. Do not allow the rumblings from the Tower to stop you. Why do you think they're preaching so vehemently against the Internet? If they had nothing to hide they wouldn't be so paranoid, right? Whether you decide to remain in or take your leave, at least you will be fully informed. Remember, information restriction is one of the tell-tale signs that something is just not adding up.
Snowbird