It's unavoidable... When a JW finds out you no longer believe it's "The Truth," they're eager to jump on flaws in your thinking. They (and formerly, we) want to believe that, when someone leaves, there must have been something that "soured you" to the organization. Some personal thing that resulted in bitterness and therefore your departure.
It's good to be able to say that you didn't leave because of any big scandal or personal affront, isn't it? To be able to say you simply looked at all the evidence and concluded that the Society wasn't what it says it is--due to a rational, objective investigation of the facts--and not because of anything personal. But it's also true that many of our awakenings came (you betcha) right after exactly such a thing. However, for many of us here (me included,) it wasn't any sort of resulting bitterness that sent me packing. It's just that it gave me a good shaking; one that made me realize something wasn't right here. And while previously I allowed the WTS to scare me out of looking at information that challenged them, the only thing my personal experience did was give me permission to look at ALL of the information.
Someone here at JWD once posted the lyrics from a Leonard Cohen song. Here's a portion...
Ring the bells that still can ring
Forget your perfect offering
There is a crack, a crack in everything
That's how the light gets in.
That's how the light gets in.
That's how the light gets in.
Yes, it's true that inconsistencies associated with the Society's postions on "confession" are what first made me realize something was wrong. It's also true that I didn't really allow my concerns about this to be voiced until I was actually in a Judicial Committee hearing--and that my expression of this concern about confession to the elders was what (I was told) led them to believe I wasn't repentant. But it does no good to debate "confession" with me now--as if in so doing a believing JW will be able to help me see the error of my ways. Presently, the topic of confession means diddly to me. It's just that it was the "crack" that 'let the light in.' It was enough to convince me I should more thoroughly investigate the religion that I'd always accepted--that four generations of my family had devoted their lives to.
And then...that was it. The evidence that the WTS is not "God's sole channel of communication" is overwhelming. There is simply no good reason to believe such a thing. And even if someone chose to believe this--which is, of course, their right--there CERTAINLY is no substantively fair reason to chop someone off from all of their family and social relationships, demonizing them as evil--if they simply disagree.
For any active or questioning JWs out there reading this, it really all does come down to this: No one should threaten you from considering ALL of the information pertaining to an important subject. It is fundamentally and intellectually dishonest to do so. It betrays a lack of confidence in one's own beliefs. And while it may seem that people leave for reasons silly to you, remember that some of those reasons are only the "crack" that let some light in--and led to a sky-high mountain of rock-solid evidence that cannot be ignored.