Oz: The following things was the most eye-opening to me because they are 100% verifiable (as opposed to the things Ray writes - note i think ray is telling the truth):
* First and foremost their history. They are nothing special, just a couple of guys who started a religion in a different time that was miles away from what jehovahs witnesses are today. I read so much about Russell that i thought he was special, and there was something special about bible students, but there really wasnt. Try to read any of their old books (the finished mystery is a quick read and contain many goodies) and a history book on jw (i would recommend Apocalypse Delayed). Keep in mind they teach they are Gods Organization precisely because they was so RIGHT back then.
* The core teachings are there not because they are in the bible or true, but just because they are. Russell had a system for interpreting the bible where he looked at how profecies related to historical events such as large wars that kind of made sence, thats how he got dates like 607, 1799, 1914, 1874 etc. That system was dumped, but the dates maintained, and in that process it was all reinterpreted in an add-hoc manner. This mean that many things make no sence, such as 607, and half-lies are printed all the time they talk about history because they have changed their own view of their history. Again, read Apocalypse Delayed and their own books to verify this is true.
This still goes on in modern times. Blood is the second issue you should research. Its very easy to pick the current doctrine apart, but its far more interesting to see where it came from, its exactly the same shit all over again (again, this is verifiable because its in their own magazines).
* Its not about being right, its about getting people to think they are. Therefore they lie and shun. On several topics they have long ago given up on making sence or about finding true, and they are just printing half lies about things they dont even understand themselves. Evolution and noahs ark are two of those topics. You dont have to know a lot about evolution, just go through their own litterature where they say anything substantive and notice they miss-quote people and give a number of arguments that will mislead the reader and if they had ever picked up a book on the subject (like you expect them to do when they write about it), they would know they are wrong. Someone who was interested in 'the truth' should not have to do that.
* They dont give a crap about people, only the organization. When they write the faitfull and discrete slave or gods faitfull servant, they mean 'us'. When they write 'we' they mean 'you'. If you do that substitution its pretty damn clear they just want people to obay and write it over and over again. Also, there are tons of stories where its clear they do stuff to protect themselves and look good and dont care about the fallout. The pedofile problem is a well-documented example of this, shunning is a huge part of the problem.
* The interlectual atmosfeare they have created is bad in a major way. Cults are a universel phenomena and can be created even if the people who create them does not have it as their primary interest. JW became a cult under Rutherford, and this explain how they are able to be so cruel, and make intelligent, loving people do such cruel things at their command. I would recommend you to read anything about Stephen Hassan, or about other cults such as the mormons, to see this is at the root of the above mentioned problems.
* A question of reasonableness. By their own theory, about 99.8% of all people in the world are dead wrong on religion and will most likely die in armageddon. I tried to run some numbers, and an estimate of the lifetime expectency of a woman getting raped in USA is about 5%, if each rapist rape 10 women on average (pretty high in my oppinion), that would mean the chance of any given men will at some point become a rapist is 0.5%. This mean there is a far greater chance that your dad is a serial rapist, than your parents have the true religion, what a fortunate coinsidense!
When appologists try to get around the above mentioned problems, they are not taking that into account. The odds are so heavily stacked AGAINST them being right, that finding vague explanations at best keep the odds where it is to begin with - 99.8% chance you are wrong. Yet JWs happily think that a blind hope that the inexplained, illogical, crap in their teachings are explained by some future revelation they just havent figured out yet is sufficient to act like its the one and only truth and worth shunning your kids for. Sorry about the ranting. I have an assignment i need to finish by tomorrow and i was taking a break. to my girlfriend: If your reading this honey, i know i got better things to do, but i am really really boored out of my skull right now :-).
