I left off on my first posts on this topic with this sentence: One of the big discoveries and the genesis of my semi-apostate ways came one day when I decided to look up some of the books cited in the “ Reasoning From the Scriptures” book (almost 99% of the works cited by the society were available at the University’s library). The research that was meant to solidify my faith in the JW religion, actually made the first crack on the foundation of my faith.
Cont....
The first thing I noticed was that many of the quotes that the WT cited were taken out of context. In some instances, the source material actually contradicted the WT’s information. I can’t recall specific examples of the misquoted material, but I remember that they were related to the subjects dealing with the trinity, blood, life after death, 1 st century history, etc. In essence, I felt that the WT was being deceptive, therefore, my confidence in the WT began to weaken. However, like many of us did, I placed these things in the “I don’t want to think about it” folder, and moved on. When we were studying the WT interpretation of Daniel’s prophecy, coincidentally I was taking a course on Western Civilization history. I noticed that in one of the chronological tables on the secular book the date for the destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians differed from the date set forth by the WT. This prompt me to investigate this date in more detail, I was soon convinced that the date was 586-587 bce and not 607. Again, I placed this in the “don’t think about it too much” folder and moved on. At this point, it was clear to me that the WT was misleading the flock with erroneous information and misquotations. That’s when I first though of leaving, I was free to leave as I still had the chance nurture a non-JW social circle, I was single…at the end, my departure would have been almost unnoticed and a lot less painful. But like I once said to a poster DubR….I didn’t have the courage to leave when I had the chance. To this date, I still ask myself why did I stay. I know that I’ll get the answer soon.
I continued being a very active member of the congregation, which lead to my appointment as a MS a few months before completing my degree. I turned out to be a decent public speaker, which meant that I was going to other congregations to give talks very often. In my travels I made a lot of JW friends who shared a lot my of interest, I later discovered that there were about 7 or 8 of us (JWs) in the same university during the time that I was going, some of us even had some courses together. So my social JW circle was essentially mixed, some hardcore JW, some sincere dedicated JW and some in the middle, or what I used to call “modern JWs” o la nueva guardia (the new guard). By this time, my feelings towards the JW religion were very moderate, I felt that I could continue living the JW lifestyle for a while.
But a confrontation with an elder whom I admired, respected and worked side by side for many years set loose a chain of event that revealed to me the ugly side of the “truth”. This was the catalyst that ignited my dissolution, and that completely changed the way I viewed the “ones taking the lead” in this organization.