Having completed only the 8th grade in school because it was seriously interrupting my marijuana usage needed to drown the pain of growing up with ever changing Watchtower doctrines, rules, and predictions, I found that I needed unconventional areas of expertise to counterbalance my educational lack to get along life. Now, at age 49 ... having run numerous start-up multi-million doallar companies ... including my most recent that is only 24 months old, sometimes I reflect on what helped me where others more intelligent and more educated failed.
I learned early on that investigating areas of intensity in people/corporations/rhetoric etc. could many times yield big pay-offs financially or otherwise. In other words, I learned that people/the market/religion will tell you much of what you want to know NOT by listening to what they are saying, but by examining areas of intensity in the presentation of information. Intensity could mean the saturation of a point, repetition, or the employment of deception. Pleas of ignorance are also a favorite when protecting informational gems. I have learned that when you're getting hot, there will be an almost ritual use of flowering terms that don't add up, or displays of anxiety or defensiveness.
Life for me has been much like a game of clue. I learned at age 12 (1975) that adults could not be trusted. I marvel at my wife in that after listening to a few months of my belly-aching about the Watchtower and after reading just two Left Behind books, she could give her life to Christ.
I hammered out most of my non-beliefs on this very board -JWD! Much of my Christian beliefs however, came directly from the Watchtower by looking at their areas of "intensity". Examining the things that they seemed be hiding and the things that they spent a lot of effort defending, especially on things that didn't seem to have an obvious upside for them .... created areas of interest for further study for me.
For instance if the Watchtower leaders really wanted to grow their church, why deny the New Covenant and create a cumbersome two-class "other sheep" system where this would create a lot of backlash; especially when a "gentile" other sheep explanation makes so much more sense and is confirmed by Peter and Paul in NUMEROUS NT places?
In a recent thread, a poster pointed out the June 15, 2011 pg.15 Watchtower. It is a beautiful example of clear-as-mud WT verbosity. As usual after an entire study of flowery religious sounding rhetoric ... the last three paragraphs gets to the point and the WT contradicts itself numerous times while trying to get people to believe that you can have it both ways with God. Not a SINGLE New Testament scripture is proffered to support their heresy.
Enjoy your own game of CLUE. Reproduced with minor adjustments.