Below is a review left on Barnes & Noble about Diane Wilson's book. See what you think. I am going to post a rebuttal, just to make sure that anyone clicking on the reviews for her book won't just read the first 2 negative reviews and stop. Seems to me that the long winded reviewer below didn't even read the book- just the synopsis. (italics mine to highlight things I found particularly entertaining)
A reviewer, a Bible Reader., January 5, 2004,
What is this?
I, too, am one of Jehovah's Witnesses. I would like to mention that even the title of this book is inaccurate. Why is the word 'escape' used? If someone no longer wants to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses, all he has to do is quit going, just like any other religion. The struggle is, not to escape, but to remain faithful by not letting peer pressure or worldly enticements to slowly take us away from serving God. Some may fall away, because of a love for the world, and there was no struggle to escape, only a drifting away. So using the word 'escape' is not correct, and is maybe just a way to make the book sound dramatic, sensational, and maybe to make a sale. Also, the book says that Jehovah's Witnesses are a secretive cult. Nothing could be farther from the truth! All of our church meetings are open to the public, we work among people, we go to school with other kids, we are even standing at your doorstep... Nothing secret here! And cults tend to follow a man, which we do not. Our leader is Jesus Christ, and his father, Jehovah. As for the charge of mind control, I wish that were true, since that would make it much easier to do what is right in a world that constantly wants us to do wrong. And as for the freedom that we enjoy... Some religions do give extra laws regarding dress, such as not allowing women to wear pants, make-up, etc. But Jehovah's Witnesses do no do that. We have only the laws that are expressed in the Bible. As such we have much freedom. Many decisions we make have to be made according to our personal conscience, and the Watchtower Society will not get involved and will not tell us what to do, even if we ask them to. They always tell us to make our own decision based upon what the Bible says. And I can tell you from 30 years of experience that Jehovah's Witnesses are the happiest people on earth today. So I was asking myself, why would someone write such a book? But then I have to remind myself that even the Lord Jesus Christ had someone to betray him. (Judas Iscariot) I feel that the book does not give an accurate picture of Jehovah's Witnesses, and that it is entirely misleading. So, please, do not compare Jehovah's Witnesses to this book. Compare them to the Bible itself.