Good luck, cindykp. From personal experience, you will need help keeping the WT steamroller at bay. May I suggest a weekly dose of Blondie-study, to help sharpen your critical thinking?
http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/86754/1.ashx
Here's Blondie's guide on how to do your own WT Review.
Buzzwords/phrases
Examples:
True Christians or God?s (Jehovah?s) people (servants) = only JWs
Perhaps, likely, may, might, apparently, etc. = the Bible does not say and the WTS is speculating
http://www.caicusa.org/jws/control/newspeak.htm http://www.jwfiles.com/jw-words.htmSnippets and/or partially quote scriptures or cited not quoted
Used as proof with little or no development; note context; note that they string together scriptures without logical connecting development.
Outside quoted sources
Complete?ellipses used? What is in that ellipses, what did they leave out? Do they name author, background as credible source, publication named with date printed and page number?
Is the scripture focus from the OT or the NT? Note that while an NT scripture may be used, OT examples are developed? Is this article for Christians or Israelites?
Is Jesus mentioned? How often and what role does he play in the article? After all, this is supposed to be for Christians.
Prophecy/Doctrine Do you know the past history of this teaching among JWs? This is important if you were a fairly new member.
- 1874 was taught as the year of Jesus? presence until 1943 (not 1914). Is this presented honestly in the article?
- Did you know that the date was once 606 BCE not 607 BCE?
- Did you know that 1878 was once taught as the last year people were called to heaven as the anointed?
- Did you know that until 1970 the WTS taught that the great tribulation started in 1914 took a hiatus in 1918 to start up again at a future time?
- What about flip-flop doctrines such as who the superior authorities are, whether a woman must scream if being raped, whether people who died at Sodom and Gomorrah would be resurrected, could a JW accept an organ transplant?.
- What happened to the generation alive in 1914 that would see Armageddon come?
- When did the WTS change their teaching that a creative day was 7,000 years long to "many thousand years," a teaching that 1975 was founded on?