Welcome!!!
I can say that I have shared your experience. I remember when I first studied so much of it just made sense! It really was interesting.
Also, I couldn't say enough about how impressed I was with how serious everyone took their faith. It really did lend credibility that this was God's one true religion.
But then that last bit, "God's one true religion" got me to thinking about some things.
So I have some questions for you. These are the questions I began to have.
Isn't it amazing how many groups claim they are the "one true religion"!! There are the Mormons, the Way International, the Boston Church of Christ, the Holdemans, The House of Yahweh, The Nation of Yaweh.... The World Wide Church of God used to claim this, now they don't. I could go on and on. I mean, how do you know you have the right group? They all say they are the only ones interpreting the Bible the right way. I guess all those other people in those other groups are just stupid?
What if you change your mind about some of the things you learned were true? Would you decide that this isn't the "one true religion". How come everyone will stop talking to if you decide to disagree later, but they will talk to you when you don't agree with everything now?
If such facts did exist, would you want to know about them? Once you join, why do you have to be closed off to such facts? Is truth afraid of facts or information? I always thought that as long as there was a free exchange of information, the truth would eventually win out.
How is it that so many people can agree complex matters of theology, but you can't get three people to agree on where to eat lunch?
Isn't it funny how if you spend several hours a week with people who all think a certain way, that you start to become more accepting it? If all these folks think something is true, hey, it must be true!
Why do I feel uncomfortable answering a question like, "What group of one true Christians today are worshipping in truth, just like first century Christians?" with a given answer in the paragraph above? Is this what I believe, or am I just reading the answer I am expected to say?
If the guy on the torture stake next to Jesus didn't have to study and join the right group to have salvation, why do I?
How could a person read the bible, and decide that it is pointing to them as having the supreme honor of being the chosen servant of Almighty God, and not have their desire for that honor influence their decision to believe such a thing about themselves?
Is it possible to leave the JW as a matter of Christian conscience? Are all who leave motivated by a desire to sin? Are all how leave unhappy?
If my conscience tells me something different from the JW, do I listen to my conscience or theirs? If I am supposed to listen to their conscience, why did God give me one?
Once I started asking these questions, I started to come up with some better explanations for why things seemed to "make so much sense", and why all of these folks "seemed so dedicated". I didn't like what my conclusions seemed to indicate.
Remember, "you were bought at a price, do not become slaves of men".
