Things I didn't know or understand very well before I was baptized (1993):
Only the "annointed" partake at the Memorial.
If I ever decide to leave, I will be shunned and abusively gossipped about.
The "faithful slave" absolute authority/tyranny/big brother doctrine.
The string of unfulfilled Armageddon dates. I was under the impression, based on the study that was conducted with me, that the WT had held all along that 1914 was only the beginning of Christ's invisible presence, and that Armageddon would come at the end of the 70-80 year generation following that date. I had no idea about 1879, 1925, the months following WWII, 1975, etc. Then, they "refined their understanding" of generations. What a crock. And I gulped it down without a second though at the time.
That I could be disfellowshipped for caressing a woman's breast. Or smoking a cigarette.
Judicial committees.
That many children and adults have died over the blood issue.
Many, many other things, that, if I had known them at the time, I probably never would have been baptized. I became a dub for three main reasons:
I was lonely, and the dubs were very friendly and accepting of me.
I was fearful of world conditions, and equally fearful of meeting an untimely death. The "you may never have to die" schtick is supremely seductive.
The Witnesses didn't teach hell. I thought that made them the greatest religion I ever heard of. Little did I know that, even though the WT doesn't teach hellfire, it is still very much a fear based religion.
Now that I've come to know the truth about the WT, truth I wish I had known back in 1992-1993, I've disassociated. So now I'm an apostate to them. But, how many people initially show interest in the Witnesses, only to hear another side of it from someone else, and promptly discontinue their study? The only difference with me is I took it all in and got baptized long before I ever heard any contrary view. I didn't even know that JW's were at all controversial when I became one. I was so naive.
