The catalyst for me waking up and ultimately investigating what I'd been taught to believe my whole life was the Governing Body's collective head coming above the parapet.
This was in the letter where they announced the termination of home book study groups. The letter was headed "The Governing Body of Jehovah's Witnesses", and for first time in my 36 years as a JW I was forced to question who these guys actually were.
I cannot be alone in this; when they hid behind the esoteric "faithful and discreet slave" concept, you didn't associate this idea with 7 or 8 old guys in New York.
But since 2008 they've been pushing themselves more and more into the spotlight, lapping up the "we love you"s and adulation from the faithful. However at the same time, you can't help but think that doing so is exposing the men behind the curtain to those who might be already questioning their whole Jehovah's Witness experience.