I don't mind that the WTBTS changes things as they come to understand them differently or when time proves their old understandings to be wrong. The thing that bothers me is knowing there are other things that I was taught to believe that will be changed at some later date. If back in the 30's a Witness was stumbled over the building of a mansion for the resurected men of old or if in the 60's someone rejected the date of 1975 or worse went ahead and used blood fragments during a surgery, they would have been DF'd or viewed as an apostate for not going along with or doing something that is now ok. They say they are being led by Jehovah but it seems to me that he would have led them to the correct understanding the first time...many many years ago. Some of these errors or changes can mean life or death to real people. My Father (not a witness but studied for years in the 60's) died because he signed a no blood directive based on what he had learned back then. It was a routine operation and he signed the directive just in case what he learned was correct. He was assured that there wasn't a remote possibility that he would need blood. After the surgery his blood count began dropping drastically due to internal bleeding. He was too weak and his blood count was too low for them to go in to do repairs without giving him blood. It was too late to change the directive once he was in critical condition. My sister was sitting at the end of his bed as he lay unconcious when suddenly he bolted up and scrambled across the bed and seized her pleading for help. He died in her arms seconds later and she's been a wreck ever since. My siblings and I grew up believing that our sweet gentle father was going to be destroyed at Armegeddon because he came to an accurate knowledge of the truth but never got babtized. We dreaded the tribulation and believed it could break out any day as the year 1975 approached (my high school graduation year) All four of us kids would plead with him to "come into the truth" We had nightmares about the tribulation and even worried that he would be one of those they said would turn on us during the at the end. My sister used to burst out crying at the hall whenever this subject came up. Talk about emotional abuse !
I am new to this discussion group so I haven't even scratched the surface of what my family and my wifes family have been through over the years as Witnesses and the event that led to us calling it quits for good. The crazy thing is that after all we've been through I can't shake that "what if they're right" feeling. On one level I realize that I have been programmed since childhood but on another level I worry that i'm doing the wrong thing by leaving. I still have this foreboding sense that the end is near and we will be like those scratching at the door ark when the rains came. At this point I don't want anything to do with God or religion. I'm not sure what I believe anymore and have realized that It's OK not to have an answer for everything as I was raised to believe I shoud. I am not responsible for the human condition and if God exists he must know how it is for those who wind up in a "no man's land" because they walked away from some organization that claims to be his exclusive people.