@InterestedOne.. I'm a born-in, been baptised almost 40 years. I've always been interested in history and the JW history was no exception. I love to read and am probably one of the few that read the Proclaimers book from cover to cover and it threw up more questions than answers. So learning all the real history has been an eye opener to me. Having always had a rather independent streak against self imposed authority I had no qualms about finding out about it and I'm glad I did, even though it has been traumatic. Do I feel disloyal.. absolutely not!
@reslight. I'm sure Russell was a very sincere man in his beliefs. That doesn't make them right. He was clearly a FreeMason, he said so in his own words, the literature was covered with FreeMason symbols, he was buried in a FreeMason cemetry and many of his beliefs were those of FreeMasons. I cannot hold with this. He started the Watchtower Society and even though he was dead against religious organisation, this is what it has ended up as. I can't see it has God's backing.