I have been one of Jehovah's Witnesses for about 9 years before I became inactive. I just had some comments I'd like to make.
I think the reason why I'm inactive now is because I've come to a point in my life where I feel obligated to admit that I just don't know. At one time I was as fiery and zealous of a witness as anyone could be but I had this nagging feeling that I really didn't know what I was talking about when I was witnessing to people. People would bring up objections and I would immediately come up with some sort of response and deep inside my conscience would tell me that I was just being defensive. I would go out in the ministry work and go home completely discouraged and disillusioned. One day I just decided to swallow it and admit to myself that as bad as I wanted all of this to be true I really don't know.
I'm not saying that I doubt Witness beliefs only, it's everything of a spiritual nature. There simply is no way to prove the Bible is what it says it is. In fact a lot of it seems to come from earlier religions. It's funny how similar the Mosaic law is to a set of laws which were a part of Babylon. It's strange to me that though all animals were supposedly at peace with one another at one time that many of them were designed from the beginning to be meat eaters,makes no sense to me that blood is supposedly so sacred to God yet many animals eat nothing but blood. Why would God design animals to be blood eaters if blood is so sacred to him. And yet still, I realize that all of what I said above is not proof positive that the Bible was simply made up. But, according to the Bible, you have to believe what it says with no doubts at all or your worship is worthless. There are too many unanswered questions for anybody with an honest heart to not doubt it at all.
Also, I'd like to say that I disagree with the Witness policy not to listen to or read about objections by others about Witness beliefs. If it's the Truth it should stand up under any kind of scrutiny. I think the whole reason for this policy is the fact that there simply is no rock solid basis for any spiritual beliefs,therefore all of those beliefs are open to argumentation, much of which is fair and logical.
To be fair, I have to say that the Witnesses are good, sincere people. I've read the wholeBible and I still have the opinion that the Witnesses are closer to what it says than any other religion, in beliefs and in conduct and practices. It sounds like there are a lot of angry people on this site that want to bash the WTS. I don't agree with that. All this that I've read about the WTS becoming an NGO affiliate of the UN seems to be a mountain made out of a mole hill. To those of you with this kind of talk I have to say you don't know all of the circumstances involved or the communication between the UN and the WTS. Neither do I. It's not fair to outright call someone a liar when you know that you don't know all of the details. It makes no sense to grab at whatever you can to bash someone. Let it go. You disagree with the WTS and that's fine, but you don't have to try to make good people out to be devils. Most Witnesses are sincere people who really want to help others. I don't agree with all of their beliefs and practices but that's no reason to show hatred. I don't agree with the custom of shunning people who decide to take a different path in life but then, that is in the Bible. I'll just get to the heart of the issue and just say I disagree with the Bible on this point because I can't argue that the practice is not Bible based because it is. It's right there in black and white in 1Cor. What really gets to me is people who simply refuse to accept something that is just all too plain in black and white right there in front of their eyes in writing. The problem is that a lot of people desperately want to believe in the Bible but at the same time want to believe in their own opinions so they'll say anything to fool themselves into believing that their beliefs are in line with the Bible when, in reality, often times they simply aren't. It's like homosexual "Christians" who act too stupid to see that homosexuality is plainly and blatantly bashed by the Bible. It's incredible to me that people think they can be homosexuals and still be Christians. And I'm not a hater of gay people. I work with a couple of them and they are pretty good people. One of them cuts my hair. I really hate the public display of homosexuality though because I feel it is being insensitive to accepted norms in society. I disagree with homosexuality and believe it is a form of perversion and unnatural but I don't hate or shun people because of it. I judge people based on their charactor and not their beliefs or things about them that are none of my business.
Anyway, I think that's about all that's on my mind for now