My daughter is quite bright, she graduated, after homeschooling by me, and completing a GED program through a local university, with the highest grades in the state they'd seen for some time.
I homeschool my other two children too, not because I want to indoctrinate them religiously, but because the public school system is rather pitiful. I have three children and my son and oldest daughter have been IQ tested as geniuses, to put it bluntly.
I have taught them Bible history and comparative religion and given them the basics of what JWs teach, as well as other religions. They saw through most of it immediately and I was never able to convince them of some of it, as I was never able to convince myself.
My oldest daughter, now 19, has reduced several well meaning JWs who came over to try to "convert" her to frustration, anger and tears with a few simple questions. All of them had been to pioneer school or were elders and she was able to hold her own, with no assistance from me and refute their teachings with a few simple questions. I'm sure they think she's straight from the Devil, but her ideas and her mind are her own. THAT is my doing. LOL
My parents have given up Witnessing to her too, because they can't answer her questions and reply to her reasoning. When she was in public school for a few years, she was number one on their debate team, no one ever was able to beat her. My parents finally resorted to anger, emotional blackmail and threats to try to get her to believe and she hasn't been comfortable being alone with them since. My father actually apologized to her after a while, as he's a decent guy, but my mother hasn't. She's much more dogmatic than my father. She fits the textbook definition of religiousity to a T, actually. She repeats the same tired phrases over and over again, and quotes the required scriptures and if you ask her anything that requires original thought, she literally gets hysterical. She's 71 and in very bad health, so we've decided that's pointless to try to deprogram her, and leave it alone now.
My son had a measured IQ of 145 at 10 years old. I remember I gave him the WTS publications that explain their basic beliefs when he was about 12 to read, and as he was reading them, he kept laughing and writing notes on his thoughts in the margins. He had brilliant counter arguments to nearly everything he'd read even then.
Unfortunately, most Witnesses are averagely intelligent and probably not too well educated beyond average public schooling, which isn't good at helping people think either. I'm sure the WTS arguments and dogma seem magnificently thought out to them, but they never did to me. I always questioned it and especially "deeper things". Even at a young age, I had internal arguments and questionings with many teachings that I kept to myself. I kept telling myself that surely, God would make sure that things were corrected, because it seemed obvious to me. I did then and still have a lot of natural faith in God, and I assumed if this was his people, he'd take care of it.
But, things got weirder and weirder. I remember studying Revelation, Daniel and Isaiah and most of the congregation was looking like the RCA Dog, completely mystified. They even would comment about how difficult it was, and assume it was them not being smart enough. No, it was because the "explanations" were so convoluted, and did not conform to logic! I gave up at that point, and thought, how much longer are they going to be able to sell this snake oil? None of it made any sense at all and I quit attending meetings, even though at the time, I lived right next door to the KH!
Apparently, they still gain some interest, but I assume the tighter controls on independent study have a lot to do with declining membership and interest in the WTS. They're trying to hold onto what they have, but the fact is, 2/3s of people "raised in the truth" leave the organization. And they're not replacing this from their public witnessing, to be sure, not in the USA, anyway. Personally, given the WTS history, I doubt they were ever prepared to deal with the normal problems of families and generations of members, as it was originally a sect focused on enduring a very short time until their promised doomsday arrived to vindicate their ideas. They've failed at attracting new generations to their teachings, for the most part.
I can't see how it's hung together this long, to be honest. You can't keep promising generation after generation an end to their problems with a far off paradise and it not happen and remain credible indefinitely.
But, yes, my main and original objection was always, "How can the God who claims to love mankind so much he gave his Son for them turn around and execute the vast majority of them because they exercise their free will, given to them by God, not to join a certain religion, especially one that is so unattractive to so many?" While it's true that Jesus did not say being a follower of him would always be easy, he also was appealing, comforting and positive with all sorts of people, who felt free from the condemnation and hopelessness that was being offered by their old religious teachers.
Most people are turned off by moralizing, strict control and limiting of socializing, thought and behavior, which is a large part of what the WTS offers. The people that sort of lifestyle attracts are often people who already have a history of isolation, abuse, or dysfunction. This is the basis of the New World Order that will free mankind and perfect them? It seems a sad delusion at this point, and nothing more to me.
