Trust me, it was with great pain that I decided upon joining the JWs. I knew (or so I thought) how nutty they were. But, I checked all the churches out and aside from a few small groups (with broken links on their shoddy websites) that I would have had to move very far in order to join, they all taught the Trinity in some form (or "modalism", in the case of Pentecostals), Hellfire, the earth is only a testing ground to see where you'll spend eternity, God kills people and "calls them home", immortal soul, etc., etc., etc. The only denomination that even has the Father/Son/Holy Spirit thing right is Unitarians and they have even more issues than the JWs. How can any church be right when they claim to follow Christ, preach Christ, believe in Christ when they have no clue that he isn't God? They teach "another Jesus". (2Cor 2-4)
My God didn't die and can't be killed by humans, but Jesus was. "For since death is through a man, resurrection of the dead is also through a man." (1Cor 15:21) Why they can't understand that a perfect man paid a debt he didn't owe - "the wages sin pays is death" (Rom 6:23) - for the inexcusable actions of a perfect man - life for life? Why can't they understand that eternal torture has never been part of the deal? "For he who has died has been acquitted from [his] sin." (Rom 6:7) I'll tell you why: If they taught those and other simple Bible truths, they'd be the primary target of Satan and become corrupted. Oh, wait; that's exactly what happened!
I'm not going to argue atheism in this forum, as I've never seen anyone swayed one way or another on that subject. Jesus couldn't convince everyone and I'm under no illusion I can, either. Something I learned from "How to Win Friends and Influence People" is (I'm paraphrasing): If I had the same upbringing, life experiences, information, and natural inclinations as you do, I might think and feel exactly as you do. I know the vast majority of people who claim belief in the Bible are morons. They're too lazy to read books that give evidence for Evolution and read other books that unravel the science (not the simplistic JW tripe, either), so they just latch onto "A man in the sky made everything" because it's a lot easier than making an informed decision. Nobody is frustrated and angered by them more than I.
The ignorant things said from the platform and in the ministry make me cringe. Every study I've turned over because I moved out of the area or it was a woman (can't be around them, because JWs can't be trusted not to screw everything that breathes) fell flat on its face because the person who took it over couldn't make an intelligible point. The ghetto combing and fishing for mental patients, lonely disabled people, ex-cons, lazy, stupid, broke losers is disgusting. But anybody with a brain or an education will tear the person at their door apart. When someone is constantly told "unlettered and ordinary" means that being ignorant and stupid is a good thing and that education, information, the Internet, any non-JW book are all wastes of time and probably evil -- and then dissuaded from reading the Bible instead of a constant barrage of magazines written on a 3rd-grade reading level -- well, how is that person going to sound? Like an idiot!
Imagine you saw someone riding a bicycle outside your house. He's all wobbly and shaky, nearly running into things and totally unsure of himself. Then, you notice his bicycle has training wheels on it! Now imagine that same person walked up to your house and offered to teach you how to ride a bike. You'd be insulted! You'd probably chase him off your porch or slam the door in his face. That's JWs, in a nutshell. They have to have the Bible spoon-fed to them with a ton of commentary mixed in, like baby food. No matter how simply and perfectly a point was made by God - "Every saying of God is refined" - the "Society" has to explain it to death - "Add nothing to his words" - making grand statements when they're way over their heads - "that he may not reprove you" - and shoving their foot deeply into their mouths - "that you may not have to be proved a liar." (Pro 30:5-6)
But this is how they condition people to rely on them for everything: They "explain" every verse of the Bible, even when the original text puts it so perfectly. It's as though they feel they're editing the Bible, because God just handed in a rough draft. But the minds of the followers become dull and get to the point where they can't read the Bible and understand anything. The membership become so reliant on the "Society" to feed them, they will swallow anything they're given. Then, the lies gradually get crazier and more grandiose. The recent Watchtower study article even went so far as to say "Jehovah has supplied an abundance of wholesome spiritual food through books, magazines, videos, and audio recordings." So, after years of hedging about being "inspired", they've come right out and claimed their dumbed-down "new and improved Bible" media is from God. Of course, this is only in the JW edition, not the one for mass consumption. You can't say that to someone who hasn't been properly brainwashed or they'll kick you out of their house.
But, I have to keep reminding myself these things have to happen; they were prophesied. Yes, they suck, but so do war, crime, taxes, corruption, starvation, disease, poverty, and death. Plenty of people complain about those and how much has it helped? It keeps getting worse. It just builds up so much, especially when you're not allowed to notice the problems, because it'll get you labelled as an opposer of God and Jesus. I think I'll take a lesson from Habakkuk (1:3). Even though God already has a time set to take care of all this stuff, he has an open-door policy for those who are upset by it, in the mean time. Maybe instead of venting here, I should go have a long talk with my Dad.