Welcome!
You wrote:
Not long after I started to have concerns about JWs, expecially as the message of 'following the bibles message' subtly changed to 'follow the FDS', this did not sit well with me.
Although the emphasis on the FDS may seem to be a recent development, it isn't really.
In reality, the WT religion has always been about the organization's teachings rather than the Bible itself.
In the September 15, 1910 Watchtower, Russell wrote that his Studies in the Scriptures "are not merely comments on the Bible, but they are practically the Bible itself... Furthermore, not only do we see that people cannot see the divine plan in studying the Bible by itself, but we see also that if anyone lays the Studies in the Scriptures aside... and goes to the Bible alone, though he has understood his Bible for ten years, our epxerience shows that after two years he goes into darkness. On the other hand, if he had merely read the Scripture Studies with their references and had not read a single page of the Bible, as such, he would be in the light at the end of the two years, because he would have the light of the scriptures."
The February 1, 1952 Watchtower said, "Now some may ask, Should we accept as from the Lord and true the food provided through the discreet slave, or should we withhold acceptance until we have proved it for ourselves?... After being nourished to our present strength and maturity, do we suddenly become smarter than our former provider and forsake the enlightening guidance of the organization that mothered us?" "Forsake not the law of thy mother. (Prov. 6:20-23)."
The October 1, 1967 Watchtower said, "... the Bible is an organizational book and belongs to the Christian congregation as an organization, not to individuals, regardless of how sincerely they believe that they can interpret the Bible."
In the August 15, 1981 edition, the Watchtower made the following strange admission: "[Some] say that it is sufficient to read the Bible exclusively, either alone or in small groups at home. But, strangely, through such `Bible reading,' they have reverted right back to the apostate doctrines that commentaries by Christendom's clergy were teaching 100 years ago..."
It seems to me that these quotes spanning more than 70 years show that in the WT religion:
Bible alone = darkness
WT literature = light
(WT literature is therefore considered superior to the Bible itself)
Trying to check out the organization's teachings by your own Bible study = rebellion against Jehovah
Meekly and unquestioningly accepting whatever the slave says the Bible means = Jehovah's will
(The command, "Make sure of all things" must STOP on the day you are baptized as a JW because then you have irrevocably committed yourself to having "made sure" that the organization speaks for God. The command to "make sure of all things" applies to every religion EXCEPT what the "faithful and discreet slave" teaches; that must be automatically accepted rather than tested by what the Bible actually says because individuals are incapable of accurately interpreting and understanding God's Word.)