As a Witness, I accepted what was said, "hook, line and sinker." If the Watchtower said it, and the men on the platform preached it, then it must have been true. So it was very hard to accept as an adult, that they were wrong. Yet in doing this, I do not blame the Watchtower for what I accepted as a Witness. I blame myself. Why?
As a society, I think that we all want to blame others for our own mistakes. A woman sues McDonald's because the coffee is to hot and burns her. People sue cigarette companies because they cause cancer, even though this has been on the labels for years. People sue for election problems when their candidate loses, even though the elections have been the same way for years. In the end, I can not open a newspaper or watch a news program, without seeing the message, "it was not my fault, it was someone else's."
So perhaps as an adult, I enjoy actually accepting my own responsibly and not trying to find someone else to blame for everything. Now I realize, it would be very easy to say certain things, about the religion, and say it is very wrong. Perhaps; family pressure, instilling the fear of god, brainwashing, gossip, shunning, etc. These are all valid points, yet if adults stopped letting others do the thinking for them, none of these problems would exist. Basically, if you attach puppet strings to your life and tell others to pull them and do not resist, then the dance you dance is something you allowed and not something they caused.
As I sit here writing this, I am really wanting to say, "yes but ... " to a million things I can think of that makes me want to think that the Watchtower misleads people. Yet in all of them, I can root back to someone picking up that Watchtower, reading it and actually having to accept it to cause any impact. They accepted it, they allowed it into their lives and THEY not THEM are responsible for their actions. Much the same as people who read one sided political messages and getting emotional before they get all the facts. When does this take affect?
I think it takes affect when your parents cut your puppet strings and allow you to be an adult. When that happens and you choose to follow a religion and not learn to think for yourself. Then you deserve the life that it goes with. Religion is a weird thing in history, it has done the thinking for many men and woman and not just with the Jehovah's Witnesses. So to blame them and not see the fact that we are all adults who hold our own level of responsibly, just does not seem right to me and reminds me of what I see each day in the media.
So when I look back and realize all the stupid, stupid things I accepted. I don't say to myself, "those people sure did lead me astray." No, rather I say, "I sure let myself get lead in the wrong direction," and I find myself less angry or even emotional at all, about the Witnesses. Heck, if I had that good of bait for bass fishing as they have for keeping people in their religion. I would limit out each time and would never need to try so many new things each year. The only thing that gets the bass to the lure I cast in the water is the their fins swiming to it . Their personal desire to change course! Although, I have never seen a fish take a lure, "hook, line and sinker." I have seen many Witnesses do it.