Mary, just curious about what led you to question the Watch Tower’s authority and interpretations? What was the crack in the dike, so to speak?
I had a nervous breakdown — mental health problems are common in that group. As I began to recover and fight back from depression, I started reading more about recovery and mental/emotional health. I started talking with other JWs who were also experiencing depression. I started to ask myself, “If we have the truth, why are the people in this organization so messed up?” I had a lot of faith in the Bible and I figured the answer had to be in there. So I started really poring over the Bible to understand what it said from the perspective of mental and emotional health. I started to recieve the message of forgiveness in Christ and recognize that that was the key to peace of mind. And I started to see that the messages we were constantly getting through the Watchtower were ministering stress and guilt and fear, quite opposed to the Gospel. I started to talk a lot about Jesus and forgiveness to my JW friends. In a short time, they called me for an apostasy hearing, to which I responded with a letter of disassociation.