1. If you are only reading your religion's literature, aren't you being close-minded?

Absolutely. That is what we are encouraged to be from day one. We are taught from early on that our religion is the "Truth" and the one and only way to God. You may hear witnesses call the religion the "Truth." We are taught that the bible is the ultimate source of knowledge and we don't need outside sources of information to confuse the matter. At our conventions we are told over and over again for anywhere from 6 to 8 hours for 3 days that "we alone have God's spirit-directed organization" and that the rest of "the world is in the power and influence of Satan the Devil, the great liar and resister of the one and true Almighty Jehovah God" (paraphrased). When we are presented with this repetitive dialogue it becomes less likely that we will stray and do outside research.

2. Give the defendant and not only the plaintiff a chance to speak...

The publications put out by the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society (or The Society) often give the impression that they present both sides of an argument, but the reality is that they usually only present one or two brief paragraphs and then quickly dismiss the outside arguments, often without really attempting to get at the issue. This is obvious when you consider that every lesson taught in the Watchtower magazine is about 20 to 22 paragraphs in length - as if every question of life can be answered in three or four pages of a magazine. The real goal here is to reassure the members that The Society has examined all sides of any argument and it is not necessary for us to go to the trouble of considering the defendant's argument. Some do, but I assure you most of us were well trained not to. In fact, we are instilled with the "fear of God" that includes fear of displeasing God by going outside of his arrangement with The Society (as they tell us they are the channel for the dispensation of truth).

3. If your faith can move mountains, why can't it withstand a simple article on the Internet?

Because we are required to have blind faith. They won't tell it to you that way, in fact very few witness will acknowledge having blind faith, but that is the truth. We are encouraged to blind ourselves to each and every dissenting opinion. In fact the Society will often tell us things like how wonderful our New World Translation (Bible) is because it bravely restores the name of Jehovah to the scriptures where most bibles do not. Then they will tell us that secular authorities admire the NWT of the Holy Scriptures and proceed to declare it the best translation for getting to know Jehovah God. But what they won't do, is publish the negative reviews, nor discuss them with us. They make us believe that we have a superior edition of the bible, when in fact it is just another edition, flawed like the rest of them. Side by side compared with most other bibles, its really not that different, but its not that special either, the way they make it seem.

4. Shouldn't it in fact make your faith stronger? Fire makes metal stronger, not weaker.

Absolutely, the problem is that when we witnesses start looking out side the organization for answers, inevitably we come to the same conclusion: that Jehovah's Witnesses are just another group of people organized for a religion that supports the machine that religion is. We are not special, we are not God's chosen people. Some of us conclude that we were intentionally misled by a false prophet. Some of us realize that for the most part JW's are sincere people, many are honest good individuals who see themselves as Christian, but lack some of the nobler elements of mainstream Christianity. But a lot of us, myself included come away with the realization that Jehovah's Witnesses are not the true religion. And that is why the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society will always strongly advocate that witnesses never look outside the organization for research. They know that doing so will lead us away. They tell us it will lead us to Satan and that kind of thinking prevents many JW's from ever doing serious research outside of the Society's publications.