Path,On my anniversary post in early March I noticed you were one of the most influential respondents to my original post last year. I just wanted to say first that you have often impressed me yet I have failed to express this to you and others appropriately. You said:
By failing to act on this information, while at the same time having accepted a position of responsibility, they should be held accountable for their actions and those directly influenced by them
That is very logical. We all feel compelled to hold someone at the top responsible. They led us wrong and we were harmed by that lead. But my question is not whether or not they mislead us, but whether or not they knowingly mislead us. My personal opinion is that there must have been some there either on the GB or in the writing or service dept. that knew enough to object. It seems some did and got thrown out. I suspect there are others who kept quiet and supported a harmful system to protect themselves from exposure. That I believe would be 'Evil'. This may be the case of some on the GB. But my experience was that most of the GB were appointed not because of their reputation as researchers and independent thinkers. They stuck it out at Bethel long enough to get appointed by seniority or default. Later they started to bring big shots in from outside Brooklyn Bethel who proved themselves not by their intellect or history of intense Bible research but incontestable support of the system, dependable 'followers'.So, yes, they "accepted a position of responsibility" and perhaps "they should be held accountable for their actions and those directly influenced by them." But if they were still followers of a harmful system already set in motion, whatever level they served, are they that much more reprehensible before God. Most of us to different degrees 'followed' and 'harmed' others during our involvement in the organization. So we may be talking of degrees of accountability. Does that translate to degrees of "Evil"? If so, we were all evil to some degree. I am not so hard on myself or others on this board. I do not believe we have many evil people here. We were 'victims'. Is Ray F. wrong that the GB too were 'victims of victims.'?Jst2laws