SixofNine,You said:
“Sounds pretty nice. But think about this: Your work "inside" will never have the impact of 4 ex-elders, still well thought of, DA'ing at one time. As a group, you could no doubt communicate your reasons to literally hundreds, if you planned and orchestrated correctly.”Perhaps this could be true. I could only dream of having the impact on the JW community that J. Penton did when he left, even as he left. That could never happen with my exit. The other men who resigned, one under pressure when his wife reported him, each live in a different part of the country. So no one would see the impact of 3 or 4 elders in one congregation stepping out. From my experience there are two common reactions to a prominent elder DA’ing himself of getting DF’d for apostacy. 1 Many people grief as one does the loss of a loved one to death.
2 Most angrily dismiss that one as unworthy, a fraud. They remind themselves of the WT defense, “if they were of our sort they would not have gone out from us”. Under the right circumstances the public withdrawal you suggest can bring many out. I do not believe I could have such an impact. Another factor I doubt will set too well with you, is I do not want to jerk people out of the WT without first giving them a spiritual foundation to stand on. A kind old man for whom many of us have a very high regard just had one of his books published in Japanese. The first month resulted in over 900 orders. I told him this could be not just 900 books but 900 Japanese friends liberated from the organization. His response was, “But it depends on what they do afterward. Some will go right back to the churches of Christendom.” That may be better than staying in the borg, but I’m still a Christian and do not see trading one corrupt form of Christianity for another as an accomplishment.Thanks for your comments, SixofNine. And I agree with you: “more humanity, less speaking for God”. Jst2laws
“Sounds pretty nice. But think about this: Your work "inside" will never have the impact of 4 ex-elders, still well thought of, DA'ing at one time. As a group, you could no doubt communicate your reasons to literally hundreds, if you planned and orchestrated correctly.”Perhaps this could be true. I could only dream of having the impact on the JW community that J. Penton did when he left, even as he left. That could never happen with my exit. The other men who resigned, one under pressure when his wife reported him, each live in a different part of the country. So no one would see the impact of 3 or 4 elders in one congregation stepping out. From my experience there are two common reactions to a prominent elder DA’ing himself of getting DF’d for apostacy. 1 Many people grief as one does the loss of a loved one to death.
2 Most angrily dismiss that one as unworthy, a fraud. They remind themselves of the WT defense, “if they were of our sort they would not have gone out from us”. Under the right circumstances the public withdrawal you suggest can bring many out. I do not believe I could have such an impact. Another factor I doubt will set too well with you, is I do not want to jerk people out of the WT without first giving them a spiritual foundation to stand on. A kind old man for whom many of us have a very high regard just had one of his books published in Japanese. The first month resulted in over 900 orders. I told him this could be not just 900 books but 900 Japanese friends liberated from the organization. His response was, “But it depends on what they do afterward. Some will go right back to the churches of Christendom.” That may be better than staying in the borg, but I’m still a Christian and do not see trading one corrupt form of Christianity for another as an accomplishment.Thanks for your comments, SixofNine. And I agree with you: “more humanity, less speaking for God”. Jst2laws