Great post Terry.
Just thought I'd address a related sub-issue.
The Environment.
I don't know if you've read any Awake! articles in the last few years, but the Writing Dept. seems to be walking a bizarre tightrope when it comes to the Environment.
On the one hand, it helps their gloom & doom message to show that the Earth is falling apart due to human activities. So they seem to be a fairly decent pro-environment mouthpiece.......up to a point. They shine the light on the problems, but then when it comes to actually encouraging anyone to get seriously involved in making a difference, they back way off. (Although there was a cheesy photo of JW riding a bicycle in his service duds not too long ago.) The net result is what I had a "prominent elder" (don't you love that term) tell me not too long ago re: the environment.
'God's gonna fix it. As long as you're not personally dumping barrells of toxic waste into the water, don't worry about it. Focus on the preaching work.'
OM