What is "independent thought" in the minds of the ones who write the literature?
I discovered that you are not permitted to come to another conclusion even when using their own reasoning. "Reasoning from the Scriptures" is a misnomer if you are the one doing the reasoning.
At one time I asked our CO if I should bother reading the bible if the conclusions of the magazines and books were the final word on matters pertaining to God. He looked distressed for a minute and then told me "No, you should still read the bible."
A few years later I was embroiled in a situation that showed me how shut-down the Organization was for thinking and responding to one's own conscience --even in "small" things they do not allow us to be faithful.
Since I didn't assault any favorite topics or challenge key doctrines I hoped I could "reason from the scriptures", even using the WTS reference works, so that my conscience could survive a serious anomoly in the literature.
The local brothers were overwhelmed by the matter and the CO was unhappy with me-(especially me being a woman--He gave a special talk at the end of his visit that focused on the "place" of women in the organization. Giving special attention the pitfalls of dissatisfaction.) It was decided I should write the Society on the matter.
Because WT teaching did run counter to the words of the bible and even their own reasoning in their reference works, Brooklyn Bethel could not refute my conclusion except in this way: they had not written it. Ultimately I was to uphold their version over using the words of the bible--to hell with my conscience. If I had a problem with this judgement then I was to get certain magazine articles and read them such as "Do you tend to be stumbled?".
That was the turning point. Seeing the local brothers cower and genuflect at the throne of the FDS instead of the God they claimed to love was also very telling.
The men who govern are despots and crooks as regards the tender matter of finding our true way. They as much as any religious leaders they have criticized exemplify the evil of organized religion. They insist that following them IS following God.
They do not allow any of "the sheep" to follow the voice of conscience. The voice of truth. To seek with honesty.
There are not words for the wrong they do to people.
Maeve Courteau in Fayetteville, Arkansas