These Catholics who believed their religion, their faith is pure or right, did not indict their religion which they believe to be the true faith. You did not hear how millions of Catholics believe their Church is rotten from within now.
In some ways we are talking apples and oranges here. The r&f mindset of the average Catholic is completely different from the r&f mindset of the average JW. Most Catholics, unlike most JWs, have no problem acknowledging that their religion has flaws. In fact they may, especially in this country, openly defy official church policy on issues they feel strongly about. Most just see Catholicism as a way to infuse some spirituality into their lives. Many like it because of the tradition. Most Catholics don't have to believe their religion is rotten from within, they already know its not perfect and have very little expectation of perfection. In return they fully expect to live their own lives in unjudgemental fashion, not judging or being judged, realizing that they are not capable or have any wish to live up to any unreachable standard of piety and self-denial. Yes, of course they are repulsed by pedophile priest in there ranks. But they do not have to indict their whole religion, because they already know their religion is indictable on so many levels -- just look at the history, they can read too. Still they choose to stay because they want to, and, I might add, on their own terms as expressed though their actions. They live grace-based, not performance-based, and extend that same standard to the Church.
JWs on the other hand, refuse or very grudgingly, acknowledge any flaws in the religion. Why? Because it is all about pretense. It is what separates them from everybody else. They have a vested interest in making sure the religion stays un-indictable, and so they refuse to indict it themselves even when the evidence is staring them in the face. The JWs are measuring themselves and others with a totally different ruler than what Catholics are using. All they have is a supposed credibility which is shrinking measurably. On top of that they are a performance-based religion, and the r&f are tired of performing. JWs are a end time religion whose expiration date is closing in. It will be around for some time, but whether it stays in its current form is highly doubtful. Time is not on their side, the attitudes of JWs of today are very different from even a few years ago.
For many of us on this board, what is coming out is absolutely shocking by our old JW standard. But as more of these reports come out, this will be old hat (for lack of a better term) with tomorrow's JW. This is about credibility. Tomorrow's JW will realize that they are indictable, and will live their lives in less judgemental and more social ways than we ever did. JWs are already changing...from the bottom up.
Just my 2
Axel
