Ok, a brief update...
Haven't been to a meeting in almost a year; had a visit recently from one of the 'friends' who very kindly brought a load of reading material for my edification (public edition WTs and Awakes). I actually enjoyed reading some of the articles this time around, because they were starting to deal with topics that actually come up in the field service and might I add, are discussed on this very forum quite often e.g. whether or not the name of Jehovah should be used in the NT, whether or not it should be pronounced in view of its unknown pronounciation in the original, etc. More info on John 1:1, also an article about whether or not God is masculine or feminine, Are the Gospels Reliable? was the actual title of another article...
The Gospel article actually discussed, albeit in a very superficial treatment, the Q document which most Witnesses wouldn't have heard much about, unless they also read Time magazine or anything remotely dealing with Biblical scholarship...so I began to wonder - and thus the title of my thread -
I think Christianity itself is going through some kind of crisis at the moment, not just the JW's. Up-to-date Biblical scholarship and the abundance of information concerning 'problems' with the various gospel accounts, allusions in the OT to Canaanite worship and pagan practices even among the Isrealites, etc. (I could go on and on) are leading many to question the very foundations of the Christian faith in many, many denominations. At some point, the WT leadership is going to have to address these issues and maybe they are beginning to do just that...of course, any readers who are in the very least inclined to do independent research of their own will come upon the can of worms that no Watchtower or Awake article is going to be able to neatly dispense with. These are all subjects that could easily take up 32 pages of a magazine to discuss without a definitive answer as to yay or nay at the end of it all. So, by bringing these topics up in the latest public issues I think a greater and greater awakening amongst the Witnesses will take place, just as it is already happening among the public...
Sorry to ramble on so...just like I said, random musings....