Recent strident Watchtower studies indicate that there must be some real resistance brewing against the constant commands to "preach, preach, preach," as if preaching is the only way to welcome others to the Christian life. I have tried seriously to reconcile what we do with what Christians did in the first century (especially as related in the book of Acts) and I do not see us, Jehovah's Witnesses, in the Christian Bible.
What I see in us is a group that, like other groups, has grabbed hold of a little piece of doctrine and made a religion out of it. Witnessing, preaching -- sure, the early Christians did this, though mostly of the "informal' variety. There was no highly structured preaching activity like we do, no averages, no quotas. People did what they could and when they could, with no one looking over their shoulders to goad them on, and with no one questioning their "spirituality" if they did not meet a certain "national average."
The same with meetings. Sure, the early Christians went to meetings, but there was no mandate to observe "five meetings a week," and no presumption of moral turpitude if a meeting was missed.
Even all the present emphasis on "urgency" overlooks the fact that the early Christians who expected the early and imminent return of Christ, or the Last Day in their lifetime, were wrong, simply wrong. If their "urgency" was due to belief that the "end was at hand" 2,000 years ago, it was for nothing. Better that they lived the Christian life simply out of love for God and neighbor, rather than focussing on an "End" that did not come in their days.
Our "urgency" is likewise misplaced, and is being used as a mere whip to drive the slaves to work for people who have made a whole religion out of one precept of Jesus' teaching. Like the Pharisees, the Powers That Be have become oppressive in a desire to quickly realize their own dimwitted dream, before they all pass off the scene.
Jesus came to refresh. Jehovah's Witnesses do not refresh today. All the joy has been steadily sucked out of this religion, because no one with the authority to do so has the guts to stand up and say, "We've been going down the wrong path. We have become Pharisees, not Christians. We do not refresh, we oppress. We must make a change."
How sad it all is.