Posted by Bibleman [Bibleman] on October 26, 1999 at 08:43:20 {c/rgKhj4NcMSSTtTA17sslyACFuF8c}:
In Reply to: *Letter to the WTS GB posted by barJonah on October 26, 1999 at 04:42:31:
Hi bJ,
I agree with you... whatever, this is great publicity stunt!
And I also am distracted a bit by the background texture. It does seem a bit hoaxy for a G.B. member. Seems to me, if he were genuine, he could have tried to work with the G.B. instead of this direct and open attack. But then, we can only presume what the GB group is really like.
It doesn't seem to make any sense that he wouldn't try to influence them, even indirectly, in private. Hi vow to expose them and attempt to manhandle them via the internet into listening to the demands of "apostates", especially on their issues, is tantamount of apostasy. Anyone in the local congregation doing this would be promptly disfellowshipped. And he's certainly lost his faith in the leadership of the GB as being a God-directed body. So he's already a spiritual orphan.
I hope for his sake he's real... It's nice to be at peace with your own conscience.
My question is, why didn't he just gracefully bow out. Leave the organization and maybe write a book like Ray Franz? Using the "media" to manipulate the Governing Body certainly doesn't speak well for him as a mature Christian. It does suggest to me, however, as does the general "reform movement" that it is far more important to keep the "corporate, organized religion" ties with this organization than to have personal religious freedom.
His gracefully leaving would have made a big statement and would have been big news if he openly joined the reform movement. Staying secret like this and trying to manipulate the organization with public opinion shows that he wants to maintain his stake in this organization, for whatever it offers.
This is not someone who'd I consider a "spiritual" person, but a "corporate-takeover" person.
But we shall see.
My gut feeling is that this is far more about a bid in gaining control over the corporate assets of this organization than any spiritual matters. Of course, I hope I'm wrong.
Stay tuned to find out.
Cheers,
Bibleman