Posted by Chag [Chag] on November 16, 1999 at 19:24:48 {pRztWiaeuk/CPYT8orz2I2g0UxEvQY}:
In Reply to: The future of the WTS posted by Seeker on November 16, 1999 at 18:44:24:
My personal opinion is that scenario number 1 is more likely. Yes, the Net will have an impact in the more developed countries, but Witnesses will quickly tell their students to stay away from 'bad sites', just as they now tell them right away to expect their relatives to 'discourage' them from studying. And since there are endless amounts of people searching for the kind of easy answers the Witnesses give, they will be only too happy to swallow the arguments.
,,,,,
Here is a sad,sad reality. I see the same thing that you see. I've (at a young age) lived through the whole 1975 ordeal only to see one adult that I really looked up to commit suicide. That was the effect the whole thing had on only ONE person out of the whole congregation. NOBODY spoke up and if they did, they were treated and drilled as if they were satan himself. Fear of men can do SO much damage. I think the fear has been drilled into the followers eve nmore so now because the word "apostate" never was heard back then. As far as I can see, the evil word back then was "worldly". Now....worldly is a little more mild that apostate. Either way/word...the effect it has is the same. Satan! satan! satan! evil! evil! evil!!!! Get my point?
Chag
PS.....I wish that person that I spoke of who took his own life were here today, 24 years later. He may not have felt unworthy of God's love for the feelings he felt...and he would have had somewhere to go to voice them if he were still alive. I miss him still and have thought about him very often through all these years. He was a great person.