A few months back there was a very busy poster called WW (worldly witness). I was thinking about his rise and fall today, and this is where it took me.
Whether Jehovah's Witnesses as individuals are 'part of the world' or not, the billion-dollar corporations which administer JW activity, receive their donations, their devotion, and their unquestioning obedience, cannot easily be described as "no part of the world". And as for day-to-day JW culture, many of us who have spent a few years on the 'inside' know that many things there change roughly in line with society at large - 'the world'. JW fashions in clothes and music, for instance, may lag sulkily behind 'the mainstream', but they still change, and they are still 'worldly' fashions. The WTBTS line always emphasises 'fashions, fads, crazes, manias, etc' as if these things were of little value, 'just a little gloss', but such trends in reality transmit our values whether they be about frocks made of dollar bills, food, or approaches to health and education. So JWs certainly do take on the world's attitudes and values and they always have done. In this broad meaning they are no different to any other group or culture, building their sense of who they are by borrowing from 'others' (in this case 'the world').
No catchy ending, I'm afraid, just a threat - there could be more of this. Meantime, please chip in.
Philo