In regard to a recent Watchtower article on shunning 'apostates', I wonder if we could create an estimate of our collective influence. Such as:
How many active Witnesses secretly go to this site or others?
More importantly, how many Witnesses pass along information that was revealed here?
And finally, what happened to the Witness apologists who used to frequent these sites?
It should be clear by now that we have severely and permanently compromised Watchtower secrecy. Frequently, if a change is to be made, you'll hear about it here first, ahead of its release to ordinary Witnesses. This shows that well-placed individuals aren't buying into everything the Governing Body is selling. Further, it suggests that, since such people usually leave the organization once they figure out a discreet exit, that the Governing Body has a problem with continuous defections, not unlike a totalitarian regime that is losing its grip. If information keeps spilling out while defectors leave, then you need a constant stream of new defectors.
Even if Joe Witness is cowed into avoiding dissident websites such as this one, that doesn't limit "apostate" influence over him because others are passing information along via the "grapevine". How did the UN scandal get so widely known among Witnesses - and especially the prominent? Have you noticed how many elders seem to know more than what the Society is telling them?
Where have the Watchtower apologists gone? They have abandoned the field or defected themselves. Goliath is taunting the front lines and cursing the Name while David has run away in shame. Funny how they run out of apologists while the stream of defectors never stops!
The biggest threat to Watchtower control of information is the long practised and deeply ingrained "double lives" of Witnesses themselves. Given the huge amount of family breakdown that emerges like the visible part of an iceberg, it is reasonable to think that much more is beneath the surface. Going to an "apostate" website can easily equal the thrill of downloading porn for the first time.
Beyond all the self-glorifying propaganda and questionable statistics, they know that something is very wrong with cash flow - and as the "bottom line", that bespeaks a greater disaffiliation in congregations than the plastic exterior of this organization would suggest.
metatron