Those were the words of an elder during my judicial committee. It's weird that they suddenly came to me, weeks later.
I can't help recalling the disappointment I felt when I heard that. If it's not their job to convince me of the truth, then what were they there for? Simply to punish? Aren't shepherds in the congregation SUPPOSED to help people to see the truth? I couldn't help thinking, is it just that they don't care, or that they don't want to make any real effort to do so, or that they are incapable of doing so? Was it easier to remove me than to spend time doing something other than asking me if I accepted the 'faithful slave' as "God's channel of communication" in a way that seemed so rehearsed?
How much research did they do? Did they do any? We hardly even read any scriptures. Yet the Bible's truth was supposed to be what would snatch me out of the fire. Right?
Were they suggesting that after you've studied the appropriate publications and gotten baptized, that you no longer need any help to be convinced of the truth? If my life was really involved, why not present serious scriptural data to help me see my error?
As I later told my wife, out of everything that I was put through--with her, the elders, my brother the theocratic bulldozer, my mom--not one of them sat down with me, opened the Bible, and showed me thoroughly where I was wrong.
Matthew 24:45 was the main scripture I was first confronted with, a scripture that cannot conclusively prove that a "faithful and discreet slave class" was appointed in the year 1919 by Jesus Christ, 5 years after his invisible presence in heaven began. (By the way, if he's still in heaven, hasn't he ALWAYS been invisibly present? "I am with you ALL THE DAYS until the conclusion of the systems of things."--Matthew 28:20) To draw that conclusion, you would have to make a significant leap beyond what was actually said.
So, if the job of each JW is to go out and convince people of the truth, which we are willing to spend several months or even a year or more to do, why do the elders feel it is not their responsibility to convince a doubting person, who once and for a long time greatly appreciated the doctrine, of the truth? I think the shepherd who decides to abandon his sheep to the wolves because it's apparently not worth the effort may be more like the "hired man" in John chapter 10, who does not care for the sheep at all. The fine shepherd was willing to die rather than see his sheep be harmed. The elders were willing to spend less time to save one sheep than an average publisher would spend in field service for one month. Or even half a month.
I find that to be a very telling set of circumstances.