Hello jst2laws:
I have to say that I admire you for your frank admissions and for posting on this website. Not many JWs have the intellectual honesty or courage to do either.
: Is it not possible for a person to acknowledge shortcomings of his religious organization, recognition of the deviation of it’s leadership, and hurtful teachings and conduct, and yet in good conscience still recognize they have enough valid Scriptural teachings and good people within to salvage. Is it not possible that this could be thought or expressed without being motivated by a sense of superiority or hypocrisy? I only referred to the shortcomings of other religious organizations to raise the possibility that we tend to hold the WTBTS to a standard that no religious group could stand up against. The WT has some extreme defects that others do not, yet they have some commendable teachings and accomplishments.
All true statements, but you must recognize one thing: It is the Society itself that has created this high standard. Is it not true in life that "with what judgment you are judging, you will be judged; and with the measure that you are measuring out, they will measure out to you"? Jehovah's Witnesses for many decades have measured others by an impossibly high standard -- one so high that they are quite unwilling to be judged by it or to try to live up to it. So on one level, critics like me realize perfectly well that the Witnesses are on the whole not very different from other cultish, controlling religions, but on another level we enjoy rubbing the noses of self-righteous, arrogant, judgmental people in their own doo-doo.
Keep in mind that the Society promotes what I like to call The Fundamental Doctrine of Jehovah's Witnesses, which is that the Governing Body speaks for God and is to be treated as an earthly substitute for God. This doctrine has created all sorts of aberrant teachings and behaviors, which I'm sure you're well aware of. It is no surprise when normal people react in a normal way to people who so obviously are not what they claim, but who are all too willing to publicly condemn others for not accepting their false claims.
I have a number of friends and acquaintances who, like you, are JWs but recognize the many shortcomings of the Society and the JW community. I have no idea how they manage to stay active in the JW organization. When I realized how sadly I had been deceived in my upbringing as a JW, it literally made me sick. I don't understand how people can remain part of a group that claims to be God's unique, exclusive organization when they obviously don't believe that at all. They reject the group's most fundamental teaching, yet want to remain part of the group. That desire goes beyond humanitarian concerns. What's in it for you?
AlanF