While I wouldn't go so far as to say that I left "the trooth" BECAUSE of another individual, certainly it is true that as a person who grew up in the Borg, it was educational for me to behold the fate of those who left for various reasons. When I was young (preteen), I didn't know any of these people personally and I accepted the Watchtower fable about "evil slaves" and their danger to us "faithful" folk of Jah. As I got older, though, it was inevitable that I would get to know who some of these people were BEFORE they "fell away" for whatever reason.
There were plenty, of course, who got disfellowshipped for "immorality." Frankly, I never wondered at all about them. But even back in the 1970s, there were some who were slipping away for doctrinal reasons. I remember Mike V. who I believe began studying with a group of "Russellite" Bible Students, and Morris S. who was disfellowshipped because his own chronological research convinced him that the WTS was wrong about their "pivot dates."
The one that is foremost in my mind, though, is Bob Smith, who way back then was a relatively young Bethelite assigned to our congregation. Bob was from Kentucky and was of the anointed. Bob really walked and talked like you might expect one of the anointed to, and he was a smart guy. I was in association with him for more than ten years, if I recall correctly. In the fullness of time, Bob married a divirced sister in the congregation a few years older than himself - Trudy - who had a couple of grown sons from her previous marriage and who was also respected as a spiritually mature and intelligent woman. Lo and behold, a short time after their marriage, Trudy realized that she, too was of the anointed! Was this a case of "Spiritual Osmosis"? Who knows the "ways of the spirit,"eh? I have no doubt that both she and Bob "discerned the body of Christ" in precisely the right way. Well, a few years after that (or so it seems now through the binoculars of time) both Bob and Trudy left the congregation to become members of a "false" religious organization.
Although I wasn't aware of it at the time, these individual stories were probably adding up in some way in my mind to demonstrate that it was possible to have a non-evil, un-debauched life after the Borg. I was a pioneer when I asked my three female pioneer partners one day, "What would you do if you found out that this wasn't The Truth(tm)?"
If it was possible - and it isn't now - I'd like to talk with Morris S. and Bob Smith (no relation to Morris S.) and find out what they learned, what they thought. I would wish them well.
Edited by - Nathan Natas on 17 October 2002 8:44:48