I think so many wonderful points have been made here. I think it's a question we want to have a very distinct answer, but how can a matter of faith ever come down to anything other than just that? Oh, but I do enjoy seeing this question voiced and mulled over, as it is one over which I spent many nights and days in agony. For me it comes down to the lack of organized charity of any type. Even if the shunning and the pain and the cover-ups were okay, and the total lack of compassion on the part of most elders when it comes to anybody's real life experiences, and the discouragement of higher education about everything that God created, and the blood and all else, I really don't understand how God's people can refuse to help each other out now and again. I know that many Jehovah's Witnesses regularly give much compassion to OTHER Jw's, but if I had to answer this question, I would judge the charitable works of the JW organization against the charitable works of almost every other organized religion in the entire freaking world. I am so sick of watching them give Watchtowers and Awakes to the homeless people at my bus stop. They think they're doing a good thing, but its really just self promotion. You could say that the lack of good works could be countered by the lack of involvement in crime and genocides that other world religions have taken part in, but one) JW's are a sect of Christianity so there's no avoidance of bloodshed there, and with 6 million non-voters to start with, well, there's really no political power there to begin with, so of course there's nothing going on there.
