ATJ,
Interesting take. I was also a fairly new elder on 9-11-01 and I was convinced that the Great Tribulation had begun. After all, those bombings were conducted by a radical religious group and I thought for sure that the world would finally turn against Babylon and it would be on. Yet, I also remember not being excited about it at all. Just the opposite, I felt sick.
As my wife & I sat in front of the TV that Tuesday evening (we had a Monday bookstudy at the time), neither of us spoke. We didn't eat dinner, just sat there in the dark watching the scene play out over and over again. I thought to myself, "what did the people in the WTC do to deserve such a horrific death"? All they did was go to work that morning. I remember praying that I had done enough to be spared. An absolute sense of dread came over me. I thought about all the people that hadn't been preached to yet, why would they have to suffer? I thought about non-JW workmates, friends, neighbors. All who were now about to die. Maybe I could have done a better job of reaching them. Was their blood to be on my hands? I had friends in NYC, were they ok?
I also remember going in service that Sat after. I didn't present any magazines, just would read some scriptures and chat with folks. The overwhelming sadness was still very raw. Yet, it was probably the best day I ever had in service because 1) I wasn't trying to leave mags and 2) I was simply trying to provide a measure of peace. Had long conversations with householders that day and very little WT doctrine was discussed.
That day and the weeks that followed did erode my faith in the WT. The US didn't decend into anarchy. Instead, people pulled together. And in the next few years, instead of the world cracking down on religion, things pretty much stayed the same as far as religious freedom went.
I often asked myself, surely the 9-11 attacks must have been part of prophesy. If that wasn't enough to spark the attack on religion by world governments, then what would it take? That stuck with me and a few years later, I started questioning various doctrines.
