There are so many gems in In Search of Christian Freedom but I thought this section in 'indoctrination and subordination' was excellent, summing things up brilliantly, worth highlighting for anyone who hasn't read the book;
"The sum of the evidence is, then, that although no extreme
physical isolation occurs, a very effective mental isolation is pro-
duced by the organization’s interpretation placed on Jesus’ words
about not being part of the world. The community of believers
becomes quite insulated and intellectually sealed off from any
source of Scriptural material other than that coming from the one voice,
that of the organization. They are continually told that this is the only
way to keep them from being misled. The apparent aim is to create a
sterile atmosphere in which the views and interpretations of the orga-
nization can circulate freely without having to confront any challenge.
As a rule the longer one is associated with the organization the
more concentrated his or her social contacts are, the more restricted
friendships are to those within the organization. Even “worldly”
relatives, meaning non-Witness relatives, are often gradually
shunted off to a rather cool and distant relationship.
One’s thus becoming part of an exclusive community with only
limited, “necessary” contact with anyone outside is the factor that
gives such enormous power to any disfellowshiping decree
established by the organization. One’s whole social life resides
within the organization. If associated for many years, to be
disfellowshiped means to be cut off from virtually every friend-
ship one has.
Particularly for those in their elderly years of life this
can present a devastatingly depressing prospect. The situation par-
allels closely that of persons in apostolic times who were ‘cast out
of the synagogue,’ since the synagogue was the center of all so-
cial contact in a Jewish community.23
I strongly doubt that most persons, in reading the Bible itself, would
ever be led to view Jesus’ words about not being part of the world in
the extreme way conveyed by the Watch Tower publications. Not that such an exclusivistic view is not found in the Bible. It is. But it is
the viewpoint taken by the Pharisees, not that taught by Jesus Christ
or his apostles. As already seen, the very name “Pharisee” means
“separated” or “exclusive.” In their extreme views, this religious
group sought to be separate from, and exclude from their associa-
tion, all persons not holding to their particular traditional teach-
ings and standards of holiness, viewing all such as “unclean.”24
Jesus Christ set a very different example from such extremists
and this incensed them, caused them to condemn him and the way
he associated with others. In reading his words, not only in the
Sermon on the Mount but in all his teachings, one finds that Jesus’
primary focus was not on an elaborate set of doctrinal interpretations but on the real goal set out in the Scriptures, their true aim
and thrust, namely love of God and love of neighbor."