Thanks for your response angel eyes. I know it can be easy to lose track of threads around here. I've even forgotten about threads I started.
I think we need to take this issue a little further. I agree that within any organization you will always have individuals that don't live up to the standards. That's to be expected. Let's consider what Jesus said at John 13:35 "By this all will know you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves."
Did Jesus mean that we would know that certain individuals are his disciples or that we would recognize an organization as being his disciples? Does not the WTS claim the latter? Don't you, personally, believe that Jesus chose the WTS as his organization? If that is so, the scripture must be applied to the organization as a whole.
Most of us here have discovered that the organization as a whole is characterized not by love, but a lack of love. We are not just talking about a handful of individuals who can be petty or cruel, though there is plenty of that. We are talking organizational policies and doctrines carried out on a massive scale that are unloving and unChristlike. We are talking about policies that have caused the torture, rape and deaths of countless innocents, all at the instigation of the WTS.
In pm, you made the assertion regarding Jehovah's organization that "They never cause us harm." That is patently untrue. I suggest you do some research on what happened to the rank and file in Malawi as just one example of the grave harm this organization is responsible for. Take into account the harmful effects of banning organ transplants, blood transfusions and alternative service. You may claim that these policies were there to protect us, but consider this: every one of those policies has been changed. Jehovah may be able to resurrect the many who died as a result of these wrong policies, but does he not hold accountable those who cause the deaths of innocent ones? The organization who incorrectly forced millions to adhere to these unscriptural policies through threat of disfellowshipping is blood guilty.
If Jesus meant that love would be the identifying mark of an organization, the WTS has proven beyond doubt that they are not it. If this is just stuff that Jehovah intends to fix within the organization some time in the future, of what good is the measurement Jesus gave us (love) for identifying the true religion in the meantime?
If, on the other hand, Jesus was applying that scripture to individuals, it must be applied across the board to individuals in any religion that are personally characterized by the love they show.
You question why we should leave Jehovah, but you mistake leaving the WTS for leaving Jehovah. First you must prove that the WTS has Jehovah's backing for us to assume that leaving the org automatically means leaving Jah. As you can see, I have provided evidence that this particular organization does NOT have Jehovah's backing. The fact that they eschew "pagan" holidays is irrelevant. No amount of evidence in their favor can override the atrocities they are responsible for as an organization.
You say the Watchtower magazine is "clearly, without doubt," from Jehovah, but the only evidence you provide to this effect is the fact that you think it is encouraging. Should we not primarily use the standards Jesus set out to determine if a particular organization has his backing?
If an organization is not characterized by love, as Jesus said they MUST be, it doesn't matter how many other doctrines they get right.
