Right. I think even Jason David BeDuhn, who praised the way a lot of the NWT's verses are rendered, would probably say the term 'mentally diseased' is a shrill, over-the-top translation, and besides, Paul certainly wasn't using it in the same way JWs are.
Either way, I believe a few folks have posted the text of the talk on JWN, and I highlighted all the negative traits they assigned to apostates, and in attempting to count them all, I lost track at 30. Mind you, that's mostly excluding the term 'apostate' itself. How they can call themselves Christian and yet engage in such speech is beyond me. But in hindsight, they're imitating their original founder, J.F. Rutherford. He was the master of hate speech, if you read some of the old stuff, and in imitation of him, the WT will send out JWs with their hate speech in the literature and then use them as poster children of faith in the face of persecution when the governments/the public respond with hatred in kind.
But again, this actually works in our favor in terms of putting up red flags in the minds of people who are already doubting. They will recognize fear when they hear it. Nobody goes to this length to condemn a group without providing meaningful supporting details unless they're just afraid, very afraid. So then, what are they so afraid of? What is it that apostates know that is so dangerous? That was my first thought when I began my search. Hopefully this sort of thing will prompt many more thinkers to wake up.
--sd-7
