Hi Randy, I believe we are able to relate to the "lurkers", by posting the most common reasons people start to fade from the Organization. The congregations are loaded with lonely and unsatisfied men and women, who blame themselves for their spiritual and emotional roller coaster feelings. We have the ability to help our brothers and sisters know, it's not their fault for the way they feel. Many of the reasons for feeling inadaquate are derivied from the sneaky writing style, double tongue talks, and unfriendly and unloving Kingdom Hall participants.
The Organization is quick to silence these would be "alarmist, whistle blowers" by encouraging the elder body to keep a close eye on "anyone who shows an independant spirit". New visitors (on JWN) are feeling ignored by a group that claims to be "Jehovah's Hand Picked Faithful Slave", and are exhausted from hearing "Wait on Jehovah!" How many victims of pedophiles were told to "Wait on Jehovah!" while the Slave had their legal department create a lawyer filled moat around Bethel? To sisters whose husbands were treating them like dirt, many of their stories did fall on deaf ears! What amount of beating should a sister take, would a letter to the Society who wrote (Police officers time is wasted on Domestic Disturbances) shocking material in the 1980s Awake, bring the sister relief if she knew how the Slave felt about "Domestic Issues"?
The lurkers are here because they are not feeling the love, even questioning if the problem is some how, some type of inadaquecy on their part. The truth is the Kingdom Halls are not geared towards helping weak ones, it's geared to helping their high performing members, feel righteous about themselves, as long as they keep performing on a higher level each year. Depression, Suicide attempts, family chaos, widows, father-less children are not taken very good care of, most will leave the Organization with a permanent wound to their Soul.
The remedy of sending a letter to the Organization might sound logical to a sister or brother, their heart will break once they find out, the Watchtower does not really care about functioning Kingdom Halls that pay their bills on time. The Slave might decide to send out representatives after all chaos has busted loose, donations fall off a cliff, meeting attendance drops to all-time lows, elders realize their work is an exercise in futility and pursue a new job or some activity that draws him and his family truly close, he finds out the Congregation was ripping his family apart and leave's to rebuild his family, after years of working with ungrateful, never ending, black holes of time and emotional energy. Letters don't work unless you are a "high giver" of donations, have some skill the organization covets.
Average weak Joe or Jane will be sad, when they find out, Bethel won't leave the light on for you! Just my views from fifty years dealing with this group of men, who desire to push our dear ones over their head, a way of making everyone feel "They are nevering doing enough!" My goal is to try to reach the lurkers who say with a certainty "I have been through this or "This same thing happened to my brother, favorite elder or loved one who was put down by evil men." To many of the sisters who have been abused and told "Be a better wife, Christ-like women can change a wife beater, the depressed soul, "Just pray to Jehovah more" "Don't allow depression to control you!" The advice many received from some "self-professed didactic psychologist does not work. The lurkers need to realize the brothers are not trained to deal with many of our problems, which are so far out of their skill-set!
@flipper: Thank you for your nice comments, it's heart breaking to see the looks on victims faces, when the Society blows them off! The system is slanted against brothers and sisters who are not considered important or highly productive.
