half banana wrote:

They are surely responding to ex-JWs who initially announced to the British press complaining at the outrage of calling a group of people “mentally diseased”. Presumably the original NWT wording came from the pen their non-scholar translator Frederick Franz.  The Watchtower attitude was, “It is God’s unimpeachable divine word; so we can shove it (the phrase mentally diseased) down the throats of the apostates!”

The bad publicity must have alerted them to their insensitivity on the matter of mental illness and so they have changed it. (In turn questioning the validity of all Fred Franz's contribution to its history).

By the way, which religion is it which stands out in your mind that is most "obsessed with arguments and debates over words?"

Half banana, I read somewhere that the phrase was considered hate speech in Great Britain, but couldn't remember where, so thanks for that!

If anyone is mentally diseased, it's the family members who shun and the GB and its minions that enforce the destruction of families in the name of "love". Vomiting For those who are being shunned, (((Hugs!))), and please don't give up hope. I walked away from the organization after 42 years in because of this issue.  
  


What is needed for dramatic change is an accumulation of acts, adding, adding to, adding more, continuing. We know that it does not take everyone on Earth to bring justice and peace, but only a small, determined group who will not give up during the first, second, or hundredth gale.

One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. Soul on deck shines like gold in dark times. The light of the soul throws sparks, can send up flares, builds signal fires, causes proper matters to catch fire. To display the lantern of soul in shadowy times like these – to be fierce and to show mercy toward others; both are acts of immense bravery and greatest necessity.

Struggling souls catch light from other souls who are fully lit and willing to show it. If you would help to calm the tumult, this is one of the strongest things you can do.

Excerpts from, You Were Made for This, by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D