Was David Splane Calling Out Toxic JW Culture?

I found it curious how during this month’s broadcasting David Splane called out a very toxic aspect of JW culture: Judging Others.

Ever since I was little JW have been encourage to continuously judge each other. Meeting attendance, participation on field services, raising your hand during the WT study, among other things were an indicator of your spirituality and your love for Jehovah. Not meeting certain standards of participation could make you an outcast or considered bad association. Watchtower publications promoted this behavior by constantly implying that these deeds were the measure of someone’s love for Jehovah.

So, I found it interesting that David Splane called out this toxic aspect of jw culture during his talk for the Gilead graduates. He gave a couple of examples of how jw judge others instead of showing real love and personal interest. I particularly liked that example about a sister that was not attending meetings but was seen shopping at the supermarket. I could almost hear the elders saying “she can go to the market, but can never come to the meetings”. Upon a closer look at the sister’s situation they realized she was indeed very ill and that she was using all her strength to purchase groceries as no one was helping her. How many times have people been judged and deemed spiritually weak instead of really caring for their problems and needs?

Now, what Splane didn’t say was mention was how the Watchtower's publications have promoted this culture for decades by constantly telling members that spirituality and love for Jehovah’s was proportional to the amount of participation on "spiritual activities".

While it is wonderful that they are now asking people to be less judgmental and show personal interest instead, I imagine it will probably take a long time to change a culture that has been celebrated for decades, no matter how toxic it is. I’d love to see jw congregations embrace these new attitude but it will require a complete overhaul of congregation dynamics, something I doubt all elders will understand or support.