[Cassidy]

Freedom>I am willing to accept Nigel's interpretation until someone comes along with a better one.

And you are entitled to that.

However, that benefit of the doubt is part of the fallacy that shores up the problem with Dr. Tomes' presentation. Here is what I mean;

Tomes is a Phd and no doubt he worked hard for it and earned it by the sweat of his brow... and the discipline required to complete one's dissertation is extensive and comes under critical review. Nothing is taken for granted, no benefit of the doubt is given, and a compelling presentation must cover all the bases and assumptions. Unfortunately, Dr Tomes' does not apply the same rigor in his attack writings on Witness Lee as one would expect from a man of his training.

For instance, Dr. Tomes assumes that there are no variables to the Google search engine trends that could be factors against his argument. Over the last decade Google search engine growth rate has declined, there have been new entrants to the search engine market, and geopolitical factors have blocked Google in huge growth markets such as China. He offers no explanation for these variables and their potential impact to the Google Trend he relied on.

Again, he asks the reader to join him in a leap of faith that the Google search engine is the mechanism whereby existing and new members will seek links to relevant LSM content. Apparently, Tomes misses the fact that links to the online web sites that have the writings of Witness Lee and Watchman Nee are already provided to members verbally or in print so that members, existing or new, do not need Google or any other search engine to find the material.

Furthermore, one could make a strong case that since most of the new members will bypass the search engines because they have direct links, then the ones left who are searching for information are, for the most part, not members of the local church and if that assumption is taken into account then the decline trend Tomes references is not disinterest from existing members or new members but disinterest from non-members who wanted to find out something about Lee & Nee..... people who might be trying to find a site like this one for instance. That would suggest the trend decline is an indicator of something quite different from what Tomes states.

But then Freedom, would you give that last scenario the benefit of the doubt? I think not because it is human to relegate to the less credible position the argument and the evidence that does not align with preconceived ideas and beliefs. Even though Tomes has presented but one dubious piece of evidence and does not address the numerous others variables he will, nonetheless, get a free pass with most in his preferred audience. With those who regard him he is considered as one of the initiated so what he says must be given the benefit of the doubt even if his argument lacks tangible facts to back it up. He provides a ton of reference and it gives the impression that his opinion is more than that. I think that is problem.. a very big and dangerous one actually.

I'll close with this: Google trends show a similar decline for the last decade for the Baptist denomination and also for Protestantism. Perhaps there is a bigger decline of interest in fundamental churches... or perhaps Google Trends does not provide enough information to infer anything at all. I think that is the case... it is just data and without a lot of other correlating data it remains just that. I hope so because the Google Trends also show rising interest for Zombies and the Underground Alien Base at Dulce!