When I was a kid, my parents (strong in the truth: father elder, mother regular pioneer) encouraged me to read. In reality, they could hardly have held me back; I come from a long line of bookworms, including my father. Books were like water. Thankfully, even though they were "strong," they still allowed (and even encouraged, on my father's part) me to read secular, non-Witness publications. I read everything--from pages right out of the dictionary, to encyclopedia articles, to treatises on human sexuality (at a young age, too!), to Hardy Boys novels. But my biggest love was, and is, science fiction.
So I spent a lot of time at the library. My mother brought me there every week and I always brought home a huge stack of books, which I'd rip through during the next 7 days and be ready to turn in. She, being the more spiritual-minded of my parents, often worried that I was neglecting personal study and Bible reading, a well-founded fear, actually, because that is exactly what I was doing. I strongly believe that this devotion to reading and exposure to secular material had a lot to do with my gradually developed ability to think for myself.
There was a couple in our hall. They were childless, and were in their early 40's (this would have been in the 80's.) They had served for many, many years as missionaries in Africa. Both of them had malaria from mosquito bites, a disease which you never get rid of--it only goes into remission. They didn't seem like bad folk, though they were hardcore. They were both still serving as regular pioneers (the husband was an elder) and they supported themselves via tentmaking (haha just kidding--it was janitorial.) We had them over for dinner to our house many times and they were well known to us.
One day I was in the library after school. This was after I had gone into middle school, and was I was old enough to walk to the library by myself. I had, as was my custom, a big stack of books. I was still perusing the stacks a bit, but was about to check out and walk home.
The aforementioned pioneer sister was there. I don't know to this day why she was in there; I don't know how she had time to read anything, with her schedule of pioneering, door to door ministry, Bible studies, and housework. Maybe she was there to find ME.
Because she walked up to me, and she said, "what books do you have there?"
"I dunno," I said. Even at this point I was smart enough to keep quiet about secular material, especially stacks of secular material that included Heinlein.
"Seriously, what books do you have?" she said.
I reluctantly showed her. I happened to have Stranger in a Strange land, and believe it or not I still hadn't completely grown out of Hardy Boys. Incongruous choices for a 13 year old, I suppose, but I was long past the age of having my parents vett my reading material.
Even though Stranger was by far the more objectionable book, dealing, as it does, with a homosexual alien Messiah whose followers eat him after he's dead, she zoned in on Dixon. Hardy Boys books, for the uninitiated, are kind of like Scooby Doo, which was actually heavily influenced by them. They would have some creepy supernatural-looking picture on the cover, like a skull or something, but in the end everything would turn out to be Caretaker Jenkins faking ghostly possession to... I dunno, get written into Old Man Withers' will, or something.
I tried to explain this to her, but she wasn't having any of it. She confiscated the book, and looked at me with eyes that showed white all the way around. I since took to calling those eyes the Jesus Eyes. At the time, they just scared the hell out of me.
After staring at me for a few seconds, she said "Have you read the Aid book from cover to cover?" She was referring to the Witnesses' Bible dictionary Aid to Bible Understanding. It has since been replaced by the Insight on the Scriptures book, an almost-identical work with some updated "new light." It was (and is) over 1,600 pages long. Big pages.
I laughed. She didn't. She was serious.
".... Ummmm, no, I haven't. I only use it for research. Have you?"
"Yes, of course I have. I am on my second time through."
I casually put down my stack of books on a nearby shelf and backed away, a little bit. Keep in mind that I was a True Believer at this point--I was definitely one of Jehovah's Witnesses.
"Are you serious? You've read the entire Aid book?"
"Yes, of course. And you should read it too."
The hair rose up on the back of my neck. I backed up a couple more feet. And half-turned. I was prepared at this point to cut my losses, leave my treasures on the shelf, and run for my life.
"Ok, well, see you later," I managed. I couldn't think of anything else to say. I turned my back and started walking.
She called my name as my hand was on the door of the library. I turned and she said "Jehovah sees everything you do, he knows everything you read." This was in public. Other people could hear.
I said, "OK!" and literally ran out the door. I ran all the way home.
The next meeting I looked around during the Watchtower study and she was staring at me with those wide, wide Jesus Eyes.
Overheard in a public library
by under_believer 38 Replies latest jw friends
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under_believer
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lovelylil
That was creepy, I hope I can go to sleep now.
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Purza
"Have you read the Aid book from cover to cover?"
As sad as this sounds, I am sure she was being truthful. I wonder if she is still a practicing JW.
Purza
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PopeOfEruke
a homosexual alien Messiah whose followers eat him after he's dead..!
If you got the Jesus eyes for Hardy boys, what would you got if she read this book?? The Jehovah anus???
Have you read any stuff by Roger Zelazny?? He's my favorite!!
Pope
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Leolaia
LOL, I had read the Aid book cover to cover at least twice before starting high school.
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PopeOfEruke
Leo layer
Thats nuttin'!!! Would you believe I read the Aid book cover to cover twice, second time in the opposite direction before I started Kindergarten!
Pope
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PopeOfEruke
Would you believe 2 tracts and an Awake?
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ringo5
Leo layer
Thats nuttin'!!! Would you believe I read the Aid book cover to cover twice, second time in the opposite direction before I started Kindergarten!
Pope
HA, no doubt more interesting the second time! -
GermanXJW
But the second time you already knew the ending.
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Confession
That was just creepy. The idea that this woman thought she could intervene in this situation is ridiculous. The Aid book cover to cover? Don't think I ever heard of that one before.
Five or six years ago, one elder friend of mine asked me to record the entire two volume set of Insight on the Scriptures. He liked to listen to tapes in his car and, since voiceovers is how I make my living, he thought I could just little-by-little record chunks of it. I thought, "Heck, I'll give it a go."
I cannot tell you the painful hours I spent with this thing. Just imagine...
"ABI: See Abijah number seven.
ABI-ALBON: A Benjaminite and outstanding warrior listed among 37 of King David's most valiant fighters...
ABI-ASAPH: One of the three sons of Korah the Levite, and a descendant of Kohath...
ABI-ATHAR: A son of High Priest Ahimelech, of the tribe of Levi and of the line of Eli...
A-BIB (meaning green ears): The original name of the first lunar month of the Jewish sacred calendar and of the seventh month of the secular calendar..."
The above contains brief sentences for each word. But often there are huge paragraphs and pages for these entries. I swear to God, I went forever with this stuff in my studio--and never got out of the ABs.
Leolaia, I know you're a different breed. Good for you, getting through the entire Aid book--twice!! But for me? Maybe if this were a paying project...