Overheard in a public library (page 2)

under_believer

Leolaia, it shouldn't surprise me, but it does. My God... though from what I understand from reading CoC it's actually among the more scholarly and mainstream of the Society's publications. I wouldn't know--like I said I never used it except for research for talks and whatnot.
Confession--are you KIDDING me? You started on an audiobook version?!?!
The more I post on here the more I realize just how strange the Witness world was (and I was right in the thick of it!)

Confession

Confession--are you KIDDING me? You started on an audiobook version?!?!

Yes, Under. The key word is "started." As the hours ticked away and I still wasn't out of the ABs, my ambition deflated. It was kind of like standing on the edge of the Grand Canyon and staring mouth agape at the hopeless immensity of it all.

Leolaia

Yeah, I read it for fun....I ate all that stuff up. I was hungering for real info on the Bible, and that book was far more interesting to me than all the books going on and on about 1919.

You have to understand, I was writing my own commentary on Genesis in 8th grade. Now of course, I would not agree with a word of it today, but I was soooo into obscure things like Peleg in Genesis 10 and comparing the geneologies in 1 Chronicles with Genesis. Good times! I remember the time I stayed home from school in 8th grade, just so I could research and figure out more things about Enoch. Or my massive attempt to harmonize Sumerian/Akkadian chronology and Egyptian chronology with the 2370 BC date for the Flood.

What annoyed me about the Aid book was the predictable way it treated archaeological evidence. The Amurru of ancient texts do not neatly fit the Amorites of the Bible? Well, they're a totally different people and the name is a coincidence. The Hittites of ancient texts do not neatly fit the Hittites of the Bible? Well, they're a totally different people and the name is a coincidence. The Habiru of ancient texts do not neatly fit the Hebrews of the Bible? Well, they had nothing to do with them and the name is a coincidence. And so on and so on.

under_believer

Leolaia--
Man, I thought I was an early intellectual bloomer; I was nothing like that. In the 8th grade my main interests were computer programming, video games, science fiction, and trying (rather unsuccessfully) not to get beat up in school.
If you don't mind my asking (and perhaps you've already answered this in another thead) how were you able to harmonize the truths you were discovering on your own, vis a vis archaeology and the Biblical account, discrepancies in various ethnic chronologies, and conflicting accounts in the Bible (like your example geneologies)? Did you become a more liberal-style Christian? I guess I'm just curious how all that early study affected your faith, especially in the Witnesses and the Society.
Personally, probably through a study of the humanities (via fiction and literature and drama and poetry) and science, rather than archaeology and history, I found myself doubting major portions of the Society's doctrine at a very early age, probably in an organized way around the time I went into middle school, and nebulously before that.
I became adept at suppressing these thoughts, though.

Severus

Or my massive attempt to harmonize Sumerian/Akkadian chronology and Egyptian chronology with the 2370 BC date for the Flood.

You have to love the geek!

Panda

Was that Pio Sister following you? What in the world was she doing there? Probably just wanted to get your folks in trouble because they weren't raising you correctly.

hideme

Hi, Leolaia,

I can imagine. When I was 8 years old I read the bound volumes of watchtower and awake - for fun. (Though the Malawi stories were not much fun, and too scary for a child of course.) My brother read the insight book in english while still a child, because in Dutch they had not been published yet. My biggest gift when I was baptised was the Study-bible, and I was HAPPY with it.

Some children are really weird LOL.

I was, like the person who started this thread, a book worm too. Every week, ten books! And when we had holidays, we went to library with my brothers and sisters, so together we had 40 or more books to read during vacation... those were the days...

Now my children are reading a lot of books too. But I make sure: No bound volumes or Insight books...

Leolaia

Yeah, for me it was a long learning experience. I started out with rather conservative assumptions (in harmony with the WTS) and wanted to reconcile external evidence and history with the Bible (as well as the Society's interpretation of it), but the sheer weight of probability and preponderance of evidence made me rethink these assumptions. The apologetic framing of such views by the Society as "attacking the Bible" was again something I accepted early on, but then I realized that an honest appraisal of real literary and historical issues did not necessarily have such a motive. Much of the experience was valuable in helping me learn to think independently, as well as discovering that the Society itself has not been honest in the way it supports its own doctrinal claims. But I feel like I'm always a student perpetually....there is always something new to discover about the Bible, some new layer or connection to be investigated.

Leolaia

I was, like the person who started this thread, a book worm too. Every week, ten books! And when we had holidays, we went to library with my brothers and sisters, so together we had 40 or more books to read during vacation... those were the days...

Did they have an "MS Read-A-Thon" in Holland? I did those a few times. Sounds like you would've been an ideal fundraiser.

I borrow and read (and scan) a ton of books too from the library....and download articles from e-journals. I just checked...there's currently 3,300 Bible-related journal and book articles on my desktop. And I'm hoping to reach 5,000 by the year's end. So much to read, so little time.

gaiagirl

The situation as you described it would make a very good Hardy Boys (or Nancy Drew) cover: imagine a dimly lit corner of the library, a 13 year old, dressed in Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew style clothing, with a stack of books backing away from a sinister appearing adult who is staring with "Jesus Eyes" (perhaps glowing a little in the dim light) : )

Overheard in a public library

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