We've lived here for nearly 2 years now, and this is the first I've seen them, and I'm home most of the time. They caught me as I was taking the rubbish out; I didn't even realise they were in my front garden.
Anyway, it was the first warm Saturday we've had since last year, and here comes a mother with her young son. I felt so bad for him; he looked miserable. He wouldn't look up at me; spent the whole time with his eyes on the ground. He didn't smile at all, not once. It was obvious he wanted to be anywhere but there. I kept trying to speak to him, but he wouldn't talk at all. I kept commenting about how he should be out playing on such a gorgeous day, and I couldn't even draw him out about football. I asked him if he played football, and he shook his head no. His mum said he didn't like football, and said, "...as you can see," drawing notice to the fact that the poor little guy was obviously out of shape. (He must have taken after his mum, coz she was quite....round.)
Other than that, his mum seemed like a nice lady, but genuinely duped. She wasn't the brightest crayon in the box, either. They came to invite me to the district convention, and gave me one of those horrid little tracts.
Attempting to make a long story short, I left her the impression that I had been raised a JW, but "fell away" (to use her term) a long time ago, and that my family were still JWs. Technically, that's true. She just doesn't realise I'm DF'd. So I asked her if she could explain to me how they arrive at 1914. Like most JWs, she couldn't do it without reaching for a book. She pulled out the newish one called "What Does the Bible Really Teach?" or some such nonsense. I thought she was going to go for the Reasoning book I saw in her bag, but she didn't. She found some page about 70 weeks of years, etc. But she still couldn't explain it, and said she needed more than 5 minutes to properly do so. *stifles giggle, coz I could still "explain" it even now*
So I asked her (translate: reminded her) if they had to start at the date Jerusalem was destroyed to reach 1914 and if they taught that it was destroyed in 607, and she said yes. Then I pointed out that Jerusalem was NOT destroyed in 607, and that if she looked in any encyclopaedia, she would find it had been destroyed in 586-587, not 607. She said they went by what the Bible said, not by what any man said. I asked her if the Bible mentioned the date 607, and she said no. I explained that it had been proven that Jerusalem was not destroyed in 607. I also explained the "keep it simple" method previously posted on this board, by counting out the years each king ruled, etc. At first, she stood firm, and then later on, she started wavering. She came out with the typical SHEEP response of, "Even if we were wrong by 20-30 years, Armageddon will still come in its own time. It all comes down to faith." *gag*
She kept trying to give me that book, but I begged off on that, stating I was too busy to read it. (Again, true, but I wouldn't read it if I had all the time in the world.) I then brought up the UN. I specifically asked her if JWs were supposed to have nothing to do with the UN, and she said that was true, because it was the "disgusting thing that causes desolation." (All through the conversation, even before she knew I had been raised as a JW, she was using terms that no "worldly" person would understand, like "faithful and discreet slave.")
I then said that the WTBTS had joined the UN, and she just stared at me. I said the dates, and she denied it. She said, "Oh no, they'd NEVER do that!" She said I must have gotten false information somewhere.
In the end, I challenged her. I said, "If you're going to buy a car, say a Vauxhall, you don't just research the literature that Vauxhall give you, because it's obvious they'll tell you their car is wonderful. You have to do independent research. So I challenge you to look up when Jerusalem was destroyed in books other than what you're given at the Kingdom Hall." She said she would, and would return to me with what she had learned. I said I would dig out my old research as well, and she agreed. I watched her write my name and address down in her little book.
I wonder if she'll come back. Hee-hee!
I've got all the info written down, but I don't know if I have actual sources. Do any of you have the actual source material? I have certain websites, which I'll have to look over again to see if they list where the info came from. I also have a letter from the UN, stating that the WTS was an NGO.
I guess I'm still at the point in my life where I try to plant seeds of doubt. Maybe the little boy was listening. Bless the poor little guy...I hope he got to go play.