Bible studies that lasted years......................

by vitty 8 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  vitty

  A post on another topic got me thinking of this

  What was the longest bible study you knew of ???

  I knew a couple of pioneer sisters who had studies that lasted about 6 years, maybe they were longer...............they never came to the meetings and when I accompanied a sister on hers. The first hour was chit chat and coffee, the next two comprised of going through 2 paragraphs and more chatting!!

  We both counted 3 hours each.................thats 6 hours counted time, where 2 paragraphs were read .................I kid you not

  There was a time when we were told after 6 months you had to finish an unproductive study, but that didnt last long.
• 

  RunningMan

  My mother had one that lasted at least five years. When she studied with the lady, sometimes I went along and studied in another room with the kids. I was around 10 at the time.

  Then the 6 month guideline came along. So, she studied another 6 months a broke it off. Both of them were quite sad.
• 

  Nosferatu

  Yeah, I was one of the "long" studies! Me and my dad both studied with an Elder for about 4 years. I became an unbaptized pub, but never baptized. My dad never got anywhere because he couldn't quit smoking.
• 

  Atpeaceatlast

  I began to study with a JW lady in the fall of 1979 when I was 13, and I studied with her until she got tired of me and of picking me up for meetings (some friend). That was in 1984 and I continued my study with another JW lady (a real back-stabbing bitch) until the fall of 1986 when I got tired of being in unbaptized limbo, the false friends and all the bad stuff going on in my congregation (not to mention getting into trouble with a boy from another congregation, heh, heh). I really wish they had the 6-month cutoff for studies. It would have saved me a lot of heartache and it would have forced me to look for friendship and love elsewhere. Oh well, sometimes you have to learn the hard way.
• 

  avidbiblereader

  Time, all this counting of time and for what? To impress, get the elders off your back? If you genuinely care and love the other person would they do it for no recognition at all? After all Jesus said not to blow your horns, left hand not know what right is doing, love doesnt look after its own interest.

  Let's be honest, it is a job to them and for status quo. I have seen studies last years and years as an ex elder, seen studies counted for elders wives for those that came back to be reprogrammed. I wonder how many hours Jesus and the apostles got in a month? This is one the stupidest things they ever came up with.

  abr
• 

  compound complex

  Dear Vitty,

  I recall a study in the mid-west that had been going on with an entire family for well over ten years when I arrived there. No push toward meetings, service or baptism as I remember.Then the TRUTH book came out - URGENCY! - and I remember the speaker saying that we would no longer be studying with people who simply "tolerated" having a study with JWs. Who's tolerating whom?

  CoCo
• 

  free2beme

  I knew an Asian man who studied for about three years to learn to speak English better. He admited later, he never believed it for a moment, but the study did help him speak better.
• 

  blondie

  This was very much the case pre-Truth (blue) book. Then the 6-month study program started in full swing and it was specifically mentioned that the days of studying with people for years was over. The elders kept a close eye on studies that lasted more than 2 years in the congos I went to. I suppose they aren't all that anal.

  Blondie
• 

  bythesea

  Vitty...my own bible study lasted almost 6 yrs, which is longer than I've known anyone elses to be...until reading above that others have been as long too! My teacher was an elder's wife...a very timid shy thing who made the study excrutiating to sit through...I was always glad when she brought other sisters with her so I had someone to relate to! To question anything in the books flustered her so that I quickly decided to just agree and go along rather than rattle her with questions... which is one of the reasons it probably took me so long to decide to be baptized....

  During that 6 yrs we went through so many books and finally just were studying the WT lessons together. I had started going to meetings after a couple of years, joined the school, was an unbaptized publisher for a couple of yrs before getting dunked....and far as I know I have been her only "success" story. Think of all the hours she got to count on me for that long!!