First, let me apologize for my extended absence. I was out of the country and took a vacation a while back. When I came back, I realized that I had inadvertently broken my JWD addiction. I lead a very busy life--as most of us do--and realized that JWD was simply taking up way too much of my time. I did not do a farewell post since I still check this site on a daily basis and plan to participate in the discussion from time to time, just not as often as I once did. Now I'll get on to the point of this topic.
Some seven or eight years ago, an elder shared an illustration with me. He told me he had heard it from a circuit overseer a few years before, and that it had made a profound impact on him. In essence, the illustration was that some children are like rocks in a river. They are surrounded by water, but if you crack them open, they are completely dry on the inside. In like manner, some children (the rocks) are surrounded by water (the "truth") and even though they have been in that condition their entire lives, their insides (their figurative hearts) are dry (the "truth" never takes hold in their heart). This was, and still is, a very stoic, somber man, but when he shared the illustration with me, I could almost see the hair on the back of his neck stand up. It clearly still had an impact on him after all those year.
Much to my surprise, I watched the Godfather III on DVD for the first time years after its release, long after I had started to fall away from JWism, and I realized that the "moving" illustration was ripped off from that movie almost word for word. This particular scene involves Michael Corleone confessing his sins to Cardinal Lamberto (who in the movie later become Pope John Paul I). Lamberto tells Corleone the same illustration, but he uses the word "Christianity" instead of "the truth" to represent the water in which these rocks sit.
Obviously, I was more than a little amused, if not downright disturbed, especially since the Godfather movies are rated R and prohibited viewing for any JW in good standing. This poor brother must have revered this circuit overseer for his supposed wisdom not knowing that the true genius behind the illustration was probably either Mario Puzo or Francis Ford Coppola. I'm sure the circuit overseer must have gotten an equally favorable reaction from every congregation he visited.
Have any of you similarly heard illustrations used in JW talks or printed materials that were ripped off from secular sources?