Did you ever know of someone who had a "study"?

by bluesbreaker59 11 Replies latest jw friends

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  bluesbreaker59

  Then you went with them on their "study", and it was with some dimwitted person who could barely tie their shoes? Or some single parent woman with 5 kids living in a shack? Or some lonely older person that just wants a "friend" to talk to?

  I've been on all these types of calls, and really hated it. It was obvious most of these people just wanted someone to talk to, and they'd constantly change the subject to something that WAS NOT about religion at all. I used to be cracking up in my head on these types of "calls"... Just totally ridiculous. My grandma used to call on an old guy in her town that just wanted to talk to someone, and he'd talk forever, about old times, his kids, etc. Then she'd go on and on about some scripture that are LOOSELY related.

  There was one woman in my old hall, a "pioneer", used to run magazines to people and all she'd do is talk to them about their family, or the weather and then at the very end she'd say, "Oh and here's your latest copy of the magazines"
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  Casper

  Are you Kidding...?

  talk to them about their family, or the weather and then at the very end she'd say, "Oh and here's your latest copy of the magazines"

  This was an everyday event in my old hall... to think of all the time that was counted on these visits....

  Cas
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  M.J.

  wow no wonder I was the "golden study" (or so it seemed).
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  changeling

  I've been on all the "studies" you decribed, mostly dragged by my mom. I've also been on "studies" where the insane(should have been in a loony bin) daughter of the "study" got out of her bedroom and tried to rip my mom's clothes off, while my 8 year old self watched in horror. Oh, and there was the "study" where not matter where you sat roches would end up crawling on you (sometimes you'd find them later in your bookbag). And the "study" where I went out to play in the back yard and the "study's" son tried to molest me.

  Yeah, I've been on a few "studies".

  changeling
• 

  mind my own

  At one point I had quite a few bible studies...not all of them were exactly credible.

  I at some point had all the kinds of "study" that you described. I had the ones that always wanted to talk about anything but the bible, the ones that had a zillion kids, the ones that were lonely, the ones that thought I was nice and couldn't say no, the ones that were learning english as their second language and used me to learn english, the ones that were trying to convert me to their religeon...the list continues. Anything to get my time in right? 90 hours was a lot!

  MMO
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  penny2

  It's certainly different now to the late 60s, early 70s when people were flocking in. They thought their lives beyond 1975 depended on getting baptized asap. If someone hadn't made a move towards baptism after 6 months of "study" they were abandoned.

  Soon there were loads more ministerial servants and pioneers. The kids were leaving school early to pioneer. People were selling their houses and going where the "need was great".

  Almost everyone had "studies". Looking back, it was much more like a cult then.

  penny
• 

  superman

  My favorite would be when some "hot" pioneer sister would call on some middle aged man who showed a crap-load of interest and then once she would try to bring a brother along to start a study/turn the call over, the middle aged man ironically enough would lose his enthusiasm and interest for the bible (Go-figure)!
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  Shawn10538

  Funny and true! My mom was one of those "social worker publishers." She was really just looing for charity cases to care for. Single woman with a ton of dirty kids. And the husband was never privvy, and if he was he was feared by the wife and the publisher as possibly evil and a potential persecuter of the wife's sincere desire to worship the true god.
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  WTWizard

  I have been dragged in on so many of these "calls" and "studies" while I was in, that it's enough to make me puke. I have seen houses that were totally filthy (dirty dishes filling the sink, mountains of clothing on the floor, etc) and the place was in disrepair. I have had to sit on chairs that were so wobbly that some of the older ones would have fallen. I even got dragged in on a call where a guy that was spitting blood into a mayonnaise jar every 30 seconds was there. And I am supposed to love that?

  Additionally, I have seen numerous other studies that went nowhere. I estimate that maybe only 3 or 4 of them ever went on to become unbpatized publishers. I have seen studies that went through the Suffer Forever book and the person was still not going to boasting sessions. Most were druggies. Obviously, I have better things to do with my time than waste it on calling on such people.
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  kurtbethel

  "My favorite would be when some "hot" pioneer sister would call on some middle aged man who showed a crap-load of interest and then once she would try to bring a brother along to start a study/turn the call over, the middle aged man ironically enough would lose his enthusiasm and interest for the bible (Go-figure)!"

  Don't laugh! This happened to me, after a fashion, in 2004. So the sister was not what I would call hot, but she was intelligent and spirited, and good company to have around for a bit of conversation each week. When she flipped me to an old geezer who was pushy and arrogant, you can bet it stumbled my chance to join the one true religion.

  My current conductor seemed overwhelmed about 6 months in, but I learned how to talk, and not talk to him and he has been doing fine for over a year. I told him I will stay with it for the full 4000 hours of preaching it takes to baptize someone.