even simple questions tend to send them back to check those questions out with other sources...and, not being a JW, I don't know what those sources are.
They have a 2-volume "encyclopedia" called "Insight on the Scriptures" as well as a little brown book called "Reasoning from the Scriptures." The JW I'm studying with mainly refers to these sources when I ask him questions. He was willing to order them for me, so I have been reading them for myself. These books explain most of the commonly raised scriptures in such a way as to show how they supposedly fit the overall WT doctrine. The JW's I have talked to seem to think that these books are objective, credible, and scholarly. However, they do not independently evaluate them. They will occasionally consider portions of non-WT sources that agree with the WT. However, whenever a non-WT source says something that disagrees with the WT, no matter how sensible, they assume that the WT is correct. Therefore, when they tell you they are "researching," they don't quite mean what most people mean. When they research, they are simply looking for information that reinforces WT teaching in their minds, which for the most part means digging into other WT publications.
At the Kingdom Halls, do they not study the scriptures chapter by chapter? Or do they say, "Today's topic is what happens when you die," and then only the verses they use are fed to them?
How are the meetings structured? They have a church service on Sunday, but what sort of Sunday School classes do they have? And don't they have some sort of meeting on Wednesday?
To answer your question, you have to go and observe. Sunday is a public talk and a WT study. The public talk means an elder chooses from a list of outlines generated by the WT and speaks what the outline says. The WT study is where the congregation goes over that week's WT study article (not from the public version of the WT with the colorful pictures, but instead from an internal version of the WT called the "study edition" which has less pictures). Each paragraph in the article is numbered. There are questions at the bottom of each page with numbers corresponding to the paragraphs. One man on the platform reads a paragraph, then then another man on the platform asks the corresponding question, then people raise their hands to answer. The man on the platform calls on people and a "microphone man" goes to the person and gives them the mic to answer. Although many just answer by repeating what was in the paragraph, at times some people expand a little bit on the question, but it is always a mixture of other WT teaching they have learned. I have never heard someone answer in such a way that disagrees with what the paragraph said. So, although on the surface it has the look of a "group study," it is really just a repetition of what the article says.
As for Wednesday (or another weeknight), that is the combination of Book Study, Theocratic Ministry School, and Service Meeting. They go over a section of the WT booklet that is assigned for that year. This year the booklet is about Jesus' life and is called "Come be my Follower." The booklet has the same numbered paragraph/question structure as the WT study articles. After the book study, they do have something called Bible Highlights and a Scripture reading. Here they do take a section of scripture chosen by the WT and comment on it. Sometimes it sounds like they are reading from some kind of commentary that I'm not aware of - perhaps another internal WT pub? Not sure. I'm not privy to all of their internal publications because my "Bible study" "teacher" says I'm "not ready" to read them. Some of these internal publications are "Organized to do Jehovah's Will," "Benefit From Theocratic Ministry School," and their "Kingdom Ministry" newsletter. I directly asked if I could have or borrow them & even offered a donation for them, but my "teacher" staunchly refused. After that, they go into methods of approaching people and how to handle "conversation stoppers," etc. They do little skits to demonstrate. There's also another talk given by an elder on a topic chosen by the WT for that week's service meeting.
At the beginning and end, they sing a song (chosen by the WT) and the elder prays. The songs are out of a WT songbook, and the lyrics reinforce their ideas - even singing about things like how we should be loyal to those who "take the lead," etc.
