I hope this thread generates some discussion as well as some amusement. I want to talk about "banned books". Back in the Middle Ages, the Roman Catholic Church issued its Index Librorum Prohibitorum, the List of Prohibited Books. Many prominent thinkers had their works listed because they took issue with Catholic teaching. But some works were named simply because Church authorities personally didn't like them, not for any doctrinal reasons.
Back when I was still in the organization, I got a shepherding call from the elders that was supposed to be encouraging. Such visits rarely were, but this one was particularly galling. I own some two thousand books, and my home at that time was wall-to-wall bookcases. Of course, I had a fair number of WTS publications, but those weren't prominently displayed or featured. Instead, books on mathematics, geography, history, science, and great works of literature crowded the shelves. I also love science-fiction and fantasy and my favorite all-time book is Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings.
Anyway, whenever different Witnesses would visit--which wasn't that frequently--they were usually staggered by my library. Some would make wisecracks about all the books and ask if I had yet read them all (I haven't). But they would also remark that they couldn't understand why I had so many "worldly" books and not that many of the WTS publications. I usually replied with the observation that more "worldly" books were published each year than WTS ones, and that anyway, "worldly" books were better written, had more interesting things to discuss, and were very often fun to read. Besides that, the books I collected spoke to my many varied interests. You can just imagine how that remark went over.
The books I received the most criticism over were, of course, Tolkien's works. "Don't you realize that his books are 'demonized'?" the elders would ask. "You're opening yourself up to demon influence when you read that stuff!" They would look embarrassed and surprised when I told them that Tolkien was a deeply religious man who was one of the translators of the Catholic Jerusalem Bible. How could a Bible translator be under demon influence, I would ask. The silence that followed was deafening.
Tolkien was a favorite target of the local Witnesses. But I was quite amused to learn that when the movies were released ten years ago, many local Witnesses not only went to see them, but acquired the videocassettes and later the DVDs! They would keep that secret and would only talk about their ownership in whispers or when nobody else was around. If the WTS ever published its own Index, I'm sure old Tollers would be near the top of its list. Does anybody else have any experiences to share about their reading habits and how the Witnesses viewed their choices? Has anyone ever been confronted with the notion that certain books should not be read or even handled by a Witness? What books do you think wold be "banned in Brooklyn"?
Quendi