My husband who was raised as a Witness & has recently considered getting baptised brought home a "Personal Study Schedule". This study schedule was given to him by an Elder and clearly states at the top "DO NOT POST TO ANY ELECTRONIC SERVICE SUCH AS THE INTERNET" - that alone makes me wonder - why are they hiding it??
Anyway, the schedule breaks down every day, clearly states how much time you should be spending reading the bible & JW literature each day through the week. The total hours in a week - slightly over 8.
What bothers me about this situation is the following: A normal person works 8-9 hours a day then there is commute time. In my husbands case he is away from the house 11 hours a day. You sleep at least 8 hours a night. You spend an hour each day on personal care, showering, brushing your teeth, using the restroom, getting dressed etc. Probably another 1.5 hours on daily stuff like eating breakfast & dinner with your family, washing dishes, putting away your laundry etc. If you add all that up, it leaves my husband with 2.5 hours out of any given 24 hour period to spend time with our children, help with homework, attend the occasional soccer practice, help get the little ones bathed & ready for bed, read them stories before bed etc.
Is it me or does 8 hours a week seem CRAZY and an unrealistic expectation?
Sure there is the weekend to read but we also have to clean house, mow the lawn, general upkeep on our home & try to make up for the lost quality time we missed during the week with our children. For those of you who will say going to the meeting on Sunday is "quality family time"...that's a joke...getting a 5yr old & 3yr old to find a "talk" interesting isn't possible. I also do not believe the "talks" on Sunday are generally appropriate for all ages. When an Elder is giving a talk and words in the talk such as RAPE & ADULTERY & INCEST are used....sorry but I don't think those are words that should be used in the presence of small children. A 5yr old should not be exposed to those words & have to ask their parents afterwards.."Mommy what is RAPE?"