After doing extensive personal research on the subject, I've found that those hours would be better spent here on JWN... or drinking beer and watching TV... or sleeping... or making lists of better things to do than study WT litteratrash.
Is this really a balanced life?
by ShawnS 14 Replies latest jw friends
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WTWizard
The instruction not to post the personal study schedule is enough. Spending 8 hours a week might be sensible if it was a subject you were really interested in and were trying to learn something. This might even be too little, if you are trying to start your own business.
But, if you are simply studying the same rubbish week after week, it is way too much. Suppose I spend it learning to fix computers, and start my own business. The hours spent studying will pay off when I can fix a computer after the big box shop gives up on it. But, if you don't have a damn thing to show for it, you are simply wasting your time and energy.
My claim is that starting with the basics is the most efficient way to study a religion. Learn the platform--that should be a paragraph at most. With Christianity, it is that all mankind are scum because of what Adam did, Jesus' dying was the way out of that, and that his sacrifice was a complete and perfect sacrifice to which nothing ever need be added (this last clause is always violated by Christian churches, because they insist on additional sacrifice). If you narrow it down to what Jesus said, you are going to get a clearer picture (looking up the Gnostic texts is even better than limiting yourself to the Bible). Better is if you can use Jesus' teachings like you would a course, and ultimately get good enough so it will be redundant.
How much time? To get the core essence of a religion, 30 seconds is all you really need. You might find the time to read a page a day, or a portion of a page a day. Or, you might feel like spending a good 15 minutes at once reading a particular teaching. Or a whole hour. This will fluctuate as you learn more, and rely less on studying in the future (at which point the time spent on religious reading will diminish). But, under no circumstances is spending a mandatory 8 hours a week reading and studying the same rubbish acceptable.
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ShawnS
<a href="http://s1147.photobucket.com/albums/o546/ShawnS4/?action=view¤t=WitnessSchedule.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1147.photobucket.com/albums/o546/ShawnS4/WitnessSchedule.jpg" border="0" alt="Photobucket"></a>
Link is for a copy of the schedule
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AnnOMaly
Hmm. The font looks similar to that used on public talk outlines. Is this a privately-done schedule? Or has it come from the WTS (perhaps formerly used in one of the Elder's or Ministerial Training or Pioneer Schools or something?)?
Anyway, whatever its source, it would be a SUGGESTED schedule. This elder or whoever designed it is not "master over [anybody's] faith" so your hubby can take from it what he wants and ignore whatever he wants. The only likely problem for your hubby will be his feeling pressured and guilty for not reaching the ideal :-( If the elder (or whoever) tries to lay that on him, he should politely tell him where to stick his schedule ;-)
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