So many times when I was in field service, I would run across people who wanted to argue scripture. Some were pretty good, they knew their stuff and we would spend hours going over this point and that point. It was some times, kind of educational on both sides, but more often then not ... it was a waste of two hours. Mainly because I was a stubborn Jehovah's Witness and the householder was stubborn with his beliefs. I remember many conversations ending with both thinking we were still more right then the other. We would end with some statement like "Only time will tell." The reason I would say this, was I felt one day this man would see the Great Tribulation and Armageddon and would know I was right and see his stubbornness burn him. When I think back and read about the history of the Watchtower, I see all sorts of events happening like this. Where people were debating the Bible. Each looking up this point, and then countering with another point. Back and forth it would go like a tennis match, with the ball being hit into the opponent direction and then hit back a moment later. What I notice though, is that many of these past Witnesses felt that they would be justified in their stance one day, because "time would tell" and thus they had a smug look of "your going to get it in the end." So what happened to all these men who debated, and what happened to me? Well time went on, first days and then weeks. Then as the weeks piled up, years went by and then decades. Soon these men that debated with fire in the heart, were leaving this world as old men. They did not have anymore life to give, and their debating days had reached their end. . The end they thought would hit soon, was now a warning they had been sounding for their entire wasted life. It might have been 30 years or maybe even 60 years, but in the end, "time did tell" something. What was that? It told us that these men saying the end was near, and saying that the scriptures said this and that, to the point that they spent a life time debating it ... "Only time will tell", and it has, these men were wrong. They took some ancient writing and cut it into little pieces to fit their beliefs and put a timetable on it, and in the end they grew old and died. They debated with a passion for their God, but in reality they wasted the life they had. What about me, what took me from a Pioneer and Elder to someone who left. Well I think my example is common today. You see a lot of people get raised in the religion, or converted to it in recent years, with the passion that the days are numbered. We think that we need to do as much as possible and fight the good fight. As we do this, we start to see our own years passing, while we see these older men that talk about preaching for 50 years. Our eyes start opening a little bit, and we realize this message we think is so important and timely, is something that millions have wasted years preaching. Many like myself looked at these old men, and their wasted life and wondered, "What is their time telling me?" The answer for some might have been fear, not knowing what to do. For me, it was "learn from another's mistake and get out!" Thus, the answer to why I am no longer go out in field service debating the Bible with this householder and that preacher. I am actually living my days, and enjoying my moments. I feel like I found what "time" was suppose to tell me, and I am happy that others have as well. I do have one sadness though. That is that so many wasted years have and still pass with those who have not figured this out in the Kingdom Halls. Yes, time told me something alright and it was loud and clear "get a real life, and stop wasting this one" My thought Dragon
Edited by - kenpodragon on 7 October 2002 14:3:37