I took the advice of the forum and informed him I wouldlike to study the bible. He arrived case in hand and pulled out the Draw Close to Jehovah Publication.
I said I thought we were going to study the bible...He then said well this is a bible publication...I said has not past publications contained errors and changes in teachings while the bible remains true. He said yesssss.......Do you have something inparticular you want to look at in the bible.....I said I thought we could start in Matthew and work our way through. Then he says I really just want to determine where you stand on out core beliefs. He asked me if I had any trouble with our NWT..so I said well not really its like most other translations it has good points but flaws and errors as well. He said errors.......I said the same people who wrote the WT publications which we all acknowledge have required changes and have also had errors wrote the NWT, does it not stand to reason they would have made some mistakes given the huge task of translating the bible. He said I guess so.... I asked him who was the messenger who prepared the way for the Lord..he said John the baptist...then I asked who did he prepare the way for...he said Jesus..I said ok then why does it say he prepared the way for Jehovah in the NWT and showed him the verses. He looked and said that was a minor matter..pretty important to get the correct understanding of the bible isn't it I asked.
He told me I was knitpicking the scriptures and that if I wanted to jump back and forth between verses I can find negative things to dwell on.
Then I asked him if individual bible writers put events in order or put them out of sequence so that we could try to fit it together. He said they put things in order.
I asked what is the sequence in Luke 21...... last days , Great Tribulation, end of Gentile times he said yes thats right. So I said if The Gentile times ended in 1914 why do we say the last days began after 1914 which is clearly different from the sequence given in Luke and Matthew. He then said well sometimes the events of the scriptures are not put down in sequence. I said but the end of the Gentile times mentioned in Luke is what ended the Great tribulation. He said the bible is a very complicated book and and its clear I cannot understand it on my own.
He then said do you still have a problem with dates like 1914, 1918...etc. I said not really but the organization really seems to be hung up on them. He smiled and said what do you mean ...I said the Isaiah book constantly refers to 1914, 1918, 1919 especially the latter two as the dates when we came out of Babylonian capytivity into truth...I asked him to show me one single change in the teaching of those years or subsequent years which was a new teaching at that time and if so one that we still adhere too. He said it was a gradual cleansing process and being patient is the mark of a true christian..I said really I thought it was true worship practised with mercy and love.
All in all I shared several scriptures with him and he never touched the bible in 90 minutes. He is going to come next week possibly with the CO. The only good I can see was that when my wife asked me how it went and did he discuss my bible questions, I told her no he didn't want to discuss the bible because he said it is too difficult to understand.
She went silent............
I was quite depressed over the study as I have been pretty mixed up in my beliefs...the WTBTS has almost shattered my belief or faith in God, Jesus and the bible. I'm struggeling with it and decided to pray fervently for direction and to open the eyes of the ones I love and also this elder. Didn't happen.......
Oh well I guess only God can draw ones out of darkness into light and for now I'll keep plodding along on my present course...Thanks to everyone on the forum for your helpful advice and support.