My neighbor called yesterday and asked if she could come over and visit me today. Of course, I said yes!
Unfortunately, I over-roasted the espresso beans, and we had to "settle" for regular El Salvadoran coffee. She brought donuts, so it was a good setting.
First we chatted about 45 minutes about her personal situation and frustrations. I began to believe that we'd run out of time for what I'd hoped we'd do, which was have her look at a selection of pyramid/mason articles that I'd found that were very straightforward, with references and pictures, and not "hysterical". As it turned out, we did not get to do this, but we did have a very important discussion and a quick look at another site.
My neighbor brought with her (and left behind) the folder with papers I'd given her last time. She told me that she'd shown them to an elder, who looked thru them. He told her that I was trying to destroy her faith and sow doubts. Also, that whoever was doing research on the JWs was a vindictive and angry person, just trying to dredge up things to cause trouble! She wanted to know WHY I was so determined to share this stuff with her. Did I feel good tearing down things?
I paused and thought... and just told her the truth. I said, "I have believed that you cared about things that were true. And I care about you. If I didn't care about you, or else felt that you would shrug off everything with an excuse, I don't think I'd have mentioned anything. A few weeks ago, you told me that you were concerned about anything that was bothering me, and I could share anything with you. Well, this is bothering me! And I feel the struggle of knowing things that are, I think, important to us both, and how this will affect you. I don't enjoy causing you to be upset!"
So we continued with a heart-to-heart of sorts. It's an interesting thing to talk about the things we are REALLY feeling, and our thoughts about each other. It was a strengthening thing; I told her that I appreciated her listening to me. She told me that she felt at a loss at being handed all these papers; unprepared. I told her I was sorry about the way it felt for her, but when she mentioned that she had to leave at a certain time, I felt pressed to make it through. She smiled.
We began talking about our differences again, and she explained that all the true doctrine (JW doctrine) was plain to see in the Bible. Jesus said that there'd be a F&D slave class, and that...
"Jesus said there'd be a class?" I asked, innocently. "Well, no, but it's been understood that there's ALWAYS been a group of leaders, and they are a class, and they are the F&D slave." "Well, the Catholics could argue very well for being the F&D slave." "The Catholics use certain verses," she said, "but if you studied the verses in the original language then you couldn't come up with their interpretation."
I replied, "Well, it looks like interpretation is a big issue. The Catholics list their Bible verses and stand on them, and claim that they are following the Bible. The JWs list their Bible verses, and claim the same. They point at each other and say, 'your interpretation is wrong'. So, how do I know that the WTS is the F&D slave, and not the Catholic church?"
Well, the Catholic pope's history... oh, you know, the terrible things that popes did.. Stock answer.
I told her that it appeared to me that there were big parallels between the Catholics and the WTS as far as history went. Here, she got a little ruffled, and said NO. I said, well, it's easy to look at Catholic history and find out what people said and did. When I look at WT history, I do see similar troubles.
"People all make mistakes!"
"Of course! I'm very tolerant of mistakes, actually. Every church and organization makes mistakes. But don't you see that the crux of the issue is whether the WTS is the F&D slave or not? And it is important to verify this point, just like for the Catholics?"
I continued: If we studied a large group of people and discovered that they all ate and drank the same food, but half of them were overweight while the other half were slim, we have to throw out diet as the factor. Then we discover that it turns out that half of the group are walking 2 miles each day for excercise. This is the place that shows the difference, not the diet. You say and I say that the Bible must be believed and followed. But history shows that millions of people read the Bible and go one direction, while a small group of people read the WT and end up in another direction. It seems clear that the ONLY factor that is making a difference is the WT's teachings, because we both claim to be following the Bible. So, it is important for me to examine them carefully.
She finally caught my drift.
She asked me, what would I say to a witness who came to the door? I answered, "If a witness came to my door, I'd say that I have a lot of red flags, a lot of obstacles that must be answered. If the witness could give me a satisfactory answer on these and take away the red flags, then of course I'd be able to go forward and look more openly at their organization." She seemed satisfied with that.
She then asked me some questions about the preaching work of protestants--why don't they do this? I laughed and said that she was just unaware of it, and told her of different projects and programs of individual and combined churches. I expected her to treat this with contempt, but she didn't; she listened and thought.
I don't recall how we got onto our last topic, but she was listing things that we had in common, and mentioned "Jesus is our mediator..." and without thinking twice, I said, "Jesus is YOUR mediator?" She looked at me like I had been drinking anti-freeze. "OF COURSE. WHO ELSE!!?" We had an interesting few moments while I tried to convince her that the WT was teaching that Jesus was NOT the mediator for the large flock, but only the annointed. She was a bit exasperated. I asked her if she wanted to make a bet, but she scowled and said, "I don't bet!" I replied, if you are certain on this, well, maybe you should consider it! (And you know what, she is making a bet, truly--she is betting everything in her life on the validity of the WT.)
Sooooo, we went to the computer and I found a site that had a lot of quotes from the WT about Jesus being the mediator only for the annointed. She felt that this person was vindictive and hateful. I matched her level of enthusiasm with, "Look, I have NO WAY on my own to verify these things! I need YOU to do this, because I don't have any original documents here. I always try to find a scan of a document in order to verify that a quote is genuine [I didn't have any scanned documents ready for this particular subject, btw, just quotes with references], because I want to that the information is TRUE..." I also mentioned that, of course, the interpretation of these things must be honest as well, and not making mountains out of molehills.
She took a short list of references, and told me bluntly: "If this guy gets ONE quote wrong... HE'S DONE as far as I'm concerned!" I told her, "Great! No problem! Like I said, I've no way to verify this like you can with original documents, and you will be doing me a great favor! If he's wrong, I really would like to know!!" I was excited! I told her that she could really help me get to the bottom of it!
Her face lost its anger, and took on a look of determination. She nodded in agreement to this. I have a feeling that she will be greatly disappointed in what she finds.
They were good donuts, and the regular brew subbed well for the cappucino. And though the conversation went a different direction than I'd planned, it was very good. One phrase that she said several times during our conversation was that of "sowing doubts": Was that my motivation? Is that the motivation of these internet sites?...
All I could think was, I do hope that this can be translated into meaning that subconciously, YOU are really having doubts, especially as you verify each thing I have shown you....
bebu
