My Lunch with an active JW today

by Terry 24 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Double Edge

  Terry,

  I find your postings very interesting and insightful. I've never been a dub, but I have a close friend who is one. I'm going to use some of the information you just posted as ammunition. I also like the way you write.

  Thanks.

  Double Edge
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  Terry

  Thank you , Double Edge

  I have seven children and much experience in how to explain something to them so that they can understand it. I also have the mind of a child myself!

  On the other hand, I love to read books that are too deep for me. I'll read a paragraph, stop, and then try to explain it to myself before I continue. Page by page I'll link my explanations to self until I've finished the chapter. Then, I hunt down a victim who'll stand and listen as I explain the whole thing I've just read. Invariably, they will raise a question I had not thought of; and this sends me into investigation mode

  Each time I plan to have lunch with Johnny I think very hard about at least ONE topic I want to discuss. I cram like I'm going to have a college exam. I anticipate all his normal objections and prepare for them as a trial lawyer would.

  Often, there is no way to force one of these "preps". But, I collect them mentally like cue cards. Then, if an opening comes (which it does sooner or later) I can mentally pull it out and use it.

  Johnny is a master of deflection technique. He has many ways of avoiding what he doesn't want to face. For that I've concentrated a lot on hearing "fundamentals" in his objections; which is to say "key points". I laser in on the key and ignore all the rest. I'm not afraid to repeat myself until my view becomes clear.

  Astonishingly, Johnny will sometimes come back weeks or months later and repeat to me something I TOLD HIM and act like he discovered it on his own!! That only proves to me he listens, learns, and must go off an tell __somebody__else.

  So, who knows? It is like wearing away marble with drops of rain.
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  BrendaCloutier

  Terry, your second post is as awesome and informative as your first.

  I have never liked Paul very much, with the exception of his section on Love to the Corinthians. I always felt he was egocentric and hated women, or at least barely tolerated them for their limited uses. And this since I was a teenager.

  I was aware that he was a gentile and that he didn't, or barely, spoke or wrote hebrew. If I recall, prior to conversion he was a full-blown Roman who spent much of his pre-christian life in the military. I believe he attained a fairly high rank. Unfortunately, military service warps so many.

  Thank you, again, for your insights.

  Brenda
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  codeblue

  I totally agree with Kls, I wouldn't want to get in a debate with you!!!

  Good job with your friend....I think you are making some headway with him

  Strategies that work in conversations I find very intriguing....

  Thanks for sharing this experience!!!

  Codeblue
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  Terry

  One of the rejected branches of early Christianity was the Ebionites. They also had a gospel narrative. The Catholic mind-police who sorted through all available writings and rejected what they did not like--discarded the Ebionite writings.

  But, in them, we find a picture of who Paul was. The information tells us he was a Gentile from Gentile parents who was fascinated by Judaism and was in love with the High Priest's daughter. To gain her he became a convert and enrolled in rabbinical training but flunked out because he was unable to master the logic of argumentation. He kept getting his analogies askew. The daughter of the High Priest rejected him and he became embittered. Paul apparently became a thug for the High Priest's enforcement arm as an agent. It was in this capacity he persecuted Christians.

  After being struck by lightning on the road to Damascus he took his resulting infirmity as a sign from god that he better rethink his course in life. The rest, as they say, was history. At least that is my view from reading various sources.

  I reccomend the book: THE MYTHMAKER Paul and the Invention of Christianity by scholar Hyam Maccoby available at Barnes and Noble. (I wish I got a kickback from the author! :)