If I had to choose an ideal time for "waking up" it would have been in my Senior Year of High School.
But, there was no Internet.
Nobody used the word apostate, much-preferring Evil Slave.
Evil Slaves were ineffective in how they tried to warn JW's.
Marching in front of Assemblies at Conventions is NOT effective, sorry to say.
I did go up to and spoke with those holding the signs. However, I was immediately surrounded by
Brothers with convention badges who took hold of me with whispers, "These people are dangerous!!"
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There was no clampdown or DF-ing for reading books such as THIRTY YEARS A WATCHTOWER SLAVE.
I read it.
In my opinion, the writing was hysterical, biased, and pushy.
It was easy to dismiss.
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The best example of coming into contact with EFFECTIVE disambiguation was MORMONS.
I worked with a man who was a Mormon Elder. He was extraordinarily well-indoctrinated. He gave me
a real workout. But, sorry to say, I used my quick wits to beat him back. Back then, I was a fast thinker, slippery,
and not above rope-a-dope :)
That encounter troubled me for awhile. Why?
Until then, I assumed ONLY JW's had a grasp of the Bible. The Mormons had more than a grasp and their indoctrination
was, imho, superior in argumentation.
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When I moved to California, the etching studio (atelier) where I worked briefly employed a Theology student who had
an extraordinary grasp on Greek, Hebrew, Hermeneutic, etc.
Debate with him was like getting in the ring with Mike Tyson. You see, this was the first time I witnessed an EDUCATED
Christian armed with particulars rather than assertions and citations of Early Church Fathers.
Wow.
He was kicking my butt on the Trinity.
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SIDEBAR:
I now know (didn't know back then) the First Century Christians had a wild mixture of ideas, theories, contexts for identifying
Jesus. Depending on which PARTICULAR group you were with, you might well hear neo-Trinitarian discussion.
The New Testament merely reflects that diversity.
Rather than the Bible being a unified, pure teaching, it is often an accretion of layered, divergent controversy.
Only later, in the time of Constantine, was there one "official" teaching under authority of 4th-century edict.
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Be that as it may, my defense consisted of imaginative arguments of a more tactical nature. For example, when the Pharisees
accused Jesus of making himself equal to God, I argued how this was irrelevant. Why? Pharisees were hardly in a position
to identify Jesus correctly when the Apostles themselves were clueless. Pharisees, I asserted, always got it "wrong."
Not much of an argument, but it kept my side of the debate from collapse.
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The young man I was arguing with was kicked out of Seminary for sleeping with his girlfriend before marriage.
I won by default! Yay. (Not really, but don't think I didn't claim a "moral" victory) :)
The 'takeaway' from that incident was a kind of "wake up."
I began to see my JW 'education' as thin, shallow, and lacking in details.
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The worst possible trait a person can have is this: contempt for the views of others.
As a Jehovah's Witness, I truly possessed contempt for another point of view.
Now, I had had my ears boxed a few times. I was not invincible.
First blood had been drawn. My ego cracked.
All that was needed was a good combination one-two punch, and I'd go down for the count.
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My dearest friend was a Christian fellow who invited me to speak at his Bible Study group.
Can you imagine any JW Bible study group inviting, say--a Presbyterian to teach as a guest?
I thought I could WOW them. As it was, they wowed me.
Not a single person present was unkind, critical or less than caring. But, I came away from that
evening with a sudden shift in perspective on myself, my religious knowledge, and the possibility of
my own viewpoint as CORRUPTED BY AN INFLATED EGOTISM.
