Seed-planting by a pastor who was prepared to deal with JWs was a significant step in my questioning JWs.
The first time I TRULY began taking stock of what I believed was in 1995. My wife and I were newly married and we were enjoying the first year of marriage. Out in service one day we came upon a carpenter working on a beautifully ornate staircase in a waterfront home. He wasn't the owner of the house, but was working there and had keys to the place.
The carpenter was probably in his late 50's and had a pleasant but authoritative demeanor. He reminded me of a strait-laced family doctor. He was gentle and kind, but had a certain steely resolve.
Upon finding out we were Witnesses, he smiled and said he would LOVE to talk to us. He went and grabbed his bible and proceeded to take us on a step-by-step course of the trinity, Jesus resurrection, immortality of the soul, etc.
To this day I am impressed with the kind manner in which the carpenter spoke to us, and the apparent accuracy of his statements. He was very gentle. Almost as if he was holding our hands and leading us through the wilderness. With no sense of confrontation whatsoever, he showed us from the bible what the original Greek or Hebrew was of various Bible texts, and how the New World Translation badly misconstrued certain words, or how the liberties were taken. He even knew the names of the translations and bible commentators that the Society drew from for their interpretations. He was talking about Westcott & Hort and AT THAT TIME I had no idea what he was talking about. (How embarrassing!)
He also pointed out how coincidental it was that the Society took a certain slant on scriptures, and it always seemed to coincide with their doctrinal developments of the time.
He never said anything derogatory about the New World Translation. He didn't have to. We had our Bibles in front of us, and if he was correct - it was not good.
My wife and I were fuming mad by the end of the discussion. Funny, but this seems to be a common reaction when JWs are unable to answer questions put to them in a kind manner. I have learned this over the years. As a general rule it is either anger, or the JW will simply change the subject.
An embarrassing point: In true JW fashion, I still tried to pawn a set of magazines off on him at the end of the conversation. The carpentar smiled and, in a very accomodating tone, said, "Sure. I'll take your magazines. But I have one rquest of you. If you do nothing else from this discussion - look into the original languages. I am sure it will help you gain a greater appreciation for the Bible."
We said our goodbyes and left. My wife and I never really talked about it again - except saying to the car group and a few other people that we had a long discussion with this guy that was "getting all into ancient Greek and stuff". Everyone just rolled their eyes and said, "Ahh, one of THOSE guys."
This visit with the carpenter stuck with me though - for a LONG TIME. I was angry, for sure, but he had prodded me to do research I had always neglected to do. I began writing scriptures in margins of my bible and in the back of my bible regarding the trinity,etc. I actually still have some of these notes in my bible to this day. I began doing a lot of research in the Society's literature on the Trinity, immortality of the soul, etc.
Of course, using only the Society's literature only confirmed my Jehovah's Witness beliefs. Back then, my confidence was still firm in the society's literature. I relished the thought of being able to meet another guy like the carpenter and being able to go toe-to-toe with him on these kinds of issues. I wanted to have a good foundation in Greek or Hebrew or Latin – or at least the critical words for the basis of my arguments.
I had this desire to do lots of research, but the cares of life and the sheer task of trying to keep up with the Society’s literature and my congregation responsibilities and taking care of my wife quickly crowded it out. But the researching was definitely on my mental “to do” list.
Anyways, you can tell your students that in my case it took TEN YEARS before I got the courage to exit, but that pastor's seed-planting stuck with me since then.
-ithinkisee
