I remember the BS (watchtower explanation) that I so dutifully gave to a householder about what Tomas so plainly said, namely Jesus being his Lord and his God. It was what I was taught, but I never felt quite right about implying Tomas was just so astonished that he said “oh my God”, as is the custom today.
I was with a very sharp MS on that day, and despite my own shortcomings, I just knew he could rebuff anything the householder could argue. This MS, Rudy, was also my final study conductor before I was baptized. Rudy had what I thought at the time was an in-depth Biblical knowledge base. He could ever-so-quickly jump the appropriate passage, like superman, just in the nick of time. In retrospect, what I mistakenly surmised as a demonstrable depth of knowledge was in fact not deep Biblical knowledge, but rather excellent skills in the fine art of Biblical hopscotch.
What I (we) didn’t count on was that this person we were talking to at the door was a seminary graduate. This person had an advanced college education, not only the history of the Bible and the doctrines, but had in fact mastered the very languages it was written in.
Needles to say, we both got a real education that day. Hopefully for someone such as our dear Reniia, she will never run into such a person. However if you do Reniia, I suggest cognitive dissonance to help you cope and put your world aright once again. It did wonders for Rudy and me, I sure it could help you too.
Freeman
