both elders with critical wives and highly judgmental teenage daughters.
I know what you mean. Back in the day when I still cared enough to "reach out" and was a WT reader, a couple of the eldurrs complained to the P.O. (who happened to be a close friend) that I didn't prepare ahead of time because they saw that my WT wasn't all highlighted and scribbled in the margins like theirs were. He actually stood up for me and told them if they LISTENED to my reading and the personal comments I made they would realize I was much more prepared than their sons or other fair haired boys who couldn't read a sentence accurately or with meaning, and didn't comment at all.
It's all a game of politics. Thankfully I have quit playing their little games, jumping through their self-righteous hoops and now can be a thorn in their side just merely by filling a chair occasionally.
I took the approach as above, that I just don't write in my books and that doesn't mean I've not pre-read or pre-studied it. Especially if I'm reading for the congregation do I not want scribbles and lines all over the page.
Exactly!