Nutshell: "New Light" (May 1, WT QFR) has been read by my dub-loyal wife. How do I make the most of it?
I have read the other recent 1935 threads and they have been VERY helpful. All I'm asking for here is ideas on good ways to get the most mileage out of it in conversations with my dub-loyal wife.
Any and all ideas are earnestly requested.
The long-winded update, which follows, relates how I've broached it with her so far.
LONG-WINDED UPDATE:
So, we're at the robot arm-raising session (aka Cong. Bk Study) using the "Revelation Orgasmic Climax" book last night and there's a sentence in the material saying that the collecting of the anointed has been completed. Nice & neat. Clear & simple. And, BTW, "old light".
So I'm waiting to see if the conductor is going to bring it up. And I wait....................... and I wait........... This guy always stretches the study waaaaaaaayyyyyy out. But he doesn't say a peep about the anointed class being filled. He's about to move on to the next paragraph!!! Nooooooo!!!!! I can't let this opportunity pass.
I raise my hand and he jumps on it like a pioneer at a garage sale since I'm not exactly an "arm pumper", "oooh, ooooh, call on me" kind of guy. Especially since we've started the Revelation book for the 3rd, 4th? time.
My opening words: "This sentence here where it says ........... ( I read the sentence ). Uhhhh,...................We've gotten a new light bulb on this." (Yes, those were my exact words. I wanted just the right level of flippancy) ....................... Conductor has a deer-in-the-headlights look. Dead silence. I wait about 3 or 4 seconds to let it sink in. ...................... Still the deer-in-the-headlights look from the conductor...........................
And then,............ I experience a moment of intense, internal terror. I realize I may have just outed myself as a nasty ol' 'postate. It dawns on me that I haven't actually read the QFR from my own, personal, treasured copy of the CrapTower. I just read the PDF version here on JWD. Doh!!!! WHAT IF, FOR SOME REASON, OUR CONGO HASN'T GOTTEN THE MAGS YET?!?!?! Oh noooooooooo!!!!!! What have I done?!?
Well, I take another second to compose myself and decide to forge ahead. "Yeah, the May 1 Watchtower has a Questions From Readers that sounds like this statement is no longer current." (I'm still getting a variety of disquieting looks from everyone so I decide to throw in this disclaimer.) "Well, I only read it once, I might have gotten it wrong. But, I don't think so. Check it out."
Now Mr. Bambi, the CBSO, has finally started to pull himself back together. ( I think he's a little disappointed with himself for not being the first in the circuit to spot this blessed "new light". ) He says something like: "Well, I haven't seen that myself. But, it sounds like we have some "new light". Thank you brother Open Mind".
So we get home and my wife is eager to check out the QFR. She races for our stash of "food at the proper time" while I'm wondering what I'm going to say if the May 1 CrapTower isn't there. I think the angels must have flown in some copies, because, thank goodness, there it was. Pheww!!! Crisis narrowly averted.
So, as per our usual post-meeting routine, we're in the bedroom, out of earshot of the kids, changing out of our respective Borgwear uniforms. She reads the QFR and she brings up how she's heard through the grapevine about someone we know who's fairly young and started partaking this year. We speculate about whether the number of partakers is going to spike.
Then I bring the conversation around to how the FDS (Frikkin Despicable Spinmasters) have yet again played fast and loose with dates. I tell her that I can remember some old folks when I was a little kid arguing about 1931 vs. 1935 and how both dates kind of seemed like they were just pulled out of their ass err...... thin air. I made a quick reference to 1975 and then the "generation" change. My clincher statement that I think may have penetrated her Cognitive Dissonance shield just a little bit was this:
"You know, when it comes to picking hard-and-fast dates, I take what I read in the Watchtower any more with a humongous grain of salt."
Her head didn't spin around. Her eyelids didn't flutter. She didn't drop to the ground and go into spasms.
She didn't agree or disagree. I think she was just actually chewing on what I said.
Fast forward a few minutes to the kitchen table and the kids are able to listen in, but not actually part of our ongoing conversation. She finishes up with a statement something like this:
"Well, I just think it's good that the organization is humble enough to make changes when it's necessary. They're not rigid like the Catholic Church."
I'm sure all you good JWD readers would agree with those words of wisdom wouldn't you? It took everything in my power to hold back a torrent of bile in response.
Timing is everything. Pick your battles. She wanted to make her PR plug for the Borg in front of the kids, and I just said something like "Yeah, I suppose that's true." And I let it slide. I know it doesn't sound good as you read it, but, trust me, the time wasn't right to push back. I do plan on revisiting that particular statement at another time.
So, wrapping up, the only real mileage I've gotten out of this whole 1935 thing so far is: "When it comes to dates, I don't trust the Craptower."
Any thoughts on how to get more mileage out of this "new light"?
Thanks for reading.
Open Mind