My former conductor got back to me and simply said "there is no arrangement for email Bible studies." I got back to him and said, "what do you mean there is no arrangement? I have a Bible and email, and I can make an arrangement." He responded more specifically saying, "We do not offer Bible studies via email."
This comment gives lie to the claim that they have an urgent life saving message. If that were true, they would conduct it by email, telegraph, CB radio or any other means available.
I have found that my "not making progress" was not because of me. I could knock out a chapter in 20 minutes, including looking up everything. It was because of them. I would give my real answer to the canned questions and they wanted the canned answer. They would drone on and on at length to answer a question I had, and often would give elaborate answers that did not answer the actual question I asked. I would try to stick to what was actually written in the Bible, but they would put forth a speculation that went way beyond it, and then blather at length to support their speculation with a combination of urban legends, what passed for "reasoning" and other verses that were often unrelated.
One example of this was the Genesis 6 "sons of God" who the book claimed left their physical bodies and turned into spiritual bodies during the flood. I asked where the verses were that actually said this. There was a lot of blatherspeak and finally one of them went and found in Job that Satan was on earth and then returned to heaven. That was all he could do to support the claim. Then he resorted to a personal attack about my character that I would not accept the unscriptural claims in their book. This was a typical study. They hindered my progress at nearly every opportunity. Their teaching methods are ineffective.
Their so called research was also shoddy. I showed how there was no reputable scholar or historian that supported their 607 date, but agreed to keep my mind open about it and allow them to produce some evidence that supported it. Then one day I got the research. It was an article from their literature making that assertion, claiming that the scholars were wrong about it, but without showing any evidence or research from other scholars that would refute it. The premise of their argument was "they are wrong and we are right because we are saying right here we are right". That did not fly well with me and I was subjected to more condescending personal attacks.
One thing to remember about this religion, is that by nature it is a bait and switch religion. What they say at one point will change to something else when the first claim is no longer convenient or to their advantage. They baited and switched the 1914 generation, and that shows clearly what their standards are.
