I tried explaining the idiocy behind the "light gets brighter" BS to my mom. It went a little something like this:
Me: Ma, let's say for the sake of argument that this is true. You walk into a pitch black room that has a dimmer switch on the wall. Slowly, you raise the switch until just a glimmer of light appears. It's still very dark. Now, you know that across the room, there's a big stuffed elephant... As your eyes adjust, you start to see it, but it's just a shadow. However, you know from being in this room with the light on, that it IS IN FACT an elephant. As the light gets brighter, you see the outline of it. Brighter, and you see the trunk, then the eyes, the feet, etc. Now, as that light is illuminating the room more and more, would that elephant still be an elephant? Or would it turn into a stuffed teddy bear?
Mom: Of course it would still be an elephant!
Me: So, the brighter light wouldn't change the object, but it would enhance your perception of it, correct?
Mom: Well, yeah...
Me: So how is it that when the supposed "New Light" comes out, the doctrine we once believed is completely different? Like with blood, with the woman having to scream when she was raped (then not scream, then scream, etc), and the generation teaching? How is it that things are going from being elephants to being teddy bears?
Mom: *cricket chirps and a confused look* I don't wanna talk about this anymore... The changes are made because Jehovah sees it's time to give us more light and knowledge... And maybe they were wrong in the past, but they're imperfect men...
Me: Mom, does Holy Spirit direct the organization?
Mom: Of course it does, you KNOW this...
Me: Mom, do you believe the bible is God's word and every word of it is the truth?
Mom: Yeah...
Me: Well, who wrote the bible?
Mom: Jehovah did through Holy Spirit, using 40 men.
Me: *stifling an eye roll* Okay, but were those men perfect?
Mom: No they were imperfect men...
Me: Yet, you don't think anything they wrote was wrong and needs to be changed, right? They were imperfect men who were writing under the direction of the Holy Spirit, and what they wrote was truth, right?
Mom: Yes!
Me: Then how is it that the Society, being a group of imperfect men operating under Holy Spirit, have gotten it wrong so many times and need to keep making changes? How is it that they are going back and forth with beliefs? Either they are NOT working with Holy Spirit, or Jehovah isn't sure of what he's doing...which is it?
Mom: I said I don't wanna talk about this anymore...
Yeah...that's usually how it goes. Or she'll give me an asinine illustration to prove her point...one I've heard a million times...some days she treats me like I'm a "newly interested one" and don't know Jack shit about the bible or the litteratrash. Instead of using her brain to refute what I tell her or answer what I ask her, she reaches for a Watchtower publication. Like she tried telling me I don't have what's needed to understand Revelation...I asked who she was to say that...she took out the book and said "Let me find it..." and took about 15 minutes to find a little box that said there are 3 things a person needs in order to understand Revelation (accepting the FDS as an authority on the matter was one of them). Then she tried pulling out a box from a Watchtower about "spiritual fatigue" and at that point I'd had it and said "NO MORE! No more literature! I CAN'T LOOK AT THAT ANYMORE!"
A lot of their illustrations are just plain ridiculous. The cake pan, the watch having a maker, etc. I don't even recall most of them, and a LOT of them are taken from other "apostate" religions! They don't have ANY original ideas. Just mediocre copies of other men's thoughts.
