“As books go, it is tiny, but it is immeasurably great in its essence. It can be carried in one’s pocket,but if it were found in a library of 90,000 different books, it would probably turn out to be the most important one of them all.”
Wow – a strong endorsement of the bible? Er – no – this is the WTBTS we are talking about here. So the statement from the April 2012 Awake is in support of that wonderful WTBTS publication “Mankind’s Search for God.” I vaguely remember that book from studying it in the now defunct home book study many years ago & had assumed it had long since gone out of print
90,000 seemed to me to be a lot of books. So yesterday I popped into my local town library – sad to say , an increasingly rare visit due to the fact that they rarely have any new books & pursue and charge for any overdue publications with a vigour that wouldn’t disgrace the local traffic warden. I picked out a couple of books for a bit of weekend reading and a few Catherine Cooksons and Danielle Steels for my dear lady.
“How many books do you have here” , I asked the librarian. She stroked her chin for a few moments , clearly not used to this kind of question. A quick reference to her computer gave the answer required. “ About 9,500” , she indicated. “Plus those out on the mobile library. And cds and dvds. And we have some blu-rays in now as well. Why do you ask?” she asked , looking at me somewhat suspiciously. “Er – just wondering”, I replied , and rapidly made my exit.
So a most important book in a library 9 times the size of mine. That seemed to be quite an achievement. And "immeasurably great in its essence" was high praise indeed.
I read again the statement from the Awake. Who was quoted as making this dramatic assertion? A university professor , perhaps. Or famous academic? No – “a well-known Mexican writer” is being quoted. Exactly how well known is a matter of mystery , as he isn’t named. Whether knowledge of him has circled the globe , or he is quite popular in his local village isn’t stated. I regard myself as fairly well read , but I couldn’t recall any the names of any Mexican writers myself. In fact , as a Brit I struggled to remember any well known Mexicans at all , of any profession apart from the golfer Lee Trevino . ( Then I recalled the footballer Hugo Sanchez - I was an admirer of his ability and quickly searched Youtube for a famous overhead kick that he performed for Real Madrid. At school , the team I played for used to copy his flip style celebration on the rare occasions that we scored a goal, which we called “doing a Hugo”. Lacking the necessary dexterity and athleticism of Sanchez (and more modern exponents ,such as Nani and Lua Lua) , it essentially was an attempted handstand , followed by an embarrassing fall into a muddy pitch. Any , I digress. )
Last time I looked when a congregation secretary , many years ago , our literature cupboard was groaning with 50 Search books ordered by an over enthusiastic literature servant before a previous campaign and long since gathering dust. My suggestion to “try to shift these before the CO gets here” was met with a somewhat helpless shrug. Perhaps asking the COBOE to take them with him on his annual holiday to Acapulco might now seem a useful move , bearing in mind the apparent reverence that the book has south of the Rio Grande.
Was the writer a JW? Though not mentioned ,surely he couldn’t be , as that would hardly be regarded as an independent source. And anyway – were any JWs well-known writers? Presumably though Mexican , the writer isn’t a Catholic , as he doubtless would be offended by some of the criticism of his religion in the book. Possibly he might be a Muslim , as wary of the Salmon Rushdie episode , the WTBTS has long since stopped any criticism of Islam.
It did make we wonder what was the point of the endorsement. Firstly as an (allegedly) Christian organisation , the WTBTS should by definition be giving credit to the bible rather than their own publications. Secondly , of what value is a testimony from an unnamed writer , whether of Mexican origin or from any other country? Is it of any more value than the anonymous “bible scholars” or “bible encyclopaedias” often quoted in the magazines? If I blandly stated that “ a famous Mexican model ” regarded Dozy as the best looking poster on JWN would that be regarded as some sort of confirmatory proof , and make me more likely to attract female admirers? (PM me if convinced)