by konceptual99 11 Replies latest jw friends
I am trying to introduce critical thinking into my family study without obviously upsetting the status quo. My kids are all at school but pre-teen. My wife knows I have doubts but is not ready for full exposure. She says the kids do not have enough understanding of core teachings and wants them to know about 1914/607 etc.
Does anyone have any suggestions of how to introduce this topic in a way that encourages critical thinking or would even get them to question the chronology in a subtle way?
Get the kids to look up the destruction of Jerusalem by Nebuchanezzar in an encyclopedia or two if you have them, or online as theres penty of encyclopedias on there .... let them read about it, then ....h'mmm what date do they all show for this event?
If this is research they do they will remember it, if this is something you show them they more than likely wont.
What you do from there is tricky and depends on many factors mainly involving your wife.
maybe do a pre-study session using jw literature on archaeology and the bible - having established that archaeology is supportive, turn the kids loose on the jerusalem project using online secular sources and jw.org library
make a neo-babylonian king list using online sources..
2520 days gets you to 1914 360 days at a time, so a mixture of lunar and solar calendars...food for thought there..
also could be interesting to compare the good news of the gospel once their brains are fried with all the dates
so kids - what did 1c Christians belief? was their faith based on complex interpretations of prophecy or was it somehting else?
Take them to the babylonian exhibit at the British Museum...............
IP1 p.253 21 Isaiah goes on to prophesy: “It must occur in that day that Tyre must be forgotten seventy years, the same as the days of one king.” (Isaiah 23:15a) Following the destruction of the mainland city by the Babylonians, the island-city of Tyre will “be forgotten.” True to the prophecy, for the duration of “one king”—the Babylonian Empire—the island-city of Tyre will not be an important financial power. Jehovah, through Jeremiah, includes Tyre among the nations that will be singled out to drink the wine of His rage. He says: “These nations will have to serve the king of Babylon seventy years.” (Jeremiah 25:8-17, 22, 27) True, the island-city of Tyre is not subject to Babylon for a full 70 years, since the Babylonian Empire falls in 539 B.C.E. Evidently, the 70 years represents the period of Babylonia’s greatest domination—when the Babylonian royal dynasty boasts of having lifted its throne even above “the stars of God.” (Isaiah 14:13) Different nations come under that domination at different times. But at the end of 70 years, that domination will crumble.
8-1-81 WT “The idol-worshiping Babylonians now were in line for God’s judgment to be executed upon them. That happened in 539 B.C.E. when Babylon was overthrown by the Medes and the Persians.”
539 + 70 = 609
Jeremiah 25: 11 And all this land must become a devastated place, an object of astonishment, and these nations will have to serve the king of Babylon seventy years.”’ 12 “‘And it must occur that when seventy years have been fulfilled I shall call to account against the king of Babylon and against that nation,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘their error, even against the land of the Chal·de´ans, and I will make it desolate wastes to time indefinite.
Q: When did Jehovah say he was going to call to account the king of Babylon and that nation?
A: When 70 years had been fulfilled.
Q: What year did Jehovah call to account the king of Babylon and that nation?
A: In 539 Jehovah called to account the king of Babylon and that nation by executing his judment upon them by having them overthrown by the Medes and the Persians.
Q: If Jehovah called to account Babylon in 539 because that was the time that the 70 years were fulfilled, then when did the 70 begin?
A: 539 + 70 = 609
Hey kids, lets look at the historical evidence of these events to ensure that the bible and the Watchtower is true.
END OF RESEARCH as there is no evidence or historian that agrees with 607. Now go watch TV..yeahhhhh !
Dude let your kids be kids..... If anything, find ways to make sure they are not wasting once in a lifetime - kid years - studying the ins and outs of Jewish scrolls.
If I was you, I would teach them how to think, how to appraise info, how to question and doubt. Not in a JW context at all. Teach them the principles of science and research and how,to find out information.... Libraries, journals, papers, databases (cochrane) etc. teach them how to use knowledge bases like web of knowledge (on internet) etc. take them to museums, science debates etc, find out what their passions are and feed them in the context of learning how to learn ..... All that jazz.
if you are thinking.."No mate they are way to young for all that!". Then they are definetly waaaaaay too young for bibles and dogma!
The British museum have an item that may be of special interest for you in the 607 issue,
Tney have 'tablet abc 5' from ancient babylon, which gives the date ............. Well ill let you find out for yourself.....
Well as a pre-teen myself at one time, I wouldn't give a shit one way or another about 1914/607 bullshit. Give me a new video game system!
Your best bet is to become a lazy slug when it comes to meetings, FS, and anything related to family study. Find a hobby, go back to college at night, get a new distraction, anything at all that gets you away from the cult. See if you wife picks up the heavy lifting involved in forcing a family into cult activity.
If there were an easy-to-grasp overview of the archaeological findings that contradict the Watchtower's teachings, I'd suspect it would be as "simplistic" and open-to-derision as the Watchtower's own "official" teachings on this complex topic.
While overviews are necessary for grasping the "overall"message, they are poor substitutes for helping children develop critical thinking skills - something that no family study that follows the Watchtower model could ever accomplish.
You need to realise that the question you pose is similar to trying to teach pre-schoolers how to critically evaluate archaelogical evidence. It cannot be done within the constraints your eagle-eyed wife imposes.
Besides, as one or two other posters have alluded, it is a rare young person who is naturally curious about this kind of doctrine.
Apathy works far more effectively than apostasy in assisting young ones to forego meetings and ultimately anything remotely connected with the kingdom hall.
So, I'd focus on the greater fun families could have by, um, staying away from meetings. There's a world of limitless possibilities out there.
