originally written August 12
Bonnie came over this morning - I always love our meetings.
We are still in chapter 9 from "What Does the Bible Really Teach". This was the chapter I selected to look at first - mostly because I was curious how the Witnesses view Revelations and the "end times". The reason we are still in this chapter is because I have spent the last couple sessions asking questions that deviate from the text. I'm always questioning things, and impressively enough Bonnie has the answer from her studies.
Today's focus came from the signs that we are indeed in the "end days". As always we refer to Bible passages that support the text. Today Timothy 3:1-7 was read as one of those verses. I was completely touched by verse 7, and here are three versions of the Bible:
NIV
"...always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth."
Message
"They get exploited every time and never really learn."
NWT (yes, I got my Witness Bible today)
"...always learning and yet never able to come to an accurate knowledge of the truth."
This verse made me think of two things:
1) When people say they have "heard" what you say, but you question if they really have "listened".
2) My recent discovery that searching for "the next thing" is not going to be truly satisfying.
I believe that the difference between hearing someone and truly listening is the difference between the brain and the heart. Yes, I know the heart isn't a "feeling" organ, but lets just say it is a figurative "feeling" organ. When you hear someone you are using your auditory abilities to hear a sound...to acknowledge the sound was coming from a particular source...nodding your head, but not really caring what is being said.
Listening uses the ability to care, empathize, and sometimes sympathize for the person you are getting information from. It's more than using a "sense" of hearing, but using the ability to have compassion for the individual speaking.
So when you say to someone, "are you listening to me?" and they say, "yes!" What they probably mean is, "yes, I heard you speaking." This difference between listening and hearing is one of my pet peeves about people.
As for the journey of my career...I suppose the dream I had the other night said it all. I was back in college over at HFCC. I was taking a math/economics course, hoping to use the knowledge for a new career. The class was every day for 3 hours. I was the only one in the class that had two associate degrees, a bachelors degree, and post grad work. The teacher/professor was this attractive Indian man that spoke in broken English. He told me that he didn't understand why I didn't just teach music and be happy with it. He said I could come to the class, but that I already knew too much. So he suggested coming to the last hour - and I could have a study time in another room for the first two hours. He also suggested sleeping. At the end of the dream I had realized that I was being ridiculous. I hate math - always have; and I hate economics too! What the hell was I thinking by taking a course that incorporated both of them?!
When I woke up, I realized that I do have a career. I have increased my private lesson load for the fall, and I'm going to be continuing my work at the church. I suppose that I often consider my job as a "jobby" (i.e. hobby job). But it is truly more than that. I am enriching people's lives, I am doing something I'm GREAT at...and I really do love it.
So I also asked Bonnie if there are rules about TV viewing and other technology in the Witness faith. She said that on Tuesday evenings there are classes that help with ministering the Bible to homes (i.e. the home study we are doing). However, the classes also deal with making decisions about "what would God approve of". Behaving the way God wants us to behave - which covers everything from alcohol consumption, to what we watch on TV.
As a mother of two (VERY AWARE) little girls, I am constantly supervising what they are watching, reading, listening to... Sometimes I think I'm probably a bit over protective because the girls don't watch Sponge Bob or have Bratz dolls or watch movies that aren't G rated. And I know the "average" child is much more worldly than my girls, but that is OKAY! I have surrounded them with people (old and young) that I believe are positive influences on them. My hope is when they choose friends they will compare them to the ones they already know, love and respect.
Maybe that's being naive, but I beg to differ. I am extremely intelligent: book and world. I think there is a time to learn everything (Ecclesiastes my favorite book in the Bible), but I also don't think my girls need to learn everything now.
Have a wonderful day!
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