We begin to learn

This conversation brought the final result. Already feeling sympathy for Jehovah's Witnesses, I now acquired an additional argument: the end of the world was approaching. My father thought I was smart enough not to believe such a bunch of stupid things. He was wrong.

In the weeks that followed, Augustine came every Sunday morning and brought me some books. What I read brought me deep disappointment. The tone was aggressive and offensive; The argumentation hurt me with its naivety, and the literary style did not take into account the rules of Spanish syntax.

The teaching of grammar in our college was very strict, and it was painful for me to read such Spanish, through which the grammatical constructions of English from the other side of the Atlantic shone through.

I told all this to Augustine, who did not attach much importance to it. He did his best to explain to me that all this was written for ordinary people, and to a large extent intended for the countries of Latin America. Moreover, the main thing here is not the style or the editing, but to embrace the whole world, for the end is so near.

I did not like all this very much, but I accepted it as the lesser evil. In the final analysis, the Greek of the New Testament was not the language of Plato or Aeschylus, but was just the everyday language of the people in the street.

In just a few weeks, I read many publications of Jehovah's Witnesses and several books, such as Is the Bible Really the Word of God?, Eternal Life in the Freedom of the Sons of God, and many others. I also read the first copies of The Watchtower and Awake!

Тем не менее, читая эти журналы, мое разочарование гасило мой первоначальный энтузиазм. Простота - пожалуйста, но невежество это не простота. Правдивость тоже мне по нраву, но свирепость, которая проглядывала на этих страницах, заметно отличалась от простого изобличения.

Тем временем начался новый учебный год, и занятия воспрепятствовали мне продолжать поглощать творения “свидетелей Иеговы” в прежнем ритме. Августин уговаривал меня начать изучать вместе с ним книгу “Истина, которая приводит в жизнь вечную”, но “свидетели Иеговы” утратили для меня свой первоначальный ореол. Я отклонил его предложение под тем предлогом, что теперь у меня будет меньше времени. Тем не менее, он может посещать меня время от времени, чтобы продолжать наши беседы.

Августин поймал меня на слове. Не пропуская ни одного воскресенья, он приходил ко мне говорить об учении “свидетелей Иеговы”.

Отец Максимилиан