Exposé! - Walter was discovered to have a mind of his own!
Let's share another “Golden Memory”, courtesy of Elder Jacob O Meyer, also from the early 1980’s! Every semester, in Obadiah School of the Bible, we could depend on at lest one term paper to be assigned. Independent research would be required, to turn out a work of several pages, worthy of a faithful servant of Yahweh. This particular time, the topic was very narrow, an analysis and critique of the book “Song of Songs”, or “Song of Solomon”, (in Hebrew, “Shir haShirim”). On the surface, it was a tale of romance and endearment between a young woman of Israel, and presumably the King of Israel, Solomon. Whether the romance was one sided, two sided, or even three sided; and whether it was soon replaced by the harsher realities of life in the Harem, we can perhaps only surmise. Nevertheless, it was our goal to make sense of it, and reduce our findings to several type written pages. To assist in this goal, the Directing Elder also assigned, that each student should avail himself of the Directing Elder’s teaching on the subject, as it was available from the organization on cassette tapes. Desiring to be a worthy student, however, and being more inclined to reduce to writing my own thoughts on the subject, than to “parrot” someone else’s thoughts, with whom I was in hearty disagreement on the topic, I decided to save my time, and the Assembly’s money, and let someone else work from the Elder’s cassette tape, if they pleased to do so. I did not.
And so it went. When the papers were returned, after reading and grading were completed by the Directing Elder, he asked if I had acquired or read his material on “Song of Solomon”. Even though I explained why I did not do either, and assured him that if I disagreed with him on such minor issues of interpretation, I would keep my opinions to myself, he did not seem at all comforted. Perhaps he thought that I would attempt to undermine his position by circulating alternate opinions among the student body and local congregation? Of course I had no interest in doing such a thing, being confident that respect for the right to a personal opinion would be honored by all. After all, if we, each one, did not have a “mind of our own”, what would be the point in the first place of attending a house of study to improve it? That however, was an initial indication that independent thought was not highly esteemed in the “Assemblies of Yahweh”, of Bethel PA, 19507. Funny how the episode affected the quality of my work, too. Never again, to the best of my knowledge, did I ever hear the Directing Elder praise my little carpentry projects for the Assembly. Not that I minded. I had heard “Walter does such nice work” about enough times over the past several months to satisfy me that my skills were competent. But the abruptness with which the effusive praise ceased was still a bit of a surprise.
And the moral of the story? In the interest of promoting an integral harmony among the brethren of the Assemblies of Yahweh, of Bethel PA, perhaps I should admonish those who may be considering joining them, that having an opinion on a Biblical topic that differs from that of the Directing Elder might strain relations. Study hard, show yourself worthy of praise, live the truth that you are taught. Do not be offended if those who would be your teachers fall short of their own standards and professions. Yahshua warned us that this would happen, and not only with the Pharisees who insinuated themselves into the throne of Moses. It can also happen in our own day. I “did my time” with the group, and learned many valuable lessons. You can too. And if, after you too have "done your time" with the group, you wish to share your experiences there, feel free to give me a call! Yahweh bless!
Back to "Thanks For The Memories"