My Book of Bible Stories--extremist?

by sd-7 15 Replies latest jw friends

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  sd-7

  In lands where there is no love of God or freedom, Jehovah's Witnesses are being persecuted for speaking about the good news of the Kingdom. Why are these lovers of peace being persecuted? God's Word tells us: "All who are living in godly devotion in association with Christ Jesus will also be persecuted." (2 Tim. 3:12)

  Okay, cult identity: deactivate!

  Now, this is really about the Russians deciding that JW literature was considered 'extremist', including "My Book of Bible Stories". "But think of the children!" the apologists may say. I grew up with My Book of Bible Stories, and while I remember being fascinated by it--and particularly by the blood and gore of the pictures during the many violent scenes of the Bible (like Cain and Abel, or David and Goliath, or Jael with the tent pin through Sisera's head)--I realize that since my awakening last year, I've not examined this book with an awareness of cult mind control and the propaganda techniques that the Society undoubtedly uses [by its own unintentional admission, at that--see any article they've written about propaganda].

  Until a few days ago. We did our 'Family Worship' based on the story of Naaman and the Israelite girl whose speaking up led to his being cured of leprosy. In conclusion, the story says, "We learn from this that we should always obey God's servants."

  Holy crap, I thought. That's subtle. That's very subtle. But the danger there is undeniable--it causes children to trust people inside the organization without question--why else do you think molestation can and has occurred? Maybe that's taking it over the edge, but I say it's a valid point. Even pushing that aside, it's clear that children are being indoctrinated to trust the JW leadership, who are collectively viewed as the supreme servants of God, the servants appointed over all other servants.

  I combine that with my brief perusal of the book, seeing that it trains children to look forward to the time when God will kill "all the bad people". Define bad people. Well, 'bad people' from the JW child's perspective is 'anyone who is not a JW'. Is that extremist? Well, depending on your point of view. Regardless, that sort of black-and-white worldview makes it easy for plenty of extremist groups to do what they do, to justify even the unspeakable.

  I'm sure that if I read it further, I'd find more real evidence. My point being? Not that the Russians are justified in banning JWs, because freedom is freedom, even if it's freedom to believe B.S. [B.S.=Bull Stuff, in this context] My point is that 160,000+ innocent individuals will suffer, not account of the real 'good news about Christ', but on account of extremist literature published by men in Brooklyn, NY who do not give any thought to the fact that THEY ARE AT LEAST PARTIALLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS PERSECUTION. If they consistently preached tolerance and decency both in insider and outsider messages, maybe this wouldn't be a problem. Maybe the Russians might still ban them, as the Romans and Jews banned early Christianity. But I don't buy the idea that this is evidence of God's backing or something like that.

  I'm open to other perspectives. The floor is open to your thoughts.

  SD-7
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  Mad Sweeney

  This is one of the best posts I have ever read here. Thanks!
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  Heaven

  Hey, SD-7, I still have that book. I was actually looking at it on the weekend. I vaguely remember it as a kid. I think it came out when I was really too old for it. The book we studied as a child was the orange "Paradise Lost" book. Regarding these, you are quite correct in the subtle indoctrination process going on. I used to have nightmares about snakes under my wallpaper. I wonder if it had anything to do with these books.

  Looking back, as a child and a teen, I have to admit that I had a really hard time connecting with any of this stuff. Even when I was leafing through "My Book of Bible Stories" on the weekend, I had the same feelings. Zilch in the connection department. From my childhood, the Governing Body wasn't prevalent, at least, not in my family. My interpretation of 'God's servants' was and always will be all of us who want to be good people, not just an ephemeral group somewhere in the U.S. Obviously I wasn't cut out to be a JW.

  I think that was a huge part of my problem when studying. There was no personal connection for me. Until the red "Your Youth" book. Now THAT book annoyed me immensely. Among several things, the one connection that did hit home, 'headship', well, that didn't endear any of this to me whatsoever. It left me with a 'No thanks. Gotta go now.' attitude.

  I would like to see education regarding mind-control taught in the schools to help counter-act the damaging effects that groups like the WTS cause. Definitely part of this would be to advise doing research before getting involved with anything that sounds too good to be true or anything that isn't using proper principles. Legislation might be another way to go too. So, for example, if a group is denying it's membership life saving medical treatments, then that group should be illegal and be forced to shut down.

  One of my biggest issues was the fear they were using to frighten everyone into joining because God was going to kill everyone at Armageddon if they didn't become JWs and go out on service. Like you, I didn't want to have anything to do with a God who would do this, let alone a group who believed God was capable of this. They just came across as kinda wacked to me. But that's me. Not everyone is fortunate enough to see it or have the resources to get away from it.
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  BabaYaga

  sd-7 said:

  Holy crap, I thought. That's subtle. That's very subtle. But the danger there is undeniable--it causes children to trust people inside the organization without question--why else do you think molestation can and has occurred? Maybe that's taking it over the edge, but I say it's a valid point. Even pushing that aside, it's clear that children are being indoctrinated to trust the JW leadership, who are collectively viewed as the supreme servants of God, the servants appointed over all other servants.

  I would have to agree.

  I combine that with my brief perusal of the book, seeing that it trains children to look forward to the time when God will kill "all the bad people". Define bad people. Well, 'bad people' from the JW child's perspective is 'anyone who is not a JW'. Is that extremist? Well, depending on your point of view. Regardless, that sort of black-and-white worldview makes it easy for plenty of extremist groups to do what they do, to justify even the unspeakable.

  Indeed.

  Bravo.
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  cry

  I agree that there should be some sort of education regarding cults and their practices so that kids are forewarned about what questions to ask and what to look for. Unfortunately J.W.s are often seen as a group on the fringes of Christianity and not a cult so they are allowed a lot of freedom. There should be a much bigger campaign to highlight the damage they do. As regards the My Book of Bible Stories, I used to read this to my son when I had stopped going to the meetings but I decided I would not read it any more to him after really thinking about what it was actually saying and depicting in graphic detail. At one assembly there was a little kid up on the platform, with Bible Stories book in hand, talking about being teased as school. When asked how he dealt with it he said that he just reads the page about them being destroyed at Armageddon - to which he got a HUGE ROUND OF WHOOPS & APPLAUSE. I was sickened and did not appluad - here was a young kid being encouraged to think that death was the way to deal with difficult situations. It has been a memory that has never left me - a child terrorist.
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  Lady Lee

  yup Train them young and they will become unquestionning followers

  I'm so glad my daughter has forbidden that book in her house (along with any other WT material her father might bring)
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  DrJohnStMark

  This cartoonish book is indeed designed to mess up the mind of a growing child. My kids tell that their "mother used to read a scary yellow book" to them when they were small. Ten years after the last wtBtS influence on them, they still were not able and did not want to watch the animation The Prince of Egypt, the story of which is horrifying to any sane person. Wonder when are we going to see law suits against the Watchtower on this.
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  kurtbethel

  I noticed that Dinah, Jezebelle, and other femme fatales in that book were often illustrated to be redheads!

  Looks very extremist to me.
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  d

  That book was disturbing in so many ways.
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  sd-7

  Ah, this was an old classic thread of mine. Thanks for bringing it to life again!

  I did another thread awhile back, about the chapter on Dinah, and how it omits the mention of rape and merely says it was wrong because a man and woman who aren't married shouldn't lie together. Insert Insanity Wolf meme here...

  But yeah, this was clearly a sick sort of book. I think what I felt as I looked at the graphic violence in it was disturbed, I just didn't realize that's what the feeling was at the time.

  --sd-7