A Bethel Memory #17 - False advertisements for a fake future that will never happen

by LivingTheDream 42 Replies latest members private

• 

  Vidiot

  LivingThe Dream - "How could it be Paradise without sex?"

  Authoritarians have always - always - been very uncomfortable with sex, for several reasons;

  1. It interferes with the process of empire-building; if the masses feel relatively content and fulfilled (which a healthy, active sex life hugely contributes to, no matter what anybody says), they will be far less inclined to participate. Authoritarian leaderships have, historically, (more often than not) looked for ways to discourage sexuality in order to redirect their followers' energies towards advancing the leaderships' agenda; militarism, for example.

  2. (related to 1.) In the case of high-control groups, it interferes with the process of recruitment; recruitment is much faster and easier than raising and nurturing a human being from infancy to adulthood and reinforcing the leadership's ideology along the way.

  3. Some authoritarian leaders were themselves quite socially inept in their formative years; this often, in fact, would reinforce their authoritarianism. Socially inept individuals – especially when they're men – have a much harder time finding prospective sexual partners over the course of their lives. If and when these ones attain leadership positions, and if they are religiously conservative, they often feel compelled to curtail the sexual activities of their followers; after all, if they couldn't get some, why should anyone else? I'm sure this sentiment would hold true for socially inept authoritarian followers, as well.

  There are other reasons, but these are the big ones, IMO.

  As far as Old Man Jaracz was concerned, for example, a world without sex probably would be a Paradise.
• 

  nugget

  a joy to read as always.
• 

  FatFreek 2005

  Most folks shop at Bed Bath and Beyond. Vidiot, you and LTD -- at Bed Bath and WAY Beyond. And that's a compliment!

  

  Len
• 

  mrquik

  The GB, of course, forgot entirely the very first command to mankind " be fruitful & fill the earth. It's idiotic to expect people to return to the earth as eunichs & forbid especially those in the organization who sacrificed marriage & children not to be together. A fine example of the blind leading the blind.
• 

  LivingTheDream

  FatFreek2005,

  Now that you bring it up, I may have forgotten exacty what was the population estimate of the billions that had ever lived that was the current thought back in the day. You're right though, it may have been 8 to 10 billion (at least, that's what the Society had bought into). But like you said, that just makes the argument I was making even MORE compelling.

  Vidiot,

  I agree with you totally and I always thought that religions like Islam are extreme examples of those groups that want to control sex and sexuality in order to keep people under their thumb. Of course, Christendom does its fair share of that too. But when you look at Islam who keeps their women under sheets, well, I think that would get me pissed off enough to want to blow sh*t up too. However, notice that their supposed reward for doing their self-destruction is BASED ON SEXUAL DESIRE: They want to get to heaven to get their freak on with 72 virgins!

  I think those poor martyrs are in for a big surprise when they get to heaven Allah is going to say to them, "No, no, no, you misheard me, I said I was giving you a virgin that is 72!".

  LivingTheDream
• 

  willyloman

  Good job of illustrating the disconnect between what "the Society" teaches and what the individuals - including some high-ranking members - actually think and believe. In this, they are not unlike the Catholics they condemn for the same behavior. An institution's teachings often trail the thoughts of the rank and file.
• 

  Juan Viejo2

  OK. The real question that remains both unasked and unanswered is:

  If there is no marriage, no sex, no children for the millions of people resurrected after Armageddon, what PURPOSE will they serve in their lives? Are they just going to wander around and watch those who came through Armageddon alive, and their children, have generations of children? The Armageddon survivors will be the only ones who will have families around them - the only ones being fruitful and multiplying? The only ones seeing generations of children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren growing up and enjoying an edenic paradise?

  So all those billions will just have to spend their lives with their previous spouse? Maybe that spouse was unpleasant and unloving - and yet faithful enough to be resurrected? What happens when someone is resurrected that was married several times? Which spouse will he be stuck with for eternity?

  The real question is what do all of those who do not have family around them (like the single brothers and sisters) because they were the only ones in the organization - or because their friends and family members didn't make it through Armageddon or the resurrection - what do they do the second million years of their everlasting life? The second billion years of their everlasting life?

  The myth creators over at the Writing Committee need to come up with some new light about life after Armageddon. If the faithful ever understand the reality of the nightmare of loneliness they are offering to new converts, they may just give up and let nature take its course.

  Of course, Nature will take its course on all of us - no matter what the Watchtower Bubblegum and Tractor Society might teach.

  JV
• 

  LivingTheDream

  Juan Viejo2,

  First of all, are there actually two of you? Is there a Juan Viejo1 on JWN? Are you related to Old San Juan Puerto Rico? Kidding. (feel free to make fun of my JWN name...)

  You make good points on the purposeless of a life without marriage, sex and children.

  However, the only one point I'd dare to answer is the one about the previous spouse. I had always believed that death severs the marriage ties. You know, "til death do us part". So, when you come back you are basically single again. If you were married 7 times in the previous life, you are married to nobody when you return. It doesn't matter if all 7 came back too. They are married to nobody as well. You can simply choose to NOT be with any of them forever if you want to.

  So, I never envisioned being stuck with somebody I didn't want to be stuck with.

  I just wanted to be able to marry somebody, have sex and have children if I found my soul mate in Paradise.

  LivingTheDream
• 

  ziddina

  Great thread, Living the Dream...

  That "resurrected people on earth won't be allowed to marry" was one of the major reasons I finally woke up - I'd had my eye on Sampson; figured I could give Delilah a run for her money - if she even came back...

  With the preponderance of women currently in the organization, getting married to a resurrected man was the only hope most of us had...

  Part of me always thought the Gov.Bod boys were thorough idiots for declaring marriage - and sex - off-limits to earthly resurrected ones...

  Zid
• 

  LivingTheDream

  ziddina,

  Oooh. Sampson. I see you like the buff dudes. Well, even if Delilah did come back, I don't think he'd be all that happy with her. I think your chances are as good as anyone's and I'd be rooting for you.

  You go girl.

  LivingTheDream