THE BLACK FRIDAY SALE of the year 1975

by Terry 4 Replies latest social current

• 

  Terry

  I was in Federal Prison (a prisoner of "conscience" in the time of the Vietnam War) as a JW when the

  wildfire got started about 1975 being the 'END' of six thousands years of human existence.'

  (I was inside from 1967 through 1969.)

  _______________

  All the brothers in Seagoville Federal Correctional Institution began parsing the implications.

  If you mashed that phrase up into a meaningful communication from the Faithful Slave, what did it

  really mean?

  END of human existence.

  ______________________

  That rumor. . . that avalanche of wild speculation (cannily directed by the GB) built a sense of the inevitable in

  those of us imprisoned BECAUSE WE WERE SITTING DUCKS!

  We were in the belly of the so-called "Wild Beast" clearly identified as enemies of the state.

  We imagined the worst, of course.

  _______________________

  As soon as I was paroled in 1969, I commenced Pioneering.

  It is at this point a confluence of both reality and imagination and Post Traumatic Stress began visiting me demanding payment.

  I now appraise this process as a kind of nervous breakdown in slow motion.

  ________________________

  Cut to the chase!

  I moved my family (JW wife and three very tiny tots) from Fort Worth to California.

  Whatever reasons I spoke aloud or internally, I think I was definitely seeking asylum from the madness of

  PRESSURE from JW peers, the WTS, and the ever-increasing demands of END OF THE WORLD preaching.

  ____________________

  I was an artist by talent, but a JANITOR by JW exigency!

  When I arrived in Los Angeles I secured my very first employment as an artist.

  MY WHOLE LIFE SUDDENLY MADE CRYSTAL CLEAR SENSE!!

  ____________________

  The Watchtower spell was broken!

  I made friends quickly with REAL PEOPLE. They were an influence for progress, development, ambition, and security of

  a genuine nature. (Note: those people are still my best friends while no JW would pee on me if I were on fire.)

  _______________

  From 1974 to 1978 I watched the Brothers and Sisters chasing after the ludicrous ARMAGEDDON frenzy while I was basking

  in the eye of the imaginary hurricane truly enjoying my life FOR THE FIRST TIME since I had gotten involved with JW's.

  This was a BORN AGAIN experience disconnected from fake spiritual discovery.

  __________________

  For those of you who did not live through the extraordinary BLACK FRIDAY SALE of 1975, let me tell you about it.

  ___________________________________

  This OLD SYSTEM of THINGS was "GOING OUT OF BUISNESS. Everything must go!

  JW's threw themselves headlong into an incredible delusional state of mind which cognitive dissonance has caused most

  of them to pretend never happened.

  It was like leaping off a high cliff for them totally trusting a soft landing.

  Instead, guess what happened?

  THEY ARE STILL FALLING because absolutely NOTHING happened.

  The silence was eerie.

  The silence was cosmic cruelty.

  There was an almost unanimous unwillingness to TALK ABOUT the NON-happening!

  _________________

  While everybody pretended things were just dandy--I was having the most beautiful renaissance and blossoming coming-of-age

  renewal I'd ever experienced or imagined.

  You see, MY LIFE suddenly disproved the LIE.

  I was working at a secular job in art IN THE WORLD with Christendom's Christians as my friends and I was prospering.

  So what?

  Jehovah had told me through his "mouthpiece" the faithful and discreet Watchtower corporation, MY WORLD WOULD END.

  Guess who was laughing?

  Not the JW idiots, that's for sure.

  The deer-in-the-headlights look on everybody's face told the real story.

  ________________________

  JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES HAD SELF-REFUTED by being stupid enough to set a FALSE DATE

  which clearly exposed them as following a FALSE PROPHET: the Governing Body.

  ___________________________

  That, my friends, is what finally made me wake up!

  I had started fading almost immediately after my arrival in California, but not quite.

  I attended meetings and went out door to door. I tried.

  There was a sense of goofy self-delusion in telling people they had only 6 months to

  study and get baptized OR ELSE!

  It was flim-flam and nonsense.

  ________________________

  After 1975, my true blue JW wife began to change dramatically in personality.

  Cognitive dissonance was not a phrase in my vocabulary at the time. I had no label for it.

  She began drinking and staying out late and coming home acting weird.

  All this is very personal and I won't rehash any of it here.

  I separated from her. I continued working and giving her and the kids my entire paycheck.

  I was sorting out what the hell any/all of this meant.

  Where was my life headed?

  I slept at different friend's houses while my wife and I were separated.

  I was not engaging in anything sexual. I was not experimenting with drugs. I was not using profanity.

  I was not forgetting to wash my hands before eating or failing to wipe my ass.

  But, my wife went to the Congregation and poured out a tale of great opprobrium.

  _________________________

  I was called by the Overseer. Would I come in for a chat?

  Sure.

  I left that "chat" Disfellowshipped.

  Yeah.

  
• 

  Sayswho

  Terry, glad you were able to escape the GB-WT Society! Hope your life experiences - book will help others.

  SW
• 

  Terry

  Well, I hope so too. From the e-mails I've received my deepest desires have been fulfilled.

  I tried to divide the book into a comparative history of all Christian conscience denominations vs. Jehovah's Witnesses

  and let the chips fall.

  The other half is my JW autobiography with no punches pulled.

  I kept it succinct and, from what I've been told, as readable as possible.
• 

  singlebaby

  "Get baptized in 6 months or else", or else, or else live a life full of enrichment. Full of life free from the grips of this cult.

  Live a life free from regrets of this BLACK FRIDAY GIMMICK! I'm glad you woke up when you did Terry!

  Singlebaby
• 

  Terry

  If I had to choose an ideal time for "waking up" it would have been in my Senior Year of High School.

  But, there was no Internet.

  Nobody used the word apostate, much-preferring Evil Slave.

  Evil Slaves were ineffective in how they tried to warn JW's.

  Marching in front of Assemblies at Conventions is NOT effective, sorry to say.

  I did go up to and spoke with those holding the signs. However, I was immediately surrounded by

  Brothers with convention badges who took hold of me with whispers, "These people are dangerous!!"

  _________________________

  There was no clampdown or DF-ing for reading books such as THIRTY YEARS A WATCHTOWER SLAVE.

  I read it.

  In my opinion, the writing was hysterical, biased, and pushy.

  It was easy to dismiss.

  ________________________

  The best example of coming into contact with EFFECTIVE disambiguation was MORMONS.

  I worked with a man who was a Mormon Elder. He was extraordinarily well-indoctrinated. He gave me

  a real workout. But, sorry to say, I used my quick wits to beat him back. Back then, I was a fast thinker, slippery,

  and not above rope-a-dope :)

  That encounter troubled me for awhile. Why?

  Until then, I assumed ONLY JW's had a grasp of the Bible. The Mormons had more than a grasp and their indoctrination

  was, imho, superior in argumentation.

  _________________

  When I moved to California, the etching studio (atelier) where I worked briefly employed a Theology student who had

  an extraordinary grasp on Greek, Hebrew, Hermeneutic, etc.

  Debate with him was like getting in the ring with Mike Tyson. You see, this was the first time I witnessed an EDUCATED

  Christian armed with particulars rather than assertions and citations of Early Church Fathers.

  Wow.

  He was kicking my butt on the Trinity.

  ______________________________

  SIDEBAR:

  I now know (didn't know back then) the First Century Christians had a wild mixture of ideas, theories, contexts for identifying

  Jesus. Depending on which PARTICULAR group you were with, you might well hear neo-Trinitarian discussion.

  The New Testament merely reflects that diversity.

  Rather than the Bible being a unified, pure teaching, it is often an accretion of layered, divergent controversy.

  Only later, in the time of Constantine, was there one "official" teaching under authority of 4th-century edict.

  _________________

  Be that as it may, my defense consisted of imaginative arguments of a more tactical nature. For example, when the Pharisees

  accused Jesus of making himself equal to God, I argued how this was irrelevant. Why? Pharisees were hardly in a position

  to identify Jesus correctly when the Apostles themselves were clueless. Pharisees, I asserted, always got it "wrong."

  Not much of an argument, but it kept my side of the debate from collapse.

  _____________________

  The young man I was arguing with was kicked out of Seminary for sleeping with his girlfriend before marriage.

  I won by default! Yay. (Not really, but don't think I didn't claim a "moral" victory) :)

  The 'takeaway' from that incident was a kind of "wake up."

  I began to see my JW 'education' as thin, shallow, and lacking in details.

  _______________

  The worst possible trait a person can have is this: contempt for the views of others.

  As a Jehovah's Witness, I truly possessed contempt for another point of view.

  Now, I had had my ears boxed a few times. I was not invincible.

  First blood had been drawn. My ego cracked.

  All that was needed was a good combination one-two punch, and I'd go down for the count.

  _________________

  My dearest friend was a Christian fellow who invited me to speak at his Bible Study group.

  Can you imagine any JW Bible study group inviting, say--a Presbyterian to teach as a guest?

  I thought I could WOW them. As it was, they wowed me.

  Not a single person present was unkind, critical or less than caring. But, I came away from that

  evening with a sudden shift in perspective on myself, my religious knowledge, and the possibility of

  my own viewpoint as CORRUPTED BY AN INFLATED EGOTISM.