by TD 15 Replies latest jw friends
The JWs are currently reading 1 Kings in the Theocratic Ministry School.
As I read the first 2 chapters, detailing Solomon's assassination of all his political rivals, I just kept thinking "how is this any different than what the first century Roman emperors did?"
I remember one CO who brought up violence in history when he said he visited a Holocaust museum. The violence in the bible was mentioned briefly but still there was a warning against entertaining violence. It didn't make any sense to me at the time. Just reading the account of Samson and visualizing the violence would be worst than ANY R-rated movie out. There was a scene in Dracula Untold, where Dracula fights and kills a entire army. This movie was R but didn't show all the graphic detail of a "real" battle.
whatthehades - "There was a scene in Dracula Untold, where Dracula fights and kills a entire army. This movie was R but didn't show all the graphic detail of a 'real' battle."
Actually, the reason it didn't show all the graphic detail of a 'real' battle was because it was PG-13.
Good movie, though; I have it on Blu.
punkofnice - "...just look at what's in the publications!
I've said this before, but I strongly suspect that Roland Emmerich's production designers regularly peruse WT art for inspiration.
I also love how they frequently cite Psalm 11:5 as their "Biblical basis" for condemning "violent entertainment".
Psalm 11:5: Jehovah examines the righteous one as well as the wicked one; He hates anyone who loves violence.
For some reason they never cite the very next verse:
Psalm 11:6: Upon the wicked, he will rain down snares; Fire and sulfur and a scorching wind will be the portion of their cup.
In other words: Jehovah hates violence-lovers so much he will violently slaughter them with flaming sulfuric fireballs from heaven, causing their gory, bloody, violent death in the most horrific manner imaginable,
What's the word I'm looking for here? Schizophrenic? Manic-depressive? Psychotic?
TD - "...I tried pointing out that big chunks of the OT are not materially different and that even the confrontation between David and Goliath would get an 'R' rating if it were visually portrayed in any detail at all..."
Not just the OT, the NT, too.
In fact, if some Hollywood studio actually produced a true-to-the-text adaptation of the book of Revelation (regardless of whatever specific fundamentalist denomination's interpretation it followed), the sheer graphic hard-R horror of it would shake all but the most fanatic hard-core believers to their collective core.
x
TD - "...I don't remember JW's in the past being quite so hypocritical on violence shown for the sake of historical accuracy."
I suspect that graphically violent imagery hits a bit closer to home than they're actually comfortable with, possibly related to the above reason.
