by NotFormer 28 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Prompted by a mention in a different thread.
Cracks in the sidewalk, a pinch of salt over the shoulder, black catsšāā¬; do JWs have such superstitious beliefs. Are they allowed to? Do they have them anyway? Would they be counselled if the elders became aware?
Did you know any superstitious JWs? And I don't mean the normal JW superstitions like Smurfs and carrying the holy JW.org logo.
Right around the time of the release of the movie, THE EXORCIST, JW's suddenly went batshit crazy
with wild stories about demons and the boys at Bethel took full advantage of pumping up the articles and fomenting a crackdown on "objects" that could be "demonized."
Garage sale items were particularly suspect.
I think the Bible Students in Russell's time were more grounded in the traditional superstitions.
They even celebrated Christmas.
Jws are some of the most superstitious out there.
They dont dare clink glasses or say God Bless.
Terry, I remember the "everything is demonized" phase.
You could tell that something was demonized because when you tried to burn it, it wouldn't burn. You had to put copious amounts of gasoline and other flammables on it, then it would scream when the demon was released.
Also, if a demon was bothering you, you just had to say, "Jehovah, Jehovah, Jehovah!" like some kind of charm and it would ward off any demons.
āDemonicā record albums that wouldnāt burn were the stupidest thing of that eraā¦
ā¦FFS, they were vinyl.
Which burns super-slowly.
And donāt even get me started on ābackmaskingā šā¦ I was relieved when CDs entered mainstream use, just so the Satanic Panic brigade would finally have to shut up about it.
The """everything is demonized"""
It just affirms their "us vs them" mindset.
At the end the Beatles put backwards shit into their records on purpose for the sole reason to sell more records.
It turns out that an abbey road lp doesnāt last very long when you run the record backwards. The conspiracy theorists would have to run out and buy a new record to ruin.
The same as the Paul is dead theory. The Beatles knew all about it so ran with the idea to sell more records. $$$$
Ohmygod, thatās too funny!
Reminds me, I had an aunt who thought Def Leppard was demonicā¦
ā¦simply because the band was popular.
Seriously.
She was so out-of-touch (and her personal preferences were so entrenched) that she couldnāt even consider that maybe they were actually skilled musicians and that people enjoyed their stuff.
I played the piano back then, and told her point-blank that I knew for a fact they were talented, simply because their music was really hard to learn. The look on her face was fucking priceless, but she couldnāt say anything, becauseā¦
a) ā¦sheād always respected my musical ability, andā¦
b) ā¦I was one of her kidsā only cousins whoād hang out with them. š
Looking back, she probably would have had a meltdown if sheād ever found out just how āPour Some Sugar On Meā originally became popular. š¤£
Do you think that the hysterical beliefs were more likely to be held the further a JW was from any responsibility within the organisation? I.e. were the elders expected to keep a lid on it and maintain discipline, but they tolerated it within the ranks?
I remember once being told by someone in my former church that Smurf means "demon" in Swedish (never mind that Peyo, the creator of the Smurfs, was Belgian!) š
Oh, and that Steven Spielberg once had a dream about a demon, and that demon became E. T. š
Weāve heard the occasional rumour here that a lot of the more out-there JW urban legends were actually made up by Bethelites for fun, just to see how far the stories would go.
Iā¦ kinda respect that, actually. š
