Book having to do with JWs

under74

Okay, so I finally finished this book Let It Blurt: The Life & Times Of Lester Bangs, America's Greatest Rock Critic....I been reading it on plane rides so it's kind of taken me awhile. I know I've mentioned it on a couple of threads and said it was good...and it is, but the author Jim DeRogatis I think gets JW doctrine all mixed up.
Just for background sake, Lester Bangs was raised a JW and it's brought up a lot in the book because it (of course, made an impact on Bangs short life)

AND SO, I got the authors e-mail address but I wanted to hear some other opinions before I e-mailed him. Sure, I know he's not going to care....and I'm not sure why this bothers me so much that I want to send him an e-mail--BUT I'm going to.
So I'm just going to list here the problems I see when JW doctrine is written about and why I have a problem with it and then you guys can either add to it by telling me why I'm right or why I'm wrong. I was raised a JW but I don't know everything. It doesn't look like much but if you read the book it's major.

OKAY:
1. On pg. 7 it's written: " After Armageddon the rest of the faithful would celebrate eternal life in a new paradise on earth, while nonbelievers would be doomed to the fires for eternity."

This implies that JWs believe in hell when they really believe that nonbelievers stop existing.

2. On pg. 16 it's written (about the death of Bang's father): " The Jehovah's Witnesses do not grieve for the deceased. Death is simply an event like any other in this life--an act of God's will."

I would agree there usually is a lack of grieving at JW funerals, but...I would say that it has a lot to do with the fact that JWs believe they shouldn't mourn the dead because they will be resurrected. if the end is near why should you mourn for people you will see again soon?

The resurrection isn't mentioned at all in this book.

Again, I'm probably making too much out of this but at the same time the author made it seem as though Bangs was who he was because of his JW upbringing--He was f***ed up and it had a lot to do with the JWs...and these quotes have to do with major events or explaining his upbringing--but he get's some of this all wrong from what I can see.

under74

Oops, forgot one more thing.

The book says bangs mother died in a "Witness hospital" pg.226 in the San Diego area.

Witness hospital? This sounds like a JW wet dream. Anybody ever heard of a JW hospital?

Justin

I'm afraid there is a tendency on the part of many to put the JWs in the same boat with other fundamentalists. It's like someone who isn't a dog-lover not bothering to distinguish among the different species - all dogs are dogs. So if other fundamentalists believe in a burning hell, it's assumed the JWs do too. Some fundamentalists use Paul's words at 1 Thessalonians 4:13 to avoid mourning for the dead, but I think JWs would say this merely refers to overwhelming and prolonged expressions of grief - not that we should not grieve at all. And as for hospitals, I know the Seventh Day Adventists have hospitals - and believe it or not, some people confuse the SDA's with the JW's. It is possible that a biographer, knowing that his subject was from a fundamentalist background, might make some assumptions as to what was believed and practiced rather than carefully studying the religion itself.

under74

Thanks for that Justin. I think you're right on all points.

Phil

under74

I do know that the Patterson group of JWs uses a hospital called Sloan-Kettering in NY. Is this a JW hospital?

under74

Hi Phil I just looked it up. All I'm finding is the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center...The main campus is in Manhattan but they have other locations located in other hospital.

Is this one close to the patterson group?

Memorial Sloan-Kettering at Phelps Memorial Hospital Center in Sleepy Hollow, NY

el jarocho mayor

Under 74....dont waste your time with Jim De Rogatis. He is a mediocre music columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, and co-hosts a radio show on 93.1 XRT called "sound opinions". He always gets his facts wrong.

under74

Thanks for the information el jarocho. I don't think I'm going to spend a lot of time on the e-mail but....I did spend a lot of time on the book so I think I'll just tell him he's wrong. Like I said in the first post I don't know why it bugs me so much but he bungled things like a dummy.

FairMind

I'm reading a book by an ex JW named Paul McCool. It is titled In The Truth. This is actually a very entertaining book but Mr. McCool seems to normalize as typical JW action some of the bizarre behavior of the book's characters. This sounds similar to what the author of you book has done.

FM

Incense_and_Peppermints

OKAY:
1. On pg. 7 it's written: " After Armageddon the rest of the faithful would celebrate eternal life in a new paradise on earth, while nonbelievers would be doomed to the fires for eternity."

This implies that JWs believe in hell when they really believe that nonbelievers stop existing.

2. On pg. 16 it's written (about the death of Bang's father): " The Jehovah's Witnesses do not grieve for the deceased. Death is simply an event like any other in this life--an act of God's will."

I would agree there usually is a lack of grieving at JW funerals, but...I would say that it has a lot to do with the fact that JWs believe they shouldn't mourn the dead because they will be resurrected. if the end is near why should you mourn for people you will see again soon?

The resurrection isn't mentioned at all in this book.

Again, I'm probably making too much out of this but at the same time the author made it seem as though Bangs was who he was because of his JW upbringing--He was f***ed up and it had a lot to do with the JWs...and these quotes have to do with major events or explaining his upbringing--but he get's some of this all wrong from what I can see.

that is odd that he would say that... it does seem to imply eternal hellfire. and not mentioning the resurrection is strange too. and..jw hospitals? not that i ever heard of. are you sure that author was a JW? it sure doesn't sound like it from reading this..

Book having to do with JWs

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