Posts by Terry

9

When your oldest friend is a JW and they die

by Terry in

in my book, i wept by the rivers of babylon, i described the process of having a friend, johnny santa cruz, use our friendship as a platform for converting me to a jehovah's witness.. that friendship cost me decades of my life in bondage to a cult.. the friendship was real and johnny and i bonded for life.

but, the religion eventually turned him into a stone silence toward me--his oldest friend.

now he is dead and the imaginary reunion and meeting of the minds is no longer a possibility.. this makes his passing a double tragedy.. his memories were my memories.

Terry

I tried REFRESH and maybe succeeded in yet anothing posting! :)

44

My "best" friend (active JW) has just died

by Terry in

jw
friends

johnny santa cruz and i met around 1959 at a movie theater in fort worth, texas.. the purpose of that meeting was to create a fanclub for horror movie director william castle.

a week or so later, johnny stopped me as i was walking home from elementary school.. "hey--i think i know you.

weren't you at the william castle fanclub thing?".

Terry

I apologize for the duplicate postings of this same thread. I was at a public wifi location and they kept Hanging in a queue which made me think I needed to start over.

Any moderator who wants to can with my permission expunged the duplicates.

Thanks to all for your condolences. I didn't intend to be a public nuisance :)

9

When your oldest friend is a JW and they die

by Terry in

in my book, i wept by the rivers of babylon, i described the process of having a friend, johnny santa cruz, use our friendship as a platform for converting me to a jehovah's witness.. that friendship cost me decades of my life in bondage to a cult.. the friendship was real and johnny and i bonded for life.

but, the religion eventually turned him into a stone silence toward me--his oldest friend.

now he is dead and the imaginary reunion and meeting of the minds is no longer a possibility.. this makes his passing a double tragedy.. his memories were my memories.

Terry

When I tried to post this topic originally, it HUNG and wouldn't upload.
I went away and came back and tried again and again.
I wish some moderator would expunge the duplicates.

Sorry about this.

I don't know why my posts hang--apparently in a queue.

Perhaps it is because I was posting in a Starbucks on a public wi-fi.

16

A Brief History of MONEY and the Watchtower religion

by Terry in

watch tower corp has changed a long-standing policy in regard to donations which had been in place a long, long time.

to appreciate how drastic these changes have been, you'd have to know how it was from the beginning.. .

watch tower corp has changed a long-standing policy in regard to donations which had been in place a long, long time.

Terry

The power of money in Russell's day cannot be imagined in today's terms.

Life back then was extraordinarily different.

Today, even the poorest family has so many conveniences such as TV, central heat and air, flush toilets, refrigerator, cell phone, wheels, etc.

Russell even had a very large yacht!

9

When your oldest friend is a JW and they die

by Terry in

in my book, i wept by the rivers of babylon, i described the process of having a friend, johnny santa cruz, use our friendship as a platform for converting me to a jehovah's witness.. that friendship cost me decades of my life in bondage to a cult.. the friendship was real and johnny and i bonded for life.

but, the religion eventually turned him into a stone silence toward me--his oldest friend.

now he is dead and the imaginary reunion and meeting of the minds is no longer a possibility.. this makes his passing a double tragedy.. his memories were my memories.

Terry

In my book, I Wept by the Rivers of Babylon, I described the process of having a friend, Johnny Santa Cruz, use our friendship as a platform for converting me to a Jehovah's Witness.

That friendship cost me decades of my life in bondage to a cult.

The friendship was real and Johnny and I bonded for life. But, the religion eventually turned him into a stone silence toward me--his oldest friend.

Now he is dead and the imaginary reunion and meeting of the minds is no longer a possibility.

This makes his passing a double tragedy.

His memories were my memories. By dying he has extinguished part of my life's verifications. The bond we could have shared into our retirement years could have strengthened. Instead, they dissolved--aborted by cult pressure.

I doubt I can get a family invitation to his funeral. It would certainly be disrespectful to attend without it. So, even in a final good-bye--I am shut out of both life and death.
++++++++++++++++++

Johnny married when he was 20 and his wife was 16. He was rescuing her from her father. The dad was molesting his 2 daughters, you see, but the Brothers at the Kingdom Hall had advised the JW mother that Divorce was not the answer.

I was at the wedding at the Justice of the Peace in a small Texas town. Johnny's sister, Judy, pretended to be the Mother granting permission.

The marriage has lasted all these years, 1967 to 2016. He was very proud of that. His wife never graduated from High School, she dropped out. She never worked a paying job in her entire life. All her friends were JW's. It was the only life she ever knew and the only one imaginable.

________

Johnny and I were friends from the age of 12. All of our early memories were the SAME memory.

We called each other "Best best Buddy, lifelong pal." But that "lifelong" part was a dream.

Johnny would always prod me with JW-related statements, provoking discussion about (presumably) the Bible.

In my family, we were not religious people nor did we attend a church. I had respect--even reverence--but no emotional attachments to God or the good book. I was sort of a Nerdy intellectual kind of kid. So, we had lots of arguments--and I couldn't win those arguments even though I was using rational thinking and logic. Why?

I didn't realize at that time, we were living in two different worlds entirely! A fancy word covers the situation: "Non-overlapping magisteria."
The real world and the world of religious beliefs are different areas of inquiry, fact vs. values, so there is a difference between the "nets" over which they have "a legitimate magisterium or domain of teaching authority," and the two domains do not overlap.

So, here it is folks--my life was about to take a sharp left turn simply because I needed to be on EQUAL footing with Johnny and the only way I could think of to do that was to LEARN his magisterium and master it.

I would compare this to having a friend who is hooked on addictive drugs saying, "Just try it and see if you like it."

One snort, one injection, one high was all it took and the next 2o years would be a roller coaster ride through hell.

_______________

Johnny is dead. He won't be joining his devout parents in Paradise in all likelihood. You see, he knew how so much of Jehovah's Witness teachings had unraveled not standing the test of time. He was very angry when the Awake! magazine dropped the "generations" blurb which had been his bellwether to Armageddon.
He saw his belief system dismantled and reassembled like a Legos project.

He was highly intelligent. But he was a profoundly loyal advocated, too.
The arguments he and I shared never budged him off center--but they certainly rattled him to the core.

Today I want to salute his long marriage and his unshakeable Faith.

In the same breath, I want to shout to the world, "You were and always will be my friend--you stupid fool!"

Johnny Santa Cruz--1947 to 2016 Rest in Peace my best, best Buddy. I wish you had remained a lifelong pal.

44

My "best" friend (active JW) has just died

by Terry in

jw
friends

johnny santa cruz and i met around 1959 at a movie theater in fort worth, texas.. the purpose of that meeting was to create a fanclub for horror movie director william castle.

a week or so later, johnny stopped me as i was walking home from elementary school.. "hey--i think i know you.

weren't you at the william castle fanclub thing?".

Terry

"After johnny was" outed" and he cut me dead , I never heard from him again"

That intrigued me ,of course you don`t have to elaborate on that if you don`t want to, it`s really none of our business ,I`m just curious.

What stood out to me in your post is the fact that a John Santa Cruz was responsible for me converting to the J.W.`s , obviously not the same person though .We are on different sides of the world for starters.

____________Smiddy____

Can there possibly be two Johnny Santa Cruz's?

My Johnny stood 6' 3" tall and he was hefty. Large guy. Huge personality. He wore horn-rim glasses. He had one eye but you'd not know that unless he mentioned it--then you'd notice.
He sported a loud laugh and had a big personality.

Describe YOUR Johnny, please.

29

Diddling, adjusting, changing Doctrines? Why not leave it alone?

by Terry in

i have kept on asking myself why the jw's put targets on themselves by constant diddling with their own doctrines?

why not leave it alone?.

mainstream christianity has fixed teachings.

Terry

What is interesting to me is how independent groups (which Russell preferred) can allow themselves to become co-opted by iron-willed leaders.
It could be that Faith is a lot like dating around. After awhile, all that independence becomes too predictable. Then, one day, you find "The One" who rings your bell and you want to settle down and cinch the deal.

Those Bible Student groups which split (schism) were already naysayers who were apostates from mainstream churches over the End Times chronology addictions. By insisting on remaining independent they more or less doomed themselves.
The tyrant, Judge Rutherford, immortalized those who stayed with him.
Which is worse? :)

It is a no-win situation either way.

26

Jehovah’s Witnesses are Taught to Lie but to then Lie about Lying

by Terry in

jehovah’s witnesses are taught to lie but to then lie about lying.

first off, let’s define what it means to tell a lie.

i prefer the definition offered by aristotle way back in 4th century b.c.e.

Terry

"How do these pants look, Dear? Do they make me look fat?"

5

My Best and Oldest friend has died. He brought me in to the (not) Truth

by Terry in

in my book, i wept by the rivers of babylon, i described the process of having a friend, johnny santa cruz, use our friendship as a platform for converting me to a jehovah's witness.. that friendship cost me decades of my life in bondage to a cult.. the friendship was real and johnny and i bonded for life.

but, the religion eventually turned him into a stone silence.

now he is dead and the imaginary reunion and meeting of the minds is no longer a possibility.. this makes his passing a double tragedy.. his memories were my memories.

Terry

Thank you, my kind hearted friends!

Your words find their mark and I feel better for having read them.

I was just thinking last night how much life is like a Ray Bradbury story I read as a teenager.

It is about a couple on vacation in Europe. The husband George Smith, is crazy about the paintings of Pablo Picasso.
One evening, the man spots his hero at the edge of the sea.
_________________

I'll let Bradbury set it up for you:

"He began to draw incredible figures along the sand.

He sketched one figure and then moved over and, still looking down, completely focused on his work now, drew a second and a third figure, and after that a fourth and a fifth and a sixth.

George Smith, printing the shoreline with his feet, gazed here, gazed there, and then saw the man ahead. George Smith, drawing nearer, saw that the man, deeply tanned, was bending down. Nearer yet, and it was obvious what the man was up to, George Smith chuckled. Of course . . . Alone on the beach this man how old? Sixty-five? Seventy? -- was scribbling and doodling away. How the sand flew! How the wild portraits flung themselves out there on the shore! How ...

George Smith took one more step and stopped, very still.

The stranger was drawing and drawing and did not seem to sense that anyone stood immediately behind him and the world of his drawings in the sand. By now he was so deeply enchanted with his solitudinous creation that depth bombs set off in the bay might not have stopped his flying hand nor turned him round..."

___________________________

The end of the story (If you haven't read it--don't let me spoil it)

is what reminds me of Johnny and our lifelong friendship. The impermanence of a masterpiece such as it was.

Bradbury ends it with these words:

"The artist had drawn nearer and now was gazing into George Smith's face with great friendliness as if he were guessing every thought. Now he was nodding his head in a little bow. Now the ice-cream stick had fallen casually from his fingers. Now he was saying good night, good night. Now he was gone, walking back down the beach towards the south. George Smith stood looking after him. After a full minute, he did the only thing he could possibly do. He started at the beginning of the fantastic frieze of satyrs and fauns and wine-dipped maidens and prancing unicorns and piping youths and he walked slowly along the shore. He walked a long way, looking down at the free-running bacchanal. And when he came to the end of the animals and men he turned round and started back in the other direction, just staring down as if he had lost something and did not quite know where to find it. He kept on doing this until there was no more light in the sky, or on the sand, to see by.

He sat down at the supper table.

You're late, said his wife. I just had to come down alone. I'm ravenous.

That's all right, he said.

Anything interesting happen on your walk? she asked.

No, he said.

You look funny; George, you didn't swim out too far, did you, and almost drown? I can tell by your face. You did swim out too far, didn't you?

Yes, he said.

Well, she said, watching him closely. Don't ever do that again. Now — what'll you have?

He picked up the menu and started to read it and stopped suddenly.

What's wrong? asked his wife. He turned his head and shut his eyes for a moment.

Listen.

She listened.

I don't hear anything, she said.

Don't you?

No. What is it?

Just the tide, he said, after a while, sitting there, his eyes still shut.

Just the tide, coming in.

16

A Brief History of MONEY and the Watchtower religion

by Terry in

watch tower corp has changed a long-standing policy in regard to donations which had been in place a long, long time.

to appreciate how drastic these changes have been, you'd have to know how it was from the beginning.. .

watch tower corp has changed a long-standing policy in regard to donations which had been in place a long, long time.

Terry

The more I investigate the business dealings of C.T. Russell and associates, the more flabbergasted I become. These men were knee-deep in illicit doo-doo. And all the while, they are using the public face of religion as a hobby to whitewash their reputation.
Had Russell not been a Sociopath, I doubt he could have carried off the illusion of being a humble servant of God while amassing illegal funds and punishing his wife.
Not all monsters look like Godzilla.