Terry

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Posts by Terry

• 
  13

  Arguing with Still-in best friends : hard heads and broken hearts

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  (re :johnny santa cruz).

  i found an old diary entry from 15 years ago.. .

  i ended up posting it in 2004.... .

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• 

  Terry

  Do Jehovah's Witnesses really think the 'witnessing work' they do compares in quality, depth, and
  thoroughness compared to the previous generations of JW's?
  I doubt they give that any consideration.
  They are kept in thrall to fear-mongering. It's all Great Tribulation ballyhoo substituting for
  Armageddon scares.
• 
  14

  What would happen IF ...? If the New Light Crowd and the Old Light crowd ...?

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what would happen?

  (a thought experiment) what if it were possible to gather bible students from pastor russell's day in a large auditorium with the rutherford era followers, and then bring in the brother knorr (my era) crowd along with present day jw's and get them chatting with each other?all that new light with all that old light (which thought it had new light) would be in for a shock.would they humble themselves and decide present day governing body doctrine changes and tv style begging for money was acceptable?what do you think?i think it would be chaos and denunciation.

  i could be wrong, buti don't think so..

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• 

  Terry

  I have pulled out this old

  post of mine from years back...a true incident The Remarkable Sister Pettifog

  ________

  This morning I arrived on my bicycle at the local Starbucks early and took up a seat at the outdoor table in the fresh air.

  That’s when it happened--a group of 3 older ladies at one of the other tables outside rose to leave and one of them walked over to my table and spoke directly to me.
  I was wearing earbuds at that moment and didn’t hear. I popped them out and asked her to repeat herself.

  “That’s a beautiful bicycle you have there. What a great way to stay healthy!”

  I tossed off a few uninteresting statistics about how many days I’ve ridden my bicycle without relying on an automobile.

  As I spoke, I could see she was scrutinizing my face like a private investigator rummaging for clues. The analytical part of my brain went on alert at that instant. What was she doing?

  “I think I know you. It’s been a long, long time ago when last I saw you. I don’t expect you’d remember me but I remember you because my great grandmother use to tell me how much you reminded her of her favorite movie star, Randolph Scott.”

  

  Straightaway, I put 2+2 together! I knew exactly who she was talking about--after all, nobody else in the whole world had ever said I looked like Randolph Scott but one lady!

  “You’re talking about **Mildred Pettifog, aren’t you?”

  This lady about fell over when I pulled that rabbit out of the hat!

  “How in the world--I mean--that’s impossible you should say that. How--how do you know that?”

  I explained the instant connection and invited her to sit. I could see she wanted to talk.

  She was probably in her 50’s but who can really tell, right? She was jovial, keen-eyed and pleasant. All the while I was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
  I’m a former Jehovah’s Witness and that is a ticking time bomb in one of these conversations. Until they find out you’re not one of them--they’re friendly.
  If they are still JW, the second you tell them they’ll flee in terror at the prospect an “Apostate” might be talking to them.

  It came as a huge relief when she took the initiative to tell me she had escaped from the clutches of the Organization ( the main autocrats in charge.)

  We swapped horror stories and gossipy tidbits for awhile until she was just about ready to leave. Then she stopped and gazed out into the middle distance and dredged up a memory to relate to me. After I heard it, I sort of sat dumb with my jaw hanging open. This nice former JW told me a little story about Sister **Pettifog, her great grandmother.

  ___________________

  The first time I encountered Mildred Pettifog she was a full time Pioneer knocking on stranger’s doors. (“Pioneer” means is she engaged in a door to door neighborhood ministry to achieve one hundred hours each month as a required ministerial quota.)
  Yes, she was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses and had been brought up as a Bible Student since the late 19th century.
  In case that means nothing to you, think of it this way, the Civil War was fought 15 years before Mildred was born.
  To gain a perspective, just think about the day airplanes flew into the World Trade Center in your own lifetime. That was 15 years before I’m writing this today.

  By the time I was introduced to her (1960), this interesting little bundle of dynamite was already 80.

  In today’s world, older women chase after eternal youth cosmetically in ways which hide or disguise the aging process. Hardly anyone actually knows what an old person would look like without this lavish attention to diet, exercise, Botox, facelifts, and youthful stylishness. However, back in 1960, when I first attended the Fort Worth Kingdom Hall as a guest, old ladies looked like old ladies.

  For example . . .

  Sister Pettifog sported a funny little purple hat riveted to the back of her head by a long hat pin with an improbably large pearl on its end about the size of a Robin’s egg. Her hair was mostly silver-white tinged with an incomprehensible blue tint.

  What a face this lady had!

  This elderly Sister flashed a crinkled smile and possessed large brown eyes like a puppy in a pet store window eager for adoption. Her skin was quite pale and her cheeks radiated a pinkish orange circle of something she said was “rooj” (rouge) a proper style back in the olden days. Once seen, Sister Pettifog was not soon forgotten!

  Her dresses appeared to be handmade on her old Singer sewing machine using striped or polka dot patterns prudently selected at the local fabric shop. The steel rimmed bifocals framed her wide-set eyes perfectly and bestowed an impression of quiet intelligence and wisdom.

  Sister Mildred always wore so much perfume you could tell if she was within a half mile of where you stood. Her favorite scent, Jungle Gardenia, had replaced her previous all-time passion, Chanel No. 5. I was told all this on the spot, of course, by the lady herself within 5 minutes of meeting her.

  Although everybody who met Sister Mildred loved her instantly, the effect of that powerful perfume was devastating! It was like taking a large stone and tossing it in a small still pool of water--the splash and waves and ripples seemed to reach out in all directions tossing people’s nostrils hither and thither in pandemonium!

  The most remarkable aspect of Mildred Pettifog’s persona was the fact she was one of the elite anointed members at our Kingdom Hall.
  (At the time, it was special - very special. In recent years, the ruling Governing Body has taken all that special cachet for themselves alone.)

  What did it actually mean to be “anointed” by holy spirit as a JW?

  Sister Pettifog had what was known as “a heavenly calling.”

  Rank and file Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t set their hopes on going to heaven when they die.
  No, not at all!
  The vast majority aim for an “Earthly hope.” Life everlasting in a new Eden.
  Scant few possess the interior tingle of a self-aware frisson. (A special self-awareness)
  If you’ve never been a Jehovah’s Witness, you’ll be scratching your head about now wondering aloud just how cuckoo this denomination really is.

  Don’t worry about that right now, suffice it to say Mildred Pettifog was a rare individual viewed with almost “magical” special-ness (although no JW would ever employ the word “magic.”)

  Until fairly recently, the eight million of Jehovah’s Witnesses all over the world were under the impression the “anointed” got direct messages from the heavenly realm tipping them off about sacred secrets and advance prophetic divinations. These whisperings were better than stock market tips! (Although none has ever paid off).

  Certainly this was the case when I was introduced.
  The person introducing me spoke in a sudden and respectful hushed tone of awe in their voice as Mildred’s name was intoned. This created a funny feeling inside of me too. The psychology of awe is quite contagious! Sort of like, “Ya wanna meet Elvis?”

  Now you may be wondering why I’m telling you all this about one little old lady, right? In the grand scheme of things, it means nothing to you, of course.
  Well, don’t be so sure. Give me a couple of more minutes to relate my story and you might just change your mind. Fair enough?

  Let’s begin . . .
  
  

  ________________

  Before I met him, my future best friend Johnny had gone through a sudden ‘conversion experience’ after a conversation with Mildred Pettifog. He was only 9 years old at that time.

  Sister Pettifog had knocked on his door and his mother Jenny had answered. Much to his surprise and horror, Jenny started cussing out the old lady and slammed the door in her face after only a few moments of discussion of the Bible.

  Johnny felt his world crash about him. After all, his mom Jenny was NOT that kind of person. She was a charming, affable, and a genuinely kind woman. Why had she been so vulgar and rude to the old lady?

  Johnny told me the whole story many decades afterward.

  Johnny’s parents moved to Fort Worth from South Texas and had dressed up special to go to the nearby Baptist Church for the first time taking all their kids with them (Johnny, Judy, JoAnn, Vicki).
  Upon arrival, the Pastor of the all white church pulled them aside and not-too-politely instructed them to go to the “Mexican” Baptist Church three miles distant.
  Why?
  “You folks will feel more comfortable there.”

  Johnny’s father was from a Spanish family and his skin was deep hued in an era in which race relations in the South were testy, judgmental, and volatile.

  Following this stinging and hurtful embarrassing rejection, Jenny and Steve disavowed church in a fit of righteous indignation, nursing their tender feelings self-isolated from fellowship of any sort.

  The arrival of Sister Pettifog at the door that day was ill-timed at the “worst possible” moment for raw emotions triggering an unfortunate outburst from Jenny Santa Cruz.

  9-year-old Johnny ran after the old lady and apologized to her for his mother’s tantrum and insults.
  Sister Pettifog was jovial and forgiving. She invited Johnny to sit with her once a week for a private Bible study. He leapt at the offer being of an especially open and intelligent frame of mind given to a natural curiosity about the Divine.
  So powerful was the teaching and personality of Sister Pettifog, in no time at all she was studying with the rest of Johnny’s family, overcoming all objections, answering questions and amazing them with her uncanny grasp of all the spiritual secrets of the Almighty Jehovah!

  The upshot of this incident will now make more sense to you with this background in place.
  For, you see, Johnny became my best friend some 3 years after that incident and he began bombarding me with religious conversation from day one. A kind of apostle of Pettifoggery.
  
  When I attended the local Kingdom Hall with him my first time, it was fated to be my first meeting with Johnny’s favorite person in all the world of Jehovah and anointing: Sister Pettifog!
  It was Johnny’s tone of hushed awe which made my spine tingle when Sister Pettifog took my hand and told me, “You remind me of my favorite movie actor, Randolph Scott!”

  We’ve now squared the circle on all the background, haven’t we?
  Yes, I think so.
  I became a Jehovah’s Witness 3 years later. Within 20 years I’d be an Ex-JW while Johnny remained entrenched and immovable for the rest of his life.
  (He died at age 69. We had not spoken for years because of JW religious shunning practices when a member stops being a member.)

  ___________

  Back to the great granddaughter’s story related to me this morning!

  _________

  At this point, I’ll try my best to give you the story as told to me by the great granddaughter. . .

  “The first time my great grandmother said one bad thing about the WatchTower organization I thought I was going to have a heart attack! It was like a bomb went off in my head! Granny Mildred is the one person most able to turn a Bible study into a Baptism. She had a way about her. She was not just the best; she was the best of the best. But, as you well know, the Truth, so-called, of the WatchTower organization has a way of changing infrequently with a strange anonymity to the process. Granny Mildred noticed it and used the word, “Sneaky.”

  This shocked me. I didn’t believe my ears. I asked her to explain. When I heard what she had to say, I wished I hadn’t! She stood there in the kitchen helping me wash dishes like she always insisted on doing and at the same time started ticking off a long list of horrible things she claimed the Organization had done over the years to prove they were NOT the true religion! I kept telling her not to continue. I was panicking! I immediately thought of rushing her to the hospital. It was obvious to me--or so I thought--she had suffered a stroke and wasn’t responsible for her words!”

  “It took her almost a year to deprogram me! We moved to Oklahoma and started going to a new Kingdom Hall. All the while, she kept going to all the meetings and out in Field Service, (door to door,) like nothing inside her had changed. I asked her how she could stand it. How could she pretend this was still “The Truth”?

  “Granny smiled and explained she could do a whole lot more good ‘undercover’ than as an Apostate, because nobody was allowed to listen to an ex-member. But everybody would listen to her as one of the anointed remnant!”

  At this point in her story, I was laughing out loud. This was amazing me! I begged for details. The granddaughter glanced at her watch. She had to go shortly but she said she’d tell me this one thing Granny always did when she was around young Witnesses.

  Sister Mildred Pettifog would wait until she was in the car with a trapped audience who couldn’t flee. Then she’d start talking about her life as a Jehovah’s Witness. . . .

  “I was born the year after the WatchTower was first published. My parents were among the first Bible Students to subscribe. Pastor Russell taught the Time of the End had begun in 1799 when Napoleon took the Pope hostage. You don’t know that, naturally. The organization finds that embarrassing. Pastor Russell taught Jesus returned in 1874 invisibly. You don’t know that either, of course. Pastor Russell used measurements on the Great Pyramid to predict 1914. The Pastor assured all of us, 1914 was Armageddon! Until the 1930’s, Pastor Russell’s successor, Judge Rutherford, continued the Pyramid nonsense! Guess what? We were all surprised when everything we had been taught--everything we had been teaching our friends and neighbors was sudden changed overnight--and no longer the Truth anymore!
  By that I mean this.
  Judge Rutherford finally changed everything by moving dates forward just like it was nothing--game pieces on a board! Lots of Brothers and Sisters fell away over the years because they were more loyal to the Bible than to the changes the WatchTower kept on springing! Can you imagine that? Just think how I felt as a young girl and then as a teenage woman to have to erase everything I was told was true and just pretend it never happened! But let me tell you--I was not faithful to the Bible--no sir! I stayed faithful to the Organization! I knew I was going to heaven no matter what the Governing Body decided was true! I didn’t graduate from High School or go to college. You know why? Because Armageddon was coming in 1914--what good would a worldly education do for me?
  But it never happened!
  Then, when I was 45 years old, Armageddon came again. By that I mean this--it did NOT. It was ‘supposed to’.
  But, once again, we remained loyal to Jehovah’s Organization--never mind the Bible. The Bible says “No man knows the day and hour.” Well, that didn’t seem to faze Brother Fred Franz! Franz was like an Old Testament prophet. If he said it--it was considered true.
  He came up with 1975 as the End of six-thousand years of human existence . That’s what he called it. That’s code for: Armageddon.
  We all knew time was short by the time I was in my 90’s because we, the anointed, were dying off. We, the anointed Generation of 1914, had to still be alive to SEE the end. Our life was the Countdown Clock. Each year, more of us anointed would die and that proved Armageddon was getting closer and closer. I’m 98 years old. I was 95 the last time Armageddon didn’t come. You understand? That was 3 years ago we were taught the world was ending because of Earthquakes, famine, wars, and I suppose the heartbreak of psoriasis too--except IT DIDN’T HAPPEN. So many have gone away now. They lost faith in Jehovah’s Organization. But, not me! I’m faithful and loyal to the bitter end.”

  The granddaughter shook her head in wonderment at the words she related to me and added, “How she got away with that--I just don’t know. You could see the young kids’ faces. They didn’t know if she had lost her mind or what! If a young person were of college age, she went out of her way to talk to them. She’d get them off by themselves and say: I never got a proper education because the world was ending. It ended over and over and over. (With a wink.)

  “I have friends who never married because of that, too. They have no kids or grandkids because we were assured we’d all be in heaven or Paradise. Many people now are old, bitter and unhealthy thinking they never lived a real life just waiting around for Armageddon. But, I went ahead and married and I had beautiful kids and grandkids. Do you suppose I’m sorry? Well, I am sorry I didn’t go to college. I could have earned enough money to give my children and grandchildren a start in life. But don’t listen to me. I’m just a grumpy old lady and my mind isn’t as clear as it used to be.”

  Then Granny would walk away leaving those young JW’s with a dazzled expression of pure horror and puzzlement behind.

  I asked if any Elders ever gave her a good stern talking to.

  “Oh for heaven’s sakes! Are you serious? Granny was too slick for that!
  She knew her scriptures and she’d start quoting them one after another until the busybody would shrug and give up. You see, she knew they had too much respect for her to get mean--like they do with most members who have loose tongues.”

  I asked what happened to Sister Pettifog.

  “Granny died peacefully in her sleep 10 days before her hundredth birthday. She had written a long letter to be read to the congregation at her funeral. She mailed it to the Presiding Elder and a copy to WatchTower headquarters a few days before she died. Do I need to tell you, that letter disappeared and was never read or mentioned by anybody. I was asked if I knew anything I needed to tell--about Sister Pettifog’s state of mind. I told them she had only grown more loving, kind, cheerful and open hearted the older she got. I told them what she had said about loyalty to Jehovah’s Organization, too. They didn’t catch the telltale irony.”

  Then, the granddaughter had to leave. I thanked her for stopping to talk to me.

  “How long after your grandmother died did you start to fade?”

  She turned to go and stopped. Her tongue flicked out to lick her lower lip reflectively.

  “It was probably the day after her funeral.”

  _________________

  She really made my day

  I sat and shook my head for awhile.

  Her great grandmother was directly responsible for my best friend Johnny’s captivation with Jehovah’s Witnesses. Johnny, in turn, was responsible for my indoctrination leading to eventual imprisonment later on during the Vietnam War.
  I, in turn, was a Pioneer who held many Bible studies and had several baptisms occur. The chain-of-abuse was finally broken, of course.

  I became an Activist writing books whistleblowing the inside story of WatchTower deceit.

  Yet--I really have to hand it to the lady who thought I looked like Randolph Scott. She takes the cake! She was a secret agent activist for the last years of her life and she got away with it. I’d love to know how many young people she spoke to whose minds were changed or jarred or awakened by her cunning testimony?

  She really and truly was the Remarkable Sister Pettifog!

  _________________

  **Note: I have changed the lady's name at the request of her granddaughter. I told her I wanted to write about her. She is still 'estranged' as an ex-JW fader. I've honored her request.
• 
  15

  Surviving Idiots

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  surviving idiots.

  there is in every species a "best" at surviving.. .

  99.99 % of every species which has ever existed has perished.. .

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  Terry

  Nevil Shute's book ON THE BEACH is a stunning film and wonderful book.
  I'd like to direct you to another film (with Jimmy Stewart) made from Nevil Shute's books.
  NO HIGHWAY (IN THE SKY)
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PiuuCnYlc1M
• 
  15

  Surviving Idiots

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  surviving idiots.

  there is in every species a "best" at surviving.. .

  99.99 % of every species which has ever existed has perished.. .

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  Terry

  I don't know the we, as a species, are doomed.
  I do think our ways of governing, our stability, our economies are heading toward total disruption.
  Historically, opportunists rush to fill the void.
  Latter day carpetbaggers.
  That bulge in the middle will quickly sort into Big Losers and not so lucky winners.
  The super-wealthy apparently already know this. I've watched YouTube tours of underground living spaces which look like shopping centers where our present day elite are ready to scale down their above ground freedom and confine themselves in secure subterranean shelters.
  
  T.S.Eliot The Hollow Men
  

  We are the hollow men
  We are the stuffed men
  Leaning together
  Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!
  Our dried voices, when
  We whisper together
  Are quiet and meaningless
  As wind in dry grass
  or rats' feet over broken glass
  In our dry cellar
  
  Shape without form, shade without colour,
  Paralysed force, gesture without motion;
  
  Those who have crossed
  With direct eyes, to death's other kingdom
  Remember us - if at all - not as lost
  Violent souls, but only
  As the hollow men
  The stuffed men.
  
  

  

  
  II
  
  Eyes I dare not meet in dreams
  In death's dream kingdom
  These do not appear:
  There, the eyes are
  Sunlight on a broken column
  There, is a tree swinging
  And voices are
  In the wind's singing
  More distant and more solemn
  Than a fading star.
  
  Let me be no nearer
  In death's dream kingdom
  Let me also wear
  Such deliberate disguises
  Rat's coat, crowskin, crossed staves
  In a field
  Behaving as the wind behaves
  No nearer -
  
  Not that final meeting
  In the twilight kingdom
  
  

  

  
  
  III
  
  This is the dead land
  This is cactus land
  Here the stone images
  Are raised, here they receive
  The supplication of a dead man's hand
  Under the twinkle of a fading star.
  
  Is it like this
  In death's other kingdom
  Waking alone
  At the hour when we are
  Trembling with tenderness
  Lips that would kiss
  Form prayers to broken stone.
  
  

  

  
  
  IV
  
  The eyes are not here
  There are no eyes here
  In this valley of dying stars
  In this hollow valley
  This broken jaw of our lost kingdoms
  
  In this last of meeting places
  We grope together
  And avoid speech
  Gathered on this beach of this tumid river
  
  Sightless, unless
  The eyes reappear
  As the perpetual star
  Multifoliate rose
  Of death's twilight kingdom
  The hope only
  Of empty men.
  
  
  

  

  
  
  V
  
  Here we go round the prickly pear
  Prickly pear prickly pear
  Here we go round the prickly pear
  At five o'clock in the morning.
  
  Between the idea
  And the reality
  Between the motion
  And the act
  Falls the Shadow
  
  For Thine is the Kingdom
  
  Between the conception
  And the creation
  Between the emotion
  And the response
  Falls the Shadow
  
  Life is very long
  
  Between the desire
  And the spasm
  Between the potency
  And the existence
  Between the essence
  And the descent
  Falls the Shadow
  
  For Thine is the Kingdom
  
  For Thine is
  Life is
  For Thine is the
  
  This is the way the world ends
  This is the way the world ends
  This is the way the world ends
  Not with a bang but with a whimper.
  
• 
  15

  Surviving Idiots

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  surviving idiots.

  there is in every species a "best" at surviving.. .

  99.99 % of every species which has ever existed has perished.. .

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  2. 
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• 

  Terry

  SURVIVING IDIOTS

  
  

  There is in every species a "best" at surviving.

  
  

  99.99 % of every species which has ever existed has perished.

  
  

  ONE PER CENT of all who every lived = is us right now.

  ___

  Is that fair?

  
  

  If you have just $4,210 to your name, you’re better off than half of people around the globe right now.

  
  

  Among our 1% there is another 1% in a continuous

  filtering process from weak to strongest, poor to richest.

  Each 1% produces yet another 1% because

  everything is always sorted from least to most.

  
  

  Sorting this out is maddening.

  
  

  Societies which have experimented with equality, fairness, and altruism have been surprised at their own downfall when inevitably it arrives.

  
  

  (The Golden Age of Pericles : 495 to 429 B.C.E. Pericles transformed his city’s alliances into an empire and graced its Acropolis with the famous Parthenon. His policies and strategies also set the stage for the devastating Peloponnesian War, which would embroil all Greece in the decades following his death.)

  
  

  ___

  Are there reasons for no EQUALITY?

  Yes.

  
  

  We all want the BEST and that instantly creates a hierarchy

  form "least" to "best" from which we choose.

  
  

  Colleges, Employers, the Military, Sport teams, Businesses, all want

  the BEST among the field and that automatically means

  Winners and Losers.

  
  

  The famous Bell Curve

  
  

  In the bell curve, the highest point is the one that has the highest probability of occurring, and the probability of occurrences goes down on either side of the curve.

  
  

  Call the Left hand side: LOSERS

  Call the Right Hand side: WINNERS

  Call the Middle : Struggling to move to the Winner side.

  
  

  Human differences are REAL.

  None of us gets to start even.

  The game is IN PROGRESS when we arrive.

  
  

  Everyone and every thing can be subdivided into BEST to WORST. Everything collapses otherwise into a chaos of incompetency and idiocracy.

  Sound familiar?
  Idiocracy is rule by elite idiots who cheat the system by pretending to be the best of the best.

  
  

  We ignore this at our own peril.

  
  

  POLITICS is two wolves and a sheep voting on "What's for lunch?"

  Who will cry "Unfair?"

  ___

  
  

  The bulge in the Bell Curve is the voter pool. It thinks it is selecting
  from among the right hand side and not the left hand side.
  Wrong.

  
  

  Developed countries have politicians at local levels all the way up to ruling executive levels.

  Should we be surprised at the (lack of) quality of these elected officials?

  Developed countries are in chaotic turmoil even with carefully selected leaders who are "the best of an extracted group of exceptional people."

  But voters exist on a scale of competence / incompetence as well.

  Switching from Republican to Democrat and Democrat to Republican over and over solves nothing because

  we have NO COMPETENCY.

  
  

  Our incompetent leaders have produced escalating chaos

  through an ILLUSION that we are voting between a field of highly competent people.

  We are not.

  We are shooting in the dark and hitting each other.

  
  

  Mortal wounds abound.

  
  

  _____
• 
  14

  What would happen IF ...? If the New Light Crowd and the Old Light crowd ...?

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  what would happen?

  (a thought experiment) what if it were possible to gather bible students from pastor russell's day in a large auditorium with the rutherford era followers, and then bring in the brother knorr (my era) crowd along with present day jw's and get them chatting with each other?all that new light with all that old light (which thought it had new light) would be in for a shock.would they humble themselves and decide present day governing body doctrine changes and tv style begging for money was acceptable?what do you think?i think it would be chaos and denunciation.

  i could be wrong, buti don't think so..

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  Terry

  WHAT WOULD HAPPEN?
  
  (A thought experiment)
  
  What if it were possible to gather Bible Students from Pastor Russell's day in a large auditorium with the Rutherford Era followers, and then bring in the Brother Knorr (my era) crowd along with Present Day JW's and get them chatting with each other?
  
  All that New Light with all that Old Light (which thought it had New Light) would be in for a shock.
  
  Would they humble themselves and decide Present Day Governing Body doctrine changes and TV style begging for money was acceptable?
  
  WHAT DO YOU think?
  
  I think it would be chaos and denunciation. I could be wrong, but
  I don't think so.
• 
  13

  Arguing with Still-in best friends : hard heads and broken hearts

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  (re :johnny santa cruz).

  i found an old diary entry from 15 years ago.. .

  i ended up posting it in 2004.... .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Terry

  I used to say, "Wouldn't it be interesting to get the Bible Students from Pastor Russell's day in a large auditorium with Rutherford's followers, and then bring in the Brother Knorr (my era) crowd along with Present Day JW's and get them chatting with each other.
  
  My contention is this. They'd be arguing and fighting in less than fifteen minutes!
• 
  13

  Arguing with Still-in best friends : hard heads and broken hearts

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  (re :johnny santa cruz).

  i found an old diary entry from 15 years ago.. .

  i ended up posting it in 2004.... .

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• 

  Terry

  I'm surprised the Watchtower never published a giant book of excuses for just this very occasion :)
• 
  13

  Arguing with Still-in best friends : hard heads and broken hearts

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  (re :johnny santa cruz).

  i found an old diary entry from 15 years ago.. .

  i ended up posting it in 2004.... .

  1. 
  2. 
  3. 
• 

  Terry

  (RE :Johnny Santa Cruz)

  I found an old diary entry from 15 years ago.

  I ended up posting it in 2004...

  ____

  HARD HEADS and BROKEN HEARTS

  ___

  When I was 12 I met Johnny.

  He and I became the best of friends. We went everywhere together and his family became my foster family I stayed at his house so much.

  
  

  But, Johnny started a Bible study with me and I eventually became a Jehovah's Witness. His whole family was JW.

  
  

  I married his sister JoAnn when I got out of Federal Prison (neutrality issue during VietNam war).

  Our continued friendship was never in any doubt at all. But, I moved from Texas in 1974 to California to find better employment.

  I was sick of lousy JW-type jobs as a janitor or assembly-line worker. In California I got a job as an artist and my life began to turn around.

  
  

  Fast forward........................................................................

  
  

  1975 - predicted by Watchtower 'prophets' as "The end of six thousand years of human existence" arrived and departed.

  Within four years, I dropped out and was disfellowshipped.

  
  

  But, oddly enough, Johnny never shunned me.

  Shunning is absolutely required to snap you out of it and get you back inside the fold.

  He was still in Texas and I remaind in California.

  
  

  I would write him letters and he would read them. I would call him on the telephone and he would talk to me.

  
  

  When I moved back to Texas he never failed to speak to me. Same with his family. I was persona non grata; but, I was never shunned.

  
  

  In 2004 Johnny sought me out again.

  He moved back to Fort Worth from Corpus Christi, Tx.

  We'd meet once a week or so for breakfast or lunch. We'd always have long soul-searching talks.

  
  

  Afterward, I'd write it all down.

  
  

  In the course of our conversations I always wait for him to cue the JW discussion. I never introduce it myself. He will invariably say something or other and I'll reply in such a way that the conversation starts rolling.

  
  

  One day he mentioned somebody I use to know who was "apostate" for awhile and now has gone back into the Kingdom Hall and been reinstated. (Doug Summers).

  (Note: many years later I discovered Johnny lied. He was trying to trick me into exposing Doug.)

  
  

  Johnny spoke: "I just don't understand brothers who leave the organization and try to get other people to leave too."

  
  

  Me: "Seems logical IF they leave for reasons of conscience."

  
  

  Johnny: "If you don't believe what the society teaches then just leave. Why get yourself disfellowshipped? You will lose your friends."

  
  

  Me: "I suppose having your family and friends held in a hostage situation is not much of a choice, is it?"

  
  

  Johnny: "What do you mean?"

  
  

  Me: "What kinds of groups exist in this world that you are not free to leave without forfeiting your family and friends? It is clearly a hostage situation. The Society holds the power to "kill" you at Armageddon, as it were, if you don't do what they say. That is what a hostage holder does--they use threat of death to use you for power parlay."

  
  

  Johnny: "The elders cannot disfellowship anybody for any reason other than unwillingness to ask for forgiveness."

  
  

  Me: "You know THAT isn't true."

  
  

  Johnny: (sheepishly) "Well, I should have said there is no scriptural reason other than failure to be contrite over which you can be disfellowshipped."

  
  

  Me: "Why do you think so many people leave the society?"

  
  

  Johnny: "I know of maybe 50 to 70 people personally who left the organization after 1975. I can't help but think they were only in the religion to save their own butts and didn't love Jehovah at all. So, when Armageddon did not come; they figure the danger was over and left."

  
  

  Me: "You are saying that is the ONLY reason a person would leave? What about discovering your religion was guilty of FALSE PROPHECY?"

  
  

  Johnny: "I don't regard the society as prophets. So, they can't be guilty of being false prophets."

  
  

  Me: "They represent themselves as prophets, dont they? They speak in the name of Jehovah. They set dates. They claim the dates are "gods' dates", they declare they are the mouthpiece of God. They claim the Watchtower is edited by Jehovah. They require you regard them as the faithful and discreet slave who gives food at the proper time. If you disagree with their opinion you are disfellowshipped. So, how does this in any way differ from being a prophet?"

  
  

  Johnny: "Jehovah corrected them. They don't set dates any more. Jehovah allowed them to be embarressed. Don't think God won't hold them personally responsible for any who were stumbled over the date setting."

  
  

  Me: "What is the test for a False Prophet for? Isn't it to prevent people from being stumbled in the first place? If somebody speaks in Jehovah's name and sets a date under HIS authority and it doesn't happen---that is the cue to leave THAT organization. That is what those so-called Apostates are warning about. The Watchtower Society did not pass the test of the false prophet."

  Johnny: "I've never read anything by an apostate that would cause me to want to leave the organization."

  
  

  Me: "The charge of being a false prophet is not a clue???"

  
  

  Johnny: "Why would I leave and have no place to go? I'm never going to be convinced to believe in the Trinity or Hellfire? There are no other churches that teach true doctrines."

  
  

  Me: "Jesus' sacrifice provided nothing? If you believe that he is the mediator; why doesn't your calling upon him as the mediator grant you audience with Jehovah? What does the JW organization offer you but men's opinions?"

  
  

  Johnny: "I have to believe Jehovah works through an organization."

  
  

  Me: "Ahhhh, but you DON'T HAVE TO believe any such thing. If Jesus is the mediator between God and man why is the Society a wedge mediator between man and the Mediator??"

  
  

  Johnny: "They aren't!"

  
  

  Me: "Doesn't the society teach that they have the only TRUE religion because Jehovah teaches THROUGH them only??"

  
  

  Johnny: "Yes?"

  
  

  Me: "If you disagree with their current opinion or theory (which they claim is from Jehovah) and that changes to an opposite view does this mean:

  
  

  A. Jehovah just keeps changing his mind

  
  

  B.The Governing Body just keeps changing their minds

  
  

  ?????????"

  
  

  Johnny: "They are imperfect. They make mistakes. Jehovah doesn't use perfect humans to do his will. King David did all kinds of wrong things and yet Jehovah used him and praised him as his anointed."

  
  

  Me: "Oh, I see. David claimed his adultery was commanded by Jehovah? David claimed killing Uriah the Hittite was required by Jehovah? David was punished for trying to do God's will and being mistaken about it?"

  
  

  Johnny: (long pause) "I didn't say that".

  
  

  Me:"Then your analogy to being imperfect and being like David is NOT a workable analogy. The WT society teaches and commands to be taught MISTAKES in the name of Jehovah. Then, they later claim they were only guilty of being zealous."

  
  

  Johnny: "The point is---my point is just that! Jehovah makes sure all mistakes are corrected. No other religion is willing to correct thier mistakes."

  
  

  Me: "Other religions don't have to correct mistakes; they have fixed belief systems. JW's doctrines are based on opinions that constantly change. Pressure from outside forces them to make changes. When they are wrong--they get tons of letters and hundreds of people are disfellowshipped for nothing. There are backfires."

  
  

  Johnny: "Which Jehovah can be using to correct them".

  
  

  Me: "Okay. Fair enough. Correct me if I am wrong. Jehovah allows imperfect, mistake-prone representatives to MAKE FALSE STATEMENTS OVER AND OVER rather than insuring they SPEAK THE TRUTH in the first place? Right?"

  
  

  Johnny: "Well, no"

  
  

  Me: "The Governing Body is like a Pharmacist dispensing the medicine that Jehovah prescribes. The purpose of the prescription is to get life-giving medicine to sick people. Jehovah is the Great Physician. You seem to be saying that the Doctor Jehovah allows the Pharmacist (the GB) to give the wrong medicine to sick people rather than using a Pharmacist that will get the perscription right in the first place....."

  
  

  Johnny: "Well,.........?"

  
  

  Me: "What possible purpose can be served by choosing to speak through persons that will speak something over and over that DOES NOT REPRESENT YOU accurately?? The impact on faithful people is a hard one. They do what they are told unwittingly. They become the victims of false rules that are later revoked because of wrong opinion."

  
  

  Johnny: "Each Christian has to use their intelligence to know better than to follow the silly rules. I have always learned to 'play the game'. I don't get into trouble because I never get myself in a situation where I can be outsmarted."

  
  

  Me: "Are you saying the elders are not bright enough to do the right thing?"

  
  

  Johnny: "I hate to say it; but, 99% of all the Elders I know are just plain stupid!"

  
  

  Me: "And that is the kind of organization the True God has put in place to represent him?"

  Johnny: "I don't know of any other place to go that has something better."

  
  

  Me: "Why do you think you have to go to ANOTHER ORGANIZATION? Why won't God listen to your prayers through his son Jesus?"

  
  

  Johnny: "He does. He will."

  
  

  Me: "So what exactly do you get out of going to the Kingdom Hall with its stupid elders, its changeable policies, it's false date-setting and constant evidence of being a false prophet?"

  
  

  Johnny: "My family and friends are there. I don't want to leave them."

  
  

  Me: "And that differs from a classic HOSTAGE SITUATION exactly how?"

  
  

  Johnny: "We are going in circles now."

  
  

  Me: "Have you ever caught the Society being wrong about something?"

  
  

  Johnny : "Sure, lots of times. I don't let it destroy my faith in Jehovah."

  
  

  Me: "What if they are wrong in their opinion about something vital to your relationship to Jehovah and you violate that vital thing? Would that not make you a follower of men rather than of God?"

  
  

  Johnny: "I can't see that happening".

  
  

  Me: "What if they are wrong about 1914? What if they are wrong about being the channel God uses to publish Truth? What if they are wrong about celebrating the Lord's Evening Meal and Jesus expects you to partake and you are forbidden by a wrong-headed theory? What if you are expected by God to help downtrodden people and instead you are only a glorified magazine salesman? What if the only effective thing you have done your whole life is put money into the hands of people in Brooklyn NY who buy real estate, invest in stocks, wield power over hapless people and change their minds at regular intervals and pass it off as flashes of revelation from god?"

  
  

  Johnny: "I have faith that Jehovah is in charge and he is running his own organization."

  
  

  Me; "And the false prophet test does not apply, then?"

  Johnny: "They are not inspired to be a prophet".

  
  

  Me: "What does the WT do that is different from what a prophet does? In what way, if any, do they differ?"

  
  

  Johnny: "A prophet is inspired. The WT only calls attention to prophecy that has already been given by true prophets. They are not giving fresh prophecy. They are giving opinions about already existing prophecy. They err when they go beyond scripture. Scripture plainly teaches you cannot know the day and the hour."

  
  

  Me: "What day and hour did they set in 1975? I thought it was only the year they set?"

  
  

  Johnny: "You know what I mean."

  
  

  Me: "So, when Jesus stood up in the synagogue and applied the already spoken words of ISAIAH to himself and further said "Today this prophecy is fulfilled" he was not acting as a prophet?"

  
  

  Johnny: "Yes, he was."

  
  

  Me: "Then, speaking out about when and how a previously revealed prophecy is fulfilled CAN BE the work of a prophet too?"

  
  

  Johnny: "I know what you are getting at. I just refuse to believe the Watchtower is a prophet of god. They are not inspired. The GB are imperfect. When they err, Jehovah corrects them. I demonstrate my faith in Jehovah's arrangement by not thinking I'm smarter than Jehovah. I wait on Him to correct his own organization. That is not my responsibility."

  
  

  Me: "Okay. Fair enough. Just answer me this: what is the purpose of the test of a false Prophet if not to identify a false Prophet when what they predict DOESN'T HAPPEN?"

  
  

  Johnny: "If the society ever tries setting a date again; I'll be the first to leave. They have learned their lesson. Jehovah corrected them."

  
  

  Me: "And how long was it between "no more date-setting" in 1925 when Rutherford made an ass of himself and the setting of 1975?"

  
  

  Johnny: "50 years."

  
  

  Me: "When they need a flurry of activity to push people into action they will act according to their Adventist roots. Date-setting is in the DNA of the Watchtower Society. Without 1914 they would be nothing and have nothing but 12 old guys sitting around with hand puppets. And their hand would be up your butt for nothing."

  
  

  Johnny: "Not a pretty mental image!"

  
  

  _____

  
  

  What interested me back then was opening up the vacuum sealed compartments Johnny kept his reasons in.
  
  

  He didn't allow any two doubts to touch each other for fear, like raindrops on a window, they'd coalesce into a stream that could wash the delusion away and he'd be left feeling very bewildered and empty-handed.
  
  

  EPILOGUE: I attended his very large JW funeral and hugged and kissed him in his casket.

  How I loved and continue to cherish his memory.
  
  Do YOU have friends like this still inside?
  Tell me about them, please.

  
  

  
  
  
  
• 
  12

  Chapter a Day (I will post) from my Sci-Fi novel

  by Terry in

  1. jw
  2. friends

  chapter one.

  the monorails of mars (1905) ____.

  like watchful eyes—the twin moons of mars voyeured above the chaos.

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• 

  Terry

  
  

  

  

  WHITE HOUSE 1908

  “Newspapers call this the Heroic Age of Exploration. Hero—that kind of word misunderstands the very nature of a man.”

  Roald Amundsen stood speaking softly, centered in the Oval Office of President Theodore Roosevelt. He gazed about appreciating the room and its implications of history, power and responsibility.

  Roosevelt had cleared his schedule savoring prospects of listening to wisdom and experience of one of few men on Earth he might call his equal or his better. Roosevelt—the Bull Moose President, admired self-made men above all.

  Theodore Roosevelt had been a sickly boy who had determined to exercise and build his body into something impressive, athletic and indomitable. He succeeded.

  T.R. seated himself at his desk placing both feet on top the leather blotter revealing a smart pair of cowboy boots. He thought of himself as legislator, cowboy and naturalist. Today, he was happy to play audience as well.

  "I am convinced a light supper, a good night's sleep, and a fine morning, have sometimes made a hero of the same man, who, by an indigestion, a restless night, and rainy morning, would have proved himself a coward." Amundsen mused.

  Roosevelt had rarely met a more self-effacing man. He flashed his best smile.

  "Well, Bully for you! What do you make of this Mars situation—? Give me your best appraisal. I sent you my file. Everything we know or surmise was in it. I won't ask you if you've cracked it, of course you did!"

  Amundsen leaned forward and hoisted his Gladstone bag off the floor; rummaged through it, and extracted a notepad. He thumbed a page or two and assumed the demeanor of a lecturing professor.

  "One fact jumps out at me—Tesla and Edison; men of opposite temperaments collaborating to create something bizarre: a so-called electric bridge to Mars!”

  T.R. removed his legs from the desktop. Walking over to a small table he poured himself and his guest three fingers of Russian vodka. They saluted and tossed back the drink. The President sat facing Amundsen. The two men resembled boys hunkered down in a tree house, hatching secret plans.

  “Isn’t it obvious--? If they achieve the impossible they become rich and famous.”

  "Sir, they’re both those things already. I suspect something more sinister is in play; something connected to Pastor Russell. ”

  “Edison and Tesla are egomaniacs, not followers of any religious movement. I don’t see what you’re driving at.”

  “What about a coup d’état? Russell says Christ returned invisibly. He’s rallying citizens of a new kind of heavenly government opposed to regimes like yours, sir.”

  The Chief Executive rubbed his belly and belched, then pardoned himself.

  "I don’t mind competing with invisible insurgencies or invisible rivals."

  Amundsen cracked a smile and flipped a couple of pages in his notebook.

  "There’s more to it than religious delusion, Mister President.”

  "Call me Teddy, please!"

  "Thank you, sir—let’s explore this. What if a Christian leader could produce a theocracy with an invisible Christ and actually convince people he himself was speaking on Christ’s behalf? The Pope won world dominion as the substitute for Christ—his Vicar. A convincing proxy-Christ could misdirect misled Christians; condition them to do as they were commanded—even turn them against you.”

  "High treason can get you shot in time of war.”

  "Martyrdom breeds zealots and it’s seen as proof their faith is real. Besides—if you die a martyr you get an expenses paid vacation on the streets of gold.”

  "You wrote me about this Trojan horse idea of yours—how does it work?"

  "A true believer’s mind welcomes a certain thing and accepts it loyally on faith. “Such a mind is very receptive to control. Think of Bible prophecy as you would a Trojan horse—it contains an unseen power ready to defeat the unwary.”

  "I'm confused here, Roald. Which power is leading this overthrow and takeover?”

  “A Christian figurehead who is a proxy for Christ could convince millions of true believers to refuse to fight for their country and to obey their own substitute theocratic Governing Body instead.”

  The President stood motionless turning thoughts over in his mind; listening and weighing them.

  “I’m a quick study, but the more you explain your theory, the more I want to take a snooze! How can one poor misguided man like Russell be harmful to anybody?”

  The Norwegian explorer rubbed his chin and shifted gears wearily.

  “Russell is being controlled somehow. His role is to convince others. He thinks god is whispering to him and the man has enough money to spread his ideas. The most dangerous men who have ever lived have thought they were doing god’s bidding. He predicts 1914 is The End. Thousands of people believe him, you see?”

  "Tell me in plain and simple English—are Martians coming to Earth with weapons as an invasion force? Convince me and I’m going to give you whatever you need to investigate this theory of yours and get to the bottom of it.”

  Amundsen had been waiting for the right question and this one was the key.

  “Mars will leverage surrender through an invasion of susceptible religious minds. When the army of Mars appears—these non-combatant dupes will welcome it! It will be seen as the beginning of the Great Tribulation. Such world events are only considered a bad thing if you are on the losing side—the Teddy Roosevelt side. If my theory holds true—you and all world governments will go down in defeat.”

  Roosevelt’s eyes widened with understanding.

  “Voltaire said it best. What can you say to a man who tells you he prefers obeying god rather than men, and he thinks he'll go to heaven if he cuts your throat? I know enough about human nature to know I am going to act on this immediately.”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  

  

  SENATE INTERVIEW 1909

  “When you returned on the shuttle, Miss Boyd and Mr. Clayton, you were very ill with fever. What can you tell us about that?”
  Jack Clayton and Louise Boyd sat in the center of the Senate Chamber behind a long, drab table. A pitcher of water and two not-very-clean glasses had been placed in front of them indicating questioning might well go into the wee hours of the morning.

  At each door guards had been posted with orders: no person should pass. For all efforts to maintain secrecy, news reporters and their editors busied themselves crafting dummy introductory headlines to be filled in later. Hundreds of column inches of speculation had been drafted. Whatever came out of the hearings would be ballyhooed into headlines on every street corner boosting sales and stirring pandemonium.

  “I recall nothing of my arrival on Mars or subsequent activities. I don’t know if the fever I suffered is the cause of this amnesia or not. In my delirium, so I am told, I blurted out warnings of an invasion. Sometimes I’ll get flashes of this and that. Not any of these flashes are coherent, however.”

  Questioning by Senators continued . . .

  “Do you feel in any way manipulated by mind-control today in this Senate Chamber, Miss Boyd?”

  “I do not.”

  “What about you, Mister Clayton? Are you actually a puppet of Aliens?”

  Jack Clayton grinned. “My Puppet Masters require that I answer no.”

  Laughter erupted among the younger Senators while the Old Guard fumed and squawked until the chairman pounded his gavel.

  “Mister Clayton, I realize you are not an American citizen, but could we ask you to treat this occasion with at least a modicum of respect?”

  “I was always under the impression mind-control was guaranteed under your Bill of Rights under Freedom of Religion. Forty-thousand Christian denominations attest to the joy of its practitioners. Who am I to disagree?” Clayton winked.