Readers "of a certain age" will call to mind a writer named O.Henry (not the candy bar)
who was famous for writing stories with Twist Endings.
O.Henry wrote a story called THE MONKEY'S PAW which was quite popular.
In the story, three wishes are granted to the owner of The Monkey's Paw, but the wishes come with an enormous price for interfering with fate.
My story is an obvious interpolation.
In fact, it is meant to explore the "logic of choices" when based on an unreliable foundation.
For instance, if you are a Jehovah's Witness it is possible you were converted from a different religion because you compared one thing to another thing based on THE BIBLE.
In point of fact, the Bible has (since the Protestant Reformation) only led away from Catholicism into 40 thousand separate denominations ALL CLAIMING TO BE CHRISTIAN.
Same Bible (except for the NWT) but so many interpretations!
My story suggests the problem might be that the Bible is itself the UNRELIABLE NARRATOR.
Your mileage may vary, of course :)
Posts by Terry
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1DJINN - JINN - DEMON ...The Monkey's Maw
by Terry inthe monkey’s maw.
a tale of horror.
“three wishes?
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Terry
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LOTTERY+STRIPPER+BIBLE STUDY = a Jehovah’s Witness Sister!
by Terry inlottery+stripper+bible study = a jehovah’s witness sister!don’t most financially-strapped blue-collar people buy lottery tickets - what’s so special about that?vivian, mother of 4, a factory worker - it was her husband who played the pools and won £5.5 million pounds!viv and her husband lived in yorkshire and in the u.k. they call it playing the “ football pools.”they were the biggest winners in history (at the time) and the year was 1961.the first question winners are asked is: “what will you do with all that cash?”viv’s honest reply later became the title of her book (and later - a musical!
) “spend spend spend!”who doesn’t imagined winning such a sudden fortune would be the end of life’s problems?not so fast!four years after hitting the jackpot, her husband died at the wheel of his new jaguar, leaving an estate of only £42,000.
i mean that is all that was remaining after a mad spending spree.
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Terry
BluesBrother
Incidentally, the “Pools” are not really a lottery, it is betting on the outcome of football matches.
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Quite right, thanks!
There is a random aspect to the lottery which is absent from making a choice of winner in football.
Here in the U S of A, if you say pools it causes a giant question mark to appear in a balloon above the head. -
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DJINN - JINN - DEMON ...The Monkey's Maw
by Terry inthe monkey’s maw.
a tale of horror.
“three wishes?
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Terry
THE MONKEY’S MAW
A Tale of Horror
“Three wishes? Don’t make me laugh! That’s a silly Djinn in the bottle fable, rub three times nonsense …”
“Don’t you mean, the Genie?”
“The demonic spirit person is called a Djinn and the word “genie” comes from that - now don’t interrupt”
“Sorry!”
“If we don’t listen - we don’t learn.”
“I said I was Sorry.”
“You can SEE a genie. Djinn means ‘hidden’ and that makes all the difference. Besides, these are mischievous spirits who are bored and like to confuse humans, toy with them - often to the point of madness.”
“Seeing is believing.”
“ I was about to discuss it with you. What is hidden from our eyes is the real world and not the visible part we think we live in.”
“You’re saying blind people live in the real world and sighted people don’t?”
“Try very hard not to open your ridiculous mouth for the next few minutes. Instead, open your ridiculous mind.”
“Listen - I don’t like you. I only came here because of the Advertisement. I knew it would be bullshit - but - heck...what if it wasn’t? But you act like you’re better or smarter than me and I don’t need your insulting …”
“Silence! Now sit down and listen carefully. I know exactly why you’ve come here. Only a certain sort of idiot answers that sort of advertisement. I know what you are and how important it is for you to hear my secret. Go over to the chair and sit.”
“Yes-s-s-s, Sir-r-r-r. You sound like my Father. Or the priest I had as a child. No back-sass! Okay, I’m sitting. I’m listening. I’ll play this out and go along to get along. Lay it on me.”
“Very well. Once I begin the unveiling - the reveal - you aren’t allowed to leave this room - that is - until I say it is okay …”
“I can leave any time I choose to!”
“Of course you can but don’t miss the point of staying. If you leave you’ll be dead inside of three hours!! Now just shut up and let’s get this done.”
“Dead? Are you threatening me?”
“I have three questions for you and if you answer them all with a “Yes”, I’ll give you just ONE wish granted. Anything your heart and mind can conceive will be granted.”
“What do I get if I answer “No” on any question?”
“You wouldn’t like it. At all. I’ll have to turn you over to the Djinn in that box in the corner.”
“I think you mean ‘Jack’ in the box and not Jinn.”
“Here is your first question: DO YOU BELIEVE in an Almighty God of any description?
“I suppose so. I mean - “Yes.”
“Here is your second question: IF Almighty God asked you to try and talk Him out of destroying the whole world again - would you try?”
“Oh, Jeeze - you are a real piece of work! Okay. Umm...Sure; I mean “Yes” but what good would it do? Ya know?”
“ I am an Archangel and an emissary from Almighty God and am authorized to ask the third and final question. God will agree to refrain from destroying this world if you will agree to die in place of every person on Earth. What is your answer?”
“Hey - I’m no theologian or scholar - but I’m smart enough to know the story. Do you know? In the Bible? Jesus already did that. He died in place of all the sinners.”
“I need your Yes or No.
“As I said- this isn’t necessary and -oh! I see you getting angry. Your face is all red. So, um. Okay. Yes, I’ll die in place of all the others. How’d I do? Did I pass the quiz?”
“You may get up now and walk over to that large box in the corner.”
“What? Dammit, you said if I answered ‘Yes’ to everything I would have my request granted. I’m not going over to any damned box and letting some genie pop out and kill me!”
“Shut up, you Fool, and take this spike and hammer. Lift the lid on that box and drive it into the heart of the Djinn inside - and be quick about it or it will awaken and devour you whole!”
“I listened to what you said and that means if and - I do mean IF- there is a Jinn in that box it will be hidden or invisible and I won’t be able to see it or overpower it and certainly not be able to kill it before it gets me!!”
“So you are saying your request - your WISH is to be allowed to leave and exempt yourself from our bargain?”
“Wh-what? What kind of …? I...I...Let me think a moment. If I walk out of here I’ll never know if any of this was true - which it almost certainly isn’t. But - if I go over to that box and open it - well...I am almost certainly going to die for real. I...I just don’t know what to say or do.”
“Shall I tell you my little secret? It might help you choose wisely.”
“Lay it on me. I give up.”
“I Am the Djinn and I have the Christ trapped inside the box. My hand may not strike Him or harm Him in any way - but humans are always capable of destroying Him, disbelieving Him, and rendering his sacrifice as null and void.”
“You’re crazy! You’re a lunatic - or worse! You’re a Professor of Psychology conducting an experiment. But you don’t look invisible to me. I can SEE you and that is a refutation of your ‘hidden’ Jinn definition. So what’s this all about? What’s the game here?”
“You are free to leave - but you’ll be dead within 3 hours. You can walk over to the box and drive the spike into Him and I’ll grant your request - your one wish. Or, last - but not least - you can use your wish and I’ll exempt you from our oral contract. But you must decide now. I have about a dozen other applicants eager to have wishes granted. Choose NOW!”
“I’m not insane. You are! I hereby formally request - or WISH - that my contract be voided I will be allowed to leave without any threat of death. Is that good enough for you?”
“As you wish. Just one more fact for you before you go…”
“Lay it on me...what is it?”
“Djinns always tell lies. Have a fine afternoon and tell the next applicant to come in as you’re leaving. Goodbye!”
“Stop! Wait - I withdraw my wish - is it too late to do that? Oh never mind - you’d just lie to me. I mean -IF you are a Jinn you would lie and that means you are NOT a Jinn - except -
You just told me Jinns always lie - so THAT must not be true ...God damn it! I’m going insane trying to get myself out of this!! You - you MONSTER!”
“No take-backs. Djinns love to monkey with your mind. Begone now and don’t let the door hit you in your ass as you leave. But - since I’m a liar - you’ll be dead in 3 hours anyway. Or will you?”
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THE END
Cambridge Dictionary
Maw: something that seems to surround and devour everything near it -
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My latest novel is now available on Amazon, I think you might like it.
by JeffT inmy latest novel, “armageddon’s disciples” is now available in both print and kindle versions.
a brief description:.
“when three “disciples” of the word of god foundation discover seventeen-year-old alice lahti dead in their meeting hall, detective ed franklin quickly finds a tangled web of toxic relationships, sexual abuse, blackmail, murder, and bizarre failed prophecies.
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Terry
Congratulations Jeff!
You might want to select some provocative excerpts and a photo of the book cover and go on social media (Facebook) and find the ExJW community as an audience.
It's very tough to promote a book because there is so much competition for a person's attention today.
A few anecdotes and quotations just might do the trick.
Best of luck with your distribution. -
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LOTTERY+STRIPPER+BIBLE STUDY = a Jehovah’s Witness Sister!
by Terry inlottery+stripper+bible study = a jehovah’s witness sister!don’t most financially-strapped blue-collar people buy lottery tickets - what’s so special about that?vivian, mother of 4, a factory worker - it was her husband who played the pools and won £5.5 million pounds!viv and her husband lived in yorkshire and in the u.k. they call it playing the “ football pools.”they were the biggest winners in history (at the time) and the year was 1961.the first question winners are asked is: “what will you do with all that cash?”viv’s honest reply later became the title of her book (and later - a musical!
) “spend spend spend!”who doesn’t imagined winning such a sudden fortune would be the end of life’s problems?not so fast!four years after hitting the jackpot, her husband died at the wheel of his new jaguar, leaving an estate of only £42,000.
i mean that is all that was remaining after a mad spending spree.
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Terry
It is a story both tragic and colorful.
People without money don't understand money. It seems to be the answer to life's problems.
The emptiness inside a person's life cannot be filled with "things" because "self" is too small.
I feel sorry for Viv and hope she found solace near the end of her life. -
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LOTTERY+STRIPPER+BIBLE STUDY = a Jehovah’s Witness Sister!
by Terry inlottery+stripper+bible study = a jehovah’s witness sister!don’t most financially-strapped blue-collar people buy lottery tickets - what’s so special about that?vivian, mother of 4, a factory worker - it was her husband who played the pools and won £5.5 million pounds!viv and her husband lived in yorkshire and in the u.k. they call it playing the “ football pools.”they were the biggest winners in history (at the time) and the year was 1961.the first question winners are asked is: “what will you do with all that cash?”viv’s honest reply later became the title of her book (and later - a musical!
) “spend spend spend!”who doesn’t imagined winning such a sudden fortune would be the end of life’s problems?not so fast!four years after hitting the jackpot, her husband died at the wheel of his new jaguar, leaving an estate of only £42,000.
i mean that is all that was remaining after a mad spending spree.
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Terry
LOTTERY+STRIPPER+BIBLE STUDY = a Jehovah’s Witness Sister!
Don’t most financially-strapped blue-collar people buy lottery tickets - what’s so special about that?
Vivian, mother of 4, a factory worker - it was her husband who played the pools and WON £5.5 million pounds!
Viv and her husband lived in Yorkshire and In the U.K. they call it playing the “ football pools.”
They were the biggest winners in history (at the time) and the year was 1961.
The first question winners are asked is: “What will you do with all that cash?”
Viv’s honest reply later became the title of her book (and later - a musical!)
“SPEND SPEND SPEND!”
Who doesn’t imagined winning such a sudden fortune would be the end of life’s problems?
Not so fast!
Four years after hitting the jackpot, her husband died at the wheel of his new Jaguar, leaving an estate of only £42,000. What do you mean by “only”? I mean that is all that was remaining after a mad spending spree. Adjusted for inflation, the spending power amounted to £959,000.
In 1968, Vivian won a three-year legal battle to gain £34,000 ( £776,345) from her husband's estate but rapidly lost it all through more uncontrolled spending, as well as taxes, legal fees, unpaid bills, and bad investments.Viv bought a large bungalow with her second husband, Keith Nicholson, they sent their children to boarding school, and turned to a life of constant drinking, partying, and relentless shopping.
Viv was the sort of lady who could really bounce back. Resilient, I guess you could say.
She eventually remarried three times, dyed her hair to match her cars, and traveled the world spending all her money.
Did you notice the word “all” in that last sentence?
Nicholson and her husband lived up to her boast, taking just three years to spend the winnings.
Yes, Viv spent every last pound and farthing.
Now, the story gets more interesting :)
Eventually, she was reduced to stripping in a club and consoled herself with alcohol.
Maybe writing a book about her life would bring revenue? Yes! So, she did that too!
Whew! It’s time to get straight with the Lord--right?She returned to Yorkshire, to live with her granddaughter, Brooke, and to become a
(wait for it---wait for it…) a devout Jehovah's Witness.
At age 62, she lived on a state pension and had a job as a perfume sales assistant.
After a Bible study with the JW’s, she was baptized and became a minister.
Besides going door to door...She still loved to shop.
The musical about her life, Spend, Spend, Spend, premiered at the Piccadilly Theatre in London, starring Barbara Dickson.
Here is an interview with Viv back in the day.Q: Do you buy lottery tickets now? And what's your favorite scratch card?
A: No I don't buy lottery tickets or scratchcards.
I am a Jehovah's Witness now and have been for 21 years. Gambling is not allowed.Q: What do you think of those lottery winners who say the money won't change their lives?
A: You read about them every other week and they say that their lives will not change. Then you read about them later and their lives have changed. It makes some people lonely. One winner went to live in Spain and had to come back because he was drinking too much. Some people's wives leave them. I think it's silly to say that money won't change your life.
Q: Did people treat you differently when you had lots of money?
A: This was strange. When we won the money, we were sent to Coventry by the people in Garforth, where we lived. They didn't want me on the same housing estate. No one spoke to us and it was hard for me to speak to anyone. Had someone moved next door I would have made myself known to them and been friendly. It was very lonely. After about four years, people started being OK, but it was too late by then. Even my old friends left me. They said they didn't want people thinking that they were going about with me because I had money. It's sad because they were lovely people.
Q: Were you worried about having a musical made of your life?
A: I was. When I gave my consent, I never really thought anything would happen with it. I just left it with Justin and Steve [Justin Greene and Steve Brown, who wrote the lyrics and music for Spend, Spend, Spend]. Then, two years later, they'd done it and announced that they were going to the Leeds Playhouse. I was saying to myself, "Oh no, what have I done?" I was living a quiet life as a Jehovah's Witness and was happy. I was worried that it would rake up my past again.
Q: Do people recognize you when you knock on people's doors as a Jehovah's Witness?
A: Yes they do. Some look at me and say: "I know who you are." Then they close the door on me. Others are happy to see me. They say: "Hey, you're Viv Nicholson, aren't you?" But I never think of who I am at all when I knock on people's doors. I go as myself, rather than as a famous person.
Q: What about the job as a stripper in the Manchester club?
A: There I was, wearing a pair of tights I had to borrow from my sister, and I said I was going to ‘spend, spend, spend. I took to singing in nightclubs for a while. And then I was asked to strip at this revue bar in Manchester, and I went because it was £50 a night and I was hard up. I was supposed to go in front of the audience, and start singing 'Big Spender'. And I hate that record. It used to hurt me to sing it. The club managers said to me, 'Drop your dress when you get to the end of the song.' And I said, 'Only if I can leave my bra and knickers on.' They refused, but I wouldn't do it.
I kept my knickers and bra on. Afterward, I was frogmarched into the back and told, 'You'll do it properly tomorrow or you're sacked.' But the next night I dropped my dress to reveal my underwear. I got the sack. In total, I earned £50, which didn't even cover the petrol there and back. I couldn't do it; I just wasn't a stripper.
Q: That musical about your life was based on the book you wrote. What was your reaction to seeing it all played out?
A: In 1999 ... It was very sad and frustrating to see my life on stage like that. It was very well done. The musical director and the cast were fantastic people, but I don't think they really understood the reality of what I went through.
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Viv and her husband were no different than many such winners.
They splashed out on cars, jewelry, furs, champagne parties, and the sprawling ranch-style home, but after her husband was killed in a car crash, it was the huge tax bill that left her bankrupt.
Viv’s turn to Jehovah’s Witnesses was accompanied by a descent into dementia. At that point, she lasted another 5 years before her death at age 79.
Viv spoke to a reporter:
“In my head, I'm 35 years old. When people ask, 'Why do you look so good?' It's because I won't let another year, another week, another month, another hour, take over my life. There are people younger than me who look dreadful. Pluck the eyebrows, I say, get the pounds off, rouge up those cheeks! I've been a Jehovah's Witness since 1979. I trust in the heavenly Father Jehovah and he's always there for me.”
Viv Nicholson, born April 3, 1936, died April 11, 2015
In the British newspaper, The Telegraph, this was printed:
“Two months after her win, she estimated that she was spending money at the rate of £1,400 a week. After the £4,000 luxury bungalow, came the cars, a silver Chevrolet and a pink Cadillac, in which (once she had learned to drive) she would roar up the gravel drive and over the manicured lawns of her children’s private school, having dyed her hair pink-champagne blonde, then green, then yellow, then blue. With the cars came the clothes, furs, frocks, shoes — she once bought 14 pairs at one go — jewelry, watches, and exotic holidays.But her chief excess was drink. After the open house at their local pub, the Miners’ Arms, to celebrate their win, there were lavish parties at the new home they had named the Ponderosa, with its own corner cocktail bar literally awash with alcohol, and so much champagne that Viv claimed to bathe in it. They filled their days back at the pub, with daily sessions starting at lunchtime and often not ending before four the next morning.”
Her memoirs, Spend, Spend, Spend, published in the 1970s, earned her £60,000.
This money, too, seemed to trickle through her fingers; she lost £12,000 in a failed boutique venture because – out of guilt – she gave the clothes away.
Finding the money had run out, she drank to excess and took at least one drug overdose. Two suicide attempts took her to the edge of a nervous breakdown.
But in 1979 she became a Jehovah’s Witness, renounced drink, and became an energetic proselytizer, distributing The Watchtower door to door around the streets of Castleford.”
___________ Afterthoughts ...
When it comes to the desires of the human heart the old proverb holds true:
BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU WISH FOR - it might come true.
A therapist once explained to me something I haven’t forgotten.
We humans have a “self” which is very very small. Not very much can fit inside. The mistake comes as we try very hard to make room for everything we might desire. What we end up removing to ‘make room’ is often the innocent and authentic part, leaving only an uncomfortable hoard of mere things.”
A storage closet instead of a human being. -
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"OLD" Light vs. NEW light
by Terry inthis was last updated in 2014it badly needs updating.
it is a list of watchtower (before and after) old light / new light doctrines.
shorturl.at/bqyir
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Terry
A certain psychological profile attracts certain people into certain professions and beliefs.
If you are a hammer you are attracted to nails.
Leaders in cults have psychopathy.
Control freaks want to control more and more because the power is irresistable.
With a JW leader, they have a wild card in their hand: the Faithful and Discreet Slave doctrine allows them to CHANGE things around like an OCD person re-arranging their furniture and washing their hands.
The psychopathy of the LEADER infects the entire religion.
Perfectionism, Puritanism, and OCD are not dissimilar. -
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The (IN)Consistent teaching about VACCINATIONS from JW leaders
by Terry invaccinations.
how many deaths were instigated which could be prevented?watchtower policies against vaccines left faithful sheep vulnerable to horrible consequences.antitoxins and vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus, anthrax, cholera, plague, typhoid, tuberculosis, and more were developed through the 1930s.. 1921 - "vaccination never prevented anything and never will, and is the most barbarous practice" - golden age oct 12, 1921, p.17.
1923 - "vaccination, summed up, is the most unhygienic, barbaric, filthy, abhorrent, and most dangerous system of infection known.
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Terry
There is a period of time in human growth and development where we either divide off from parents and authority figures and become individuals, OR
we are absorbed by their structures, strictures, and the sense of our protection from the outside.
The thing called "individuation" is what spread human civilization.
You fit in with your family/tribe or you don't.
Innovation and creativity usually come from the oddballs who don't fit and are kicked out.
All of us here are either born-ins who simply went with the flow of family beliefs, OR
we split off from our own family and joined the new JW family.
Wise people shop around for a better deal, don't they?
But once you are absorbed into a community - you've put all your emotional "eggs" in one basket. You don't risk family, friends, security so easily - even when you see the cracks in the perfection.
Risk-takers are said to be people of conscience because they step out of the safety zone and take a stand naked and alone. Not many people are built that way psychologically.
The best thing that ever happened to most EX JW's was the day they were DF'D although it felt horrible.
JW's do as they are told because it is the price you pay for keeping family and friends. -
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The (IN)Consistent teaching about VACCINATIONS from JW leaders
by Terry invaccinations.
how many deaths were instigated which could be prevented?watchtower policies against vaccines left faithful sheep vulnerable to horrible consequences.antitoxins and vaccines against diphtheria, tetanus, anthrax, cholera, plague, typhoid, tuberculosis, and more were developed through the 1930s.. 1921 - "vaccination never prevented anything and never will, and is the most barbarous practice" - golden age oct 12, 1921, p.17.
1923 - "vaccination, summed up, is the most unhygienic, barbaric, filthy, abhorrent, and most dangerous system of infection known.
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Terry
Starting with Rutherford's era, the strategy for Jehovah's Witnesses' notoriety was
rooted in the provocation of authority, defiance, high-profile court cases,
sending rank-and-file into danger to create martyrs and a definite holier-than-thou pridefulness about persecution.
Just another example of “By this, all people will know that you are my disciples if you have a love for one another” -
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The J W with the Golden Gun
by Terry inspillane, mickey spillane.
he pulled no punches and his pen was as fast as his gun.
after all, it took almost three whole weeks for mickey to type his first novel.
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Terry
At the time, the only person with more notoriety than Spillane was
attorney Hayden C. Covington in the Watchtower Society.
