Our fear or annoyance is largely manufactured by our news outlets and opinions are shaped
by thinly-disguised propaganda.
In fact, the editorial mindset has subsumed "actual factual" reporting by neutral parties.
We watched news media cheer Trump when he launched rockets against Syria because of (now revealed to be bogus) gas attacks.
Now we are watching the crocodile tears and outrage of commentators and "analysts" who cluck cluck
imperious recitations of disapproval of Trump's hubris.
It is phony because government and politics is practiced by phonies.
You and me, we only know what we are told.
Our opinion is manufactured one way or the other EXACTLY the same way our Jehovah's Witness belief system was manufactured. We trusted. We believed. We recited our "Truth."
Where did that get us??
Posts by Terry
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107Do You Trump Should Have Exterminated That Poor Iranian Fellow?
by minimus ingood move or bad?
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Terry
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NETFLIX: "Messiah" ... all I can say is "Wow!!"
by Terry innetflix : messiah.
remember how you felt watching close encounters of the 3rd kindfor the first time?that's what i'm feeling at the end of season 1 episode 2 ofmessiah.it's not what you think it's going to be.it's not jeffrey hunter in king of kings, or mel gibson's passion of the christ, or the left behind series, or temptation of the christ, or the greatest story ever told.. this isn't a hollywood version of anything.. folks, at the end of episode 2 i'm thinking i'm watching extraordinary storytelling fresh, original, superbly acted and -best of all: no bullshit.. don't read anything about it.
don't watch previews.
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Terry
It's a slow building character study for sure.
Each and every character comes to life as a real person and that takes time. -
11
NETFLIX: "Messiah" ... all I can say is "Wow!!"
by Terry innetflix : messiah.
remember how you felt watching close encounters of the 3rd kindfor the first time?that's what i'm feeling at the end of season 1 episode 2 ofmessiah.it's not what you think it's going to be.it's not jeffrey hunter in king of kings, or mel gibson's passion of the christ, or the left behind series, or temptation of the christ, or the greatest story ever told.. this isn't a hollywood version of anything.. folks, at the end of episode 2 i'm thinking i'm watching extraordinary storytelling fresh, original, superbly acted and -best of all: no bullshit.. don't read anything about it.
don't watch previews.
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Terry
This is the only instance I know of or remember where the creators of a religious-themed story
have no obvious bias one way or other.
The fact that it is so neutral and yet has come in for heavy criticism anyway is mind boggling.
The political aspects of migration, Israel v Palestine, Muslim v Christianity, Liberal v Conservative,
C.I.A. v F.B.I, etc, were presented in such a practical and pragmatic fashion, it is practically a miracle in itself.
I like how the rug is pulled from under my expectations time and again. That's hard to do.
I thought I saw things coming a mile off that were inevitable only to discover I was soooo wrong.
Nothing tickles me more than being wrong. I love it. -
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NETFLIX: "Messiah" ... all I can say is "Wow!!"
by Terry innetflix : messiah.
remember how you felt watching close encounters of the 3rd kindfor the first time?that's what i'm feeling at the end of season 1 episode 2 ofmessiah.it's not what you think it's going to be.it's not jeffrey hunter in king of kings, or mel gibson's passion of the christ, or the left behind series, or temptation of the christ, or the greatest story ever told.. this isn't a hollywood version of anything.. folks, at the end of episode 2 i'm thinking i'm watching extraordinary storytelling fresh, original, superbly acted and -best of all: no bullshit.. don't read anything about it.
don't watch previews.
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Terry
Finished watching the ten episode Netflix MESSIAH.
Oh man - magnificent!
No matter what you disbelieve or believe you are depicted and represented by a character in this series.
Skeptic, True-believer, on the fence, on both sides of the fence, angry at the idea of blasphemy or open-minded : it's ALL there and it's for you.
Let's put it this way. A great novel makes you want to keep reading it and never end. A great mystery novel makes your race along to the end and hope for a surprise.
This series is a combination of both.
If you are simply curious and want to get it over with - let me save you the trouble. The real identity of this possible Messiah is way more complicated than a yes or no.
It's a series closely examining what it is that drives people toward and away from the very idea of God.
How demanding, how gullible, how beautiful, how ugly the entire idea of "faith" is and mostly...how contagious and explosive.
This is SEASON ONE (there's plenty of room for more if Netflix has the guts.) -
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Draft: Transmission of the text
by Doug Mason ini am in the process of preparing a study that will include the impact of second temple judaism.
it will take me a few more months to complete.. early draft material on part of my study, dealing with aspects of the transmission of the text, is available at:.
https://jwstudies.com/transmission_of_the_text.pdf.
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Terry
Hey Doug - way to go, my friend!
If all your writings were put between covers and published, the final tome would be too heavy to lift. :)
Your work is never less than scrupulous, intelligently and thoughtfully wrought. I look forward to
poring over this.
Thank you! -
11
NETFLIX: "Messiah" ... all I can say is "Wow!!"
by Terry innetflix : messiah.
remember how you felt watching close encounters of the 3rd kindfor the first time?that's what i'm feeling at the end of season 1 episode 2 ofmessiah.it's not what you think it's going to be.it's not jeffrey hunter in king of kings, or mel gibson's passion of the christ, or the left behind series, or temptation of the christ, or the greatest story ever told.. this isn't a hollywood version of anything.. folks, at the end of episode 2 i'm thinking i'm watching extraordinary storytelling fresh, original, superbly acted and -best of all: no bullshit.. don't read anything about it.
don't watch previews.
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Terry
Netflix : MESSIAH
Remember how you felt watching Close Encounters of the 3rd Kind
for the first time?
That's what I'm feeling at the end of Season 1 Episode 2 of
MESSIAH.
It's not what you think it's going to be.
It's not Jeffrey Hunter in King of Kings, or Mel Gibson's Passion of the Christ, or the Left Behind series, or Temptation of the Christ, or The Greatest Story Ever Told.This isn't a Hollywood version of anything.
Folks, at the end of Episode 2 I'm thinking I'm watching extraordinary storytelling fresh, original, superbly acted and -
best of all: no bullshit.Don't read anything about it. Don't watch previews. Go into it cold.
I don't know what's up ahead but for now - this is the best thing I've seen of its kind.Give a couple of episodes a try.
"Who are you?"
"I am the Word."
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Time passes
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I'm on Episode 9 with 1 to go.
Each character is a living, breathing, flesh and blood person given time to develop. How rare this is!
I love how the slow unfolding of plot always leaves the viewer revising an opinion as to WHO this man is. Just when you think you know - there is more information.
That's why my Close Encounters of the Third Kind analogy is apt.
Exactly how would we react - each of us?
We all bring our point of view and expectations and doubts.
Is seeing the same as believing?
The Sunni Muslims see Messiah as either an Anti-Christ demonic persona - OR - the arrival of the actual promised figure bringing about the end.
Christians, Buddhists and Jews - how do they see and react?
What about the sick and dying?
Atheists, Agnostics?
One by one these human beings are confronted with a true test of their humanity, spirituality, and suspicious intelligence.
This is a GREAT MYSTERY to be solved.
Here I am with two episodes to go and I cannot guess what comes next. I have been wrong again and again.
Folks, give it look-see! -
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What Do We Know for Certain?? Experts, Authorities, Scientists are often Dead WRONG
by Terry indo i know anything for certain?yes!when so-called "authority" predict the future - they are wrong.and yet - we always believe them.
examples:________.
2912 mayan calendar apocalypse1910 : halley's cometa worldwide panic ensued, stoked by the media and such newspaper headlines as “comet may kill all earth life, says scientist.”1831 the great disappointmentwilliam miller began preaching in 1831 that the end of the world as we know it would occur with the second coming of jesus christ in 1843. he attracted as many as 100,000 followers who believed that they would be carried off to heaven when the date arrived.
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Terry
NYTimes
HILLARY 91% chance of winningTuesday, October 18, 2016
TRUMP 9%
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What Do We Know for Certain?? Experts, Authorities, Scientists are often Dead WRONG
by Terry indo i know anything for certain?yes!when so-called "authority" predict the future - they are wrong.and yet - we always believe them.
examples:________.
2912 mayan calendar apocalypse1910 : halley's cometa worldwide panic ensued, stoked by the media and such newspaper headlines as “comet may kill all earth life, says scientist.”1831 the great disappointmentwilliam miller began preaching in 1831 that the end of the world as we know it would occur with the second coming of jesus christ in 1843. he attracted as many as 100,000 followers who believed that they would be carried off to heaven when the date arrived.
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Terry
Are you not conflating knowing things with certainty and predicting the future?
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Yep! -
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What Do We Know for Certain?? Experts, Authorities, Scientists are often Dead WRONG
by Terry indo i know anything for certain?yes!when so-called "authority" predict the future - they are wrong.and yet - we always believe them.
examples:________.
2912 mayan calendar apocalypse1910 : halley's cometa worldwide panic ensued, stoked by the media and such newspaper headlines as “comet may kill all earth life, says scientist.”1831 the great disappointmentwilliam miller began preaching in 1831 that the end of the world as we know it would occur with the second coming of jesus christ in 1843. he attracted as many as 100,000 followers who believed that they would be carried off to heaven when the date arrived.
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Terry
Do I know anything for certain?
YES!
When so-called "authority" predict the future - THEY ARE WRONG.
And yet - we always believe them. Why?Examples:
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____2912 Mayan Calendar Apocalypse
1910 : Halley's Comet
A worldwide panic ensued, stoked by the media and such newspaper headlines as “Comet May Kill All Earth Life, Says Scientist.”
1831 THE GREAT DISAPPOINTMENT
William Miller began preaching in 1831 that the end of the world as we know it would occur with the second coming of Jesus Christ in 1843. He attracted as many as 100,000 followers who believed that they would be carried off to heaven when the date arrived. When the 1843 prediction failed to materialize, Miller recalculated and determined that the world would actually end in 1844.1914 / 1975 ARMAGEDDON : Jehovah's Witnesses.
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____"With over fifteen types of foreign cars already on sale here, the Japanese auto industry isn't likely to carve out a big share of the market for itself." -- Business Week, 1968.
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"To place a man in a multi-stage rocket and project him into the controlling gravitational field of the moon where the passengers can make scientific observations, perhaps land alive, and then return to earth - all that constitutes a wild dream worthy of Jules Verne. I am bold enough to say that such a man-made voyage will never occur regardless of all future advances." -- Lee DeForest, American radio pioneer and inventor of the vacuum tube, in 1926.
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"Heavier-than-air flying machines are impossible." -- Lord Kelvin, British mathematician and physicist, president of the British Royal Society, 1895.
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_____"Nuclear-powered vacuum cleaners will probably be a reality in 10 years." - Alex Lewyt, president of vacuum cleaner company Lewyt Corp., in the New York Times in 1955.
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"There is not the slightest indication that nuclear energy will ever be obtainable. It would mean that the atom would have to be shattered at will." -- Albert Einstein, 1932.
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_____"The cinema is little more than a fad. It's canned drama. What audiences really want to see is flesh and blood on the stage." -- Charlie Chaplin, actor, producer, director, and studio founder, 1916.
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"The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys." -- Sir William Preece, Chief Engineer, British Post Office, 1878.
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______"[Television] won't be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night." -- Darryl Zanuck, movie producer, 20th Century Fox, 1946.
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____"When the Paris Exhibition [of 1878] closes, electric light will close with it and no more will be heard of it." -- Oxford professor Erasmus Wilson.
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Y2K Computers were to cease functioning.
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ONLINE SHOPPING:
In 1966, Time magazine ran a bold prediction: “Remote shopping, while entirely feasible, will flop—because women like to get out of the house, like to handle merchandise, like to be able to change their minds.”
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1956, when Khrushchev was addressing Western ambassadors at the Polish embassy in Moscow, he told audiences that that Communism’s defeat of capitalism was inevitable.“History is on our side,” he said. “We will bury you.” Thirty-three years later, Communism collapsed, and two years after that the Soviet Union was dissolved.
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in 1964, National Review founder William F. Buckley described them as “so unbelievably horrible, so appallingly unmusical, so dogmatically insensitive to the magic of the art, that they qualify as crowned heads of anti-music.”
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Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox made a statement on Dec. 4, 1941, to assure everyone that the situation was well in hand. “Whatever happens,” he said, “the U.S. Navy is not going to be caught napping.” The attack on Pearl Harbor occurred three days later.
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In the 70's and 80's, ACID RAIN (we were told repeatedly) would destroy lakes and forests.
Eventually ... investigating scientists reported that they had “turned up no smoking gun; that the problem is far more complicated than it been thought; that other factors combine to harm trees; and that sorting out the cause-and-effect was difficult and in some cases impossible.”
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MORAL OF THE STORY?
Intellectual honesty doesn't double-down on error. -
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Did You Know Any "Genuine"" Old School Anointed?
by Number 6 ingrowing up in scotland in the 1970s in scotland the anointed were few and far between, but we had one old dude in our cong who claimed to be one of the anointed.
in the days when it was taken seriously.. i'd be curious how you viewed them.
thing is, he wasn't an elder, or even a ministerial servant, just a plain old publisher.. but he was revered like he had a hotline to jesus.. the other week i was talking to a friend of similar age to me but who hung around the wt a lot longer than i did, and he just commented "oh him... he was a doddery old fool who used to just sit and piss himself.
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Terry
The first time I encountered Mildred Pettifog she was a full time Pioneer knocking on stranger’s doors. She 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 18 years before I’m writing this.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” specialness (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?”
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In a conversation many, many years later, with Pettifog's grand-daughter at Starbucks, I learned something
remarkable and downright shocking.
____“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 reflectively.
“It was probably the day after her funeral.”
