snare and a racket

In 1979 the movie "Life of Brian" was released. Monty Pythons humorous look at the life (and death) of Brian as a stand in for Jesus has this scene from the opening where Brian is born in a stable.

Matthew 6.7: And when you pray, do not use meaningless repetition as the Gentiles do, for they think they will be heard because of their many words.

God knows you can speak; he’s not impressed by the length of your oration, or your excellent vocabulary. Be brief. the next scripture tells you that god already knows what you’re going to say, so get on with it.

Are you praying for the food that you have? Say what needs to be said and get back to talking with your table mates, your family and your friends.

Praying after a meeting at the Kingdom Hall? Cut to the chase! No need to go into every thought in your tiny head. And for heavens sake, stop praying for the circuit overseers wife! I mean you have to draw the line somewhere.

Jehovah’s Witnesses pray before and after the meeting and the verbosity is sometimes stunning. Being old (and sensible), i usually always sit. And realistically, no one listens to the actual words. the words are always the same word-soup of JW-speak and tried and tested phrases. Heres one: “we leave this meeting (or day) in your care and keeping.” Where did that come from, “Care and Keeping”? It's just rhetorical garbage and means not a thing.

Another cute and meaningless thing

Jehovah’s Witnesses have a public talk on Sunday. Now, whoever gives the talk gets to say the final prayer. This is a tradition of men, as Jesus described it. and this is what Jesus thinks of that.

Oh, they also get a free meal. This is called “hospitality”. And it is in name only.

--It’s another tradition.

Women have a different standard than men when it comes to dressing for the meeting. 

Women can literally wear anything, and they say “it's the new fashion”. Tops with random holes in strange places? Yup. No question. Sanders? Yup. 

I can't wear sandals to the meeting. The world would end.

Meanwhile, the Elders and their climber ilk wear suits if they're serious about “advancement” (and they all are). The non climbers can still only wear the most mundane clothing.

How about a Hawaiian shirt and no tie? How about untucked? How about dreadlocks (I am hairless, myself, but it would be a welcome change)? Women can get away with everything except the dreads. That remains beyond the pale.

In years passed, my wife wouldn’t let me wear anything different. “You're going to go like THAT?”, she’d say. “Where's your jacket?”, was another one.

Thank god, things have changed. I should say I don’t have any suits and one sport jacket (which is like half a suit). I threw them all away. Furthermore, I’m not a suit person. I did transition to Bolo ties some years ago, and I have some really nice ones, but even those are a pain in the ass to wear, although they are pretty a lot more than ties. Of course, I wear them loose. I don’t tie them up tight to the neck like a banger in Texas.

So guess what? I’m wearing now pants black pants and Hawaiian shirts untucked and that’s it. What is the matter what you wear anyway? It doesn’t.

-- regarding the title. See this link.

Please note: It is not my intent to offend you regarding your religious beliefs or anything else. I am simply comparing these two documents side by side. If you would like to open a dialogue with me please email me.

The two documents

I have at hand two documents. One is a small book from Jehovah's Witnesses that is used for bible study by folks wishing to learn their “truth”.

The other I got from two Mormon (LDS) missionaries two days ago also for the purpose of learning more about their faith.

“The Plan of Salvation” from the LDS elders is a quick read about what they say gods plan is. Inside the 24 page leaflet you'll find a brief explanation of some of the main points of the LDS religion and, in the back is a two page glossary of terms used it the text. This is needed because they have some terms that have no meaning, or different definitions than you’re familiar with. There is one page with a pull quote of this text from the Book of Mormon:

2 Nepali 2:22 And now, behold, if Adam had not transgressed he would not have fallen, but he would have remained in the garden of Eden. And all things which were created must have remained in the same state in which they were after they were created; and they must have remained forever, and had no end.

23 And they would have had no children; wherefore they would have remained in a state of innocence, having no joy, for they knew no misery; doing no good, for they knew no sin.

24 But behold, all things have been done in the wisdom of him who knoweth all things.

25 Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy.

They also have a pull quote from one of their songs and one from John 3:16. And in the back a study section where you can learn more with a series of questions. This has 7 questions and each has a few verses where you can self teach. Each has scriptures that you can read; 6 are from the Bible and 10 are from the book of mormon. You can read this pdf in just a few minutes.

Yeah, but what about...

Turning our attention to the small book from Jehovah’s Witnesses. While these are different formats entirely and I am quite familer with JWs publications, they are quite different.

Not going by any script here; with no preconcieved notion of what they contain, it is clear the the small book from Jehovah’s Witnesses is intended to get you to read your bible to see what you think the scriptures say. It is stuffed with bible quotes and scripture references. If you were studing this with one of Jehovah’s Witnesses and you were unclear on any paragraph tehy would read these cited scriptures with you, from you own copy of the Bible.

If you download the epub file you can open it in Apple Books and have actual hyperlinked scriptures. If you read it online on the website you can see each scripture in 7 translations (in english). Three of these and redundant versions of the JW bible.

In conclusion

It comes down to what are you looking for...

Matthew 24.45

“Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his master made ruler over his household, to give them food in due season?

Regarding the faithful servant: The directive here is to supply what would be called spiritual food or bible based information to the brotherhood. 

Most of the information we get is not of this sort. The “new light” from the organization is very rarely scriptural but rather incidental to the simple word of the Bible.  

The problem perhaps is not in the governing body as such, the faithful and discreet slave, if we accept that definition, but in people who want to be told what to do, what to wear, what to think, where to go, when to go there, and what to do when you go there. Indeed reading Ray Franz’s book, CRISIS of CONSCIENCE, you’ll come to read about the inside workings of the governing body. This information is available nowhere else.

Franz writes that people write the organization to ask what kind of things were allowed in the privacy of the bedroom. It’s truly mind-boggling people can be so fucking stupid. originally Jehovah’s Witnesses started as Bible students. They were called the International Bible Students. This is the era that brought us J.F. Rutheford’s “Religion is a snare and a racket”, speech. They changed the name to Jehovah’s Witnesses sometime in the 30s. This is when it became a religion. Before that, it was referred to as a "way of life", in accordance with the book of Acts, where it is referred to as "the way".

I was raised as a Jehovah’s Witness in the truth so perhaps it’s me I never did understand dogma; the fact that people would create beliefs out of thin air. indeed, on the JW.org website, our beliefs are succinctly stated. It only takes a minute to read. The truth should be simple. Lies are complex.

But in the kingdom halls, on the stage, the platform, those are all controlled spaces in a way, especially the platform. The meetings are open to everybody. You can get a seat, but if you wanna get on that stage, you gotta jump through some hoops you gotta go to your elder body and you gotta say “Oh I’ll do whatever you want” to get on that stage. It used to come down to having a white shirt on; or the right kind of tie. No bolos although a few wore bow ties.

They might not say anything, but they will give you the look that looks askance at anything different.

I talked to Marsha (a personal friend and wise person) last Sunday, which was three days ago (sometime around March 1, 2024) after the Sunday meeting and she sees puppies and roses in the future. I don’t see that at all. 

I think the organization looks for direction and if Armageddon comes and does not provide a clear set of rules and regulations, people are going to look for someone to tell them what to do, what to wear, what to eat, where to live, how to fuck. 

Of course, people will step into that role. You always have people willing to tell someone else what to do. I’ll follow you instead of Christ because you’re following Christ, right? That was Paul. Imitate me as I imitate Jesus but you know you’re not you did all kinds of things wrong.

I’m just saying that’s the way the world is. 

a person can exist alone and provide for himself. this person (in this example a man) has to feed, clothe, and shelter himself and his imaginary dog "Spud".

if he has all he needs, his world is perfect.

let's add another person. they form a bond of friendship based on taking care of their 3 needs enumerated above. they share. if some imbalance occurs such as person number one getting sick, his friend will take care of him until he is better. this is called ‘humanity’.

the sick one incurs no debt and the healthy one expects no compensation except the same consideration if the roles are reversed.

let's add a third person. perhaps this one is a really good cook. so together they decide that the new one will do most of the cooking. this frees the original two to take care of the food and shelter needs.

now with the three people forming a small community, the work is spread around and there is more leisure time to relax, think, and create.

Life is good. and a compensation unit like money is not needed.

When we add more persons to this community at what point do they need to create money; a way to account for debt and create a societal “class”? What if this model could be extended to 70 persons, or a thousand? and if not, why?

in the new world, I don't think money can exist. it would create a society of classes. and then capitalism.

-- and then you're right back where you started.