Rational Compassionate Living

Jehovah, the war god of the ancient Hebrews is dead at the age of 48,108. He died on Wednesday after a long battle against smallpox. He had contracted the disease in the early 20th century shortly after refusing the smallpox vaccine which his Witnesses told him was “filthy pus” and against his own law.

A spokesperson for the Jehovah’s Witnesses justified the ruling against vaccination, calling it “truth for its time,” but expressed regret that Jehovah had succumbed to the disease as a result.

The smallpox vaccine–as Witnesses now admit–was largely responsible for eradicating the deadly smallpox virus from the face of the Earth (but evidently not from the heavenly realm.)

Jehovah’s death reduces the pantheon of gods to just Odin, Aphrodite, Zeus (aka Jupiter), and the rapper Lil B.

Jehovah, who was known familiarly as just “God” to many of his worshipers, is best known for his claim of having created the heavens and the Earth and all that dwell therein (except for woman, whom he built from a rib). Scientists have challenged this claim in recent years, but those closest to him say that he never wavered in his belief.

He was active thousands of years ago leading the ancient Hebrews in their bloody, barbaric battles. He had been largely inactive for the past 2,000 years other than the odd miracle here and there in the Middle Ages (though some right-wing fundamentalists attribute AIDS to him as a recent creative punishment upon humankind.)

He is perhaps survived by one bastard son: Jesus, who died 2,000 years ago but some claim is still living.

When asked if Jehovah’s death would be the end of their religion, a spokesperson for the Jehovah’s Witnesses said that they’d “carry on business as usual,” because “that’s what Jehovah would’ve wanted. Besides, we’ve had worse upsets than this and we’ve always sprung back; we’re very resilient.”

Twitter comments on the news story:

“Well, he was certainly past his prime.”

“What was he doing all these years?”

“I thought he died a really long time ago.”

“So, who’s gonna take his place now? I’d like to see a woman — a goddess this time.”

“Is there, like, a funeral?”

“Does this mean we have to cancel Armageddon and the Rapture?”

“You forgot to tell us whether he was Protestant or Catholic.”

“More importantly: was he a Republican or a Democrat?”

“Still more importantly: Did he leave a will? Or does the universe go into probate now for eternity?”

“When God dies where does he go? I mean, he’s already in heaven, so how would he even notice that he died?”

“So I guess his son will inherit the business now?”

See Also:

• Putting in All in Context
• Jehovah Speaks!

Jehovah’s Witnesses refer to their religion simply as “the truth.” I’ve always liked that. It is one of the things that initially attracted me to them and was instrumental in my decision to dedicate myself to their organization via baptism.

I also liked their definition of “truth” that I read in the Watchtower publication I studied prior to baptism entitled Things in which it is Impossible For God to Lie (even though that title always made me wonder what things it was possible for God to lie about):

Truth does not contradict itself or deny the facts. It does not go contrary to reality… It does not change because of location or time. The truth is provable by actual fact. The truth endures, persists, because it is genuine, actually existing, in harmony with reality.
— Things in Which it is Impossible for God to Lie p. 22

The brother who studied with me was slightly atypical. He was a collector of the older literature, and fancied himself a bit of a scholar with his bookshelves lined with Bible dictionaries and encyclopedias (some of which weren’t even Watchtower publications!) So I was exposed to some of the earlier writings of the Society as well. Some of my favorite quotes at that time were the following:

Every man should be persuaded in his own mind and no man should permit himself to be deterred from examining a question based upon the Bible because a clergy man or any one else makes the unsupported assertion that it is dangerous or unworthy of consideration. Error always seeks the dark, while truth is always enhanced by the light. Error never seeks to be investigated. Light always courts a thorough and complete investigation.
— Millions Now Living Will Never Die p. 13 (WBTS, 1920)

If we were following a man undoubtedly it would be different with us; undoubtedly one human idea would contradict another and that which was light one or two or six years ago would be regarded as darkness now; But with God there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning, and so it is with truth; any knowledge or light coming from God must be like its author. A new view of truth never can contradict a former truth. “New light” never extinguishes older “light,” but adds to it…
— Watchtower, Feb, 1881, p.3

I loved how this accorded so well with the [then] newer publications:

We need to examine, not only what we personally believe, but also what is taught by any religious organization with which we may be associated. If we are lovers of the truth, there is nothing to fear from such an examination.
—The Truth That Leads To Eternal Life, p. 13 (WBTS, 1968)

If you were on trial in a court of law, would it be fair if only your opponent was allowed to present evidence? No, you would surely want the court to hear your side of the matter …. Reasonable persons agree that the only fair method is to examine the evidence on both sides, both for and against a disputed theory. That is how one arrives at the truth.
—Awake! October 22, 1973 p. 6  (WBTS)

Then I learned that there was a Governing Body that God was communicating all of this stuff to! They were “God’s prophet on Earth” in modern times, announcing Jehovah’s kingdom, and making his name known all over the world. Millions of people had already joined this organization, dedicating their lives to the truth, and they all became my loving brothers and sisters when I was baptized.

Even though I hated field service, life was good…

…until I started asking the right questions.

When people start “studying” with the Witnesses they are encouraged to ask questions, in accord with the above quotes. However, seldom do they know the important questions to ask at that point. Later, when they may have thought of some critical questions, they are often too committed to the organization to dare ask.

When I asked the right questions the attitude expressed in the above quotes was suddenly replaced by the dark side of the organization.

Instead of answers I was told that I had done an evil thing by posing the questions; that I was no longer “in step” with Jehovah’s Organization; and that my “privilege” of serving at Bethel would be revoked.

 

(The questions I asked are in my letter to the GB, and I won’t recap them here. They’re not the same questions I would ask today, but they were a first step in the right direction. See also: The New 80 Questions.)

Though the above quotes seem to encourage an examination of both sides of religious beliefs, in practice this is hypocritically applied: only non-Witnesses are supposed to examine writings critical of their own religion. Witnesses are discouraged from reading anything other than Watchtower publications. They are warned against reading old WT publications, and against visiting “apostate” sites on the Internet (such as this site). They are not supposed to even talk to apostates — which, by the way is a great way to get rid of them at the door: just say “I’m an apostate” and your address will be black-listed. Though personally I prefer my own little door-bell sign:

If “the only fair method is to examine the evidence on both sides, both for and against a disputed theory. That is how one arrives at the truth.” then Jehvoah’s Witnesses have not arrived at the truth due to the policies of the Watchtower.

So, while the above quotes sound very enlightened on paper, the actual practices of the Witnesses belie them; as do the following quotes:

 We resolve that we shall obey all instruction received from the Watch Tower, knowing that such proceed from the higher powers, Jehovah God and Christ Jesus. We resolve to be completely obedient to the Society as the visible part of the Great Theocracy.
—Watchtower, 2/1/1940 p.47

Thus the Bible is an organizational book and belongs to the Christian congregation as an organization, not to individuals, regardless of how sincerely they may believe that they can interpret the Bible. For this reason the Bible cannot be properly understood without Jehovah’s visible organization in mind… Jehovah poured out his spirit upon them and assigned them the responsibility of serving as his sole visible channel, through whom alone spiritual instruction was to come. Those who recognize Jehovah’s visible theocratic organization, therefore, must recognize and accept this appointment of the ‘faithful and discreet slave’ and be submissive to it. … in submitting to Jehovah’s visible theocratic organization, we must be in full and complete agreement with every feature of its apostolic procedure and requirements.
–Watchtower, 10/1/1967 pp. 587, 590, 592

 

Avoid independent thinking…questioning the counsel that is provided by God’s visible organization.
—Watchtower 1/15/1983 p. 22

All of us must be ready to obey any instructions we may receive, whether these appear sound from a strategic or human standpoint or not.
—Watchtower, November 15, 2013, p.20

From the above quotes we can clearly see that the Witnesses are not allowed to practice “the only fair method” of arriving at the truth; they are to accept what the Watchtower says unquestioningly.

Not only are they not to question their own religion’s authority, but they are told to lie about this fact:

Jehovah’s Witnesses try to be careful about how they express themselves. Instead of saying, ‘the Society teaches,’ many Witnesses prefer to use such expressions as, “the Bible says” or, “I understand the Bible to teach.” In this way they emphasize the personal decision that each Witness has made in accepting Bible teachings and also avoid giving the false impression that Witnesses are somehow bound to the dictates of some religious sect.
—Watchtower, 3/15/1998, p. 19

So let me get this straight: In order to be “in the truth” (which, by WT definition is arrived at by fairly examining both sides of each issue and making one’s own decision) I must obediently accept as true whatever the Watchtower says without question (even if–unlike truth–it contradicts previous “truth” and known facts). Then, as a further exercise of truth, I must obediently tell people that I “came into the truth” by my own personal decision to accept Bible teachings and not by the dictates of the Watchtower.

I’m sorry if I appear dense, Governing Body, but are you sure that’s right?! Oops; that was a question — so sorry; my bad!

The record of flip-flopping on their “truths” is too well known to recap here (I scratch the surface in my article Why Not be a Jehovah’s Witness). Their “truth” has indeed “changed with time” and contradicted “old light” again and again. It does not accord with reality, but is purposely deceptive (see one revealing example of their dishonesty in quoting sources: Did Jesus Christ Die on a Cross or Stake?).

Also, the Watchtower has a policy called “Theocratic Warfare” which includes lying to those whom they deem are not entitled to know the truth. This includes deliberately lying about their own beliefs so as not to look bad (we have seen this in the media when they say blood transfusions are “a matter of personal conscience”):

No harm is practiced, however, by withholding incriminating information from one who is not entitled to know. … Various characters of the Bible have been accused of lying, such as Jacob, Rahab, the Gibeonites, David and others, but there is no record in the Bible that they came under divine disapproval for this.
— Watchtower 10/1/1954, ‘Christians Live the Truth’, p. 597, par 21, p. 598, par 25

 

 

So in time of spiritual warfare it is proper to misdirect the enemy by hiding the truth. It is done unselfishly; it does not harm anyone; on the contrary, it does much good.

Today God’s servants are engaged in a warfare, a spiritual, theocratic warfare, a warfare ordered by God against wicked spirit forces and against false teachings… At all times they must be very careful not to divulge any information to the enemy that he could use to hamper the preaching work.
— Watchtower 5/1/1957 “Use Theocratic War Strategy” p. 285-286

 

We must tell the truth to one who is entitled to know, but if one is not so entitled we may be evasive. … for the purpose of protecting the interests of God’s cause, it is proper to hide the truth from God’s enemies.
–Watchtower 6/1/1960, p. 351–352.

Now wait a minute! Did they forget about having said:

Error always seeks the dark, while truth is always enhanced by the light. Error never seeks to be investigated. Light always courts a thorough and complete investigation.

If they have nothing to hide: no skeletons in the closet, then what truth about the Watchtower could possibly be “incriminating” or “hamper the preaching work”? Why would those “in the truth” have a policy of “withholding the truth” and being “evasive” about what they believe? The “Theocratic Warfare” policy sounds an awful lot like their description of error seeking not to be investigated!

Could it be that when they meet up with intelligent questions they are too embarrassed to admit what they really believe?

In short, the Watchtower religion’s “truth” is at odds in every way with its own definition of truth, as are its practices which claim to be open and above board while being anything but.

The Watchtower’s “Truth”…
It doesn’t matter if it accords with reality [which it doesn’t], or whatever they may have held as true in the past [most of it doesn’t]. It doesn’t matter if it can be or has been proven false [it has]; the Watchtower’s sense of “true” is simply whatever the Watchtower is currently shoveling down the throats of the Witnesses. And, whatever that “truth” might consist of at the moment, they have no qualms in lying about it as readily as they lie about their own past.

Now, given all that, do you really think you should trust them as the source of all truth in your life? (It’s not a trick question, and it shouldn’t take a rocket scientist to figure it out. In fact, your initial response should be the correct one.)

 

…what is it good for?

Absolutely nothing!

Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.

—Voltaire Questions sur les miracles (1765)

Historically, the main absurdities which have caused people to commit the atrocity of war have been:

• Patriotism
• Religion

These two things, together or individually, have been responsible — more than any other cause — for subverting people’s inherent empathy and thus allowing them to kill each other with impunity en masse.

The above point is forcefully driven home to me on this occasion of the eleventh anniversary of the attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City. Those horrific attacks were motivated by religion and patriotism. But the U.S. response was also horrific and also motivated by religion and patriotism. The ubiquitous slogans became “God bless America” and “Support our troops”, without bothering about whether the actions of our troops were justified or moral. The very things that caused the attacks were thus reinforced and the cycle of violence perpetuated.

The U.S. was out for revenge, and this became a convenient excuse to expand the “war on terror” ever further, in the hopes that no one would complain as more and more countries were invaded and their civilians killed by mechanical “drones” operated by young soldiers as if they were playing video games.

Just because someone lives in a different place than you, or holds different beliefs about the supernatural, that doesn’t give you the right to kill them, even if your country “declares war” on their nation. They are people, just like you: citizens of planet Earth, who know as much about the unknowable supernatural realm as you do (namely nothing).

Even if a criminal element from their country has killed people in your country, that doesn’t mean you have a right to kill other people in their country. You have a right to defend your home from attack, but no right to invade another’s home. This is why the U.S. has been condemned by the U.N. for the many wars and invasions it is currently waging supposedly in retaliation for terrorism (while actually being the major perpetrator of terrorism in the world as it pursues its selfish ends no matter what the cost to others.)

Why do I include religion when at least some of its adherents become “conscientious objectors” who refuse military service? Isn’t this the case with all of the members of the very religion I like to “pick on” most? Yes, to their credit the Jehovah’s Witnesses refuse to participate in war. But it’s not because their religion is anti-war and pro-peace. No; it is because they think their allegiance is to a heavenly kingdom: the one that will soon wage a global war to end all wars!

According to the Watchtower, when we pray the “Lord’s prayer”:

“…Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven”

we are asking for God to hurry up and bring on his war with humankind by commencing the final battle: Armageddon, where his General Jesus will lead his armies of angels in slaughtering all who refused to do his will by pledging their lives to the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society.

Make no mistake: if the Watchtower came up with “new light” and published an order for Jehovah’s Witnesses to take part in the battle of Armageddon and to “start the blood of Revelation flowing,” we’d see those who still remained in the cult coming to our doors with rifle-cases instead of book-bags.

How can I say such a thing? Simple: I am basing it on the fact that the Witnesses already commit atrocities based on the absurdities in the Watchtower: they withhold life-saving blood transfusions, and formerly organ-transplants and vaccinations, and they watch their loved ones die right before their eyes — even though these Watchtower’s dogmas have been abundantly proven to be faulty even from their own essentially fundamentalist mindset. (Cults prohibit their members from viewing critical analysis of their doctrines, and brainwashed people can’t “get it” even if they do view it.) Other atrocities include shunning former members and cultivating a thorough hatred and loathing of “apostates” (i.e. those us us who have come to our senses and no longer believe the Watchtower’s lies).

It shouldn’t surprise us that the god of the Bible is the leader of the kingdom that will war against humankind and leave us all defeated in death (all except for his “name people”). After all, this is the god that the Bible fondly refers to as “the LORD of Hosts” — which the NWT makes all the plainer for us by translating as “Jehovah of armies“.

Already in the 14th chapter of Genesis we read of the first war mentioned in the Bible. This was a failed revolt by Sodom and Gomorrah against the king of Elam. Amongst the Sodomites captured in that war was Lot (Abram’s nephew or brother depending on which side of the biblical contradiction you lean to). Abram then waged his own guerrilla warfare on the victors and rescued Lot and returned the spoil and the other captives to Sodom (only for them to end up being horribly slaughtered by Jehovah five chapters later for having indulged the sexual appetites he gave them.)

The Hebrew Scriptures are jam-packed with accounts of barbaric wars led by their god of war Jehovah (who takes credit as “fighting for” the Israelites against their enemies (Joshua 10:42) — though he proved no match for enemies with iron chariots (Judges 1:19) so I wonder how he would fare against the tanks of today). In fact, there were evidently more wars of Jehovah’s than the Bible could hold, so it refers us to “the book of the Wars of Jehovah” (Numbers 21:14) — which has been lost to time.

The Bible’s war stories abound in tales of God’s armies ripping open pregnant women, murdering children, and slaughtering every living thing that drew breath (though sometimes saving the virgin girls alive for the soldiers to rape and the priests to sacrifice to Jehovah).

It all culminates in its final book Revelation with the war of Armageddon where the blood will be hip deep. According to the Watchtower, other books of the Bible also describe this “day of Jehovah” as follows:

The above is what the Watchtower has the audacity to refer to as “Armageddon–A Happy Beginning“! (Watchtower, 12/1/2005, p. 4)

I know that it’s hard to believe that anyone could be so unfeeling, so don’t take my word for it: listen to highlights from a 2007 convention talk by Bethel Speaker Ciro Aulicino (with video added by a non-Witness editor). It graphically describes the massacre that Witnesses look forward to. (Thanks to Paul Grundy of JW-Facts for making this available, please see his excellent related article.)

Who would look forward to a war? Who could hate another group of people to such a degree that they would eagerly anticipate rejoicing at their being slaughtered in that longed-for war? Who could be so emotionally sick that they would even dwell on the gruesome details of the painful deaths of these enemies? Once again, only patriotism and religion could lead a person so far astray from their inborn sense of empathy. The Watchtower religion is a prime example of this as they look forward to rejoicing at their upcoming “battle of Armageddon”.

The WT is so anxiously looking forward to the above revenge on their “enemies” that they have frequently made fools of themselves by announcing certain dates for the event which have now come and gone. But this doesn’t stop them from continuing to envision and long for the event. They will say that they are showing their love for humanity by trying to warn us of the coming wrath of their “loving” god so that we might join up and escape their threats. But how loving is a god whom his followers have to warn people against?

At least for some Witnesses [dare we say “most”?] the real truth is that they only warn people because the WT tells them that it is a requirement for their own salvation. They just wish their god would hurry up and start his war so they could stop having to go “out in service”.

But nearly every war in history has been “God’s War” — as viewed from both sides of the conflict. The formation of the U.N. is a major step in the right direction: holding out hope that nations can get together and peacefully resolve their conflicts. Unfortunately, the U.S. ignores the U.N. when it’s convenient, and the Watchtower, forever lost in its childish delusions, sees the U.N. as the “image of the wild beast” of Revelation which will destroy all other religions before being destroyed by their god. (I swear I’m not making this up!)

The Watchtower talks about “true peace and security” while longing for a bloody world-wide war inspired by a religious belief in a supernatural kingdom. In contrast, I imagine that true peace can only come when people give up the absurdities of religious belief and patriotism. Imagine if there were no religions or countries dividing us and causing us to view our fellow humans as “the others”. Imagine if we could eliminate the “us vs. them” mindset… Just imagine.