Photo drama of creation - pg 5 & 6

Well, really just page 6. Page 5 was more of the wacky ring theory. One of the rings fell down making a supercharged carbon environment that caused big plants to grow so that we could have oil. Also the sun and moon were there. The sun equals "New Covenant Rule" and the moon equals "Law Covenant Rule." So page 5 isn't that interesting.

Page 6 on the other is my first "What the heck?" page. Page 6 is why I decided to blog about this book. Page 6 changed everything for me. Let's see why shall we?

The conflict between Evolution and the Bible has been sharp. Nevertheless, unnecessary friction has been generated.

Only in respect to man does the Bible declare a special, direct creation of God. The statements of Genesis in respect to the lower creatures rather favor something along the line lines of specialized Evolution.

Yes, you do read that correctly - the Photo-drama of Creation, this epic movie/slide show by the JWs, actually taught that evolution (except as it applies to man) is true. As this article very clearly shows any form of evolution is not compatible with the JWs of today. I particularly like this quote:

Evolution is therefore incompatible with the Bible. Evolution presents modern man as an improving animal. The Bible presents modern man as the degenerating descendant of a perfect man. The idea that God directed evolution in order to produce man is also incompatible with what the Bible says about God’s personality. If God guided the process of evolution, it would mean that he guided mankind into its present diseased and distressed state. However, the Bible says of God: “The Rock, perfect is his activity, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness, with whom there is no injustice; righteous and upright is he. They have acted ruinously on their own part; they are not his children, the defect is their own.” (Deuteronomy 32:4, 5) Therefore, mankind’s present suffering is not the result of God-directed evolution. It is the result of one man’s losing perfection for himself and his offspring by rebelling against God.

In other words, the reason we die is because of God's judgment on man after he ate of the tree but it's not God's fault. It is man's fault. Therefore, evolution can't be true and the Garden of Eden literally changed DNA and molecular structure so we were no longer perfect but could now die.

The first JW president tried so hard to make the JWs scietnfic. Now the JWs have completely abandoned the very foundation of their religion and even call evolution a "religious viewpoint." However, I'm not going to talk to more - I think their words more than speak for themselves. As usual they are masters of the flip-flop.

Sunday - Sept 18, 1988

I'm just going to jump in with the post today. It's all about me going door to door with a guy and how I'm a moron :)

My parents went away for the weekend. My aunt stayed with us. It was boring.

Today was great. After meeting, Tammy asked me to go out in service. She said Timmy was going with Steven. She needed someone to work with. I said OK. So Leena and Travis went out. They ended up working together. Timmy was with Tammy, Steven and I. We get to the territory and Steven says he wants to work with Tammy. So I ended up working with Timmy. I didn't say one word.

After we did some return visits, Timmy says "Take me to Leena and Travis' house and I'll take her home." I was freaking out. We walked in the house together and Leena and Travis did a double take. It was priceless.

Tonight was a going away gathering for Colton. Leena took me. She asked me if I was mad at Timmy. I said "Why?" She said he said I didn't say anything all the way home. I said I just couldn't think of anything to say. I could have died.

After we went to Peter Piper we went to play raquetball. The teams - Timmy and I against Steven and Junior. Timmy and I won.

Now here's the strange part:

Karrie and I were talking to him and he was staring at me. I jsut stared back. Later I asked Karrie if it was imagination or what. Karrie said it wasn't my imagination. I don't think he likes me for more than a friend but he sure has me curious!!!

Why so much drama? Why couldn't I form a sentence to talk to a semi-attractive guy even as a friend? Why so much excitement over someone giving me a ride home? This is a glimpse into the average JW world.

First of all let me explain what we were doing going out in service. That is what JWs call the door to door ministry. The terrirotry is a small part of the local congregations area that people would "check out" and agree to contact somoene in every house in teh area before turning back in. Return visits were when you'd go back to someone who had shown some kind of interest and try to develop into a Bible study. A big part of "field service" for me was the car group - the people you were with. I really enjoyed the interactions and had some very fun times in the door to door ministry (a snowball fight being particuarlly memorable). But those were certainly the exception - most of the time it was deadly boring!

It was customary where I lived for guys who were itnerested in girls to ask them to work with them in service - that's what Steven was doing with Tammy. It wasn't common for girls and guys to work togehter who didn't have an interest in each other. Being alone at a door with Timmy left me completely tongue tied. Timmy was a very fashionable, charasmatic skier who normally didn't give me the time of day. I was too straight and narrow to be part of his crowd. His brother was Travis who married 16 year old Leena. My brother was very close to this crowd who drove fancy cars and hung out in what I was sure was questionable activities. I never quite fit in because I would for sure tell if they were doing ANYTHING wrong.

The reason Leena and Travis did the double take is because JWs are never allowed to be alone with members of the opposite sex. Strict chaperoning occurs even among people in their 60s (ostensibly to set the example for younger ones). While we wouldn't necessarily get in trouble for driving home alone strict limits were put on such activities such as people knowing what time you left and arrived home. I had to report this to Leena when she picked me up. It could also cause harm to your reputation. The appearance of wrong doing is very real as a JW teen. You don't have to do something wrong - you just have to appear to do so to 2 or more people and you can be expelled from the congregation.

The organization really frowns on friendships cultivated at a truly personal level by young people of opposite sex. I could never have had a private conversation with Timmy unless we had stated interest in each other for the purpose of marriage. Even then our conversations would have had to adhere to certain standards. So when I found myself alone with him I was scared, worried about my reputation and completely unable to carry on a conversation.

This is still a problem for me even now. Last year I had to go with a male coworker to a meeting. A simple 1/2 hour drive left my stomach in knots with worry that I wouldn't be able to appropriately uphold my end of the conversation. This is with more than ten years of practice! The segregation of the sexes and the artificial constructs of the JW teen life really stunts emotional growth. It makes it impossible to have a friend of the opposite sex and many lives are certainly hurt because of it.

That's why the whole staring thing was so noteworthy. IF he did develop an interest in me (he never did to my knowledge) longing glances like in a Victorian romance would be the first indication. The fact that even Karrie would comment on it shows how noteworthy completely innocent things were. This wasn't like two girlfriends getting together and saying "Oh my did you see him look at me?" "He likes you" like normal girls talk. This was serious. If he was staring at me he was setting the stage for potentially asking me out. And the only reason you can date in the JW world was for marriage.

I would have never really considered him as he was certainly lacking in spiritual qualities (and was later excommunicated for homosexual relationships!) But all this interaction with him left me nonplussed for a while as you'll see in my next entry.

As for what happened to Tammy and Steven? They got married, had a child, divorced. It was a huge scandal when they divorced - he left her for Tammy's brother's wife. I know of a bunch of other cases just like that. Yes, in the JW world things are not always as pure and innocent as they seem.

Photo drama of creation - pg 4

So it's been nearly a week since my last post - I've been sick and haven't felt like doing much. It has taken all my energy just to make it through the week. But I'm better now so let's jump into to page 4 of the Photodrama:

The 2nd paragraph says that although the operations of God are amazing most of the time they are accomplished by the course of nature. Since they are so scientific they refer to another theory "cosmogony" again referring to the rings of the previous pages. Evidently this is what caused land to appear:

These, according to the Divine intention, so increased the pressure on the crust of the Earth as to cause it to buckle or wrinkle. These depressions became ocean beds and the upheavals became mountain ranges...This draining must have required a long time.

They also mention that Europe, Asia and Africa were "thrown up" first and that North and South America was thrown up later. It's also mentioned that the kind of vegetation growing on the 3rd day was those which "prosper best in darksome shades."

Now remember in previous pages we learned each creative day supposedly lasted 7,000 years. I'm not sure their vague ideas about "long time" and "much later" mean that much. What could the significance of North and South America being 2 or 4 thousand years younger than the other three mentioned? Pretty weird.

Of course JWs no longer teach a younger North and South America. And we've already discussed the whole theory of the rings. So far they aren't winning any points.