"All Suffering SOON TO END!"

[eumelia]

I've obviously lived a very sheltered life.

There was a buzz at the door and my Mom went to answer. A minute or so later, she calls me and tells me to come see what she was given.

A pamphlet. The front cover of which is a pastoral picture of a field with a cabin, a moose, pumpkins, apples and a man and a woman of unknown non-white origin (they could be African, South East Asian, Aborigine... it's a tad inconclusive).
Emblozened on this pretty if somewhat saccharine scene are the words:
All Suffering
SOON TO END!

I turn it over, not bothering to open to read any of the content, and in a bright yellow box on the bottom of the page it says:

Would you welcome more information?
Write Jehovah's Witnesses at the appropriate address below.
[Various addresses in various countries - Israel is not among them]
www.watchtower.org

Inside are various unrelated quotes from from the Christian Bible (the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures edition) regarding the End.

I'm genuinely stoked! I've never seen a Jehovah's Witness pamphlet before. Most of the Jews for Jesus stuff that I've gotten over the years looked pretty haphazard and not really serious.

My Mom says that in South Africa she's get knocks on her door every week!

Proselyting is forbidden in the Jewish faith, it's all about strengthening the faith in those who are already Jewish!
But it never hurts to be available if you do want to convert I guess.

This is just special.

The two women who came to the door were Philippine, Israel has many a work immigrant from that part of the world.
Philippines work in care-taking - my great aunt and uncle have a woman who lives with them, she has a degree in computer science.
Thai people work in agriculture and the Chinese work in construction.

I'm sliding to a subject that has nothing to do with the entertainment value of getting a pamphlet of this kind.

I'm skimming through it and I can understand why so many seem to go to religion, any religion.
I'm not judging anyone's faith, I'm deeply critical of religious institutions, is what I'm going for - because I know I have some people of faith on my f-list and who may be lurking around.

Having all the answers, or at the very least know that someone or something has all the answers is incredibly comforting.

Judaism is a religion of question and debate and interpretation, but I've always understood that doubting the authority of the Torah, the other Books and the other scriptures: Talmud, Mishna, Etcetera.

I suppose being Jewish gives me that edge on the whole "special snow-flakeyness", being an Agnosto-Atheist I can't help but think it's all too ridiculous.

Comments

[tamara-russo.livejournal.com]

When I think about Jehovah's Witnesses I always imagine this ep in the Simpsons where Homer needed someone to come to the door (can't even remember why) and he spotted two of them in his yard, and he was glad, and then they said to one another - "What are we doing here? Perhaps these people dosn't want to be bothered with this shit? What have we been doing with our lives?" etc etc, I laughed my ass off... :)

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Haha!

I remember that, hilarious! I love The Simpsons :)

[stateofwonder.livejournal.com]

The weirdest thing is when you get into a conversation with someone randomly on the street and then they start talking about salvation and you're like "guh? that came out of nowhere.." and then it turns out they were a Jehovah's Witness in disguise the whole time!! Then they foist their damn pamphlets on you, and you feel like you were somehow cheated out of genuine human contact! Grrr. Sneaky bastards.

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

These women seemed to just do their duty by knocking on doors and handing out pamphlets.
I can accept that.
Things happening on the street are irritating!

[violachic.livejournal.com]

That's one of the things I really appreciate about Judaism, that whole debating and questioning thing. I really wish Christianity had more of that, instead of the sheep-heads we seem to mostly have. Sometimes Christianity's approach reminds me of an epidsode of "House"- "Oh, its this. No, definitely. Oh whoops, treatment didn't work. Okay, its definitely this other thing, you'll be fine soon. Oh shit, they crashed! Well, then that means it definitely has to be this, and we promise we won't almost kill you this time."

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

I wish the whole question and debate thing was in general a bigger part of civic life.

I mean, the people who debate and question authority are considered to be a part of the whole "Civil Disobedience" thing, which I have no problem being associated with - I'm a "special snowfalke" after all.
It's also a reason why Jews have always been intersected/allied with civil rights movements, I suppose. That we're questioners and doubters and stuff.

[newsbean.livejournal.com]

What's weird for me is being pretty damn firmly agnostic, leaning atheist, and still not being able to shake certain aspects of Judaism as a *faith*. Like, if I don't believe, why does seeing that tattoo just make me get all itchy and nervous and uncomfortable? I know that a lot of it is cultural, not explicitly religious. But it's there. And it's deep and weird and unshakable.

[esizzle.livejournal.com]

can u ask the jehova's witness if they're at all successful? let me know and i'll pass the word to the arab '48, maybe if we can convert enough israelis...

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, but see Israeli Jews are special snowflakes...

[eumelia.livejournal.com]

I think there's a difference between faith and religion. I think you can believe there's something bigger out there without the convenience of a structured theology and cosmology - because if you're not looking to actively believe, that is, do ritual for the deity or some such then your faith is independent from religion, at least imo.

I've often said I don't believe in religion and god, but I have faith in humanity. Often that faith is strained, mind.