Ruminations ---Part 5. Repairing Weaknesses
Due to the manner in which we have been indoctrinated, most of us have experienced guilt and other such feelings whenever we tried to think for ourselves. This is something that is not easily gotten rid of, as it has become a part of us. If we do not do something to counteract that, such things will influence us for the rest of our lives, and we may never really feel free. Instead, our guilt will shoot us down in our efforts to achieve our full potential.
We need a special archive where each of these things are taken up in a manner that is clear, understandable, and reasonable, both logically and scripturally. I include ‘scripturally’ for the reason that that was the way we were taught in the first place, and such information will counteract that indoctrination directly. We will not need to abandon what remnants of faith that we still possess by thinking that we have to disregard scripture.
One of those subjects that have been used to keep us in line is that of authority. How many times have we been told, “You don’t have the authority to question (challenge, object, blow the whistle on, think about, etc., etc.) that?”
Using this as an example, let’s examine the subject. I’m writing this as it applies to me. Some of you may feel it applies to you in a different manner, or may have additional thoughts to add, and that is quite welcome. But in any event, my fond hope is that others will be able to use such articles as springboards from which they can repair their own inner damage.
There are many kinds of authority. I will mention a few of them for there are some kinds of authority that I do not have and do not want. Other kinds I do have and will defend adamantly. Therefore I feel that I should make it clear to all which is which.
There is that authority that comes from our heavenly father when he appoints individuals for certain purposes. For instance, he had David anointed to be a king of his chosen nation and he appointed Jesus to be our redeemer. Such authority as this I neither have nor desire. About the closest thing to that I would desire is the position of a scout such as that mentioned in the 39th chapter of Ezekiel. I am drawn to that because that it keeps me away from all of the overblown egos and one-upmanship that most of mankind seems to preoccupy itself with. A scout is a loner, and many times he is not even a part of the army that he works for, but is merely a civilian with a talent that no one else has. If he is a part of the army, he is rarely of high rank. Indeed, the only thing that I find odious in this role is the necessity of coming back to report.
This work of being a scout appeals to me for another reason. It is not unscriptural to desire to be one “who goes where no one else has gone before” (to paraphrase the Star Trek theme). As Paul described it, “In this way, indeed, I made it my aim not to declare the good news where Christ had already been named, in order that I might not be building on another man’s foundation;” (Romans 15: 20). To face dangers that no one else dares, to walk with impunity in the midst of my enemies, to acquire the knowledge that such activity makes available, and especially to see others benefit from this knowledge that they could never get in any other way; of all the exquisite privileges!
Yet I do not speak accurately. This goes far beyond mere ambition. To say that it appeals to me cheapens it. The truth is that the very marrow of my bones cries out to me that this is the reason that I am made; this is why I live. It is the only place where I feel at home and in peace.
Has Jehovah appointed me to such a role? I cannot say, but my heart is comfortable nowhere else.
However, there is another kind of authority that comes from our heavenly father that is not appointed by direct action, as it was in David’s case. This authority comes along with the role in life that one has. For instance, when a man becomes a husband and father, he is given an authority to oversee his family in order to guarantee their welfare. This is not his right. It is his responsibility and it is a far-reaching one. As a husband of forty-one years and a father of six children, I do have that authority. I will not tolerate any man or any organization to encroach upon it, and that is precisely what the Society has done.
Other kinds of authority do not come from God, but stem from other sources, such as power. To illustrate, some nations have gained territory and exercised authority over it “by right of conquest”. This kind of authority I neither like nor trust, for all too many times it is abused. Nevertheless, there are times when the exercise of this kind is proper, and that is usually in those instances where the greedy and self-centered run rough shod over others and assume glory and dignity to that which they have no right. They need taken down a few pegs, and the exercise of this kind of authority may be the only way that goal can be accomplished. Do I have this kind? I think so, and I plan to use it to the best of my ability. Judge for yourself whether the Society needs someone to exercise some of this type of authority against them.
Then there is the authority that is based on knowledge. About 190 years ago a man by the name of John Colter, an American frontiersman, came in out of the western wilderness and told people what he had found. They laughed and the newspapers scoffed at what they figured were tales conjured up by an overactive imagination. “Colter’s Hell,” they called it.
A few years later two more mountain men, Hugh Glass and Jim Bridger, intrigued by his stories, went into the wilderness and checked them out. They came back and reported and they too were called liars. We now know the area of hot springs and geysers they described as Yellowstone National Park. Who spoke with authority in this instance?
Knowledge is an authority of unusual power, for even the least significant and humble of us can use it with astonishing results at times. Take for instance the case of a mighty king with a band of heavily armed and seasoned warriors behind him. They have captured a little girl who is so tiny that any one of them could kill her with a mere flick of the wrist. But they are crossing a vast wasteland and she is the only one who knows where water is. Who has the ultimate authority here? By simply remaining silent she can kill them all.
Yes, I know. The naïve scoffers will ask what such an example as that has to do with the real world. A mere philosophical exercise, they say. Do me a favor. Dig out a map of Canada. In the Northwest Territory of Mackenzie you will find a huge lake with an odd name. It is called the Great Slave Lake and the town of Yellowknife sits on its northern shore. Who was this man who was indeed a slave and what could he possibly have done so that even now, more than 200 years later, all who hear his story agree that it is appropriate to have the tenth largest fresh water lake in the world named after him?
Do I have this authority of knowledge? In some ways I can answer with an unequivocal “Yes.” For nearly 20 years now I have been providing stinging insects to pharmaceutical companies in order for them to use the venom to make the antiallergy shots for people that are deathly allergic to bee stings. There are about 40 people nation-wide who collect for these companies so there are probably fewer than 50 people out of a population of 300,000,000 who know how to do this. A couple of years ago I was speaking to one of the leading entomologists in the field and happened to mention that I had discovered how to transplant the colonies. I went on to tell him that I had at the time nearly a dozen Paravespula Pensylvanica (Western Yellow Jacket) colonies in my barn and was conducting further experiments on them. There was a stunned silence as he considered what I said, then said slowly, “Good Lord! I can’t even picture such a thing!”
Do I say this to boast? No. Instead, I view this as a privilege and responsibility. I have been asked to give talks on stinging insects in schools of all kinds and once even to an assemblage of paramedics. In fact, I’ve just taken a position as instructor in the local community college to teach a course that is especially slanted towards those who are allergic to bee stings. If all goes well, we intend to expand it into another class for extermination companies to help their employees to gain knowledge in how to remove such pests in a pesticide free manner.
I find pleasure in seeing others gain benefit from the knowledge that I have worked hard to gain. Then again there are those times that bring a special satisfaction, when someone has been badly hurt by these insects and I am called in to care for the problem.
Believe me, after all those years of stirring up hornet’s nests for fun and profit, I couldn’t care less whether those hornets have six legs or two. In many ways the six legged type are the more formidable.
But there is still another type of authority that stems from Jehovah and goes directly to every man, woman, and child in the world. This begins with the authority to think and reason, but also extends to the questioning and resisting of those influences that are wrong. For instance, a child is to obey and respect his parents. But should he do this if they are planning to rob a bank and trying to include him? How much more should this apply to us when an organization, religious or otherwise, demands that we do wrong?
There is a great deal more that could be written on this subject, especially from a scriptural standpoint, but hopefully this will illustrate the type of article that can be used to counteract the Society’s indoctrination. Things like these could be the core of a ‘deprogramming’ curricula that would be available to all at any time.
What other subjects have the Society used to control others, that you would like to see treated?
Tom Howell
Alias: LoneWolf