I just obtained a copy of one of the new releases from the summer JW district conventions, Learn from the Great Teacher. This book is oriented towards children, and frankly, is a stereotypical piece of propaganda from the "faithful and discreet slave". In some ways the book is incredibly revealing, since it has to break down a number of ridiculous JW teachings into a form that even JW children can swallow, and when those teachings are put into simplest form their ridiculousness is evident to everyone but small children and stereotypically braindead JWs. I suppose that's why the writer could actually write such nonsense.
The book is designed purely as a propaganda tool to fool children into becoming full-fledged JWs. The foreward explains how the book was designed to propagandize (p. 7):
You will notice that the book calls for a response on the part of children. Many well-placed questions are provided in the printed material. When you come to these, you will see a dash ( -- ). This is a reminder to pause and encourage the child to express himself. Children like to be involved. Without the involvement, a child will quickly lose interest.
In chapter 10, "Jesus' Power Over the Demons", a bit of sexual advice is given. One can see the not-so-subtle mind control being excercised (pp. 60-61):
It is important that we know what bad things the demons will try to get us to do. So think about it. What bad things did the demons do when they came to earth? -- Before the Flood, they had sex relations with women, something that was not right for angels to do. Today the demons like it when people do not obey God's law about sex relations. Let me ask you, Who only should have sex relations? -- You are right, only married people.
Today some young boys and girls have sex relations, but this is wrong for them. The Bible talks about the male "genital organ," or penis. (Leviticus 15:1-3) The female genital parts are called the vulva. Jehovah created these parts of the body for a special purpose that should be enjoyed only by married people. It makes the demons happy when people do things that are forbidden by Jehovah. For example, the demons like it when a boy and a girl play with each others' penis or vulva. We don't want to make the demons happy, do we? --
There is something else that the demons like but Jehovah hates. Do you know what it is? -- Violence. (Psalm 11:5) Violence is when people are mean and hurt others. Remember, that is what the giants, the sons of the demons, did.
So the Watchtower Society here connects "illicit" sex with violence in the minds of impressionable young people. Of course, "illicit" sex tends to become confused with "sex in any form" in the minds of many JWs, which has caused untold problems in married couples.
One of the most striking things to me, in the above quotation, is that the Society for the first time explicitly acknowledges what a great many young people do. It also uses terminology that in past times has been much more subdued. Note the previous "new light" on sex from the 1976 book Your Youth -- Getting the Best Out Of It (p. 22):
On the other hand, for married persons sexual relations are a wonderful way for them to express love for each other. The husband lies close to his wife so that his male organ fits naturally into her birth canal. This can give great pleasure to each of them. In the process, the husband’s sperm cells go out of his body through his male organ right into his wife’s birth canal. These sex cells move through the canal, and if a mature egg cell is there in the wife, one of her husband’s sperm cells may join with it, and the fertilized cell will begin to grow into a baby. So you see, God made the sex organs for a sacred purpose, that of passing on life. That is why it is proper that they be used according to God’s rules.
One gets the impression, upon reading the above, that the writer has but a theoretical knowledge of sex. The "male organ fits naturally into her birth canal"? Doesn't the writer know anything about "in and out"? At least, the writer of the 2003 book seems to be somewhat aware of such mechanics.
Unfortunately the writer also seems to be unsure of the technical distinctions between "vagina" and "vulva", and "male organ complex" and "penis". The first terms comprise the whole, and the latter terms are merely part of the whole. When people engage in sexual play, they play with everything, not just the penis and vulva. The writer of the Watchtower material is either extremly stupid about sexplay, or is deliberately deceitful. I suspect the latter, since the Society got a shitload back in its face when it told the entire JW community about oral and anal sex back in the early 1970s, educating them in something most of us had never even thought about.
The book further warns against learning from non-JW sources (p. 61):
Where do people learn a lot about violence and improper sex and spirits and ghosts? -- Isn't it from watching certain television shows and movies, playing computer and video games, going on the Internet, and reading comic books? Does doing these things bring us closer to God or closer to the Devil and his demons? What do you think? --
So here we again that the Watchtower Society is demonizing TV, movies, computer and video games, the Internet, and even silly comic books. Can anyone imagine a more paranoid bunch of religious leaders?
AlanF