Elite corps of God

By Stijn Aerden
This is an English translation of the Dutch article 'Elitekorps van God' that appeared in the
April 13 2001 newsmagazine HP De Tijd (pages 104-105).

You picnic a lot, skate a lot and the Organisation is a warm cocoon against the wicked outside world. What is it like to be a Jehovah Witness? 'It is a total package, a programme for life.' See if you can find a way out!

Awake a Jehovah's Witness in the middle of the night, and it is very likely he calls out two things: "Make disciples," and "No blood!"
"Though, the last," says writer Paulo van Vliet, "the ban on blood transfusion, is now as good as revoked. Just as the end of this world; that date has already been shifted for three times. They create their own dogma's and adjust these again and again."

On Sunday 15 April 2001 NPS aired the television movie, "Uitgesloten" (Expelled/Disfellowshipped), a movie directed by Mijke de Jong. The leading character "Egbert Jan Weeber" gets stuck between his family, Jehovah's witnesses, and his 'worldly' girlfriend "Nadja Hüpscher". Finally, he is disfellowshipped during a tribunal-like meeting with disdain and coldness; treated as if he is a treble murderer. In the eyes of the JW's, disfellowshipping shares a commonality with one of man's most heinous crimes. The "disfellowshipped one is shunned, ignored; to look upon a "disfellowshipped" one is considered disdainful.

The script is based on "Paulo van Vliet's" debut of the same name. An autobiographical Roman, that at the beginning of this year was followed by a second one, "Elite", also about the world of the Jehovah's Witnesses. "With this movie included," he says with a small smile, "I have the feeling I have a round-off episode."

Yet it sounds not totally unsociable to be in 'the truth'. If you read the books of "Van Vliet", you are psychologically hit by the onslaught of picnics, skate-events, and such "fun times". Believers call each other Brother and Sister."you consider them as a form of extended family. Brothers, sisters,uncle and aunts."Doors swing open,the coffee is always ready; the holidays the Jehovah's Witnesses don't celebrate, Eastern, New Year's, Christmas, Birthdays are all abundantly compensated by their own. This induces a feeling" he says, "that you are a child of everyone, a sensation of being shielded, especially in early childhood. The world is your playground. God is watching you with abundant approval, even though this false illusion results in careless behavior." I have been involved in playing dangerous games, yet maintained a feeling of complete, albeit false, safety.

During puberty it is different. "The idea being guarded by so much family, results in a feeling of oppression and social control. For example: If you walk down the street with a 'worldly' girl than you will continually look over your shoulder; being sure you are not seen by a "brother or sister".

'In the Truth','that's how they call it when you are a member of the JW's', Paulo van Vliet speaks of the 'total package', 'a programme for life'. "You are offered a pattern card with norms and values," then he says, "you only have to apply them". Even a 'Reasoning-booklet' is included on entry, behind the entries are answers on difficult questions and a lot of references to the Bible. During 'Field Service,'whilst offering the "Watchtower" from door to door, you don't have to be afraid of not being able to answer any question that may come up; you are already fully programmed to think and answer as a Jehovah's Witness.

"Your time is for the greatest part, "filled up". Of course this is
wonderful for people who do not have a full life or who are looking for
acceptance. We had meetings on Sundays and Wednesdays which included singing and talks, often followed by a meal at one of the members' home. On Monday evenings ,'Bookstudy' and twice a week Fieldservice."

"Only much later," he says, "you realize how big the filter is that you have had before your objective. How many thoughts you have had, and still have, are rooted in that faith."
The feeling of being invulnerable, and above all, the feeling of being
'chosen', naturally plays a major role. "That's the pot of honey," says Van Vliet. "Jehovah's Witnesses have for the biggest part originated from working class neighborhoods or the lower middleclass, and is done this way for a good reason. They are people who think they are the salt of the earth, and think they aren't able to achieve anything. They set their hopes on the world that comes thereafter. Than it's their turn. And then they burst out laughing about all the doctors and notaries who didn't make it."

They understand what will happen to this world. "All the others are ignorant," nods he, "that's the way it is. In this manner you create your own elite. You stand with this elite soley; prohibiting association with worldly people, and particularly by never questioning what the organization teaches. Because the Organization is God's mouthpiece. If you say to the Organization: 'This isn't okay', then you are saying indirectly to Jehovah: 'This isn't okay'. One thinks twice before doing that!"

"This is something you see by every totalitarian model; a body that shields itself from external influences. On the one hand by creating a strong bond and hierarchy, on the other by cultivating the image of the enemy. The world is eager about tackling you day after day. That's the way Satan works. And as a child you believe this firmly,probably more so than your parents."

Is this a kind of child-religion?
"Everything is conveniently arranged, "Good and evil". We against the others. And after the death, after Armageddon, your family is reunited. Who doesn't want this?"

The leading character of the movie is lovingly pulled in two directions. On one side is his sweet girlfriend Marjan. Marjan even goes from door to door for one afternoon to perceive how it is to harvest disciples; on the other side are his parents who have to compromise between two devotions; to their child, and to the truth. Van Vliet: "It wasn't my intention to treat the Jehovah's Witnesses with contempt in my books. If they ring my doorbell, I will be kind and friendly and refer them. I don't have a grudge anymore. My real meaning was to portray what takes place indoors. The conflict that takes place in a block of flats, fought out in the suburb of some big city. That's the small arena where it all takes place."

"In fact you have as a disfellowshipped one revolted against the God of heaven and his billions of angels, but you get over this. It's the split with your family that wrecks you. That's the feeling of guilt that most disfellowshipped ones drag with them for years. Some of them never overcome this."!

An adolescent who attempts to leave the organization, and at the same time wants to maintain the love of his parents? "That was the point in my case," he says. "In the long run they didn't leave each other. Concerning this the parents didn't do that bad at all. For the boy counts the same. It was merely the Organization that stood between."

Two years after his disfellowshipping, approximately fifteen years ago, his father died -he refused a blood transfusion. Meanwhile his mother also died. She was still able to read his debut, at first with anguish, at last with pride. "If she had lived longer, maybe she would have ceased her involvement with the organization," Paulo says. "The stubborn faith was from my father."

Last September the television movie went in premiere on the Dutch Movie Days. Leading character Egbert Jan Weeber was nominated for best actor Television Drama. Paulo van Vliet sat down with an audience of five to six hundred people, who enjoyed this showing and sometimes laughed out loud at a history that for many years seemed too painful to bring into the open. "For me a touching moment."