Letter to My Jehovah Witness Friends

Note: The names have been changed to protect the innocent. This letter is inserted in a Christmas Card that has "the Three Wise Men" embroidered on the front.

Sam and Sue,

I received your card and was delighted to realize you also support the Sierra Club! I don’t know a lot about this organization, but from what I do know, it’s just one more example of areas that we have common beliefs and values.

The Christmas card I chose to send you has many meanings as to why I chose it for you. First of all, I wanted to be sure that the card reflected the “true meaning of Christmas,” as another area that I and the Jehovah Witnesses are in agreement is your entire belief system over Christmas. I absolutely LOVE the December 2010 issue of “Awake” Magazine, entitled “The Truth about Christmas.” Though as usual I hold some minor disagreements, the overall direction aligns with my own thinking. Specifically, I believe America has fallen victim to blatant disregard for the first and second commandments, not only with Santa worship and the lies surrounding that, but in the way we subordinate our freedom to debt in the name of giving. Even the tenth commandment is ignored as we strive to outdo our siblings and neighbors with our gifts.

But I also like the fact that this Christmas card is focused on “the three wise men,” for they symbolize my own beliefs not only about "the myth of Christmas," but also about Christianity as a whole. The picture of the three wise men on three camels, as in a caravan, makes this even more pertinent to my own beliefs.

Furthermore, this card symbolizes the one thing that has been missing from our relationship even though I warned you about it from the beginning. The first time I opened my door, we agreed that if you come on Saturday mornings, and you don’t mind me being honest when I do not have the time or desire to talk with you, I’d be happy to talk to you and share ideas about our different beliefs. Since then, I've listened with fascination as I realized that your religion was not as "weird and hardcore" as I had always been told. But the first time I opened that door, I also said something else. I said that I believe in what I call “Multivalence,” meaning that I believe all of life has many meanings to many people, that God does not choose one person's beliefs over another person's beliefs. And because of this, as I told you, I continually try to learn more about God and Jesus and Buddha and Mohammed and all of the teachings, so that I can assimilate them into my own belief system.

Do you remember me telling you that? I sure hope so!

Now, I should caution you that other Christians have been upset at what you may be about to read. In fact, one person put his hands over his ears in the middle of my saying this. Another was so offended that he actually suggested I was the voice of Satan. Though I had patiently listened to him go on and on and on and on about his own beliefs, and though I had read his propaganda about his “born again” faith, the fact that I would return to my original position with him was okay only until it started to make sense to him. That was when he became down-right angry with me.

So . . . I believe the two of you have a strong faith, and can handle the truth about my beliefs. However, if you do not want to take a chance in my detracting you from your true faith, please skip to the next time you see this symbol:

*****!*****

If you’re still reading, please know that what I believe about Christianity and, especially, Jesus, is this:

Jesus was born a bastard . . . and I don't mean this in a bad way. It's simply historical truth that his mother was not married when she was impregnated. Even if you believe in the immaculate conception, to his Jewish neighbors he was still a bastard. Back in those times, this meant that Jesus was not allowed to play with other Jewish children. He was shunned and not allowed to participate in his society. He grew up as an outcast.

Because of this, and the fact that caravans brought goods from the Far East to the Roman Empire through Palestine, Jesus would hang around older people and talk religion with them. In doing this, he came into contact with a very new religion (500 years old at the time) called Buddhism.

I was amazed when you told me that the "true Bible" says that "the three wise men" were really astrologers from the east, and that there were probably more than three, and that they actually started arriving when Jesus was two. As we have already discussed one problem I have with the Bible is that there are now so many versions of it, and my own Catholic version doesn't make that clear. But it only serves to support my own thinking.

The historical fact is that Galilee in the time of Jesus was a hub of commerce, with a steady stream of easterners bringing goods and their religion. Jesus learned this religion, assimilated it with his own (Judaism), and by the time he was thirty he started teaching radical ideas such as:

         • The Ten Commandments can be summarized with two.
         • Love your god with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind.
         • Love your neighbor as you love yourself
         • There is a Kingdom of Heaven within us all.
         • Love your enemy as you love yourself.
         • God is within us all.
         • We are the Sons of God.
         • Become like a child and you shall enter the Kingdom of Heaven.
         • Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

This was so radical, the Jews conspired with the Romans to kill him, and in mourning his disciples went a bit overboard in their good intentions to spread the “good news” and accidentally started a religion that, 400 years later, became an empire.

This is what I mean when I say, “I am a Catholic Buddhist.”

I don’t want to bore you with all of the ways that I can translate the TRUE words of Jesus into the tenets of Buddhism, but that is my belief. I love reading the "red letter Gospels" because I only read the red text . . . the true words of Jesus, who summarized Buddhism as well as any of the great Eastern monks. His parables all deal with elements of the Dharma, from non-attachment to impermanence to meditation. Enlightment itself, symbolized by the "the Light of the Word," connects Christianity with Buddhism.

The "greatest story ever told" is as archetypal as the story of Siddartha Gautama. This fact is as beautiful as any Poem, as wonderful as any story.

So suffice it to say that I'm sending this letter to you with the three wise men on camels because I believe they truly represent "Catholic Buddhism." In other words, if I were to choose a symbol for my own faith, it would be the three wise men.

Anyway, I thought it would be better to explain this to you in writing because, as I have said many times, you will never “convert me,” though I do really like you two. Quite frankly, I love you two. I do believe you have found the Kingdom of God on Earth.

I just strongly believe that "God's Word" manifests itself in different ways and, though I cannot stay in that Kingdom continually, I too have found it, and love it, and dedicate my life to it.

You two both illustrate that your faith is one worth following. I would recommend that any lost soul talk to you. However, given my sincere beliefs about Jesus, I find it easier for me to learn directly from “the dharma,” which is the Buddhist version of the Bible (simplistically put.)

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the Watchtower and Awake magazines. In my opinion, they represent some of the best Christian literature out there. And I truly hope you will continue to stop by from time to time, because I feel I’ve found true believers in you.


*****!*****

However, please know that I also do not want you to feel like you are wasting your time, because I realize you have a mission to save people. Though I will never be saved in the way you mean to save me, I do support your desire to save others. So if I never see you again, I totally understand. But if you want to stop by because you, like me, feel you have found a friend that you may never truly agree with, but that is willing to discuss your faith with, then please continue to be my Saturday Morning Visitors.

I will end this letter with a Poem by Dan Sturn, that reminds me of you:

Visitor

Early, coffee, on a Saturday,
ready to talk to the Witness today,
having read the Watch Tower page
surprisingly not about the hell
we’re all so sure to pay.

For though I’ve earned an honest wage,
my work an old neglected cage,
beliefs' been like a swinging door,
fallen prey to a devil’s sage.

‘Cause we’ve been through this once before,
watching them wage the good and evil war.
Find a sheep to rally at Amway.
Come between the sailor and whore.

And thus comes the Witness on the fray,
up on my porch, so we can at least pray.
Bring Him up on my bright morning stage,
And nudge me from my cage,
to the watch tower way.

Dan Sturn

Merry Christmas Sam and Sue, and thanks for dropping by when you have.

[my real name]