Arianism and Jehovah's Witnesses
Tomorrow, my Religions of the Roman Empire class is going to reenact the Council of Nicea. Professor Serfass is going to be Constantine, and he�s really excited about it. I�m going to be an Arian. Short history lesson: Arianism (not to be confused with Aryans) was a 4th century heresy that said that Jesus Christ was only a man, and not of the same substance as God. They didn't believe in the Trinity, and accused the orthodox people of being polytheists.
As Dr. Rhodes says, choose your heresies wisely, because they will come back again and again. My ex-boyfriend James is an Arian (Jehovah�s Witness).
When I saw this on the syllabus, I meant to make sure that I wasn�t an Arian, but I wasn�t in class the day he assigned roles. And I know that I�ll be good at it, from all the arguing I did with James last year. But I would feel bad doing well at it, although it�s only play-acting.
I learned a lot about Jehovah�s Witnesses last year, and while I�m usually open minded (some) about other religions, I believe that the JWs are just wrong, and in grave error. And I can�t believe that someone as smart as James could believe that. He even knows Greek; he should know that the New World translation is inaccurate. Only one person on the committee had any knowledge of Greek at all. And I can�t believe that as an African-American and someone so into history and politics that he would willingly give up his voting franchise. Many Witnesses have died because they aren�t allowed to get blood transfusions. He�s dating a JW girl now, so he�ll probably never leave.
It was so frustrating dating him. He could never tell any of his family or JW friends about me because he would be �disfellowshipped� and shunned. I don�t know why I put up with that; I guess a forbidden relationship was romantic, and I thought he would change. Dating him was the best thing to get me to really know my theology as a defense, and after we broke up he told me that even though he didn�t admit it, I usually had the better argument.
It�s just so frustrating to see someone I loved believe something so wrong, and I don�t think he really does believe it. I can�t see how he can when he�s so educated and intelligent. It�s a cult, and they have him in their grasp.
