2008-6-12 09:08:00
[Editor's Note: As per the direction and approval of JJ Dewey, the title of this article -- and the entire series of articles -- from "Handling Boredom" to "Youthful Recollections" in which he shares his early struggles with truth.]
In Message Number 35332, Sterling posted the following at the The Keys Of Knowledge spiritual discussion group:
"John C. Bayley has been exposed as being involved in the seduction of hundreds of women, all supposedly in the name of God, allowing people to think he is John the Beloved, who Jesus said would never taste of death. He has stated that he seeks to surpass the number of women that David and Solomon had, and he is using dark magic to facilitate his quest."
In response to the above message, Susan responded with the following in Message Number 35337 in which she stated:
"This is just the sort of thing I was talking about with spiritual gifts. John Bayley was full of "spiritual gifts" and was a lot of fun. I never fully trusted him as I recognized an overly emotional side to him (though I had no clue he was seducing women). My instincts were to keep my distance. Ren liked his singing but was not AT ALL impressed with his gifts.
"Not all who profess or have spiritual gifts are sexually deviant by any means, but at best they are just so involved in emotions that it seems out of balance to me."
In Message Number 35342, JJ Dewey wrote:
How did you come across this guy? That may be an interesting story in itself.
Subsequent to the foregoing, and additional responses posted by both Sterling and Susan, JJ Dewey wrote the following:
Thanks Susan and Sterling for your comments on John Bayley. It seems that all of us have had a Bayley or two in our lives.
Perhaps the ultimate Bayley is Philo from the Immortal books.
There are a number of things that can raise the red flag when we meet someone who claims to want to help us spiritually, or some other way.
Sterling ended his post with this statement:
"This recent disclosure about his womanizing in the name of God only makes me all the less religiously inclined and less desirous to pursue the religious walk, glad I'm on an extended sabbatical from it all."
I must have ended my last life desiring a Sabbatical from religion as in my early life I did everything I could to stay away from church as I found it unbearably boring. I felt fortunate that my parents were not religious at the time and did not drag me to church with them.
Then when I was about twelve we moved from Boise to a farming area and lived not far from my sweet but overly religious grandmother. She took it upon herself to get me active in the church. Every Sunday morning she would just show up at the house to pick me up. Unfortunately she was such a nice person that I couldn't say no to her. I don't think anyone could say no to her.
She would wait for me to get dressed and take me to church.
I was so bored all I did was suffer in silence. The authorities interpreted this as reverence and always complimented me on what a good kid I was and stated that they wished the other rowdy boys were more like me.
After a few weeks of this I smartened up and kept an eye out for my grandmother driving up. As soon as I saw her car approaching I climbed out the back window and ran into the prune orchard and hid until she was gone.
Then a short time later we moved into a house that was just a few feet away from a Mormon church. My grandmother didn't pick me up as I didn't need a ride, but I did feel a little guilty about not going and went once or twice. Once when I was there, the Bishop grabbed me and took me in his office.
He sat me down and suggested that since I was now so close to the church that I should attend regularly.
I told him that I did not plan on it as I found church extremely boring.
When I said this he just about choked and incredulously gasped back, "Boring? How can you say that? What is boring?"
"The speeches for one thing," I said. "They are so boring they put me to sleep."
"How can you say that?" asked the Bishop. "We have wonderful speakers here who give uplifting talks. They are very inspiring to listen to."
"Not for me," I said.
"Is there anything else that bores you," he asked.
"Yes," I said. "The Hymns are boring beyond belief. They are almost painful, to listen to."
The Bishop really gasped at this statement. It was as if he had never heard a statement like this before in his life. "I don't understand you saying this. Our hymns are wonderful. I love to listen to them."
"Well I enjoy listening to some good rock and roll," I said, "and by comparison the hymns just don't cut it."
The poor Bishop seemed devastated with my attitude and I think he saw me as a lost cause.
Story to be continued...
"You can have it all. You just can't have it all at once."
-- Oprah Winfrey (1954 - ), quoted by Susan Litwin in 'TV Guide'
Word of the Day
Expatriate: Voluntarily absent from one's native home or country.
Go to:
Youthful Recollections, Part Two
Youthful Recollections, Part Three
Youthful Recollections, Part Four
Youthful Recollections, Part Five
Youthful Recollections, Part Six
Youthful Recollections, Part Seven
Copyright © 2008 by JJ Dewey, All Rights Reserved