Tuesday 25 April 2000

Pic of the day: "Letters of Johan O. Smith" - the secrets of Smith's Friends revealed at last! This entry is not recommended for children.

OK. I sometimes write an entry and then delete it and start anew. This is one of those days. It's close to midnight, and after several hours I am no longer completely able to believe my own memory. I shall tell you what I thought I heard on the radio, though, much as I find it hard to credit.

I was doing something else when I suddenly perked my ears at the mention of my old home province, Sogn & Fjordane. A man there, they said, had used some of his daughters sexually. The youngest was only two years old. Ouch! Yet, I know these things happen. It was the thing they said at the end that made me reel. If I heard right - and I am not sure, because I've checked all the web news I could find that I thought would be relevant, and none of them mention it with a word - if I heard right, "the man was a member of the sect Smith's Friends at the time and thought that this may have been a reason". And I thought, what the heck?

Firstly, it probably means I know the guy. Secondly, I know Smith's Friends. It's a pious Christian congregation that originated here in Norway around 100 years ago. They are known for being old-fashioned and having lots and lots of children. But I know more. I have been to literally hundreds of their meetings. Actually, I have probably spoken in hundreds of their meetings. (Though always very briefly, in all honesty...) I know their doctrine, their teachings, probably better than most of those who are there now. I've walked in and out of their homes. I've played with their children and prayed with their parents.

To claim that you've commited incest because you were a member of that movement would be approximately like saying that you killed dolphins because you were a member of Greenpeace. Yes, it could be true - if you were severely insane, suffering from an overwhelming urge to do something truly contrary to your daylight persona. A Jekyll/Hyde complex, or something. Apart from that, it seems totally senseless.

I guess most people don't know a lot about Smith's Friends. That makes sense, as they tend to keep mostly to themselves, or rather each other. They hold the rather unusual view that evangelization should be done by example, not by preaching. If people see the kind of life they live and contact them, they are welcome. There are no secret protocols for the initiated or anything.

The theology of Smith's Friends has always set them apart from the mainstream Christianity. They believe (as do I) that Jesus was tempted in the same way as we, through his "flesh" ... everyday impulses and temptations that are part of the human condition. For some reason, this really ticks off most Christians. The idea that Jesus could have "ugly" temptations like their own seems to be the worst blasphemy. Heh. I'd think anyone reading the Gospels would notice how human Jesus was. The question is whether he was also divine. At the time, few thought so. Now there are millions who think Jesus was a kind of god, but poof goes his humanity.

If one reads the oldest writings of Johan Oscar Smith and his first friends, there is a strong leaning towards mysticism: The experience of the divine through living in the presence of it. Meditation, expansion of the consciousness. In some ways, they represent Christianity's border against Buddhism, focusing more on enlightenment than ritual. Over the decades, however, the doctrine slowly turned more literalist. Though they never made issues out of the six days creation and stuff like that. The standard reply to all such thing is: "That was before my time." Smith's friends hate quarrel and fruitless discussion. It is expressly forbidden in their teachings.

On the other hand, they have become famous for things that are very visible, even external to faith itself. Most notably the large families: Children are a blessing and a gift from God, and one should collect as many of these as God will give. This is shored up with quotes from the Old Testament. The same goes for the tradition of all females wearing skirts regardless of weather (but with an exception for workplaces involving ladders and such, ahem). The semi official explanation has been a quote from Moses that men should not wear female clothing and the other way around. On the other hand, the same set of laws forbids clothes of mixed textiles, or fields of mixed grains. And anyway, the Old Covenant is not held in high regards by these people otherwise. A more likely explanation is that the skirts are generally more concealing. Smith's Friends don't want to look sexy. "Lead us not into temptation"... The preferred skirts are long, dark or at least opaque and reasonably wide. (Well, they were last I saw them.)

As you can see, these are all around nice people. Somewhat paranoid, as is good and proper when you belive that "all who want to live godly in Jesus Christ shall be persecuted" as the Bible so aptly puts it. But there are certainly no dark rituals or secret orgies or other such things that people associate with sects. As a matter of fact, they don't even scare people with hell and damnation if they choose to leave the movement. They do however believe that staying will be helpful to achieve the highest possible calling for a human: To become the Bride of Christ, a human with divine nature.

As you people may have noticed, I don't much feel like being anyone's bride. I have in the later years pursued a very different goal, namely to claim (or reclaim) my humanity. Of very late, this intent may have faltered a bit, but there you have it. Faltering is human, after all ...

But not to the extent of fornicating with children. God forbid.