Spoilers about Chilling Adventures of Sabrina
I remembered earlier that I wanted to compare the jw and the witches from The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina!
It’s been a little while so I hope I won’t forgot anything!
Father Blackwood visit Sabrina about the dark baptism / The elders visit you about the baptism:
Sabrina had doubts about becoming a real witch and signing the Book of the Beast, so her aunts ask Father Blackwood, the High Priest to come visit. She admit to Blackwood that she has doubts and he try to convince her by answering her questions.
All of this is the kind of things you can through if you have doubts by getting baptized in the jw organization. Your jw parents or the jw teacher who studies with you may ask the elders to visit you and answer your questions to try to convince you.
The dark baptism / The baptism:
Sabrina’s family, all witches, push her to go through the dark baptism, in which she’ll have to sign the Book of the Beast to be a become a real witch and serve Satan eternally.
This is what happens in the jw organization. You’ll be more or less pushed to get baptized (by immersion in water, not by signing a book like the show) directly by your jw family, others jw in the congregation, or indirectly by listening the talks given during weekly meetings. If you get baptized you’ll become a real jw and you’ll have to serve Jehovah eternally too.
Not associating with mortals / Not associating with wordly people:
The people who aren’t witches are called mortals and you’re not supposed to associate with them (being friends or marrying them).
The people who aren’t jw are called worldy and you’re not supposed to associate with them (being friends or marrying them)
The Trial / Judicial Comittee :
When Sabrina flee from her dark baptism, Blackwood organize a trial before the whole coven with the Infernal Three as judge to find if she’s guilty. If she is, she’ll be forced to abandon her mortal life immediately and spend 333 years burning in the Pit of Hell upon her death. During the trial, Sabrina aunts Zelda and Hilda lose slowly their power.
If you commit a sin, and the elders learn it, they’ll call you to a private judicial meeting. There, you’ll be judged by 3 or 4 elders to find if you’re guilty and repentent. If you don’t repent you’ll be punished by disfellowhipping in the worst case. Your family can face some consequences of your disfellowshipping, like if your father is an elder, he could be forced to step down.
Excommunication / Disfellowshipping:
Hilda, one of Sabrina’s aunt is excommunicated by the coven because she helped Sabrina’s mother giving her a catholic baptism when she was little. She then can’t participate in the Church of the Night celebrations and if I remember well, she can’t speak to the witches of her ex coven.
You can be disfellowshipped in the jw organization if you do a sin and you’re not repentent enough. Then nobody of the congregation can speak to you, even your family. You can still going to meetings but you’ll have to be sitting in the back.
Patriarchy:
The Church of the Night coven High Priest’s is a man, Father Blackwood, the one before him was a man too, Edward Spellman. We don’t know if a women can be High Priest.
In the jw organization, women can’t have any positions of authority. The Governing Body, elders and ministerial servants are men.
Supernatural:
Sabrina deals with all sort of supernatural stuff: magic, demons, spirit possessions, ghosts...
Jw believes in demons, ghosts are demons... everything supernatural is demonic.
The lies:
When Blackwood goes to visit Sabrina before her dark baptism she says she’s worried that if she sign the book, she’ll sell her soul to Satan. He tell her that it’s just one of the possible interpretations and that all religions have symbolic gestures and signing the book is just a pledge to abide by the devil’s commandments. She then say that Satan is the embodiement of evil but Blackwood correct her saying that he is the embodiement of free will insinuating that she’ll sign the Book she’ll still be free to live like she always did. She ask him if she can resign being a witch after her baptism which he answer yes. It’s when she goes to the ceremony of the dark baptism that she realize she’s been lied to and had to really sell her soul to Satan and loose her free will forever.
I think this video JW.org Debunked: 14 Examples of Lies and Dishonesty in the FAQ Section (feat. ExJW Fifth) resumes well a good amount of lies you can find on the official jw website.
Ok I think I didn’t forget anything!
When I watched the show, I’ve found the similarities.. uncanny?
So, if you don’t know about the jehovah’s witnesses, and you find the church of the night awful... well... here’s for you: they are the same!
