home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
- Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!logbridge.uoregon.edu!gestalt.direcpc.com!cyclone2.usenetserver.com!c02.atl3!rip!news.webusenet.com!cox.net!newsfeed1.earthlink.net!newsfeed.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net.POSTED!not-for-mail
- Newsgroups: alt.brother-jed,alt.answers,news.answers
- Followup-To: alt.brother-jed
- From: seiler@eilertech.com (Scott Eiler)
- Subject: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for alt.brother-jed
- Organization: Eiler Technical Enterprises
- Summary: About a certain street preacher, and a newsgroup named after him.
- X-Newsreader: News Xpress 2.01
- Approved: news-answers-request@MIT.EDU
- Lines: 504
- Message-ID: <YMOy9.1202$Aq5.127962@newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net>
- Date: Fri, 08 Nov 2002 13:14:32 GMT
- NNTP-Posting-Host: 209.244.65.227
- X-Complaints-To: abuse@earthlink.net
- X-Trace: newsread2.prod.itd.earthlink.net 1036761272 209.244.65.227 (Fri, 08 Nov 2002 05:14:32 PST)
- NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 08 Nov 2002 05:14:32 PST
- Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu alt.brother-jed:19525 alt.answers:64755 news.answers:240875
-
- Archive-Name: personalities/brother-jed
- Posting-Frequency: Every two months or so
-
- Here is the list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for the
- alt.brother-jed Usenet newsgroup. This FAQ is regularly posted to
- alt.brother-jed, alt.answers, and news.answers . Its master copy is
- available on the Web at http://www.eilertech.com/faqs/jedfaq.htm . Web
- links are included there to home pages for everyone in the newsgroup who
- has them, including Brother Jed himself.
-
- The picture of Jed is from 1983, but it still looks remarkably accurate. At
- least, compared to the picture he posts himself at http://www.brojed.org/.
-
- If you have comments, either post to alt.brother-jed, or e-mail me, or
- both. My address is seiler@eilertech.com.
-
- Thanks, Scott
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Brother Jed Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) List
-
- 1. Who is Brother Jed?
- 2. Is this the same Brother Jed who was preaching on the campus of the
- school I attended years ago?
- 3. Are Brother Jed's wife and kids brainwashed?
- 4. Where does Brother Jed get his money?
- 5. What is alt.brother-jed about?
- 6. Why is this group called alt.brother-jed if there isn't anything
- posted here about Brother Jed?
- 7. Does Brother Jed ever post to this group?
- 8. Who is Lawyer Jim, and is he related to Brother Jed?
- 9. Who are the rest of these bozos who post here?
- 10. What is a "fundy?"
- 11. I practice a particular religion faithfully. Will I be offended if I
- read this group?
- 12. Would you like to learn how to MAKE MONEY FAST???
- 13. Can I post about any religion on this group?
- 14. I heard that this was a group for making fun of fundamentalist
- Christians. What the hell happened?
- 15. I've noticed that some of the people posting to this group seem to
- believe in a Being who created the universe. Oh yeah? Can you prove
- it?
- 16. I've noticed that some of the people posting to this group seem to
- believe that there is no Being who created the universe. Oh yeah? Can
- you prove it?
- 17. I've noticed some people on this newsgroup accusing other people of
- being Pagans. I've even noticed some who claim to be Pagans. What the
- heck is Paganism?
- 18. Are you all a bunch of wankers or what?
- 19. Why are there two FAQs for this group?
- 20. If the group were stranded on Gilligan's Island, what would the theme
- song be?
-
- Links
-
- Disclaimer: The information in this document has been taken from reputable
- sources (such as Jed's own books) and is considered as accurate as
- possible. However, nobody's perfect. As such, nobody here takes
- responsibility for incorrect or inaccurate information in this document,
- beyond correcting the error.
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- 1. Who is Brother Jed?
-
- Brother Jed (George Edward Smock) was born in Brookings, South Dakota,
- in 1943. His father was a Ph.D. in English from Cornell University,
- and his mother was A.B. magna cum laude from Syracuse University. In
- 1946 the family moved to Terre Haute, Indiana, when his father became
- chair of the English department at Indiana State University (ISU).
-
- In 1960 Jed went to Indiana University and joined Delta Upsilon, which
- held a well-deserved reputation as a hard-partying fraternity. After a
- year and a half Jed dropped out and made a brief visit to southern
- California, where poor success as an encyclopedia salesman convinced
- him to return to Indiana to complete his education, this time at ISU
- majoring in social studies and minoring in English.
-
- In 1965 he got a job teaching U.S. history at Highland High School,
- and in the next 2 years earned an M.A. in history from ISU. In 1967 he
- made another visit to California, this time working as a junior high
- school teacher in Berkeley-- it was here that Jed was first introduced
- to marijuana and LSD.
-
- As the "summer of love" drew to a close Jed returned briefly to
- Indiana, but soon got a position as a professor of history at the
- University of Wisconsin. In 1970 Jed returned again to Indiana, this
- time to take a position as research assistant in a psychology
- institute at ISU, where he studied drug use.
-
- In 1971 he left on a journey to North Africa where he joined a commune
- on the beach of Morocco, living a life of hedonism and depravity. In
- the spring of 1972 he began to seriously read the Bible, and in March
- of that year returned once again to Indiana. In August he met an old
- high school friend Clyde Swalls, who had become a preacher. It was at
- that point that Jed "met the King of Kings at Burger King" (became
- fully converted to Christianity).
-
- Since that time Jed has travelled the nation's college campuses
- spreading the word to students. His early companions in that task were
- "Holy Hubert" Lindsay, a quick-witted evangelist whom Jed had
- encountered at Berkeley, and "Brother Max" Lynch, an ISU
- mathematics-professor-turned-preacher. In 1977 while preaching at
- Arizona State, Jed coined the nickname of that group, "the
- Destroyers", in honor of the way they destroyed the complacency of
- Christian churches around ASU.
-
- In the following years Jed has been featured in _Newsweek_ and
- _Rolling_Stone_, and has appeared on both Sally Jesse Raphael and
- Donahue. Jed has written several books including an autobiographical
- work, _Who_Will_Rise_Up?_ which was the source of most of the
- information in this short bio. -- N.E.
-
- 2. Is this the same Brother Jed who was preaching on the campus of the
- school I attended years ago?
-
- Yes, although it's a good idea to make sure the person you remember
- was really Jed since he's subsequently been joined by many regional
- preachers. His first recruit, Sister Cindy Lasseter, later became his
- wife in 1983 and has since borne them 5 daughters. Other additions to
- the fold include Brother Jim Giles, Sister Pat Noordewier, and Brother
- Paul Stamm (who is pictured in _Who_Will_Rise_Up?_ wearing a "Sodomy
- Free Zone" sign on his backside). -- N.E.
-
- For those currently on campus who want to keep an eye out for the
- "real" Brother Jed: He is a dark-haired man in his early fifties who
- wears glasses, and usually a dress shirt and dark pants. He is almost
- always accompanied with at least two of his daughters, who all have
- long hair and wear long skirts, but are otherwise pretty
- normal-looking children. The last time I saw Brother Jed, he was also
- joined by a young college-age woman named Sister Elizabeth (never got
- her last name). -- E.G.
-
- 3. Are Brother Jed's wife and kids brainwashed?
-
- In the spring of 1996 I was upset to be told by Evangeline "I hate
- you, you're going to hell!". She was visibly upset by attempts of
- several people to gently open her mind to the possibility that other
- opinions were valid. Although I hesitate to use the word
- "brainwashed", I believe that her parents have sealed off her mind to
- any original thoughts or differing opinions. -- V.C.
-
- I can't speak about the kids, but I met his wife (Sister Cindy) in
- 1983 before they married. She was preaching on the Michigan State
- University campus, with Brother Jed also on campus but not present.
- Sister Cindy presented her own beliefs forcefully, and stood up to
- popular pressure (almost to the point of being forcibly unbaptized in
- the Red Cedar River). In my opinion, she may be one of the few people
- who agrees with Jed on every single topic, but she's not brainwashed.
- -- S.E.
-
- Jed and Cindy's girls are home-schooled with strong emphasis on
- scriptural subjects. Many crowds have been amazed at the girls'
- ability to recite Bible verses, and whenever possible Jed and Cindy
- like to take their daughters along on their travels. While many
- onlookers have expressed concern for the welfare of the children,
- personally I think it's significant that the girls are usually
- better-behaved and more articulate than most of the college students
- they meet at their parents' very unusual job-sites. -- N.E.
-
- Except for the extremely conservative dress, all of the girls seem
- like pretty normal kids to me. When they accompany their parents to
- campus, the older ones often help their Dad by passing out tracts and
- buttons to the crowd. Little Evangeline often carries around a big
- sandwich-board type sign which expresses succinctly her parents
- religious philosophies. The ones who aren't helping out are usually
- reading or playing nearby. The last time I saw the family on the Oval
- at Ohio State in the spring of 1996, I was rather amazed at the girls
- ability to rollerblade in ankle-length dresses. -- E.G.
-
- 4. Where does Brother Jed get his money?
-
- Brother Jed heads an umbrella organization called Campus Ministries
- USA, which attempts to defray the costs of the various members of the
- old Destroyers. In addition to donations and sales of books and
- videos, Jed also receives honoraria from speaking at churches and
- conferences. If anyone is interested in helping, Jed can be reached
- at:
-
- Campus Ministries USA
-
- 922 W. Village Dr
-
- Newark, OH 43055
-
- This organization has a web page: http://www.brojed.org.
-
- Obligatory Adverblurb: Copies of Brother Jed's books and videos are
- available. The suggested donation for "Who Will Rise Up?" is $10, $5
- for the shorter works ("Grieve Not the Spirit" and "Walking in the
- Spirit"), and $35 for the video. -- N.E.
-
- 5. What is alt.brother-jed about?
-
- Originally alt.brother-jed was dominated by critics who ridiculed him
- on-line in much the same way as they did during his appearances on
- their campuses. At this point the group has evolved into a more
- serious discussion group focused on various issues raised by Jed and
- his Destroyers.
-
- Nowadays, discussion of all sorts of religions and religious
- philosophies appears on alt.brother-jed. This occasionally does
- include Jed-bashing and news of Jed-sightings, but it is no longer
- limited to such. Common discussion topics have included the existence
- of God, the nature of evil, Biblical literalism, whether or not
- homosexual acts are sinful, whether Christianity is harmful, whether
- the Old Testament God was just, and whether proselytizing is good or
- bad. -- N.E. and E.G.
-
- 6. Why is this group called alt.brother-jed if there isn't anything
- posted here about Brother Jed?
-
- The group's name is mostly an honorary title, in respect to the man by
- whom we have been touched and whose passion brings us all together,
- Christians and non-Christians alike. -- N.E.
-
- Also, discussions often center on the topic of confrontational
- evangelism and whether it is effective. Brother Jed exemplifies this
- type of evangelism, in a flashy way which gets people talking about
- him and his beliefs. -- S.E.
-
- 7. Does Brother Jed ever post to this group?
-
- Brother Jed has made occasional-but-infrequent forays online, much
- less frequent in recent months, just enough to tell people where he'd
- be preaching in the next few weeks and to slip in the occasional
- e-sermon. His e-mail address is brojed@aol.com; if he ever wants to
- change it, he'll have to move his own web page first. -- N.E and S.E.
-
- 8. Who is Lawyer Jim, and is he related to Brother Jed?
-
- Lawyer Jim, real name James Elsman, is a fundamentalist who once
- frequently posted to alt.brother-jed and claims to have "street
- preached". As far as we know, he and Brother Jed are not related.
- Except, of course, that they are both brothers in Christ. And it is
- believed that they sometimes preach together, and that Lawyer Jim acts
- as a legal consultant to Brother Jed. His e-mail address is
- elsmanlaw@aol.com. -- E.G. and S.E.
-
- 9. Who are the rest of these bozos who post here?
-
- Quick introductions all around, so's everyone will know who's who the
- next time Lawyer Jim starts slinging invectives around:
- o Scott Eiler: Deluded Protestant Christian who's going to Hell
- because he refuses to condemn everyone who's not a Christian here
- o Nathan Engle: Incredibly annoying Taoist who never gets pissed
- off no matter how much you threaten him with eternal hellfire
- o Erin Glaser: Utterly hopeless demon Papist whose brain is
- controlled by the Pope
- o Frenchy: Even more hopeless Satanic Pagan with a history of
- unknown numbers of lovers, STDs, abortions, and illegitimate
- children
- o Louis Lomasky: Incredibly well-read and knowledgeable but stupid
- Hasidic guy who doesn't know a damn thing about Judaism despite a
- lifetime of study, knowledge of multiple Biblical languages and
- time spent in the Holy Land because he's not saved by the blood
- of Jesus
- o Rhonda Rubin: Self-proclaimed Jewish Smartass and eeeeeeevulll
- lesbian
- o Marlene: A third more evil than the average abj'er, because he
- wants to be a girl
- o Doug Berry: Another stupid Discordian doofus and ordained ULC
- minister unsaved by the blood of Our Lord Jesus
- o Ralphus: Whining baby-eating apostate who's gonna burn burn burn
- o BeYontRy: Hellbound wiseacre who's old enough to know better
- o Vince Conaway: Oh, why bother cataloging this one, he's just
- going to Hell anyway like the rest of these sinners
- Sorry if I missed anyone. ;) (F)
-
- As the above summary shows, not everyone who posts here agrees with
- Brother Jed's theology. We just post and argue here because we can.
- B{D> (SE)
-
- 10. What is a "fundy?"
-
- This term, occurring often in AB-J, is shorthand for "fundamentalist"
- and is not necessarily intended to be derogatory, although some people
- may mean it that way. When used alone, it generally refers to
- fundamentalist Christians, but may be combined with other faiths to
- mean anyone who is fundamentalist. It can be combined with
- non-religious philosophies and with non-mainstream religions quite
- easily as well.
-
- The Microsoft Encarta 95* definition of "fundamentalism" is as
- follows:
-
- 1. A Protestant movement holding the Bible to be the sole authority.
-
- 2. A movement marked by rigid adherence to basic principles.
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
- *The American Heritage(R) Concise Dictionary, 3rd ed. Copyright (c)
- 1994 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Electronic version licensed from and
- portions copyright (c) 1994 by InfoSoft International, Inc. All rights
- reserved.
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Fundamentalist Christians believe that the Bible should be taken as
- literally as possible. For example, many fundamentalist Christians
- believe that the world actually was created during a six-day period on
- or about 4001 BC (a date arrived at by summing up the ages of the
- Biblical patriarchs).
-
- To contrast, typical mainstream Christians believe that the spiritual
- aspects of the Bible, especially the teachings of Jesus, should be
- taken literally, and that other aspects of the Bible may be treated
- the same way as any other ancient book of source material. For
- example, many mainstream Christians believe that the entire earth was
- not actually covered with water at the height of the Great Flood.
- Other mainstream Christians interpret the Bible even less literally,
- taking its moral truths literally but accepting much of the rest of it
- as symbolic or allegorical ways of expressing those moral truths.
-
- As you can imagine, fundamentalist and mainstream Christians often
- disagree and argue. Extreme proponents on either side of these
- arguments sometimes say that their opponents are not truly Christians.
- Moderates on either side try to avoid such statements.
-
- Brother Jed falls in the "fundamentalist" category, somewhere near the
- line between extreme and moderate. -- S.E. and E.G.
-
- 11. I practice a particular religion faithfully. Will I be offended if I
- read this group?
-
- Yes. But that shouldn't keep you away. And you need not fear offending
- others. -- N.E., E.G., and V.C.
-
- And bear in mind that nobody who posts here speaks authoritatively for
- their entire religion. In particular, neither Brother Jed nor Lawyer
- Jim represents all Christians, or all Protestants, or even all
- fundamentalists. So don't use them as examples of "All Christians are
- assholes". -- S.E.
-
- 12. Would you like to learn how to MAKE MONEY FAST???
-
- No. If you try to tell us how, we'll send e-mail to your postmaster
- and have your account cancelled. -- E.G.
-
- 13. Can I post about any religion on this group?
-
- As long as the gist of the post has even an indirect relevance to
- Jed's ministry the sky's the limit. -- N.E.
-
- Or any other kind of ministry, for that matter. I'd say the majority
- of posts relate in some way to Christianity-- either expressing
- Christian beliefs, debunking Christian beliefs, or offering
- alternatives to traditional Christian beliefs. But we've touched quite
- a bit on Islam, Judaism, Taoism, modern and historical Paganism,
- various Eastern religions, and of course a healthy dose of atheism as
- well. -- E.G.
-
- To the extent you can call atheism healthy, of course. -- S.E.
-
- 14. I heard that this was a group for making fun of fundamentalist
- Christians. What the hell happened?
-
- Sorry to disappoint you. You can still make fun of fundamentalist
- Christians-- it's just that we talk about other stuff too. What
- happened was that people started responding seriously to sarcasm. This
- phenomenon snowballed, until most people who post to alt.brother-jed
- actually take their posts seriously (even when they use humor).
-
- Newsgroups are what we make them. Whenever anyone feels that the
- group's sarcasm level has fallen too low they're cordially welcome to
- correct the deficiency. -- E.G., S.E., N.E
-
- 15. I've noticed that some of the people posting to this group seem to
- believe in a Being who created the universe. Oh yeah? Can you prove
- it?
-
- No. Religion consists of a set of personal beliefs which cannot be
- proven. Many of us who have this belief try to support it, but we
- can't prove it. -- S.E.
-
- 16. I've noticed that some of the people posting to this group seem to
- believe that there is no Being who created the universe. Oh yeah? Can
- you prove it?
-
- See previous answer. -- S.E.
-
- 17. I've noticed some people on this newsgroup accusing other people of
- being Pagans. I've even noticed some who claim to be Pagans. What the
- heck is Paganism?
-
- Paganism is, in general, the belief in the Supreme Being embodied in
- the God and Goddess. We believe in the sanctity of nature, that the
- God and Goddess are everywhere embodied in Mother Earth and Father
- Sky. We have no sacred texts, no revealed guidance from the Gods-- the
- Pagan path is a gnostic one, you must seek the truth for yourself. We
- believe in the Wiccan Rede, "And if it hurt none, do what thou wilt."
- This means that whatever action you do, so long as you are hurting no
- one, no living animal, the environment, or even yourself, it is an
- acceptable action. This also means you have to take serious
- responsibility for the consequences of your actions-- harsh words, for
- example, hurt others, as well as actions that don't take into account
- the welfare and well-being of others.
-
- The general Pagan idea of the afterlife is reincarnation. We believe
- in a Heaven-like place called the Summerland, where it is always warm
- and beautiful, although we consider it more of a "pit stop" until we
- go on to our next incarnation as opposed to a permanent home for our
- souls. We don't believe in Hell per se; we believe that if you led an
- evil life you will be reincarnated in much more difficult
- circumstances, to receive the lessons you obviously didn't learn in
- your previous life and to pay back the negative karma.
-
- There are many diverse sects and branches of Paganism, all with
- different beliefs. Some honor just the Goddess; others just the God;
- others give equal attention to both. Some are vegetarian, some are
- not; some believe in reincarnation, some do not; some consider the
- various gods and goddesses of each pantheon (Celtic, Greco-Roman,
- Norse, Latin American, and Egyptian among others) to be all separate
- beings, and some who believe in the "Unified Deity Theory" that all
- gods and goddesses are merely separate manifestations of the One
- Creative Supreme Being. It's as difficult to pigeonhole Pagans as it
- is to do the same to Christians. -- F.
-
- 18. Are you all a bunch of wankers or what?
-
- Questions like this are best addressed to the alleged wanker via
- private e-mail. -- E.G.
-
- 19. Why are there two FAQs for this group?
-
- This is the second FAQ to be created for alt.brother-jed. The other
- one was created by Wayne Head (a.k.a. Pope Bongophelius Zed I), back
- when AB-J was a forum for making fun of fundamentalists. You may want
- to check http://www.eilertech.com/faqs/oldjed.txt to see the kind of
- spirit that first made AB-J famous. That document reproduces the group
- FAQ, as posted in February 1996.
-
- In July 1996, one of the regular posters jokingly suggested renaming
- the group to reflect its new emphasis. While most responses were in
- favor of retaining the group's name, some of the rest of us decided to
- write a new FAQ list which was more representative of the opinions
- generally expressed therein.
-
- In other words, you can think of the original FAQ as a "Heckler's
- Guide" and this one as a "Discussion Guide." -- E.G. and S.E.
-
- 20. If the group were stranded on Gilligan's Island, what would the theme
- song be?
-
-
-
- "Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale
- A tale from Brother Jed,
- Some religious types and some alien dorks
- The latters' brains were dead.
- The mate was an anal preacher dude
- The skipper anal too
- The rest were a dirty heathen lot
- A rotten hellbound crew!
- The language started getting rough
- The small N.G. was tossed
- They argued all religious points
- Like the man who'd once been Crossed.
- The group's adrift in the midst of this uncharted cyberspace,
- With Brother Jed
- And Lawyer Jim
- The alien dork
- Disco Queen
- The psycho witch
- The Juggler and Erin too
- Here on Brother Jed's grooooooup! ;)"
-
-
- -- F.
-
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Links:
-
- * There's a Brother Jed web forum, at
- http://pub4.ezboard.com/ffreedomofspeechthecampusministryforum.
- They're actually much more focused on Jed than we are.
-
- ------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- Primary authors of this FAQ are:
-
- * E.G. Erin Glaser Arlinghaus, Roman Catholic Christian. Original editor
- of this FAQ.
- * N.E. Nathan Engle, computer support staff for Indiana University
- Bloomington Psych department. Electron Juggler, Mad Scientist, Taoist.
- * V.C. Vince Conaway, Vince Conaway, a born-again pagan (eclectic) and a
- Celtic musician trying to lose his day job.
- * S.E. Scott Eiler. Renegade Hoosier resident in Massachusetts and/or
- anywhere for a buck, computer programmer, Protestant Christian, and
- freelance Bible scholar. Maintainer of this FAQ.
- * F. Frenchy, Eclectic Pagan (and a girl, goshdurnit!), Internet
- reporter, belly dancer from Hel, feminist extraordinaire but
- egalitaire, annoyer of fundies, advocate of science and skepticism,
- snickerer of $cientologists, Netnerd and general all-around Monty
- Python addict.
-
- Copyright ⌐ 2002, by the primary authors mentioned above.
-
- -------- Scott Eiler B{D> -------- http://www.eilertech.com/ --------
-
- "No, no, MONSTERS on the prowl, CREATURES on the loose. Creatures
- just rampage around and get drunk and rowdy when they don't have
- anything better to do. Monsters cruise for chicks."
-
- -- Kurt Busiek, comic book professional, responding to a fan inquiry
- about "Creatures On The Prowl".
-