by garyneal 51 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Thanks Chris,
Putting it that simply,their primary doctrine is " selection by Jesus in 1919" , is this doctrine true or false ?
seperates the honest from the dis-honest.
The shame is I have asked this question of a number of Elders, ex-Elders and long serving Witnesses, NOT ONE has come back to me with proof for this core doctrine !!!!
Why ?
Love
Wobble
I'm going to another "Bible Study" this Saturday where they plan to question me about my beliefs and present a list of theirs to see if I agree. I pray that the Holy Spirit will be with me then.
Wow. Sounds like a test. Be careful ... because, your wife may be counselled about you and your 'beliefs/faith'. I sure hope your marriage is rock solid. If she was asked to choose between you and her 'faith', would she choose you?
And to think that this Saturday, I'll be heading to my MS father's place to cut his grass, clean his bathroom, etc, take him meals for the week, and continue to clean up his basement because he can't/doesn't do any of this anymore. I am thankful I don't have to prove anything by taking a test when doing all this.
Thanks Chris,
I did not think about their primary doctrine in that they were selected by Jesus Christ in 1919. I've already asked my wife this question concerning 1914 and that if Jesus said that it is not for anyone to know the day or the hour, how do they know Jesus began ruling invisibly in 1914? What is their basis for that belief? What if it is wrong (607 B.C.E.?)?
Group,
I know one of their beliefs is that only the 144,000 are going to heaven. I totally disagree with this teaching. I just don't see where the Bible says that this is the case. But even if they can show to me in the Bible where they think this is the case, has anyone ever considered the fallacies of this teaching? That for 1900 years there were less then 100,000 annointed ones? That the number of annointed ones today are increasing. How can anyone determine whether or not someone who is claiming the heavenly hope really has it? How is this different than someone speaking in an unknown tongue, then have it interpreted, and yet be sure that the interpretation is correct? The tongue speaker and his interpreter makes the same claim as the FDS in that they are inspired by the Spirit. Very fishy. The way I understand it, there are no 'prophets' alive on Earth today because we have the written word.
What are your thoughts on this?
Heaven,
This may indeed be a test. I knew that once I accepted Jesus and rejected the Watchtower Society that it may cost me my marraige. I pray that it doesn't, I love and care for my wife and daughter too much but in spite of their claims that someone becoming a JW actually improves marraige, I've read too many accounts of the opposite occuring.
WTS addressed newbie studies that asked any serious questions about the number of anointed in the first century.
Sure, the Bible shows incredible growth initially. But WTS says the apostasy set in after the last of the apostles died.
So we were supposed to believe that all that growth in the Bible was the end of growth "in the truth." Virtually all growth in the second century and beyond was supposed to be into an apostacized Christianity, one full of falsehoods. So sincere belief among all those millions of people wasn't enough to get them into the anointed.
Today's anointed, they are still working on it. They will either stop telling us the numbers, or they will belittle the genuineness of those saying they are anointed, or they will drive the numbers down somehow. Perhaps a combination of those things.
Currently, they are just saying that "anointed" is nothing special. You have to obey the representative of the anointed, the men in Brooklyn.
Garyneal, you have a great grasp of the whole situation.
in spite of their claims that someone becoming a JW actually improves marraige, I've read too many accounts of the opposite occuring.
This is true. My parents marriage was one example. Oh, they stayed married as in they had a legal piece of paper that said they were and they lived in the same house (except for a 2 year period). But that's all the marriage was... I would describe it as 'empty'.
I am glad you love each other and hope that this is strong enough to withstand the JW cult. As I said, please be careful. I sure hope this organization doesn't ruin your marriage.
Don't do it .... RUN!!!!!
To be a Christian, one does not have to belong to any particular denomination.
What denomination was Jesus? He didn't have one, and neither did his disciples, contrary to popular belief. Christianity is a way of life, notedly by doing good things toward your fellow man/woman, from your heart ... and accepting Christ as your salvation to the glory of God.
It isn't a brand. [No middle-men need apply.]
in spite of their claims that someone becoming a JW actually improves marraige, I've read too many accounts of the opposite occuring.
That was very true in our case, too. The WT "improves" a marriage only when both parties make the organization their false god. The couple's first priority is the society, not each other. The couple act not as adult partners, but rather as children under control of a domineering organization. If one partner stubbornly persists in "unbelieving", their mate is to withdraw from them, to "truly hate them", if they are to be true to WT teachings.
What the WT does doesn't improve a marriage. It makes captives of both marital partners if at all possible. If not, they will settle for the half they can get, and the other half becomes "bird seed" to be thrown out on the ground.
Call me bird seed. As the unbelieving party in our marriage, I knew early on that I shouldn't ask her to choose between me and the organization: her first loyalty was to them, not to me. Though I never asked her to make that choice, she finally did. In a way, that's a relief: three is definitely a crowd when the WT is part of the picture.
I am so glad you addressed these points!! I have wondered about these things myself, about the questioning and the nonsense of being baptised into an organization. You wrote so well about these things! I think that they are manipulative tactics, and I hope you and your wife think twice about continuing your study with this couple! I'm sure they mean well. For one thing they were hooked into the JW religion themselves at one time and were so conditioned that they stopped thinking for themselves and let the WTBTS do their thinking for them. This happens to so many people in the Witness religion, and it's so sad! It makes me angry that people are taken into the JW religion like that. Now, after all the years that I have been out of that 'religion', I think some things about it are just plain silly! Again, I hope you and your think twice, very, very carefully about continuing a study with the Witnesses. Be cautious. It sounds as if you and your wife already are careful people about it. Good!!!
Gary neal: I know one of their beliefs is that only the 144,000 are going to heaven. I totally disagree with this teaching. I just don't see where the Bible says that this is the case. But even if they can show to me in the Bible where they think this is the case, has anyone ever considered the fallacies of this teaching?
I wrote a detailed paper debunking this myth that only 144,000 go to heaven. This is by far one of their weakest arguments. You can find it here:
http://144000.110mb.com/144000/index.html
JD II
Well done on fully researching the JW's. I wish I had done the same thing, unfortunately, I was forced into getting baptised when I was very young. It was either sticking with the programme or becoming homeless.
After all these years, I have come to realise that there is no god. There simply can't be. If we are to believe in the god of the bible, then I'd rather die at Armagenocide rather than have to serve a bloodthirsty god named Jehovah.
As you are the type of guy that likes his research, please look into the evidence that there simply cannot be a god. Start off by reading The God Delusion, or, read this book;
http://rapidshare.com/files/269798548/The_Atheist_s_Book_of_Bible_Stories.pdf
I implore all god believers to download this PDF and read it.
Kind regards
RAB
