Are Jehovah's Witnesses fundamentalists?

by Celestial 26 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  jwfacts

  We do not believe that every passage in the Bible is to be interpreted literally. We do not pressure political leaders to promote a certain point of view, nor do we resort to demonstrations and violence against those who disagree with us. The Bible teaches Christians to be kind, good, mild, and reasonable—qualities that do not allow for the kind of fanaticism that is sometimes associated with fundamentalism.

  What a load of bollocks, and a misrepresentation of the term fundamentalism.

  Firstly, no religion takes every passage literally, otherwise they'd say there was a whore riding a seven headed beast in the street. JWs take about as much of the Bible literally as any other fundamentalist religion. Secondly, they do pressure political leaders, doing so through numerous supreme court cases. And whilst some fundamentalist religions are violent fanaticists, that is not the normal definition. By most standard definitions Jehovah's Witnesses are fundamentalists.
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  Black Sheep

  The WT and JWs forever misrepresent themselves to the public by cherry picking definitions or creating new ones.

  Their handling of 'cult' is very similar.

  So is 'judging hearts'. The HH at the door hears the term and thinks he know what the nice smiling JW means, not knowing that the 'judging hearts' the JW is taught at the Sunday meeting is that Jehovah is going to kill him if he doesn't join their church and preach their messages and abide by their rules, whether he agrees with them, or not, etc..

  If you are going to bring up fundyism/cults with a JW, get them to provide the definition before they know where you are going with it.
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  smiddy

  Damn right they are !!

  JW`s like to change definitions of words ( though nobody else agrees with those definitions ) to put themselves in a more favourable light,I think its all about smoke and mirrors.

  "Generation,fundamentallist,day",I`m sure their are many more you can come up with

  smiddy
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  WTWizard

  They hold to their beliefs, and are very strict to these (at least until they change them because a few men decide the LIE-ble is to be interpreted slightly differently). They quickly bash groups like born-again Christians for being stubborn, yet they are just as stubborn themselves.
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  FlyingHighNow

  Do you believe the Genesis account is literal? If yes, then you are. If no, then you're not.

  I don't agree with this at all.
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  Knowsnothing

  As with a lot of things, I would say there is probably a "fundamentalist spectrum", where extreme Muslims fall on the extreme side of fundamentalism, whereas JWs would be a bit higher than middle.

  I mean, compare JWs to Amish or West Boro Baptist church to get an idea of what I'm talking about.
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  fugue

  While we have strong religious convictions, we are not fundamentalists in the sense that the term has come to be used.

  Notice how, in typical watchtower-speak, they do not tell us what definition of "fundamentalism" they object to. They give us the vague line "...we are not fundamentalists in the sense that the term has come to be used." What definition? Because here is a definition of fundamentalist that fits them to a tee: from the Collins English Dictionary: " the belief that every word of the Bible is divinely inspired and therefore true."

  We do not believe that every passage in the Bible is to be interpreted literally.

  Do all fundamentalist religions believe that every passage should be interpreted literally? I think that even the strictest fundamentalist recognizes that some verses are clearly allegorical or poetic, and thus not to be taken literally. Watchtower is creating an incorrect definition of "fundamentalist" and then saying "by THIS definition, we are not fundamentalist."

  We do not pressure political leaders to promote a certain point of view, nor do we resort to demonstrations and violence against those who disagree with us.

  Implication: all fundamentalists pressure political leaders. They all demonstrate. They all resort to violence against those who disagree. Therefore, since we do not do these things, we are not fundamentalists.

  The Bible teaches Christians to be kind, good, mild, and reasonable—qualities that do not allow for the kind of fanaticism that is sometimes associated with fundamentalism.—James 3:17.

  Fanatacism is "sometimes" associated with fundamentalism. And the watchtower isn't fanatical at all, right? They just print things in their magazines like "apostates are mentally diseased" (7/15/11 wt) and "women should stay with their abusive husbands for 17 years in hopes that the husband will become a jw (2/15/12 wt) and Jehu was encouraging "the slaughter of apostates" (11/15/11 wt). With the watchtower's blessing, active jehovah's witnesses will completely cut off association with a family member who stops believing. That's not religious fanatacism? Oh ok.