How did the term "The Truth" come about?

by FeelingFree 15 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

  • FeelingFree
    FeelingFree

    I just wondering how this vile term came to be used in constant referral to the org, I really, really hate it! It's only since coming out that I have realised how much the Jdubs use it. Everything is the truth this and the truth that. When talking to my JW friend earlier this week I accidentally called it that as she was having a preaching session at me and I had to correct myself. I felt dirty afterwards!

    Has it always been used for as long as you can remember? It's so culty (if thats a word?!)

  • OneEyedJoe
    OneEyedJoe

    I suspect it's probably an evolution of some scripture ("you will know the truth and the truth will set you free" or "worship in spirit and truth") and has been in use for well over the 30 years I've been in the cult. I suspect it started sometime in the rutherford era, since that seems to be when most of the super-culty stuff started coming into play, but it could be older than that.

    It's definitely not unique to JWs, though. Many cults as well as some of the less insidious religions refer to their body of doctrine as "truth" in a de facto sense. In all cases, it's not only arrogant, but false.

  • jgnat
    jgnat

    Can't help myself...

    https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=truth&year_start=1600&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=t1%3B%2Ctruth%3B%2Cc0

    And Mark Twain...

    We are always hearing of people who are around seeking after the Truth. I have never seen a (permanent) specimen. I think he has never lived. But I have seen several entirely sincere people who thought they were (permanent) Seekers after the Truth. They sought diligently, persistently, carefully, cautiously, profoundly, with perfect honesty and nicely adjusted judgment- until they believed that without doubt or question they had found the Truth. That was the end of the search. The man spent the rest of his hunting up shingles wherewith to protect his Truth from the weather.
    - "What is Man?"

    A contemporary of Russell's by the way. A sharp and observant critic of piety.

  • jgnat
    jgnat
  • jgnat
    jgnat
  • talesin
    talesin

    I believe it does come from that scripture they love to quote "You Shall Know the Truth, and the Truth Shall Set You Free" ...... There is also a book. I think it was called "The Truth that Leads to Eternal Life".

    That's what I was taught, being a 3rd gen on one side, 4th on the other.

    Okay, now I must go vomit. ;)

    tal

  • Island Man
    Island Man

    It comes from 2 John and 3 John:

    "I rejoice very much because I have found certain ones of your children walking in the truth, just as we received commandment from the Father." - 2 John 4

    "For I rejoiced very much when brothers came and bore witness to the truth you hold, just as you go on walking in the truth. 4 No greater cause for thankfulness do I have than these things, that I should be hearing that my children go on walking in the truth." - 3 John 3,4

    But I believe that the expression "the truth" as used in second and third John are actually titles referring to christ, and is inspired by Jesus' words at John 14:6 where he said:

    "I am the way and the truth and the life".

    So the expression "the truth" is actually a reference to christ. Thus 2 John 4 and 3 John 3,4 can be mentally read as follows:

    "I rejoice very much because I have found certain ones of your children walking in the christ, just as we received commandment from the Father." - 2 John 4

    "For I rejoiced very much when brothers came and bore witness to the christ you hold, just as you go on walking in the christ. 4 No greater cause for thankfulness do I have than these things, that I should be hearing that my children go on walking in the christ." - 3 John 3,4

    This idea of christians being "in christ" is expressed elsewhere in John's epistles and at John 15:4-7 where the NWT renders Jesus' statement to remain "in me" as "in [union with] me".

    So "the truth" is really a metaphoric synonym for the christ. In turn, being a christian is sometimes referred to in the scriptures as being "in christ". Thus, with time, it came to be known as being "in the truth". Interestingly, Jesus also calls himself "the way" at John 14:6, and guess what - the book of Acts refers to early christianity as "the way". So early christians adopted Jesus' descriptions of himself at John 14:6 as alternative ways of saying that they're "in christ". First they used "the way", then they used "the truth". I suppose next they'll be using "the life".

    JWs and other groups are essentially copying what the writer of 2 John and 3 John did by using the expression to refer to their religion. So I think there is genuine scriptural basis for christians referring to christianity as "the truth". But given that the expression seems to have originated from Jesus' own designation of himself it seems rather, should I say sacrilegous?, that the JWs apply that term to their religion when they try hard to minimize the role of Jesus in their everyday life and worship.

  • Juan Viejo2
    Juan Viejo2

    When I was just a little kid in the early 1950s, the term/code name ["The Truth"] for Jehovah's Witnesses was just beginning to be used interchangeably with the generic term "God's Organization" and "God's People."

    After Nathan Knorr took over as President of the Watchtower Society and Fred Franz became Vice-President a few years later there were two basic threads that provided the framework for the modern version of Jehovah's Witnesses. The original version of "The Truth Shall Make You Free" (1943) was followed by the primary study boook "Let God Be True" (1946 - Green) which was just a few years later followed by a revision the original version of "The Truth Shall Make You Free" and a revised version of "Let God Be True" (1952 - Maroon).

    It was during the 1950 and 1953 International Conventions in New York that the term "The Truth" first became synonymous with "The Organization" (i.e. The Watchtower). While rank and file JWs were slow to grab on to that nickname for the organization at first, still referring to the Society as "God's Organization" or themselves as simply Jehovah's Witnesses, the substitution of the term "the truth" became locked in as the descriptive name for the Watchtower ("The Truth") in 1968. It was during the International Convention that year that the study book "The Truth that leads to Eternal Life" was released.

    The last three paragraphs of that book (pages 189,190) lock in the phrase "the way of the truth" as a substitute for "the way" (a term used by early Christians as a descriptive way to describe themselves and Christianity) as an approved and more or less formal way to describe the Watchtower.

    I remember my parents first using the descriptive term "The Truth" in the early 1970s when they would plead with me to "come back to the Truth" or when they refused to consider any objections to the 1975 prophecy ("Johnny, we could never leave the Truth," " We could never take a stand against the Truth.")

    I think it is quite interesting that Jehovah's Witnesses have switched from being "Christians" (noun) to members of the "Christian (adjective) Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses" and have all but abandoned the use of "Bible Students" to describe themselves except when they are in uncomfortable situations when the use of "Jehovah's Witnesses" might prove embarrassing or dangerous.

    It must be uncomfortable to call their organization "The Truth" when it is forever changing what it believes and reversing positions on even some of their most basic teachings. Must be why "Let God Be True" is no longer their primary introductory study text.

    JV

    http://ex-jw.com/truth-shall-set-you-free

  • FeelingFree
    FeelingFree

    Hmmm all very interesting, thank you for all the comments. It makes sense that it would relate to those scriptures. Being a born in myself I find I actually lack a lot of knowledge on most things JW related. I just coasted along and never really researched or looked into much which I now find highly embarrasing and am quite ashamed by, but think it must explain how I managed to stay in so long.....

    Juan Viejo2 I was very interested to read your comment and it's a good point you made about them being members of the "Christian Congregation of JWs" and not actually declaring themselves to be an actual individual Christian.

    OneEyedJoe It is just such an arrogant thing to say. I hadn't realised or thought about it being used by other cults but it makes sense.

    As I have never had the pleasure (hah) of conducting a study I wonder if it gets refered to as the truth when your bringing a person in? If it was me studying I think I would find that most offputting, arrogant and offensive.

  • talesin
    talesin

    JV2 - excellent, I couldn't remember the name of the book, but I can see the green w/ gold lettering .......... ha.

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