by Terry 7 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
WT 7/1/73 p. 402 "How very much true Christians appreciate associating
with the only organization on earth that understands the deep things of
God!"
I'm scratching my head wondering, "what are these 'deep things' of God" that
ONLY the organization of Jehovah's Witnesses knows?
I know the silly stuff. I know the absurd stuff. I know the crackpot stuff. I know the ludicrous and dangerous stuff. But, what does the Governing Body itself regard as these DEEP THINGS OF GOD?
Maybe its the things they did not want me to record at the District Convention. When I showed up with my recording equipment the "brothers" there all discouraged me over and over saying that no one would really benefit from hearing the talks... one must first go through a "personal bible study" before one would be ready to hear the "deep things of god" at the District Convention.
After the assembly one of the elders came to me, looking all sheepish, knowing that I had recorded the talks anyway... I could tell he listened to the talks as an "outsider" would have. He looked VERY uncomfortable and embarrassed.. deep down he knew they are a cult with some crazy ideas.
being a publishing company in esscence (and the 70/80's being their hayday), they will have had lots of heads thinking up slogans and attention grabbing punchlines... deep things of god... to us it sounds absurd, but to a jw recruit who is just being brought in, the thought of the society understanding the 'deep things' sort of puts that unsuspecting victim under society control, in that you can do nothing but look to them for guidence, because the society will always understand things that an individual cannot, because they are...
divinely inspired
control control control
I found one quote about it:
***g78 7/8 p. 28 ?Eye Has Not Seen nor Ear Heard??What? ***
These Christians were unique possessors of the most important knowledge on earth.
Yet, after the first century, God did not stop revealing an understanding of his grand purpose. Consider some of the "deep things of God" that true Christians clearly see in these "last days." The knowledge that God?s kingdom with Christ on the throne was established in 1914 and that Satan and his demons were cast out of heaven and are now bringing heavy woes to the earth is clearly understood by Jesus? followers today. Despite the agonizing conditions of this world, they today have a clear vision of God?s new order of righteousness as being near at hand.
So the minister who quoted those words, ?eye has not seen nor ear heard,? should properly have pointed out that the apostle Paul was not here referring to the glorious things of the New Order that their eyes and ears might someday perceive. Rather, the apostle was calling attention to the treasures of spiritual wisdom relating to the ?sacred secret of the seed? that were beyond the comprehension of the eyes and ears of unenlightened worldlings
S
My own personal theory for some time has been this. The writers read non-JW books and hunt for ideas they can support with those same books. I have no doubt Fred Franz read Luther's Works and came up with his Babylon Great Has FAllen-God's Kingdom Rules book.
Secular books, science articles, commentaries, old religious writings and especially letters from outside shape the DEEP THINGS OF GOD.
Has any member of the writing staff/governing body ever walked us through it?
First a cloud enters the office and settles on my head.
Next my hand grabs a bic pen and begins scribbling.
Then I hear a voice in my head saying "You forgot the "t" you shmuck! The word is IMMORTAL and not IMMORAL".
etc.
Has it always been dodgy non-descriptions and metaphorical allusions?
WT 7/1/73 p. 402 "How very much true Christians appreciate associating with the only organization on earth that understands the deep things of God!"
Hmmmm. That phrase sure sounds familiar! Where have I heard it? Oh, where, oh where?
??However, I say to the rest of YOU who are in Thy·a·ti´ra, all those who do not have this teaching, the very ones who did not get to know the ?deep things of Satan,? as they say: I am not putting upon YOU any other burden. Just the same, hold fast what YOU have until I come." (Revelation 2:24-25; NWT)
They don't actually mean that they know the "deep things of Satan," do they? After all, Satan does "transform himself into an angel of light," so how are they sure it's really the "deep things of God" they know (2 Corinthians 11:13-14)? Didn't "Jesus" in Revelation say that Christians are not to accept "any other burden" than they already have and to "hold fast" to what they already have until Jesus comes? If they are claiming that they have access to secret knowledge (akin to the gnostics that the very author of Revelation was criticizing) that wasn't known before they came along, exactly how would they be in harmony with the words of Revelation 2:24-25?
I guess they would probably rather refer to 1 Corinthians 2 (NWT):
6 Now we speak wisdom among those who are mature, but not the wisdom of this system of things nor that of the rulers of this system of things, who are to come to nothing. 7 But we speak God?s wisdom in a sacred secret, the hidden wisdom, which God foreordained before the systems of things for our glory. 8 This [wisdom] not one of the rulers of this system of things came to know, for if they had known [it] they would not have impaled the glorious Lord. 9 But just as it is written: "Eye has not seen and ear has not heard, neither have there been conceived in the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him." 10 For it is to us God has revealed them through his spirit, for the spirit searches into all things, even the deep things of God.Now (off topic) it is interesting that this Pauline expression with its Gnostic overtones is taken in negative parody by Revelation 2:24 which reflects much Judeo-Christian influence. At least on the issue of "food sacrificed to idols" (v. 20) Revelation clearly condemns Pauline tolerance.
Of course the WT interpretation of this phrase is equally far from both sides of the original conflict. What most JWs call "deep" is actually the farfetched pesher-style interpretation of the Bible à la Russell, Rutherford or Franz.
I remember discussing some NT interpretation with a JW who taught classical Greek in high school, a few weeks before I was df'd. I really wondered how she could believe such crap. The only answer I got was, "without the faithful and discreet slave we could never understand that from the text". Plain stupid, but it works.
Paul has a lot to answer for.
If you line up Jesus teachings (such as we have available) and compare them to what Paul is pulling out of his cloaca, you have a pretty good idea of what hijacking is all about.
The WT society follows Paul much more closely than Jesus.
