PART 4 - Who Really Introduced The Sword Of War?
Peace is supposed to be a central feature of Watchtower theology ? a peaceful paradise earth ? living in peace with your fellow humans ? avoiding taking up the ?sword? is a hallmark of the JWs being known as ?conscientious objectors? ? ?God is not a God of disorder, but of peace,? so say a verse from the New World Translation. And this ?peace? is among the first things that attracted me to listen to Jehovah?s Witnesses. Is ?peace? a true feature of their god whom they label as Jehovah?
A step back in time to 1968 reveals why ?peace? is so important to many in my generation. My family were not a peaceable lot, always fighting and arguing ? the Catholic Church was in total turmoil and disarray over doctrinal changes while lay members went about doing their own thing ? the civil rights movement was going strong, at lease until the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King ? then, the movement taken over by more radical factions such as the Black Panthers, etc. ? Bobby Kennedy was assassinated, ending an era of hope for many ? colleges were in riots all over the country, resulting in events like the massacre at Kent State ? and the Democratic Convention in Chicago went haywire because of protest over the Viet Nam war ? a war that nearly ripped the United Stated apart ? and tensions with the Soviet Union made most everyone fear nuclear war ? the economy was in a shambles ? it was an ugly time, not peaceful ? the message of a god of peace made sense ? it gave some hope ? Jehovah?s Witnesses seem to emerge out of nowhere to stand as a place where one might find some peace.
Are Jehovah?s Witnesses really a religion of Peace? To answer this, one only has to look at what they really promote ? true, JWs stay out of the military, but looking back at 27 years with them, I see this more as a publicity stunt than as a real conviction that peace must prevail at all costs ? their doctrine certainly allows for war, as any JW worth his/her salt will defend their god engaging in war to help Israel oust and route its enemies from their homelands ? they certainly phrase their activity today as ?spiritual warfare? ? they sing songs about being SOLDIERS of JAH ? they look forward to Armageddon where their god will massacre billions of humans in a violent and bloody way ? leaving dead bodies for the birds to feast upon ? and JWs do this while dreaming about taking the homes of these executed victims. Clearly, anyone concerned with Peace might find it wise to question association with such a group ?
Is not their god, Jehovah, acting out of justice in carrying out all this bloodshed? He may be just in executing wicked people ? he may be just in bringing accountability, and rescuing the weak and vulnerable ? Justice is not the issue, however, because their god should be able to bring effective Justice by peaceful means ? he could simply bring a trial to prove the wicked deserve execution, and then just let them evaporate in a painless way ? he could have done likewise with Israel by giving them a lush land that no one was already using, and then simply put up a force-field barrier to prevent intruders from harming his people ? this would have sent a far greater and more effective message from a god of Peace.
Who, though, first thought of bloodshed and war? Let?s go all the way back to the Garden of Eden. After the BIG SIN constituted eating a piece of forbidden fruit, it goes on to say in Genesis 3:22-24:
?And the LORD (Jehovah) God said, ?Behold, the man is become one of us, to know good and evil: and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever:? Therefore, the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the Garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.?
The reason for selecting this account in Genesis is because of what the Governing Body member stated, as I posted in Governing Buzzards ? Part 2 ? Do they all believe the JW religion? In that account, the Governing Body member said,
"The Society has 'IT' all wrong, and everything we teach needs to be junked into the trash." The GB member went on to say, "The Society needs to start all over from the beginning, at Genesis 1:1 and completely reinvent the religion." http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/65456/1.ashxA better suggestion would be for him to cut short his trip back to Genesis 1:1 and simply start with the Flaming Sword ? and ask himself this: Who first introduced the Sword, an instrument of VIOLENT killing, an instrument of WAR? How could Adam and Eve even comprehend the significance of this symbol of war so as to know they should stay out of the Garden of Eden? Evidence shows that humans first went through a period of rock throwing and using clubs in war before the development of metals to be used as swords. So, they would not have any idea of the meaning of this instrument of war ? Assuming that Adam and Eve got the clue, and realized that this flaming sword could harm them ? certainly, humans being creatures of imitation and high intelligence, could then devise such an instrument for use in war.
So, who first introduced war, or at least the concept to ignorant humans? Who introduced an advanced weapon that humans would not make for centuries to come? Who set the stage for the human race to get the idea of how to kill one another? The same person, the same god, who also had the anal retentive rule forbidding humans from eating a certain fruit lest, they receive the death penalty! What kind of logic is this? What kind of standard is this god setting?
This is where the Governing Body of Jehovah?s Witnesses in all their wisdom and glory should start ? so as to first find out how their god could possibly be so weird, so inane and ludicrous as to set humans up to pass along sin and imperfection, hence terrible suffering and death, when all he had to do was ?shield? the offspring of Eve in the womb as he did for Jesus in Mary?s womb, so that a perfect human could be born of an imperfect human ? and then deal with Adam and Eve individually, instead of condemning the entire human race to suffer and die!
If these men who lead over six million Jehovah?s Witnesses cannot deal with the most fundamental and rudimentary aspects of their faith, then they need to do more than reinvent their religion ? they need to liquidate it, give much of their assets to JW victims of pedophiles ? and the rest to the poor ? and go live like real humans, get a job, and pay their bills like the rest of us do. Afterall, they openly claim to be uninspired, and I agree, uninspiring they are ... they put on their pants one leg at a time like the rest of us ... they have nothing with which to boast.
Stay tuned for:
Part 5 ? Do Governing Body members love GLORY?
Part 6 ? Exposing the broken foundation of Russell-ism
And, more parts are on the way ...