I think people just...
want you to hit the enter key...
every once in a while to...
break up the text so it doesn't...
all look like one compact block...
which can tend to make it a little harder to read.
Do JWs still call themselves "Bible students?"
by kristyann 19 Replies latest jw friends
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IP_SEC
Life in a peaceful new world.
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kristyann
M.J. I got it... and I did... I see 3 different paragraphs... but apparently no one else does.
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kristyann
Thanks, IP
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M.J.
ughh. So shameless:
Life in a Peaceful New World
When you look at the scene on this tract, what feelings do you have? Does not your heart yearn for the peace, happiness, and prosperity seen there? Surely it does. But is it just a dream, or fantasy, to believe these conditions will ever exist on earth?
Most people probably think so. Today's realities are war, crime, hunger, sickness, aging—to mention just a few
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Honesty
"Bible Students" is just a guise JW's use to conceal the fact that they are really "Watchtower Students" who don't have the ability to think for themselves.
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Kenneson
The book "Jehovah's Witnesses--Proclaimers of God's Kingdom," page 156 in speaking of a resolution adopted in 1931 in Columbus, Ohio states: "...that we are students of the Bible, but, as a body of Christians forming an association, we decline to assume or be called by the name 'Bible Students' or other similar names as a means of identification of our proper position before the Lord; we refuse to bear or to be called by the name of any man..." Of course, this is when they adopted the name Jehovah's Witnesses, as the rest of the resolution attests.
The real reason, I feel, is that there were still groups at this time calling themselves "Bible Students," but who were no longer in association with the Watchtower Society. So, Rutherford was trying to distance the Watchtower Society from these groups and to distinguish themselves. Thus, the new name.
Interestingly, there are still groups today who call themselves "Bible Students." They are the original followers of Russell.
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Elsewhere
Do JWs still call themselves "Bible students?"
Keep in mind, JWs think they are the only Christians in the world.
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AK - Jeff
The official line is that witnesses do not use the term Bible Students, that is as a title. But they often use it as a mild form of introduction, less dramatic than Jehovah's witnesses to some. I have heard it used often in phone witnessing. If they identify themselves as JW they would get more hang ups.
A quick scan of the KM articles using that term sees it applied mostly to those whom are being studied with. That term has replaced "Bible Study" in referring to the individual incvolved in learning the witness doctrine as a student.
Jeff