Theocratic warfare [AKA Lying for the Truth]

by TTWSYF 19 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  TTWSYF

  My elder brother made the mistake of telling me about the WTS policy of Theocratic Warfare. He first called it 'Lying for the Truth' then he tried to tone it down to Theocratic Warfare. He justifies this position by citing the scriptures that say do not throw pearls to the swine for they will trample them under foot and tear you to pieces.

  My question is

  Is it considered ok to lie to rank and file JWs too?

  Just asking because it seems that they will lie to their own as well as potential converts.
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  sir82

  Is it considered ok to lie to rank and file JWs too?

  The WTS seems to think so.

  In their literature, they routinely and intentionally take quotations out of context from "worldly" sources to make it appear that their goofier ideas are not quite so goofy.

  I consider this deception a form of lying.
  
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  DesirousOfChange

  Theocratic Warfare allows lying to anyone who is "not entitled to know the truth".

  Doc
  
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  TTWSYF

  TY Sir 82 and Doc.

  Who decides who's entitled to know?
  
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  gma-tired2

  This "Theocratic Warfare" is one of the first things that made me start doubting it was in 1988 a CO and PO Lied to my face and then to my best friend. This is why they don't like people talking about what happens in the back room. All started by a lying teen age bride who wasnt ready to be a married woman.
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  kairos

  The watchtower is full of lies.

  Otherwise, Harm-you-gettin' would already have been here.
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  DesirousOfChange

  Who decides who's entitled to know?

  "THEY" are.

  Who is "they"?
  It doesn't matter, but it is for sure never YOU.

  Doc
  
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  stuckinarut2

  Well said DoC!
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  smiddy

  TTWSYF

  The very fact that the Governing Body approves the writing departments adjustments of historical facts to give a distorted view of their historical beginnings is nothing short of lying.

  What they have stated in print in their early publications and then to give a distorted account of what was said in later years is a bald faced lie .

  And they have been called to account many times , and they just ignore it.

  I remember in the 60`s or 70`s a statement made in one of the Society`s publications about the German propagandist during the second world war "That if you told a lie long enough and often enough you would get many people to believe it." Or something along that line.

  ( If someone could find that it would be much appreciated )

  I sincerely believe the WTB&TS follow that philosophy to this day .

  smiddy
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  Pete Zahut

  Is it considered ok to lie to rank and file JWs too?

  The way I understood it, Theocratic Warfare had more to do with doing whatever was necessary to advance "kingdom interests" when dealing with opposers of the "truth" than it had to do with deceiving those in the congregation. They looked at omissions of information to be necessary at times when dealing with worldly authorities and often sited the example of Abraham passing Sarah off as his sister rather than his wife when dealing with Pharaoh and later Abimelech.

  Unlike Abraham, who's wife Sarah was his half sister (which gave his claim an element of truth), the Watchtower Society has regularly lied to it's flock. They made claims about certain dates in millions upon millions of books and magazines or had their followers spend countless hours spreading certain doctrines to the far flung corners of the globe. Later they changed them because time has proven them wrong and they falsely blamed it on God for not having originally provided them a bright enough light all those years ago. The omission of information came into play when they explained how it was they decided to change what was once called "the truth". Yes, their teachings were wrong but they lied to save face and that isn't theocratic warfare.