The Bible is an organizational book and belongs to the...organization.

by candidlynuts 14 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  candidlynuts

  I remember going out in service using the truth book . " the truth that leads to everlasting life"
  in its final couple of years, I remember how the catholic church's attempts to control what people read was part of our presentation. Roman Catholic leaders told its followers what to believe about the Bible and it was almost a sin to interpret the Bible for themselves. (from what I can recall from presentations at the doors back then) How the common man wasn't even allowed to own a Bible. There were a few years there in the 70s when it seems there was a lot of Catholic bashing going on.

  today i ran across this watchtower quote:

  “The Bible is an organizational book and belongs to the Christian congregation as an organization, not to individuals, regardless or how sincerely they may believe that they can interpret the Bible." (Watchtower, October 1, 1997, p. 587).

  I wonder, are any of you familiar with the Catholic history? What similarities does the Watchtower share with the Catholic religion of the past? Is the Catholic church now more tolerant than JW's about individual Bible study?

  I also watched a program on the Inquisition " convert or die" and it gave me chills when I watched that show. The Watchtower doesn't hold a decapitating axe over your head when they say that but if you try to leave, you are dead to your JW family, even if you're still breathing.

  It just seems to me that the Watchtower oppression rivals the oppression of the earlier century's Catholic religion that we used to go door to door to preach about and use to convert people .
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  Terry

  The premise of the Catholic Church is Majesterium. The Tradition of the Church is that Jesus bestowed the power of correct practice of faith and morals on Peter who passed it on Pope by Pope by Pope. Parishoners only got themselves into deep doo doo when they read the bible for themselves. These people often became apostates (called heretics).

  The premise of Protestantism under Martin Luther was that there is no organization between god and man; only Jesus and his Holy Spirit. The layperson is perfectly able to divine God's will directly by prayer and grace and bible reading.

  The Watchtowr Society as always denied being Protestant. This for good reason! The entire organization closely mirrors the Catholic organization in everything. The Governing Body is an ensemble "Pope".

  The employ Inquisitions and declare heretics and excommunicate as well.

  The Watchtower is part of the "whore" of Babylon by their own description!
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  Quandary

  Well said Terry!!

  Q
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  Quandary

  BTW-- Last I heard the Bible is God's message to MANKIND!! They are so full of themselves! The word organization is not even found in the Bible, how dare they make such a statment! Nauseating, just plain nauseating!

  Q
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  BluesBrother

  May I correct the citation and reference given for the quote.. The words are accurate but here is the correct reference.

  w67 10/1 p. 587 par. 9 Finding Freedom with Jehovah’s Visible Organization **

  As the canon of books of God’s Word was expanded and the Christian Greek Scriptures were added to complete the Bible, each book was written directly to the Christian congregation or to a member of the Christian congregation in its behalf. Thus the Bible is an organizational book and belongs to the Christian congregation as an organization, not to individuals, regardless of how sincerely they may believe that they can interpret the Bible. For this reason the Bible cannot be properly understood without Jehovah’s visible organization in mind.
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  Mum

  Great topic, Candi.

  In her book Visions of Glory: A History and a Memory of the Jehovah's Witnesses, which is online at freeminds.org as far as I know, Barbara Grizutti Harrison makes the observation that the JW's are very much like the medieval Roman Catholic Church.

  There are some important differences because of the following: (1) In the middle ages, very few people knew how to read. Reading the Bible for oneself was not an option, so the clergy had a lock-up on that part; (2) In the Catholic Church, the entire Bible is read during mass over a three-year time span, so the entire word is heard by all of the people who regularly attend mass; (3) There was no other church to compete with the Catholic Church until the Protestant Reformation/Rebellion, so the church's power was much harder to challenge; (4) Compared to the breadth and depth of knowledge available today, the people of the middle ages had very little access to other ideas; I read someplace (so I can't verify this) that one Sunday edition of the New York Times contains more information than an individual in the 14th century would access in a lifetime.

  Terry is right. The Watchtower has created a heirarchical structure that exactly parallels that of the Roman Catholic Church. To sum it up, they're a bunch of lying hypocrites!

  Regards,

  SandraC
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  Open mind

  The Governing Body is an ensemble "Pope".

  Nice one Terry. Think I'll tuck that away for future reference.

  Whenever JWs try telling folks they're not a cult, the first thing they'll point at is the GB. "See, we're not following a man."

  Yeah, like following a dozen old lock-step company men in New York is any better.

  Open Mind
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  choosing life

  I remember the Watchtower quoting a translater of the Bible who said he would cause a commom plowboy to know more about the Bible than the clergy of the Catholic church by making the Bible available in their common language. They applauded this at the time, but they sure have backtracked.

  I also remember, after the Franz' episode at Bethel, how they warned about studying the Bible in any sort of group (other than with them) in case someone might have a genuine induividual thought.

  The Catholic church may read the Bible every 3 years in their services, but it used to be in Latin which few, if any, understood. I have worked with Catholic nuns for some time and now I see a more tolerant attitude in the Catholic church than the jws these days.
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  candidlynuts

  thanks bluesbrother for the full paragraph. i just had run across the small blurb i posted above.

  terry good post. an ensemble pope indeed

  mum thats a great reference. thank you

  quandary, i wonder if the word theocracy is? since organization is not.. maybe they entertwine the two to mean the same thing.
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  sir82

  the Bible is an organizational book

  And there it is. A six-word sentence summarizing all that is wrong with the Society.

  Is the Bible God's message to mankind? Nope.

  Is the Bible an inspirational guide on how to lead a more fulfilling life? Nope.

  Is the Bible an ode ot God's love? Nope.

  It's just a how-to manual, containing a few hundred (out of the 10's of thousands) verses that can be used to justify the way we have set up & run our organization.

  Just sad.