by Nathan Natas 21 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
As I recall Isaiah 43:10 applied to a defunct religion, a nation rejected by God, guilty of Idolatry, man made rules and put their faith in their institutions and puffed up with their accumulated knowledge.
Replaced by something called Christianity.
Christians are under Jesus' admonition found at Acts 4:11 to be HIS witnesses to the most distant part of the earth.
Self evident in retrospect unfortunately unpercieved as a youth immersed in the rhetoric from infancy.
It's about taking a snippet of scripture out of context and taking that as the God-given name. One thing to take it as your own name without attributing it to God. However, taking the name as if God had given it to the true organization is nothing more than a bloody scam intended to reinforce the idea that whatever the Filthful and Disgraceful Slavebugger tells you, you had better do.
Tag - thanks.
And if God was talking to Israel as His Witnesses, then clearly, He wasn't giving, in 1931, a "new name" for his people, as they already were called that centuries before.
Sorry to disappoint Bonezz not touching this one :) lol using scriptures for name is fine, not a biggy as christian orgs go, not as mundane as "baptist" name, or obscure like "Pentacostals" or just too long like "church of latter day saints"
btw whats origin of catholic name?
Hey, NAT....got that right. I heard judge speak from Franklin County fairgrounds ...Cols., O...in 1931..It wasn't a name then....but description...originally ,,, it was Jehovah's witnesses....small "w". changed later in the 30's to a name. The Judge began the first word of the first paragraph of the main WT article w/ Jehovah....and with a fancy "J"...look it up...Check early books...Vin. I II and III...Riches maybe. We used to have a RICHES sign in our window, complete w/ light bulb. Think it read, "YOU CAN OBTAIN RICHES HERE"....wonder we didn't attract every bum in town. neighbors laughed a lot....The early books by the Judge....always a small "w"....Maybe Blondie knows what year it was changed? INTHEPINK.
lol using scriptures for name is fine, not a biggy as christian orgs go
Sez you. WTS makes it a biggy...........
Post 2965 of 5136 since 07-Mar-01 | There's a bit of history behind this. When Rutherford christened the Bible Students "Jehovah's witnesses" in 1931, they claimed that they weren't a religion at all. "Religion" was somehow by definition false. Instead they said that their devotion to God was "worship". Calling themselves by the generic term "witnesses" with a lowercase "w" reinforced this idiotic notion. Further, using the generic term "Jehovah's witnesses" allowed them to argue that Bible characters like Abel and Jesus were "Jehovah's witnesses" because they were among the greatest witnesses of Jehovah. The 1959 'history' book Jehovah's Witnesses in the Divine Purpose contains a good deal of idiotic argumentation along this line, claiming that Abel was the first of Jehovah's witnesses. That all began to change in the early 1950s when the Watchtower Society finally admitted that the religion called "Jehovah's witnesses" really was a religion. Given the above, it was a big deal to many JWs to say "I'm one of Jehovah's witnesses" as opposed to "I'm a Jehovah's witness". The latter doesn't even make sense in standard English; it's like saying "I'm a Julie's husband." I know all this because it was drummed into me as a kid by my very anal ex-Bethelite dad, who knew Rutherford personally. The situation began to change again around 1977, when for the first time the Society itself used the term "Jehovah's Witnesses" (with uppercase "W") in The Watchtower. Then the JW community began using it as well. There was no need to argue that the term with the capital "W" was generic like the one with the lowercase "w". The new term was a proper name, and as such, one could properly say, "I'm a Jehovah's Witness." It seems that during the past 25 years much of the JW community has adopted this thinking, and most JWs I know have no problem using that phrase. AlanF | |
Reniaa, you disappoint me. How can you say that this isn't a biggie, when your Jehovah himself said, "And the nations will certainly see your righteousness, [O woman,] and all kings your glory. And you will actually be called by a new name, which the very mouth of Jehovah will designate. And you must become a crown of beauty in the hand of Jehovah, and a kingly turban in the palm of your God."
JEHOVAH is supposed to designate the name, not Rutherford. The "bible scholar" Rutherford selected a name that pleased and suited himself while he discarded the name that Jehovah gave him, Hephzibah. Maybe (if you're a fan of metaphysical excuses) that's a reason why the WTB&TS is not a place admired for its righteousness, nor a "crown" to Jehovah, but more a whitewashed grave, filled with corruption, dishonesty, deception and filth.
The word "catholic" means
1.
broad or wide-ranging in tastes, interests, or the like; having sympathies with all; broad-minded; liberal.2.
universal in extent; involving all; of interest to all.3.
pertaining to the whole Christian body or church.[1300–1350; ME < L catholicus < Gk katholikós general, equiv. to kathól(ou) universally (contr. of phrase katà hólou according to the whole; see
CATA-, HOLO-) + -ikos -IC]according to my dictionary.
Great tools, those dictionaries.
As you read the context of issues prior to this one, it becomes clear that Rutherford was eager to distance himself from Russell despite the following accolade as he introduced that 1931 resolution.
THAT we have great love for Brother Charles T. Russell,
for his work’s sake, and that we gladly acknowledge that
the Lord used him and greatly blessed his work ...
Here is some of Rutherford's lawyerly verbiage surrounding the name change:
WHEREAS shortly following the death of Charles T. Russell
a division arose between those associated with him in such
work, resulting in a number of such withdrawing from the
Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, and who have since
refused to cooperate with said Society and its work and who
decline to concur in the truth as published by the Watch
Tower Bible and Tract Society in The Watch Tower and the
other recent publications of the said above-named corporations,
end have opposed and do now oppose the work of said Society
in declaring the present message of God’s kingdom and the
day of the vengeance of our God against all parts of Satan’s
organization; and said opposing ones have formed themselves
into divers and numerous companies and have taken and now
bear such names as, to wit, "Bible Students, " "Associated
Bible Students," "Russellites teaching the truth as expounded
by Pastor Russell," " Stand-Fasters," and like names, all
of which tends to cause confusion and misunderstanding:
Now, THEREFORE, in order that our true position may be
made known, and believing that this is in harmony with the
will of God, as expressed in his Word, BE IT RESOLVED, as
follows, to wit:
THAT we have great love for Brother Charles T. Russell,
for his work’s sake, and that we gladly acknowledge that
the Lord used him and greatly blessed his work, yet we cannot
consistently with the Word of God consent to be called by
the name "Russellites"; that the Watch Tower Bible and
Tract Society and the International Bible Students Association
and the Peoples Pulpit Association are merely names of
corporations which as a company of Christian people we hold,
control and use to carry on our work in obedience to God’s
commandments, yet none of these names properly attach to
or apply to us as a body of Christians who follow in the
footsteps of our Lord and Master, Christ Jesus; 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 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;
THAT, having been bought with the precious blood of Jesus
Christ our Lord and Redeemer, justified and begotten by
Jehovah God and called to his kingdom, we unhesitatingly
declare our entire allegiance and devotion to Jehovah God
and his kingdom; that we are servants of Jehovah God commissioned
to do a work in his name, and, in obedience to
his commandment, to deliver the testimony of Jesus Christ,
and to make known to the people that Jehovah is the true
and Almighty God; therefore we joyfully embrace and take
the name which the mouth of the Lord God has named, and
we desire to be known as and called by the name, to wit,
Jehovah’s witnesses.-Isa. 43: lo-12 ; 62: 2 ; Rom. 12: 17.
WT, 1931, September 15, pp 278, 279
Len Miller
