What happened to the simplicity of the early church?

by Pahpa 24 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Pahpa

  Early Christians were drawn together by their love of Christ and each other. Most were just hard working average people who had little education and no understanding of the philosophies of the world. The gospel message of the kingdom and the future hope of life everlasting were the basis of their simple faith. This changed when the leaders try to compete with those worldly "wise men" and introduced philosophical teachings into the church that reflected the "wisdom of this world." It is astounding how fast this occurred after the death of the apostles and early disciples. But this was exactly what Jesus and the early Bible writers foretold.

  I wonder how many Christians today care about or understand the intellectual discussions of doctrine? The real appeal remains the same today as in the first century: Love of Christ and the love of each other.
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  compound complex

  Good to see you again, Pahpa:

  As I've stated elsewhere, I was always put off by the bizarreness and complexity of WT theological constructs. I wished only to preach from the NT, focusing on the simplicity of the Gospel and God's love through Christ. My mind is so simple that I can barely grasp most of the discussions here on WT dogma.

  Of course, there is no further necessity to wade through Franz's Great Fantasy ...

  Thanks,

  CoCo
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  yknot

  Very excellent point!
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  Pahpa

  CoCo & Yknot

  Thanks for your encouraging words. My wife was born and brought up as a JW. She was not a student of scripture and did not understand most of the complexities of Watchtower doctrine Yet, she was always very generous and kind to others, inside and outside of the congregation. If a person was in need she was there to offer help and to give support regardless of whether this one was a member of the congregation or not. She was actually living the Christian way of life while many were merely talking about it. To me she was (and is) the embodiment of what Christ said a Christian should be. I knew others in our congregation who had the same qualities. But unless they were active in the ministry and in congregation meetings they were considered "weak" and marginal.

  I always resented the fact that the visiting circuit overseers would evaluate the Publishers Record Cards to determine who was "spiritually strong." They never took into consideration the poor widow who generously contributed or the busy mothers who showed hospitality. These wonderful "gifts" were overlooked or discounted. Yet, in Christ's eyes I am sure they had more merit than distributing Watchtower propaganda!
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  KingArthur

  I always resented the fact that the visiting circuit overseers would evaluate the Publishers Record Cards to determine who was "spiritually strong." The WTS are bunch of freaking bean counters. And what of those who spend time visiting the older member of the cong or ones in hospital? They are overlooked for their noble efforts unless they also have the numbers to show on the report cared.
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  jaguarbass

  If you feel that way, and that seems reasonable to me. I would say you might want to find a small church a store front church or a church that meets in someones home.

  And then hope that that church doesn't decide to grow because it has been blessed and become like all of the other churches.

  You could spend a lot of time finding a church.

  Every church I've ever been to has problems. And the problems always involve my money, and their need for it.
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  Jeremy C

  The Watchtower has certainly missed the forrest for the trees. I believe that the thrust of the problem has been the Watchtower's attempts to find and enforce what it believes to be doctrinal purity. In this endeavor, it has felt it necessary to implement organizational mechanisms to enforce unanimity of thought and behavior in order to keep such a system intact. This is not exclusive to JWs though. This obsession with "true teaching" or "true doctrine" is what lead to the criminal actions committed during the Catholic iquisitions.

  The other day, Randy Watters and I had an interesting conversation at his home. Randy was commenting to me why he believes that so many Christians (especially JWs) do not enjoy the profound mental and emotional experiences which they are seeking within their faith. He pointed out that the JW system is mostly a mental construction. It is a system and a mindset that is obsessed with a laundry list of doctrines (established by a Governing Body). This system of doctrines and its mental construction must be held together by blocking out any disconfirming evidence. This requires enormous energy, and many JWs therefore miss out on the sense of love and community enjoyed by the first century Christians, because they are so consumed with keeping their minds in unanimity with the organization.

  Ray Franz once noted that those in the organization who are the most loving and compassionate are not that way because of the organization, but in spite of it.
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  Deputy Dog

  Pahpa

  The gospel message of the kingdom and the future hope of life everlasting were the basis of their simple faith.

  Was it "gospel message of the kingdom" or "Christ crucified"?

  1Co 1:23

  But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness;
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  independent_tre

  The real appeal remains the same today as in the first century: Love of Christ and the love of each other.

  Few words that speak volumes. I never really felt this was the key principle of JW's "version of Christianity"; it was always about time, service, and different doctrines, placing magazines, talks, assemblies, etc.., etc...,etc... that the true message of Christ is buried.

  Thanks for the post.
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  WTWizard

  And it would have been even simpler if Paul would have not mistook Jesus' words literally. Most of Jesus' words were put there to teach people to think on their own, and Paul already had that ability (and thus mistook much of the teachings).

  Any church is going to be extremely simple if the core doctrine is reduced to its simplest terms. That is why Jesus' message spread so quickly--even people getting baptized on the spot--while the Witlesses are spending 6 months and more only to have people turning apostate faster than they are going in. The core doctrine is so simple that people could actually focus on getting the work done, and maybe even helping improve society. Of course, the ruler class was threatened (hence the persecution). Which is why they were determined to stamp out the Christian movement. They did not want to lose their slaves. (And why the Catholic church did not get persecution--they played into the leaders' hands instead of undercutting it).

  Persecution of the witlesses is based on that people do not want to get involved and hounded to get involved, bad predictions, and that witlesses are a drain on society. For sure, they are not a threat to the leaders and rulers (who, if anything, are trying to protect society from scams like the Washtowel Slaveholdery).