by minimus 54 Replies latest jw friends
:Were There Any JW Doctrines Or Beliefs That You Found Confusing?
"Love is hate."
"Freedom is slavery."
"Truth changes."
"Even when we're wrong, we still speak for God."
"Love is not jealous and our jealous God loves us."
"Shooting our wounded helps them."
Stuff like that.
Farkel
Four legs good.
Two legs bad.
Rev. climax: seven trumpets.. two witnesses.. and how did they know the cherub giving out the seven bowls hab a lion head?
What Doctrine do I find Confusing?
GRACE (or, in JW-speak: undeserved kindness)
Why?
Humans DESERVE death (because of sin).
Jehovah is a God of Justice. (Justice means you get what you Deserve).
Yet---Grace tells us that Justice will not be observed!
Meaning what?
Meaning: there is no Justice in Grace. There is no basis for grace. There is no sound basis for Jehovah's LOVE of those who do not DESERVE love.
Who invented this fallacy?
Saul of Tarsus.
Ask yourself why Jehovah needed to condemn Adam and Eve to death when he could have forgiven them. "They didn't deserve to be forgiven." That is your reply. Ask why Jehovah didn't show mercy then. "They didn't deserve mercy". That is your reply.
Your argument is one of Justice and Basis for Mercy and Forgiveness. Rightly so.
Yet, Grace is Mercy and Forgiveness on the basis of love for those who do not deserve it.
What is the basis, then? Whim?
Look up the words AD HOC. That's your answer.
And there I was thinking all these years I was the only one who didn't understand...
The whole 'God's Chosen' thing confused me because it's not in the Bible and my Mom kept telling me that 'God has nothing to do with this world.' Ooook... then how did he chose an organization if he has nothing to do with this world?
I think pretty much any of their doctrines that isn't backed up by scripture or is a twisting of scripture. My BS detector goes off... and I end up with this expression on my face ... . I sure hope I don't freeze like this when I'm older.
The resurrection or non resurrection of the Sodomites. It wasn't so much the contradiction between both positions (that was before I found out they flip flopped several times on that one point and assumed it was just an adjustment in understanding) but the fact that neither position was reconcilable with the Bible.
Then I found out that their whole concept of the resurrection was irreconcilable with the Christian Scriptures. The resurection taught by Jesus was a resurection of both the evil and the good in which the individuals were to be judged by what they had already done in their lifetimes. The Governing Body however wanted to believe that (aside from the 144,000) it was a "second chance" for those who were not exposed to the wonderful "truths" that they had to offer.
Later, I concluded that the reason the Governing Body kept flip flopping between one teaching and another was because it affected their credibility in imposing field service upon the Witnesses. It seems like a stretch of logic but we have to keep in mind that everything the Governing Body does and teaches is, no matter how seemingly abstract, is related to the power they wield over their members.
For example, think of yourself as a Witness waking up some bright Saturday morning after a week of grueling 9-5 work and 3 meetings with 2 yet to come the following day. You really don't want to go out in field service even for an hour. Unlike the regular Witnesses you have some imagination and critical thought which, rusty as it is, you start using. You come up with this.
I'm supposed to go out preaching today. If I don't and we miss a worldly person who could have been brought into the "truth" the Society says I'll be bloodguilty. Every one at Armageddon who is not a Witness is going to die a brutal death without a hope of a resurrection to a Paradise Earth. After all why should they be resurrected when Jehovah gave them every chance to become a Witness through our preaching?
But wait! Aren't the Sodomites supposed to be resurrected? And weren't they as bad if not worse than the people who will be destroyed at Armageddon? If Jehovah resurrects Sodomites He should resurrect those who die at Armageddon and it would not make any difference that I go back to sleep. Everyone will get their second chance. Once the Watch Tower senses that it's members are beginning to think like this-probably through anonymous letters that it receives-then it will make a decision to change from a 'Sodomites resurrected' position to a 'Sodomites not resurrected' stand.
Only problem with the 'Sodomite not resurrected' position is that it is in clear and irrefutable contradiction to Matthew 10:14,15 which states:
14 If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town. 15 I tell you the truth, it will be more bearable for Sodom and Gomorrah on the day of judgment than for that town.
You can't get more obvious then that. Those who reject the disciples of Jesus will fear judgment (after the resurrection) more than those who simply wanted to bugger God's angels. Hence the reason they, in my opinion have had multiple flip flops between the obvious statement and the JW contrived interpretation that is both inaccurate and leads to conclusions too liberal for the Governing Body to tolerate for too long.
villabolo even more confused now that I've explained it.
The Sodom thing is a great example of JW presumptousness.
Many of them I did not believe in the need for. However, the ones I found confusing were the ones involving various classes. How can we need 80 different classes, when virtually everyone fell into every single one of them or in one of two subsets of them? And those deals between various Bible characters and God--I never could figure out what they have to do with us today. If I make a deal with another person, there is no way everyone 2,000 years from now is going to be involved in that deal and have to act on it.
I am with OTWO also. Growing up a JW it was all I knew but the last time we went through the book it was harder and harder to make sense of it.
Also the door to door work and everyone has to do it. We had a lot of mentality ill JW's in my hall who were on meds for it. They were so strange and made no sense talking at the doors. But they felt they had to go out in service. The Witness are always so afraid of bringing sham on Jehovah's name yet they wanted someone who would not shower and smelled, who mumbled and made no sense with what he says to go to peoples homes to tell them about Jehovah???
