Were There Any JW Doctrines Or Beliefs That You Found Confusing?

by minimus 54 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Band on the Run

  The whole picture. Fundamentally, as a Christian now I am still not certain what they believe as the nature of Christ. Even if one accepts the trinity is an extrapolition from the people, the reverse is also true. No Trinity is not in the Bible, either. I don't understand the centrality of Jehovah over Jesus for people calling themselves the only Christians. They are Jehovists. Worship revolves around a wrathful, petty, inexplicable OT God.

  Whatever you learned today had to be unlearned perhaps later in the same day. They should shepardize their doctrine the way lawyers check to see what the latest courts have ruled. It all seemed so petty and inauthentic even when I was a child. Cross or stake - who gives a damn? Who or what is Jesus and what does crucifixion and resurrection mean to me?

  Armageddon appalled and terrorized me. The surrounding culture describes God as a good force. A loving person. The Witnesses overemphasize the OT where God is very vindictive. Again, Jesus is a side issue. True Christians believe in the Risen Christ, the incarnated God. Everyone I cared about was going to die horribly at the hand of this loving God. Only JW would survive. I'd rather die at A.

  Peer pressure was very bad for me as a child. We lived in a very Roman Catholic neighborhood. If you were a Lutheran, you were an antipope or something. My father was not ethnic Russia but came from a region annexing Russia where Russians are despise. He was known as the crazy Russian at Bethel. During the height of the Cold War, I had to go to school with friends who knew I was Russian and a Witness. They said things very assuredly that I was not Christian b/c I was not Catholic. They were little kids. What is easily dismissed at 13 hurts deeply at six.

  We were laughing stocks. Later, at an elite college and law school, people roared in laughter at the thought of my going door to door at ten and asking "Do you believe in eternal life?." The general public does not know the teachings but the overall cutlure -- a wacko cult.

  Every writing tome emphasizes hitting the main points of your outline. Most of what they preach should be footnotes. As far as Armageddon, has no one heard that different genres of literature exist? Is the Song of Solomon truly about earthy lovers? Weird. but acutely painful growing up.
• 

  punkofnice

  I don't know if this comes under the banner of 'doctrine' but here goes......

  When I was an Eldub and hosting a JC, if for e.g. it was decided to give a public reproof or whatever, we were told this was a desicion of Jar-Hoover's holy spirit. However, we were then to give the 'sinner' 7 days to appeal that desicion.

  This helped me out of the Borg because how can someone be given 7 days to appeal against a desicion that comes from an infallible God? Was God on the fritz? Did he need to be given evidence he as the 'all seeing one' missed? Made no sense to me until I read 'Combatting Cult Mind Control' by Steven Hassan!

  ............................and.............................

  How come the Borg went to such great lengths, letters and meetings to prevent the R&F even so much as seeing a new 'flock book'? Practically every non JW from here to Helsinki can get their hands on a download of it. I got mine before the Eldubs in my old congregation got theirs.

  If God were in control of the JW's and the instructions came from him via the GB then God would se to it that no one other than Eldubs could get a copy!
• 

  Nobleheart

  Not being able to say 'bless you' upon someone sneezing (nobody thought of demons, it was simply a polite gesture)

  Not being able to say 'Good luck on a test/meeting/whatever" (again, 99.9% of ppl think it's just an expression of kindness)

  Not associating with 'worldly people', when Jesus would be invited and eat at their homes.

  No 'huge gathering' for parties, when Israelites throughout the Bible had various celebrations that included many people.

  etc, etc.
• 

  minimus

  I think the most confusing doctrine is the Faithful & Discreet Slave Class belief. You have to be pretty gullible to accept "The Slave".
• 

  tec

  Jesus is Michael (based on a couple vague/unrelated quotes, but the trinity was WAY off)

  Jesus is Abaddon.

  Jw's are the locusts and that's supposed to be a good thing.

  That the 144 000 was literal, but these men were virgins was symbolic.

  Tammy
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  minimus

  All Revelation numbers are symbolic except 144,000.
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  TTWSYF

  The belief that the bible is the Word of God, but that God was wrong on so much of their beliefs...I'll be brief

  Jesus is one of the created angels, Jesus never rose [bodily] from the grave, Jesus is not worthy of prayer, Jesus never claimed that he was God.

  These simple few views contradict the New Testament. They are significant differences to say the least.

  Dc
• 

  NewChapter

  Miscarriage/Abortion/Stillbirth/Ressurection

  Okay, so life is so precious to god, from conception, that ending it makes a person bloodguilty. Even if by accident, such as if when 2 men struggle and a fatality occurs---etc. Today, woman can confirm they are pregnant even before they miss a period. In ancient Israel days, that was not possible. So, what about ALL THOSE EMBRYOS lost before pregnancy was noticed, when ALL THOSE MEN fought and bumped ALL THOSE WOMEN?

  So, the life is so precious to the god, its book is written while still screened off in the belly.

  So precious, that a woman would risk her life, even to the point of sacrificing her life for that unborn child. She would even shorten her life, like if she had heart disease, kidney failure, cancer--so the child could live. But, if she loses the child, that she should be ready to die for, before birth, it doesn't qualify for resurrection. But it's PRECIOUS to god--er--just not as important as those that made it out into the world alive.

  And for that matter, even if she carries to term, and the child dies in labor--it is not eligible for resurrection.

  So the god is saying, there is a difference between life developing in the womb, and life already established after birth. Which is what pro-choicer's say. So I guess that makes god in favor of abortion.

  I NEVER understood that. How do you comfort a family that delivered a stillborn with that reasoning?
• 

  Ding

  The "Jesus is Michael" connection never made sense to me.

  Even if the WTS wants to maintain that Jesus was the first and greatest creation of God and not God the Son, how does it follow that he is Michael?

  There isn't a single verse that says so.

  Michael is just "one of the chief princes" (Daniel 10:13).

  Michael had to say, "The Lord [or Jehovah] rebuke you" to Satan, whereas in Matthew 4, Jesus rebuked Satan directly.

  The fact that Jesus comes with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet call of God (1 Thess. 4:6) doesn't prove that Jesus is the archangel any more than it makes him the trumpet or God.

  Add to that that Hebrews 1 says that God never called an angel His Son and that Christ is superior to the angels.
• 

  Ding

  Terry,

  I always used to be puzzled about how God's justice and God's grace could co-exist.

  It seemed to me that you could have one or the other but not both.

  The idea of an innocent Messiah dying in place of guilty sinners seemed to me only to add to all the injustice in the world.

  The only way I've found to reconcile God's grace with God's justice is through the concept of the new birth, with Paul's teaching about the believer being "in Christ" and with Christ being "in" believers. Paul indicates because of this new birth, there is a spiritual identification of the believer with Christ and that therefore what happened to Christ also happened spiritually to the believer in Christ:

  Romans 6:6: "For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves to sin-- 7 because anyone who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him."

  Galatians 2:19-20: "For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God. 20 I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me."

  Colossians 1:27: "To them God has chosen to make known among the Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory."

  The WTS' concept of the new birth doesn't match Pauline theology, in which being "born again" is an integral and necessary part of being a Christian and of benefitting from his sacrifice.