Straw man in last week's WT

by sd-7 12 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  BluesBrother

  Definition:

  A fallacy in which an opponent's argument is overstated or misrepresented in order to be attacked or refuted.

  wt 15/12/09 P24

  "MUCH has been publicized on the subject of love. This quality has been extolled and romanticized in song. Love is a basic human need. But books and movies have often featured it in made-up love stories, and a glut of such material floods the marketplace. Yet, genuine love of God and neighbour is woefully lacking. We see happening what the Bible foretold about these last days. Men are "lovers of themselves, lovers of money, and pleasures rather than lovers of God."--2 Tim. 3:1-5.

  2. Humans have the ability to show love, yet God's Word warns us against misguided love. And the Bible describes what happens when such love takes root in one's heart. (1 Tim. 6:9, 10) Do you recall what the apostle Paul wrote about Demas? Though he was associated with Paul, Demas turned to loving what the world offered. (2 Tim. 4: 10) The apostle John warned Christians against this very danger. (Read 1 John 2:15, 16.) Loving the world and its transitory things and ways is not compatible with loving God and what originates with him.

  3 We are no part of this world, though we are still living in it. Thus, we have the challenge of avoiding the world's distorted view of love. It is vital that we not let ourselves be trapped by misguided or perverted love. For whom, therefore, should we cultivate and demonstrate principled love? What provisions enable us to cultivate love that endures all things and never fails? How does this course benefit us now and affect our future? We need answers from God's standpoint so that we can be guided accordingly"
• 

  TardNFeatheredJW

  Is anyone seeing anything contradictory here?

  And I quote John 3:16:

  New American Standard Bible

  (©1995)

  
  

  "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life."

  And I quote the Watchtower, 12/15/09 P24, par 2:

  Loving the world and its transitory things and ways is not compatible with loving God and what originates with him.

  They say "Loving the world". There is no qualifier, the world as stated implies the people (to me). This view is supported by the words "its transitory things and ways" being mentioned seperately. Sounds to me, that the WTS is way, way, way off the mark on this.
• 

  sd-7

  Well, in order to understand this, one has to reconcile the two scriptures that come into play--John 3:16 and 1 John 2:15-17. Clearly, God loved the world. But John tells Christians, "Do not be loving the world." Obviously, the two phrases must be using the term "world" in a different sense, or else this is a glaring contradiction.

  The world in John 3:16 is clearly not just 'redeemable mankind', because no one can decide who is redeemable and who is not but God. That's a JW judgment not unlike the old 'sheep and goats' belief that got discarded. The world is ALL of mankind, hence the term. Clearly, 1 John 2:15-17 can't be referring to the same 'world'. I would guess that John there is referring to the material world, hence his use of the terms "the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one's means of life". He's not referring to the people, who are ALL redeemable until such time as God himself judges them otherwise.

  The flaw comes in here when the WT makes little distinction between the people in the world and an obsession with material things of the world. Now they don't generally use that scripture when discussing people/association. But in this case, on some subtle level, they're not drawing a distinction.

  Of course, they would also point to James 4:4, "Friendship with the world is enmity with God". Of course, the context points to problems with envy and desiring things that belong to others, so again, this is not necessarily to the people in the world either, assuming context rules over WT doctrine.

  So...I think perhaps you folks have just enlightened me on this issue, just by getting me to think about the relevant scriptures. I'm open to other thoughts, of course. Thanks.

  --Christopher