How did Jehovah's Witnesses come to use the phrase: New Light?

by Terry 17 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • thetrueone
    thetrueone

    Funny how this new light goes from being bright to dim to dull and then back to being bright all over again in a time frame of

    a few thousand years, maybe there is a short circuit in the line up to heaven to god.

  • Terry
    Terry

    Do you have a source for this statement?

    The astonishing progress of the Western World in technology, manufacturing, medicine and Science challenged man's place in nature and popped the bubble of religous mythology.

    Do you have a source for this statement.? This sounds like the industrial revolution which didn't start until the last half of the 18th century.

    The world was changing and True Believers had to cope or go insane!

    The task at hand was either:

    1.Retreat into fundamentalist refusal to accept modernity, change and Enlightenment

    or

    2.Reshape one's interpretations of the old religious world view to accomodate Science and Modernity and....(gulp!) ease into Enlightenment.

    False dilemna.

    Into this delicate balance of mental disturbance

    A source or just your opinion?

    Book Review: Karen Armstrong, The Battle for God

    The Battle for God
  • Terry
    Terry

    Here is what it all comes down to:

    There are two basic means of coping with life in this world.

    A .Supernatural, mystical and mythologic

    B.Rational, literal, logical, testable and practical

    In ancient times, Pre-Enlightenment, people embraced imaginative stories about their own role in an Epic drama between Good and Evil.

    Post-Enlightenment, technology, literacy, education and science enabled people to think of their life as a more practical problem to be solved

    by their own intelligent efforts.

    Getting from point A to point B has always created tensions, resistance and conflict in human society. Changing one's own complete World View is painful and frightening.

    In American history this epic struggle between Modernity and Old World religiousity began being referred to as Old Light and New Light.

    Jehovah's Witnesses ended up applying it to their previous teachings vs their current teachings in the way they usually do things: transformation of language into personal jargon.

    Just as truth becomes The Truth and knowledge becomes Accurate Knowledge.

    What is so difficult to understand about this?

  • dogon
    dogon

    In reality who gives a rats ass about where they got their crazy shit. crazy is crazy.

  • Terry
    Terry

    The Rat's Ass is this: the food at the proper time and all the other parts of their pure worship is recycled from other religious groups.

    Nothing has been restored by the enthroned Jesus since 1914. In fact, Jesus did not return at all.

    Knowing the origins of various JW pet phrases puts you a rung or two higher on the ladder should you engage in any communication.

    They learn from you rather than the other way around.

  • Heath N
    Heath N

    New Light was used in the naming if the meeting place of JW's in West Virginia in the naming

    of their meeting place.

    www.wvencyclopedia.org/articles/1000

  • finallysomepride
    finallysomepride

    bookmark

    terry great thread

  • Band on the Run
    Band on the Run

    Indeed, when HBO's BIg Love aired, I researched Mormon beliefs for the first time. It is so loony, much more so than the Witnesses. They were utterly despised. I recall Mitt Romney's father being a presidential contender. The corporate suits of Mormons do match the lunatic beliefs. They actually believe in sci fi. I thought Star Trek, the Twilight Zone, Edgar Allan Poe, and Jules Verne were the creators of the genre. No, Joseph Smith was there first. wikipedia has an article on the hand pushcarts through the wilderness to Utah. Mormons have gained respect beyond what their beliefs merit.

    Can you imagine a JW running for President? A former JW would have trouble running if the candidate believed Witness doctrine as an adult. Mormons invested heavily in charities. The flow of benefits only moves one way with a JW. Sadly, they don't seem to be aware of it.

    There is a lot of political/social explanations for the Great Awakening. Social factors triggered it as much as any religious belief. The problem is that it has only been one aspect of American history and I forgot the details. I feel it is not taught enough. Religious history scares public high schools.

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