Are Faith and Reason Compatible? Jan Awake

by DanaBug 23 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Mad Sweeney

  Pirata, is it a lot of individuals reading Awake!, or a few individuals talking a lot about how they read Awake!? I was in for more than 40 years and never knew anyone but the most anal of pioneers to be a regular Awake! reader. Most JWs I knew read some articles sometimes, but as I said, very few read it regularly.

  This also shows the flaw in drawing generalities anecdotally. My conclusion could be completely wrong. Pirata's could be completely wrong. Or reality most likely could be somewhere in-between. I'd be interested in reading others' experiences regarding Awake! readership. I'd hate to go on believing incorrectly; I had enough of that when I was a Dub.
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  MrMonroe

  faith based on falsehood is only a delusion.

  How very true. And yet how many Witnesses could explain the factual basis on which they believe the doctrines of the WTS? Please explain:

  • The significance of 1914, in view of the fact that the "pivotal" date of 607 is demonstrably wrong.
  • Biblical proof that God has a Christian "organization" and that that organization is the WTS.
  • Why he has a "faithful and discreet slave" to "feed" his followers, yet there is no process by which individual members of that are able to influence beliefs and practices of Jehovah's Witnesses.
  • The process by which the Governing Body arrives at its doctrines, and why fundamental "truths" that were once given as proof that God had bestowed its blessing on this "organization" have since completely changed.
  • What "slave class" CT Russell consulted with when he formed the Bible Students and established Watchtower doctrines.
  • Why JF Rutherford, who introduced major, fundamental changes to both WTS doctrines and the nature of the organization, achieved this only after he opposed, and then sacked, a majority of the WTS board of directors in 1917 (subsequently described as the governing body of true Christians) and yet is still considered to have been acting in accord with theocratic governance.
  • Why the reference to 144,000 in Revelation is treated as literal, but every other number is symbolic.
  • Why the practice of shunning individuals and family members who make a conscientious decision to leave a religious denomination, which is clearly contrary to the teachings of Christ, is cited as evidence of Christ's active direction of his organization.
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  mkr32208

  The skeptic is a fool, why not simply say "there is no evidence."

  Has nothing to do with morals or anything else it's just why do you believe in nonsense?
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  DanaBug

  As a JW, I would leaf through the mags and read what caught my eye. I didn't read the mags as much as I was told to, but when I did read something outside of studying, it was usually out of the Awake.

  Mr. Monroe,

  That's a great list. Saving that!
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  cyberjesus

  marked
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  Cadellin

  it is something you have thought through carefully—resulting in trust in God and his Word, which is firmly based on reason.

  Reasoning on such information produces the conviction that even things that cannot be seen with the literal eye are, nonetheless, realities

  The kind of faith built on what the Bible teaches is compatible with reason.

  Danabug, thanks for posting this. Notice how even within this article supposedly encouraging rationality and independence of thought (or something akin to that), the WT is careful to tell the reader what his or her conclusion should be! There's no room allowed for someone who engages in these thought processes and comes to a different determination!
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  THE GLADIATOR

  Faith and Reason can be compatible. Then again they can be opposed. Human life is a complicated process and each person's reality is a part of the jigsaw.

  The Wt society make the mistake of trying to supply all the pieces and the box the jigsaw goes in. Then they try to put the jigsaw together for their members.

  The aim is to make out that without their divine guidance we are all lost. Lost is good!
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  PSacramento

  Some people have faith in reason, whille others have a reason to be faithful.

  There is no reason to live in a world where you can only have one or the other, who said you can't have both?
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  Ding

  Of course faith and reason can be compatible.

  Every time you drive a car, you have faith that the brakes will work, that the steering wheel will work, and that other drivers won't hit you head-on.

  This faith is based on reason and experience rather than on blind hope.

  This faith is genuinely well-founded, although in specific instances the object of our faith proves unworthy of our trust.

  The point is that everyone lives by faith every day.

  The difference is not in faith but in the object of our faith.
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  Mad Sweeney

  Lots of equivocation in the article and it works because even on this thread we're using "faith" to mean different things.