The New Vocabulary of a Free Mind

by breakfast of champions 10 Replies latest jw friends

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  breakfast of champions

  I have always classified myself as someone who was fairly well read, with a pretty decent vocabulary. But having been raised in the Orwellian "loaded language" of "truthspeak", I found over the past 18 or so months that there is a whole vocabulary out there that I was never exposed to, thanks in part to the WTs exquisite information control techniques. Here's a sample of some of the words I had never even heard of before my "awakening":

  Hermeneutics

  Apologist/Apologetics

  Epistemology

  Ontology/Ontological

  How about you? What new vocabulary have you learned since your escape from Truthspeak?

  PS: gosh, I just noticed I blew right past my 1000th post! Yay for me!
• 

  00DAD

  Here's something I learned: The GB are liars!

  Ok, seriously, I learned these two terms:

  • exegesis - an explanation or critical interpretation of a text
  • eisegesis - the interpretation of a text (as of the Bible) by reading into it one's own ideas

  (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/)

  Guess which one is practiced by the WTBTS?
• 

  CaptainSchmideo

  Eschatology- part of theology, philosophy, and futurology concerned with what are believed to be the final events of history, the ultimate destiny of humanity — commonly referred to as the end of the world or the "World to Come."
• 

  Sapphy

  The very fact that JW interpretation of prophecy can be neatly categorised into an interpretive framework of Christian eschatology shocked me as an awakening JW.

  so: Eschatology - study of end times; Preterism, Amillennialism, Historicism etc...

  JW ideas fit roughly within Dispensational Millenialism with a continuous pre to post trib rapture.
• 

  breakfast of champions

  ^^^^^^These are all great ones!
• 

  rebel8

  fun

  freedom

  equality

  safety

  respect

  kindness

  intellect
• 

  JeffT

  Church.

  JW's have no idea what this means in the wider context of the Christian body. They make a point of saying they don't call themselves a church becuase that is a type of building. I discovered this is flat out wrong, and as part of the concept, their frequent statements about the disarray of belief in Christendom. Most mainstream Christians recognize each other as fellow believers who happen to have different ideas on some subjects. Being united in the Body of Christ does not mean (or should not mean) surrendering your individuality to groupthink.

  Grace

  JW's have even less understanding of this, in part due to the abominable translation "undeserved kindness" used in the NWT. The problem here is that the WTBS is dependent on works based salvation. They need to flog the flock to keep them in line, and Grace would destroy their whip.
• 

  Reopened Mind

  Unconditional love. "Love" that is not based on works, but on deep respect for the individual. Love that is based on a desire to help another person without expecting anything in return.

  This I am learning from so-called "wordly" people. O, and I should say I am learning unconditional love from "mentally diseased" apostates. LOL

  Reopened Mind
• 

  TotallyADD

  Beard. Hair that grows on a mans face. Not something that is a abomination to God. Totally ADD
• 

  Terry

  Jesus became what the Catholic Church decided that he was.

  By what Authority? Magesterium

  Christianity, for all practical purposes, defined axiomatically by the pronouncements of Magesterium.

  Then, all that changed practically overnight! A testable, falsifiable moment arrived.

  Christians suddenly had a choice. Luther provided that choice. Sola Scriptura.

  The vocabulary of a Free Mind must contain these two terms.

  The FDS of the Watchtower Society has RETURNED to the Catholic doctrine of Magesterium, effectively destroying the basis for Sola Scriptura

  on the part of it members.

  Christianity has been both weighed in the balance of history and by personal choice holding a bible.

  The results are clear. No two christian groups can agree on what true worship or pure doctrine actually is! Simultaneously, the point their

  bony finger at their fellow christians denouncing them for error.

  Christianity is the product of accretion