by outsmartthesystem 26 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
I have a friend that has recently confided in me his doubts about the society being God's one and only organization. His doubts run pretty deep.....but he is very much held in check by "but who else is preaching about the kingdom of God world-wide like Jesus said"?
How would you combat that thinking?
More people watch the 700 club on a day then are contacted by JW's. Lots of "Christian" churches preach they just use the more effective way. Then internet TV....
Mormons go door to door
Mormons (LDS)
Many protestant churches have a ministry that takes members from door to door
Bill Maher told Jon Stewart that Christians think Jesus thought he was his own
father. And I realized: he's a Jehovah's Witnesses leader. I know--he's an
atheist. So are they. And ashamed of himself he should be for misleading
people to refuse medical treatment with blood for their kids at hospitals.
Well, you have no evidence to go on regarding said preaching except what you read in The Watchtower. So how can you make that assertion?
Secondly, the message that is preached is just as important as the preaching method. Is the JW 'good news' the same good news as is recorded in scripture? Do you go out and tell people about 'Christ impaled', or is it about how we're living in the last days (hint, hint, 1914)?
It's not because of the Watchtower Society alone that the Bible and Bible translations are widely available all over the world; other religions had to be involved in getting that message out there.
But then, the statistics of people preaching worldwide are only regarded as relevant when printed in Watchtower publications. All other statistics from other religions are either ignored, or dismissed as not being evidence of God's backing.
--sd-7
Uh, have you watched any network TV?
Catholics and Mormons are running ads right now.
So what would that be called? Me thinks preaching.
A few things that might be worth considering:
Where I live, many church leaders preach door to door. Especially Pentecostals, who are constantly inviting people to go to their church. Note that with Pentecostals, it isn't just the leaders who do this. All of them seem determined to preach to everyone they meet.
The Mormoms and 7th Day Adventists preach door to door, though their methodology seems different. They don't preach in their own neighborhoods. They treat it as missionary work.
Christadelphians go door to door.
Over a very long period of time, the Catholic Church has converted more people to Christianity than there are Jehovah's Witnesses in the entire world.
As others have said, other orgs are using other methods, like TV ads, to reach as many people as possible. They did not have TVs in Jesus' day, so that was not an option. Some have 800 numbers and post billboards asking people to call. Some put out ads in local papers, or send out flyers by mail. Note that this is less annoying than dealing with a pushy evangelist on your door step. Also, preaching is preaching--people who do it by other means, besides just door to door, deserve credit too. :-) Naturally, the Society puts emphasis on the door to door work because that's how THEY do it. Who says their opinion is the final opinion?
As far as proving someone's faith if literally "the truth," others will emphasize points that their faith does best in building a case. Look up any religion on Google and add the phrase "true religion" and you will find many articles that make the argument that the faith in question is somehow the one that is true. They can all claim it. But it doesn't make sense to use their own standards in deciding which (if any) is right, now does it? That's just too easy.
thanks everyone
Who else does a horrible job of preaching like the JWs should be the question....
6,000 plus hours of preaching for each baptism in 2011. If you say 50% are born ins, which is a very conservative estimate, then its 12,000 hours for each convert. That is SIX PEOPLE working full time for a year!
For centuries men of faith risked their lives to make the Bible come at the hands of everyone. Then, many biblical societies (not including the WT) for more than 1 century have dedicated themselves to put Bibles in the hands of people around the world and many of them free of charge to people. In this way is fulfilled the mandate to take the gospel to the world. The WT is characterized by going from door to door with their religious propaganda in many parts of the world, but is very different carrying a religious dogma to recruit new members that bring the true gospel for people to repent and accept Jesus Christ as their savior.
