All JWs share the same belief

biometrics

I was having a discussion with a (currently serving) elder recently when he brought up a straw-man argument that went something like this:

Elder: I've been invited to speak with other Christian groups, you know what they do when studying the bible?

Me: No, I'm not sure, what do they do?

Elder: They read a verse or chapter, then go around the room asking how everyone interprets the reading. And you know, every one of them give a different answer on what they believe it means. Jehovah's Witnesses don't do that, we all share a common understanding of what it means because the faithful and discrete slave has given us the meaning.

Me: I think many JWs have their own beliefs/doubts but won't mention them because they're too scared of being disfellowshipped. And any who do disagree are quickly routed out of the congregation.

Elder: * Silence * .... Change of topic .... Made excuse to leave

cofty

Well said Biometrics. Interesting how they make group-think into a virtue.

MrFreeze

Even so, we would still discuss scriptures and bring out things about it that others didn't think of or the Borg didn't mention. Probably why they got rid of the book study. Too many opinions floating around.

biometrics

It was a shame he left in such a hurry. I was going to ask him another question "So if a beleif of the Jehovah's Witnesses is, in fact, incorrect, are all JWs obliged to accept that belief?", and "What about those who vocally disagree, get disfellowshipped, then the Faithful and Discrete Slave later change their understanding, do they get an apology and reinstatement?"

Maybe next time?

Ding

Life is so much easier when someone else does all the thinking for you...

And meetings are so much more harmonious when no one is allowed to disagree with the speaker about anything...

jwfacts

Brilliant response to such an ignorant comment. Other religions also have set doctrine, it is just that they members are not always as scared to express their own points of view.

enigma1863

Those who claim to have all the answers never allow questions.

I once tried to have a discussion with my dad who is still under their spell. He said I ask too many questions.

exwhyzee

They read a verse or chapter, then go around the room asking how everyone interprets the reading.

Doesn't that sound interesting? Almost like a book club. Can you imagine a Watchtower Study where it was actually a discussion that was kept on topic by a moderator ? Where there were no wrong answers or foolish questions. I think it would be really enlightening, stimulating and would draw the congregation closer together.

Most JW's I knew didn't talk about the Bible to eachother because we already knew what the other would say on any given subject. If you had thoughts of your own, you knew better than to voice them.

blondie

Of course, Paul talked about others in the congregation that openly had a different idea about resurrection, none df'd even assuming that was a practice then; and how about Peter and the Jewish Christians in Galatia that stopped associating with the Gentile Christians despite the big decision in Acts 15, that circumcision was not required. Peter of course had been given visions three times by God to show that the Gentiles were clean but he decided to shun the Gentile Christians until corrected publicly by Paul......

It always amuses me when jws say they have the same beliefs, when those beliefs change then change back over the years. "consistently" taught that 1914 is the presence of Christ...was a statement that got me to thinking.

Billen76

Most JW's believe, what they think all JW believe... I believe

All JWs share the same belief

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