by Beck_Melbourne 73 Replies latest jw friends
Old habits die hard...and quite often in my comments I will refer to the borg as the 'truth'. Does anyone know of any other churches that refer to their own particular church or religion as the 'truth'??
Also, does anyone know how it originated...all my life I have used the term...comments like 'how long have u been in the truth?' or 'what made you come into the truth?' etc. Anyone know when this term started to be used in JW-land?
Beck
Hey Beck,
I'm don't know when or why or who, but I'm sure they used to call it the "way" as well.
I like the BORG myself, seems so apt.
Kep
I'll answer that for you Beck.
Im not aware of any other organization that uses the term "truth".
But many of them use Absolute terms. Such as "The Way'. 'The path', etc.The way to what? The way to attain perfection. So it adds up to the same thing.
An absolute guaranteed path to utopia.
Pastor Russell took the expression "present truth" from 2 Peter 2:12 in the King James Version. To him, this meant the truth that was then due to be understood by God's people - beliefs such as that the time of the end began in 1799, Christ had arrived invisibly in 1874, the Gentile Times would end in 1914 (meaning that the actual end of the present world order would occur at that time). The period from 1874 to 1914 he termed the "harvest" - the time when people were being called out of Babylon. So to this way of thinking, "present truth" is whatever new light is due to be revealed.
So it seems that the word "present" was dropped, and JWs simply talked about being "in the truth."
It is also possible that the expression "the truth" may have been inherited from the Adventist Movement which preceeded Russell. If other groups (such as the Seventh Day Adventists) use this expression, that would be the case, but I don't know that they do.
Justin
Hi All and thanks
Yes I remember the 'way' being used...reminds me of a church hyme.."I am the way..the truth and the light..that's what Jesus said"...goes to show I was never a very good witness kid...cos I remember that song from when I used to sit outside the classroom during religious instructions.
I think it is interesting to see the relationship between Russell's use of the term 'truth' and JW today...it seems to me that it is a term unique to the borg...as the few SDA I have met never used the term. The only time I ever heard it used was by a charismatic church goer. When I was engaged in a conversation with her...she said to me "now that I am in the truth blah blah blah"...and I looked at her in a state of shock!! I thought to myself 'how dare she steal our word' lol.
Beck
I know that the Mormon's call it the truth. It was weird when I was friends with a few and it was almost like talking to a Witless.
The expression, "The Truth", is perfectly fitting for the only true Christian religion, namely Jehovah's Witnesses. All other so-called "Christian" religions sprang up from the seed that Satan planted. (Matthew 13:24-30) Since Jesus' illustration shows that both -- the weeds AND the wheat -- are to be found coexisting right on up until the "harvest", then "The Truth" should be evident TODAY. So for those who believe Jesus' words, and yet think the JW religion isn't "The Truth", they have a question to answer --> Then which "Christian" religion IS?
Yadirf
Daniel 11:35 ... a KEY prophecy that must be fulfilled before the "time of the end" gets underway.
As far as I'm concerned, no religion can call itself the truth....all religions are made of imperfect humans.
With the WTS, can you call it the truth when their doctrines keep changing?
-The 1914 generation that will see Armagedon, something promised in the bible (according to the masthead of the Watchtower for many many years), and suddenly, they won't see Armagedon (as of 1995 when the WTS changed that)?
-The ever changing blood policy, where little by little (starting with vaccinations & Rh shots that ARE made from human blood), more and more blood components are put on the "it's up to your concience brother/sister" list....where now more than half of all blood components are on the allowed list of JWs to accept.
-pedophiles in the organization that are being sheltered (because of the two witness rule...come on, how many pedophiles will molest kids with two people as witnesses?), no matter what the WTS's PR people are publicly saying.
-the WTS involvement in the UN (in order to get access to 3rd world countries as a humanitarian aid agency...even though they provide virtually no humanitarian aid...and to get free flights for their missionaries among the many reasons they really did it), and as soon it became public knowledge, they pulled out of the UN, blaming their oponents.
The list can go on and on....the WTS can certainly NOT claim to have the truth when their "truths" keep changing, NOT evolving as they claim, and certainly NOT improving and getting brighter according to better understanding of the bible. In some instances, the changes they say is new light, in fact return the organization to a policy they already had in the past! Think about that.
Sadly, those that are "loyall" JWs have their blinders on and will not even think about the organization possibly being wrong, even in light of overwelming evidence.
Just think about it....in a recent poll taken in Muslim countries and reported on CNN, over 60% of the people polled said that as far as they were concerned, it was a Jewish conspiracy that orchestrated the attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York City, and that Muslims couldn't have possibly been involved in something like that. Hmmm.....
Talk about having blinders on....
Peter Stride
Toronto, Canada
peterstride
As far as I'm concerned, no religion can call itself the truth....all religions are made of imperfect humans.Well, it's easy to see that you're one that doesn't believe the Bible.
With the WTS, can you call it the truth when their doctrines keep changing?
Certainly you can. Why must you decree that "The Truth" (genuine Christianity) be dependent upon having a perfect understanding?
I would suggest that you check out Daniel 11:35 ... but then again you don't believe the Bible do you.
Talk about having blinders on....I should say so!
Yadirf
Daniel 11:35 ... a KEY prophecy that must be fulfilled before the "time of the end" gets underway.
Oh, I do believe the bible....haven't you heard that you shouldn't assume things because you might make an ass of yourself?
You really must have blinders on if after all the info you've seen posted here on these boards, you still think that the WTS has the "truth". And there you are trying to say that you don't have blinders on, and blaming someone else. Blame everyone else, just like what the WTS does...Right, gotcha, ahuh, whatever...
Peter
