Greg Stafford's New Book Has Shipped

by AlanF 50 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  AlanF

  Today I received Greg Stafford's new book Three Dissertations on the Teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses. For those who don't know, Stafford has been a staunch defender of the Watchtower Society's teachings for at least six years, on the Net and in print. His previous book, Jehovah's Witnesses Defended (1998, 2000), is a milestone in pro-JW literature.

  The new book is a radical departure from Stafford's previous book in that he strongly questions the Society's doctrines about blood transfusions, the basis for the claim of spiritual authority by JW leaders, the necessity for Christians to believe the Society's 1914 doctrine, and issues of "legalism" including the propriety of requiring "time" in the field ministry to be reported, and even the supposed scriptural basis for the Society's ban on celebrating birthdays and Christmas. The book has sections supporting the Society's views on the Trinity and the divine name.

  Overall, I think that Stafford has written a reasonably objective book. I certainly disagree with some of his conclusions, but I agree with many of them. He tries and almost always succeeds to be scrupulously fair, even when being fair requires criticism of the Society's practices and teachings.

  I'll be astounded if Stafford isn't disfellowshipped within a month.

  AlanF
• 

  plmkrzy

  Hi Alan
  I went to Amazon and Yahoo. Found 1 book by Greg Stafford. The "Defended"
  Couldn't find "Three Dissertations on the Teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses."

  Where did you order it from?

  plm

  
  

  No matter how thin you slice it there are always two sides
• 

  clash_city_rockers

  If I remember correctly James White debated Greg Stafford and crushed thoroughly. If you have real audio you can catch the details here http://www.straitgate.com/jw021200.ram

  Or you can find it here http://www.aomin.org/

  Well happy hunting

  BTW did you get Walter Elwell's work? Remember I am familure with almost of all of the evangelical scholars that write from the major evangelical seminaries. .
  It also helps to have a subscription from major evangelical journals Like.
  
  1. (JETS) Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
  2. Trinity Evangelical Theological Journal (From Trinity Seminary in Deerfield, Ill)
  3. Westminster Theological Journal (From Westminster Seminary in Philadelphia)
  4. Southern Theological Journal (from Southern Baptists Seminary in KY)
  5. Biblathica Sacra (From Dallas Seminary in Dallas, TX)
  6. Reformation and Revival
  7. Reformation Today
  8. Modern Reformation (Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals)
  9. Evangelical Quarterly (From World Fellowship of Evangelicals)
  10. Mid America Theological Journal (From Mid America Reformed Seminary)
  11. Grace Theological Journal (from Grace Seminary in Wawana Lake, IN)
  12. Masters Seminary Journal (from The Masters Seminary)

  That is a good dozen to start off with

  If you want to buy bible believing conservative evangelical books to use to try use to disprove the bible and Christianity go ahead it will just blow up in your face.

  cheers
• 

  Pathofthorns

  he strongly questions the Society's doctrines about blood transfusions, the basis for the claim of spiritual authority by JW leaders, the necessity for Christians to believe the Society's 1914 doctrine, and issues of "legalism" including the propriety of requiring "time" in the field ministry to be reported, and even the supposed scriptural basis for the Society's ban on celebrating birthdays and Christmas

  When you mention he "questions" these things, do you mean he questions the validity of the Society's current stand and explanation on these things, or that he merely raises questions "opposers" have regarding these things and then proceeds to defend the Society?

  Thanks.

  Path
• 

  Cygnus

  Thanks Alan.

  Back in October I ordered the book, and in January they shipped me Furuli's instead. :) Hopefully this time they'll get it right!

  I'll email you if I hear anything about Greg.
• 

  stevieb1

  It is quite interesting to read that Stafford's new book seems to challenge some of the Society's tenets. I was under the impression that it was defending the Society on some points, such as the faithful and discreet slave. If he is criticizing the Society then why is Elihu Books (pro-witness publishers) distributing his material? Does anyone know who owns Elihu Books?

  It seems that when individuals "grow a brain" within Jehovah's Witnesses and analyze some of the Watchtower's doctrines from a scholarly viewpoint they come to divergent conclusions and soon leave the Watchtower or ceremonially get disfellowshipped. Two persons come to mind- Jay Hess who published a book called Jehovah's Witnesses Are Not False Prophets and even wrote articles for The Watchtower magazine. He later retracted what he had said in the aforementioned work and now believes the organization to be a false prophet. He is now a Christian. Secondly, we have James Penton, a recognized scholar even as a Witness. He first wrote a massive book called 'Jehovah's Witnesses in Canada' and defended the Society before the media on several ocassions. He too left the organization when he found their doctrines to be false. So could this be the case with Greg Stafford. And who knows of Rolf Furuli's current standing with the organization and that of another defender of the Watchtower by te name of atthew Alfs who a number of years wrote a book called The Evocative Religion of Jehovah's Witnesses?
• 

  ros

  Does anyone know who owns Elihu Books?

  Greg was asked this question on Channel C board not long ago.
  http://www.channelc.org/cgi-bin/eboard30/index.cgi
  Greg replied that he owns Elihu Books.

  As Alan mentioned, it will be interesting to see how this turns out for him. I hope there will be some followup discussion about it with him on Channel C.

  Thanks for your thoughts, Alan. I haven't had the opportunity to read it yet. Now I'm really baited.

  Ros
  "A religion that teaches lies cannot be true"--The Watchtower, 12/1/91 pg. 7
• 

  Eric

  Overall, I think that Stafford has written a reasonably objective book.

  Well OK, but has he written his own glowing review of it yet?

  Yeah, I know: Bridge-->Water/long gone, but I couldn't resist!

  Eric
• 

  Farkel

  clash,

  : If you want to buy bible believing conservative evangelical books to use to try use to disprove the bible and Christianity go ahead it will just blow up in your face.

  No need. The Bible blows up on its own.

  Farkel
• 

  AlanF

  To plmkrzy:

  You can order the book from the website http://www.elihubooks.com/ for $14.95. I doubt that it's available anywhere else yet. Elihu Books IS Greg Stafford, BTW.

  To Pathofthorns:

  I literally mean that Stafford questions these things, because he hardly ever makes a hard conclusion. Instead he presents various Bible notions and passages, then compares these with WTS teaching, and raises questions generally like, "In light of what the Bible says, are these teachings valid?" He's apparently being extremely careful to avoid directly saying that the Society is wrong. He certainly repeats many questions that critics have long raised, and comes up with a few of his own.

  To stevieb1:

  Stafford has certainly been a strong defender of the Society's teachings via his first book and on the Net. His new book contains two sections defending the JW non-trinity stance and its use of the divine name. While he has certainly defended the "faithful slave" doctrine in the past, the large scope and nature of the questions he raises show that he's done an about face on this. Stafford owns Elihu Books. I suspect that this new book will cause a major break between him and some of the other authors who have published through him.

  You're right about Hess and Penton. Hess told me that he was absolutely convinced that the JWs were "God's organization" until the very moment he was DF'd, so he was absolutely shocked when that happened. Penton developed misgivings over a long period of time, and if I remember right, it was the flack that the Society gave him over his "JWs in Canada" book that pushed him far into the camp of critics. Furuli, so far as I'm aware, is still a stauch defender and I'll bet he'll be livid about Stafford's book. Alfs became inactive shortly after he published his book, I believe.

  AlanF