by breakfast of champions 62 Replies latest watchtower bible
Jw's love the fact that the big A is "coming soooooon, is "just around the corner" (I have been hearing 'just around the corner' since I was 5yo, circa 1953) which means that almost 8 billion will die at the big A. No wonder "we are the happiest people on earth".
eyeuse2badub
The war thing is almost insurmountable, I'd stay away from that one.
Preaching is difficult, but can be overcome if she is willing to consider the big picture. Preaching is built on the premise of saving lives. JWs and other religions believe they preach so that people are saved at Armageddon, or saved from being sent to hell if you are a traditional Christian.
For a JW, the key is chipping away at that premise. Of course we see how its just busy work now, and that it isn't effective. Would she consider somthing like SIAM's post found here which illustrates that the GB is dishonest in how they frame the preaching work?
Why do Jehovah's Witnesses actually go out in the Door-to-Door Ministry™?
Would they do this if they were not directed to do so by the Watchtower Society? or would they come to the conclusion to do so from reading the Bible independently?
Basically, the only reason JWs participate in the Preaching Work™ is because they are mandated to do so by the Watchtower Society, and they are ostracised if they fail to participate in the Preaching Work™. That is a form of coercion, and in such case, it isn't really something one does of their own volition, from their own understanding of the scriptures. It's something they are told to do, or else.
Cult recruiting is not Preaching .
Jehovah's Witnesses don't go to war. And who else is doing the preaching work like Jehovahs Witnesses?
I've debated this many times:
On War: There are 2 angles on this.
First one is the fact that Jehovah Witnesses are not unique on this. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscientious_objector
The second angle is that fact that war and/or armies are not necessarily bad. Jehovah blessed many armies and wars as long at the motivation was acceptable. Armies serve as protection on a national level in the same way police does on a local level. If a country is attacked by a foreign evil force, shouldn't there be any protection? I often offer the analogy:
If there was a city made up of only Jehovah Witnesses, and a large group of outsiders were on their way to rape, murder and rob this city, wouldn't these Jehovah Witnesses organize themselves and defend it? It is reasonable to think they would... This would be an army, and certainly this war would be justified. So the objection to serve in an army, shouldn't be the fact that it's army. You should instead object to a specific war if you don't agree with the reason behind it.
What about people of the same religion fighting on both sides?
Let's go back to our analogy. What if that group of invaders who were on their way to rape, murder and rob also called themselves Jehovah Witnesses?
Is it reasonable to say that:
a) Despite calling themselves JWs, they are not acting like it?
b) Do the residents still have the right to defend themselves?
Along these same lines, we can agree that catholicism as a whole does not endorse torture, murder and extermination. But what if many who were part of Hitler's army call themselves catholic?
a) Are they really catholic?
b) do we still have the right to defend ourselves?
With regard to WAR- many other groups do not condone violence and are conscientious objectors NOT just the witnesses.
As for preaching, well...look at this
2013
Total hours in field ministry- 1, 748, 697, 447 ( that almost 2 billion hours people!)
Total baptized- 268, 777
S0, that means a total of 6505 hours were spent on each person baptized...if you equate that to full time work, that would be over 3 years of full time effort for 1 person!!!
Obviously, if they were really concerned about bringing people into the "truth," they would find a much more productive and effective way to do that. Because, as the statistics show, it isn't working well. The mormons, for example, don't require all their people to preach, yet, they are growing much quicker than other religions. Mainstream christian groups don't require ANY preaching, yet they are growing leaps and bounds!
Now some out there will say, "well, look at how many bible studies they had." My response, bible studies is not what they are after...they are after converts, so the total hours spent should only apply to "results."
Just some thoughts,
SOP
Quakers don't go to war, then there are anabaptists. amish, mennonites etc, a number of pentecostals too.
As for the preaching work, there are at least a million christians in China... how many are JWs? There are over 2 and a half million christians in Pakistan, how many are JWs?
There was a similar thread recently. I gave other religious examples there.
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/jw/experiences/262338/1/Similar-Religions-to-Jehovahs-Witnesses
Along with what everyone else said, you could also point out that evidence indicates that first century Christians didn't all participate in evangelizing or preaching work, only certain ones did.
Ephesians 4:11 says that Christ only gave "some" as evangelizers, not all. Also in 1st Timothy 3 the qualifications for elder and deacon (ministerial servant) are outlined, but if you read them over carefully you will not see any requirement whatsoever for doing any preaching work. (The notion that elders and ministerial servants must get at least 10 hours of preaching in a month is arbitrary and unscriptural.)
Similarly, in Titus chapter 2 insructions are given on how old men, old women, young women, young men and slaves ought to behave and the things they should do in the congregation, but NOWHERE in all these exhortations is there any mention of engaging in preaching work!
So there is nothing in the scripture that supports the idea that everyone in the congregation engaging in proselytizing activity would be a hallmark of true Christianity.
This past summer we had a tornado in our area.
As soon as it was sighted in the distance, the County had every employee go door-to-door to warn citizens of the impending danger.
OH WAIT.............NO THEY DIDN'T.
They put the warning on every TV & radio station and sounded sirens throughout the region.
Everyone knew of the impending danger and sought safety. No lives were lost.
JWs have a much less success rate of notifying the world's citizens of the coming destruction.
Doc
