by enigma1863 42 Replies latest watchtower scandals
jgnat: 'For instance, I have met many Witnesses who assume they will see their (non-believing) relatives in paradise.'
Interesting. I (a never-in) was told by an elder that non-believers might be resurrected (if they'd been good). Is this not a universal JW belief?
bemused, there are a few tricks for this to work. First of all, they have to be dead before Armageddon. Second, they must be perfectly willing to endure indoctrination to join paradise with everyone else. Heck, if they rejected the Witnesses before Armageddon, who is to say they would be willing to go along with the program after? I know my father-in-law would take two seconds to invite lightning from heaven to strike him dead rather than join.
Truth be told, all JWs are united in their fear of openly disagreeing with Watchtower. JWs do not have true unity of belief. What they have is psychologically coerced conformity to Watchtower teachings.
Bemused said:
Interesting. I (a never-in) was told by an elder that non-believers might be resurrected (if they'd been good). Is this not a universal JW belief?
This is actually something is taught, but not explcitly. This creates a paradox to which there are no real good answers. Basically, you could get a witness to say that it's no better to be a Witness than a non-witness so long as you die before Armageddon.
So, it ends up like this: Don't be a witness and hope armageddon doesn't come in your lifetime, or be a Witness and hope it does. Armageddon is basically the only time you're better off being a witness. They would have a hard time admitting it, but it is found in their doctrine.
I doubt very much if there is any religion on earth where all the adherents believe the same thing. In some this is tolerated, even encouraged, in others, like JWs of course, it's the opposite. Obviously JWs all believe the same core doctrines, (no trinity, no hell, no immortal spirit, these are the last days, the GB are semi-divine etc, etc), but there are bound to be differences on peripheral doctrine, because, as someone has already said, most of them don’t even know what the full set of doctrines is. And even is they did, they would still have to go back to the latest Watchtower on the subject to make sure their belief is up to date.
Only when faced with a Judicial Committee, otherwise they are all free-thinking
I am not sure that unity in belief is a positive attribute. It's one the Witnesses assign to themselves. Dress alike, groom alike, meetings alike, assemblies alike, highlight their magazines alike.
I know for a fact my wife does not agree with every Jehovah's Witness belief, but she will defend them and their actions if pressed.
My hubby is about ten years behind in the doctrines. He just can't keep up. The core doctrines he approves of he can spout off in a flea's wink. Even if they are a tad out-of-date.
The whole Jehovah Witness Watchtower religion theology, doctrines, beliefs, practices & policies are so convoluted, confusing and ever-changing that none of the JW at any time know exactly what they believe. This religion is nothing but man-made crap being made up as they go along.
