by stuckinarut2 11 Replies latest watchtower bible
I often wonder how does the average JW get past the obvious words at Romans 12:1
"Present yourself...acceptable to god, with YOUR POWER OF REASON"
The very essence of being a witness is to SWITCH off your thinking reasoning, and just blindly follow the GB?
"listen, obey and be blessed"
Dont think or reason on anything, except if that reasoning is to nod in agreement to everything spewed forth...even if the teachings change in a few years time!
You are right of course, but the GB and Writing Department have pulled off the trick of fooling the R&F JW's in to thinking that they do use their "power of reason", whilst the reality is, that "power" has been taken away from them.
Clever a?
An Elder I challenged a while ago to properly examine the evidence for his beliefs told me he had done so ! He had done it by researching in the JW literature, which I pointed out was a waste of time, but he felt he had used his "power of reason". Very sad.
When people are kept in a bubble of ignorance they are easy to control and manipulate. Just look at those Islamists who become Radicalised.
The leaders of the JW.Org religion are intent upon control and manipulation, they lose the ability to do both to a person who really uses his "power of reason".
Isn't that the problem with religion in general. You go to a Baptist church, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Catholic etc. and want to join you have to first go through their catechism before being allowed to join.
stuckinarut2
For starters, even that translation (NWT) is twisted by the GB.
Consequently I entreat YOU by the compassions of God, brothers, to present YOUR bodies a sacrifice living, holy, acceptable to God, a sacred service with YOUR power of reason.
I think it's interesting that they put YOU and YOUR in caps, something that is usually reserved for God, to imply deity in most bible translations.
I think it's interesting that they put YOU and YOUR in caps, something that is usually reserved for God, to imply deity in most bible translations.
It is explained in the introduction to the (old) NWT. When "you" and "your" are in caps, it is to mark them as plural. In most other languages, there are distinct words for the singular "you" vs. the plural "you". In English, of course, they are spelled the same.
In the revised NWT, they have stopped with the capitalization, so you have to get the singular vs. plural from context.
How do they get around it?!?! That's easy, it's only REASONABLE to obey the "channel of God." You must first destroy the "channel of God" concept. Only then, can the mind of a dub start to function. Protecting the "channel of God" dogma is all important because it's all the WTBTS has. Without that, no one would take them seriously. That's why they must demand blind obedience and shoot their wounded immediately. They simply cannot afford a mass awakening.
EVERYTHING THEY DO IS TO PREVENT JWs FROM SEEING THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN.
DD
sir82
That may be how THEY explain it:)
Don't you think that that was the GB doing the thinking for the reader in the older NWT?
Corporate you and yours vs personal.
Data Dog
EVERYTHING THEY DO IS TO PREVENT JWs FROM SEEING THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN.
You nailed it!
As data dog noted, jw's are taught that to accept what the slave says is reasonable. You study to prove the slave true. When you start from a baseline that the slave is true you find evidance readily to support that, despite anything to the contrary. The point is, the assumption is always in the slaves infalibity, thus it would be unreasonable to reject what they say... Or print.
Great comments ...
yes, it really is a case of "we say we are gods channel, therefore that makes it true..."
circular reasoning at its finest!
No room for real critical thinking amongst jws.........
That may be how THEY explain it:)
Don't you think that that was the GB doing the thinking for the reader in the older NWT?
Corporate you and yours vs personal.
I don't understand your point.
You seem to be implying sinister motives toward a (typically) awkward convention that Freddy Franz used in his obsession to be as literal as possible in his Bible translation.
I don't see anything menacing in something that is not in the NWTs that 80% of the JW worldwide community (those who don't speak English) would never see.
