Excellent replies!
separation and apog: I *almost* became a Jehovah's Witness. (at least, that is the easiest way to describe it to someone who never was one). I did enjoy the "community" feeling, and they treat new people like treasures. The love-bombing really did work on me. My over-critical analysis, and my husband's rebellion against their bullying and overemphasis on minutia, stunted our "progress," to the point of our BS teacher finally threatening my husband in private. (threats of death at Armageddon didn't get very far with him... you don't PUSH an intellectual into believing you)
punk: I'm glad I'm not the only one who sees their wording as so strange and cultic.
leaving: Exactly! You made an great point. How do they handle that "bait and switch," with someone who is paying attention? I find this particular issue of the WT to be timely and interesting, since this is almost the same conversation I tried to have with my dear elderette, Miss K. One of her main points about Jesus and his name being above ALL names, was the response, "Yes, that is true, BUT who GAVE him that power???"
Jesus Christ is merely a tool to get to "Jehovah."
I guess I have never noticed before, their arrogance being displayed in such an obvious way. "We bear the name of God." -- Really??
And, the way they so confidently outline specific and estimated dates in this article
(July 2014 Watchtower, pages 30-31, starting in paragraph 7, under the subheading "A Ransom in Exchange for Many"). These dates are specified:
7: Pentecost 33CE - Jehovah graciously accepted the value of Jesus' perfect human sacrifice as an atonement for sin
8: "Some 27 years after Pentecost CE, it could be said that 'the message of truth of the good news' had reached Jews and Gentiles' in all creation under heaven.' -Col. 1:5, 23"
9: original Christian congregation became corrupted. "apostasy, promoted by 'the wicked one,' Satan, would grow and obscure true Christianity until 'the conclusion of the system of things.' (Matt. 13:37-43)
9: OCTOBER 1914 - Jehovah enthrones Jesus as King over the world of mankind, marking the beginning of "the last days" of Satan's wicked system
10: "Modern-day annointed Christians pointed in advance to October 1914 as a significant date." ... "the sign of [Christ's] presence" became clear for all to see
11: 1919 - post-war year opened up possibility for worldwide witness to be given about God's means of salvation and the good news of the established Kingdom.
12: mid-1930's onward - "it became evident that Christ had started to gather millions of his 'other sheep,' who would make up a multinational 'great crowd.' "
It is fascinating to watch them cling to these dates, when the quoted verse used to introduce the article seems to directly contradict that anyone would know any specific dates.
This article is titled, "You Will Be Witnesses of Me."
The article's subheading is a few excerpts from Acts 1:7,8:
"[Jesus] said to them: '. . . You will be witnesses of me . . . to the most distant part of the earth.' "
What is significant about the ". . ." ? (they wouldn't leave out anything important in an article that is direct from Jehovah himself ... !!)
Acts 1:7 "He said to them: “It does not belong to you to know the times or seasons that the Father has placed in his own jurisdiction."
So the only part of verse 7 that is fit to print here, was "He [Jesus] said to them:" . . . (irrelevant part) . . . skip to verse 8: "you will be witnesses of me"
(as in: you are witnessing me [Jesus] being a witness of "Jehovah" - whom I call Father - but you go ahead and call him by him by a name commonly rendered in English as "Jehovah."
That makes you a Witness of Jesus!
Jesus evidently forgot to say: "I will return in about 1800 years or so, inspect and appoint someone to prepare the way for me to come back to rule over the earth as King in October of 1914)" - they claim they "pointed in advance to October 1914."
Acts 1:8 "But you will receive power when the holy spirit comes upon you, and you will be witnesses of me in Jerusalem, in all Ju·de′a and Sa·mar′i·a, and to the most distant part of the earth.”
I guess what [Jesus] really meant, was that "you" referred to those who actually walked and talked with [Jesus] Christ while he was here on earth. Clearly, this knowledge would be revealed to annointed ones during the last days of "this system of things."
They use 18 words out of 60 (omitting 70% of the text), when using scripture to illustrate the point of this article:
Witness of Jesus = Witness of Jehovah - (Yes, you can call yourself a Christian, and still be a Jehovahian)
([Jesus] came to be a witness of his Father [Jehovah]... in fact, he was the best Witness of Jehovah EVERRRRR...and since no one could ever be a witness of Jesus Christ, if Jehovah had not sent him here, then everyone who witnesses for Jesus, is actually witnessing for Jehovah. When you Witness for Jehovah, you are witnessing his [Jehovah's] power to appoint Jesus to rule over his earthly Kingdom!! Hallelu-Jehovah! Ohhhh... how did I ever miss that connection? It was so obvious and simple all along! ... Thank you, faithful and discreet slave, for that little twist on the truth. Spinning it around like that, it suddenly becomes SO clear! It all makes perfect sense now. How do I become one of Jehovah's Witnesses [of Jesus's Witness of Jehovah's power to give Jesus the power to save us from death]?)
