Recently I posted a thread "E-Watchman - what's his game"
A question was raised and so I posted it back to him to reply. He hasd replied as posted below.
My opinion remains the same, that he answers a question you haven't asked.
What say any of you?
| This is not my question but one I read on JW.com and which I feel deserves an answer. The question is: e-watchman admonishes others not to be causing divisions and seems to think it is best not to speak of things that one is doubting about, yet how is his/her writing not causing division? It would be interesting to have him/her openly state why they have the authority to expose the WTS, etc and yet others do not. So, e-watchman, what is your reply? |
First, watchman is definitely a reference to him and not a her. But as for the question you posed: It seems that you are really confusing two different issues. On the one hand, you speak of deliberately exposing the Watchtower, but then you refer to one who has doubts. We shouldn't really imagine that they are necessarily the same, should we? If a person has doubts about their faith, why should they want to share their doubts with others? What can you possibly hope to accomplish except that you will likely cause others to develop doubts themselves or cause them to view you with suspicion and distrust? On the matter of exposing the Watchtower, as you call it: That's not what e-Watchman is about. The fact is that there are evidently hundreds of web sites on the Internet run by ex-JW's, and others opposed to our faith, that are devoted to "exposing" and bashing the Watchtower. e-Watchman tries to honestly and squarely confront some of the many accusations leveled against the Watchtower by acknowledging that some issues have a basis in fact. So, rather than dismissing such things outrightly as ‘apostate lies,’ as some of Jehovah's Witnesses may be inclined to do, the approach taken on e-Watchman is to examine such things by taking a fresh look at Bible prophecy. The intent is not to cause doubts or divisions but to impart to others a renewed confidence in God's Word. The irony of that approach, of course, is that it does further expose the Watchtower's lack of insight, particularly as regards Jehovah's judgments against his organization. But, be that as it may. Obviously, at some point Jehovah's judgments will become manifest. That being the case, it is entirely consistent with the way God has dealt with his wayward people in ancient times, that those who do the "exposing" of the errors of his people should themselves be loyal worshippers of Jehovah and not enemies of Jehovah's people or malcontents. That was, after all, the work that the Hebrew prophets did. For example, through Isaiah, Jehovah gives the command: "Call out full-throated; do not hold back. Raise your voice just like a horn, and tell my people their revolt, and the house of Jacob their sins." Now the question arises: Was Isaiah an apostate enemy of the house of Jacob? Or a doubter of the Word of God? The answer of course is no. Isaiah and all the other prophets were worshippers of Jehovah. In the modern fulfillment of the prophecy, it seems reasonable that those who obey Jehovah’s command to tell God’s "people their revolt" are themselves also Jehovah's Witnesses. There is a rule that attorneys in the courtroom try to observe in order to prevent any little surprises. It states that they should never ask a question of someone on the stand that they do not know already know the answer to. So it is that, e-Watchman is not merely exposing error for the sake of exposing error, but also presenting answers and solutions to the potentially faith-destroying problems confronting Jehovah’s Witnesses. Ultimately, like Job’s impassioned defense and Jacob’s wrestling with the angel in order to obtain a blessing, we argue for our faith and state our defense before God, as if to convince him of the genuineness of our faith. That is why Paul closed out his letter to the Corinthians by saying: “Have you been thinking all this while that we have been making our defense to you? It is before God that we are speaking in connection with Christ. But, beloved ones, all things are for your upbuilding.” |