by life is to short 18 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Just a side note that I found interesting and sort of upsetting, the WT that the JW's will study on Sunday the 18th of September has the words undeserved kindness mentioned 50 in just 19 paragraphs. Really they need to beat it into their people that they are very worthless and do no deserve anything from God? so much so that they use the words over and over, don't they.
LITS
LTIS, yes they do need to do this to the sheeple to keep the mind-control of the cult alive and well.
As soon a healthy person realizes that they are 'ENOUGH' then we can stop bowing down to the likes of the borg and work on our own self esteem and self love without the guilt and fear - just saying!
What exactly is the "kindness" that we're so undeserving of? Not being turned into bird food at the Big A?
It's "grace", not "undeserved kindness." The WTBTS's excuse for not using "grace", is uber-lame to the point of stupidity... Seriously, it's so dumb, that I cannot tell you without getting dumber...
DD
I know Data-Dog, in one of the first paragraph's they even have the audacity to say that a lot of Bible translations use the word Grace yet they keep right on using undeserved kindness, it just makes my blood boil.
LITS
In typical fashion, they quote a scholar, with no reference provided for the quote.
Regarding the word for “undeserved kindness,” which is translated “grace” in many Bible versions, one scholar wrote: “The whole basic idea of the word is that of a free and undeserved gift, of something given to a man unearned and unmerited.” Watchtower Ju;ly 2016 study edition page 22.
This quote is from New Testament Words, by William Barclay. The quote in full is:
“The whole basic idea of the word is that of a free and undeserved gift, of something given to a man unearned and unmerited, something which comes from God's grace and which could never have been achieved or attained or possessed by a man's own efforts." New Testament Words William Barclay 1964 page 63
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Barclay_(theologian) states that:
Barclay's personal views, expressed in his own A Spiritual Autobiography (1977) and Clive L. Rawlins' William Barclay: prophet of goodwill: the authorised biography (1998) included:
- scepticism concerning the Trinity: for example "Nowhere does the New Testament identify Jesus with God."[3]
- belief in universal salvation: in his autobiography he wrote, "I am a convinced universalist. I believe that in the end all men will be gathered into the love of God."[4]
- pacifism: "war is mass murder".[5]
- evolution: "We believe in evolution, the slow climb upwards of man from the level of the beasts. Jesus is the end and climax of the evolutionary process because in Him men met God. The danger of the Christian faith is that we set up Jesus as a kind of secondary God. The Bible never, as it were, makes a second God of Jesus. Rather, it stresses the utter dependence of Jesus on God."[6]
It is interesting that they quote Barclay as the expert on the word charis, yet would regard his other views as heretical.
The Greek word charis can be translated grace or kindness, but there is no justification for including the word "undeserved." Charis is 5485 in Strong's http://biblehub.com/greek/5485.htm which defines Charis as kindness or grace.
Of the 7602 occurrences of "kindness" in the Watchtower Library 2003 CD, it is preceded by the word "undeserved" 2296 times; 30% of the time.
This is demeaning and misses the point. When I give my child a birthday present, it is out of my love and kindness, not because he necessarily deserves or earned the gift. Yet I would never tell him that he did not deserve it, and it was only out of my underserved kindness that I gave it. Watchtower uses this Scripture in a manner that belittles humans, rather than the intention of glorifying God.
Page 24 has 3 illustrations that are "Expressions of God’s undeserved kindness:" These seem really poorly chosen.
My assumption is that the usage of "undeserved kindness" got popular to in the associaciation to the theology of salvation by grace. The salvation by undeserved kindness would be the opposite to the salvation by deeds.
If these connections exist, then the expression "undeserved kindness" might be part of so called "false doctrine of christianity" that should be avoided.
The money which the org has fleeced from J.W. congregations worldwide - that's undeserved!
Sorry to disagree LITS - I've just counted 54 instances of "undeserved kindness" in that article!
The following article only mentions it 34 times.
I need to get out more, I know.
