I’m just curious to hear other people’s input on different scriptures or quotes from the society or witnesses that are used out of context. I’ve always found it funny when a scripture is quoted and applied to whatever point they’re trying to make, but where it was taken from in the Bible passage has nothing to do with what they’re getting at.
Out of context
by Nomorejwguilt 8 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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ohnightdivine
Welcome to the forum, Nomorejwguilt!
Like you I also noticed this practice of the WT organization, which is one of the things that awakened me.
If you are ready and able to do so, please feel free to share with us your story (without divulging too much info to keep your privacy). We are here to listen to you.
Warm regards
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Ding
Romans 6:7 in the Fred Franz version reads, "For the one who has died has been acquitted from his sin."
The WT uses this to teach that a person's own death pays for his sins so that he starts out in the new system with a clean slate.
But that's not the topic under discussion in Romans 6 at all.
A recognized translation such as ESV renders Romans 6:6-7 as follows: "We know that our old self was crucified with him in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin. For one who has died has been set free from sin."
In other words, Paul wasn't talking about physical death paying the penalty for sin. He was talking about a spiritual transaction in this life through which a Christian is no longer enslaved to the power of sin. This is the context of all of Romans 6.
This is but one example where the GB comes up with a doctrine and then pulls a verse out of its context (and even mistranslates it) in order to make the Bible appear to teach that doctrine.
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Ding
Another example is the WT's partial quotation of Ecclesiastes 9:5: "... the dead know nothing."
The WT uses this in support of its doctrine that people have no consciousness or thought after they die.
But does the Bible present this as God's viewpoint?
Look at the context. Ecclesiastes 9:5-6: "For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing, and they have no more reward, for the memory of them is forgotten.
6 Their love and their hate and their envy have already perished, and forever they have no more share in all that is done under the sun."Is God saying that the dead have no more reward, that the memory of them is forgotten and that forever they have no more share in all that will happen under the sun?
If so, so much for the resurrection to a paradise earth where they will live forever!
Consider also the wider context of the whole book of Ecclesiastes. Does that book purport to express God's viewpoint or that of a man who sees this life as all there is?
Look at Ecclesiastes 1:2: "'Meaningless! Meaningless!' says the Teacher. 'Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.'"
If that expresses God's viewpoint on life, then there is no need of reading Ecclesiastes 9:5 because everything -- including Ecclesiastes 9 -- is meaningless. -
Crazyguy
Ecclesiastes 9 proved to me that the idea of a resurrection was not a early Jewish view or belief.
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Xanthippe
Welcome to the forum Nomorejwguilt, I'm glad you asked me that question.
This is the scripture they use as the excuse for changing the doctrines whenever prophecies aren't fulfilled, for example bringing in the overlapping generations doctrines.
'But the path of the righteous one is like the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established'. - Prov 4 :18 NWT
This verse isn't about new teachings or revelations from God to his people. It's about how well the righteous person lives because the next verse says 'the way of the wicked one is like the darkness, they have not known at what they keep stumbling.'
The paragraph begins at verse 14, 'Into the path of the wicked ones do not enter and do not walk straight on into the way of the bad ones'.
Everything is context and the context here is about being a good person, nothing to do with new prophecies or teachings, new light.
The one that amuses me is verse 24, 'Remove from yourself the crookedness of speech and the deviousness of lips put far away from yourself'.
Six verses away from the one the GB always quote for their new light but they never use it, I wonder why!
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The Fall Guy
Welcome NoMoreJWGuilt. Looking forward to hearing your about your JW experiences.
I'm so glad you asked this question, because it prodded me into looking for proof in the org's literature of how they falsely represent the wording in Hebrews 13:15 - "....public declaration to his name."
Every JW has been led to believe that this verse refers to the name of Jehovah, and yet, I had to go back 46 years to find an org quote which explicitly claimed this -
w73 5/1 p. 260 What Does God’s Name Mean to You? - Does Your Teaching Truly Honor God's Name?....Do you ‘publicly’ declare your faith in God’s name?
If asked, the vast majority/all JW's would answer, 'Jehovah's name' - not 'Jesus.'Who were Christians to witness for?
Matthew 10:18; Mark 13:9; Luke 24:48; John 1:15; 5:37; 8:18; 15:26,27; Acts 1:8; 9:15,16; 10:39; 10:43; 13:31; 22:15; 22:20; 23:11; 26:16; 1 Cor. 1:6; 1 Tim. 2:6,7; 2 Tim. 1:8; 1 John 5:9; Revelation 1:9; 12:17; 17:6; 19:10; 20:4.
Who was God's witness? Revelation 1:5; 3:14; 19:11.
Whose name was primary in the lives of 1st century Christians? Matthew 10:22; 18:20; 19:29; 24:9; Luke 10:17; 21:12; 21:16, 17; John 2:23; 5:27,28; 14:26; 15:16; Acts 2:38; Acts 3:6; 4:10; 5:40,41; 9:14-16; 10:48; 11:26; 16:18; 19:5; 22:16; 1 Corinthians 6:11; 2 Corinthians 5:15; Philippians 2:10; Hebrews 13:15*; Revelation 2:3;13.
Christians had to do everything in/for Christ's name - and nothing in God's name!
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The Fall Guy
Wow!!! A "new light" was quietly inserted by the faithful slave-master exactly 20 years later -
w93 6/1 p. 11 par. 14 - It is through Christ Jesus that our sacrifice of praise is offered. And it is principally by means of that sacrifice of praise, that public declaration to his name, [Jesus'] that we show our love of God.
Are many JW's actually aware of this profound statement from their lords & masters in Warwick?