Is the Watchtower's idea of preaching what Jesus had in mind?

by Latin assassin from Manhattan 11 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  Latin assassin from Manhattan

  What kind of preaching was Jesus talking about in Mathew 24:14? It seems to me that Jesus wanted Christians to preach the hope of the resurrection to mankind. Nowhere in the Bible, does it say that Christians were to preach their own interpretation of Bible prophecy as the WTS does today.

  The faith of the first century Christians was not based on their interpretations of the old testament. It was based on the knowledge that eternal life can be obtained through faith in Jesus -and that's all there was to it. Jesus did not want his followers to worry about when where and how things were to occur. Even when he did provide simple explanations, such truths could not be understood even by those closest to him.

  Could the early congregations have survived if the so called governing body had confused them with a flood of theories and misleading predictions? Not at all. That's why their command was simple, to preach the gospel of the resurrection through faith in Jesus. It was a simple teaching, but it was one that could be easily understood unlike the pagan teaching of the time.

  Having faith in Jesus and having faith in the interpretations of an organization are two very different things. Having faith in Jesus means that you have believe in the future fulfillment of his promises. Having faith in the interpretations of an organization means that you rely on the imperfect understanding of man.
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  OHappyDay

  Your words seem reasonable. Though Matthew 24:14 says it was the good news or Gospel "of the kingdom" that would be preached, the kingdom message given by Jesus is not the one being preached today by Jehovah's Witnesses. And it is worth noting that in the parallel account found in Mark (13:10), it says only that "in all the nations the good news has to be preached first." No mention in Mark about "the kingdom." Luke's account (chapter 21) mentions only preaching that would be done "for the sake of my [Jesus'] name" and "because of my name." (verses 12 and 17)

  Further, the book of Acts shows how Jesus' earliest disciples interpreted his words about preaching, and how they actually carried them out. Their focus is always on Jesus, Jesus, Jesus! The first verse of Acts is about Jesus, and the last verse of Acts (28:31) shows clearly that Paul's preaching of the kingdom meant "teaching the things concerning Jesus Christ."

  By contrast, Jesus is often "missing in action" in the message of Jehovah's Witnesses.
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  Euphemism

  At a very simple level, "the Kingdom" means salvation. The "good news of the kingdom" is humankind's ability to enter that kingdom through faith in the ransom of Jesus.

  For the Watchtower to claim that "the good news of the Kingdom" is that it was invisibly established in heaven in 1914 is ridiculous.
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  mizpah

  There is absolutely no proof that the apostles and disciples preached "from house to house." The new translations make this clear when they render the verse "publicly and in houses." They followed Jesus' example by preaching the "good news" to people who sought him out or in public places such as the market place or other public gatherings. Yes, he did preach when he visited people who invited him to their homes.

  Christians did give testimony to their new faith and talked about Christ with friends and to relatives. But there is no evidence that they knocked on people's doors as Jehovah's Witnesses do today. The work of evangelizing was done by those appointed to the ministry by God's holy spirit. Paul said that only "some" were appointed to be evangelizers.

  The "good news" was effectively spread in the first century throughout the Roman world by these two means. Personal testimony by every Christian and the ministry work of the appointed evangelizers. They did not keep publisher record cards. And they did not need the approval of a Governing Body to do this work. And they certainly did not need Watchtower publications!
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  robhic

  Christians did give testimony to their new faith and talked about Christ with friends and to relatives. But there is no evidence that they knocked on people's doors as Jehovah's Witnesses do today. The work of evangelizing was done by those appointed to the ministry by God's holy spirit. Paul said that only "some" were appointed to be evangelizers.

  A thought just occured to me. In the days of the early Christians, "door-to-door" could possibly mean very large distances. With the exception of cities, the ancient world wasn't even close to being a model of suburbia that most people are used to today.

  And not only the distances involved but knocking on strangers' doors would probably be much more dangerous than it is even today. Jesus didn't go door to door. He'd go to a hillside or offshore in a boat and preach to the masses. I guess knocking on strangers' doors didn't appeal to JC, either.

  Robert
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  Maverick

  To answer Latins question...Not even close! Maverick
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  heathen

  Persoanally I don't have a major problem with the door to door preaching work . There are many religions that teach anti jw ism and from the stand point of just being able to contact people in their home in order to discuss the differences in religion I can see where it is a useful technique . I am against forcing people by using emotional blackmail or women and children being involved .The way they handle it is disgraceful IMO . When jesus was preaching , his main objective was to teach and save what members of the jewish nation that he could .When the nation of Israel rejected him as the messiah by executing him , it then became of utmost importance to spread the word to the gentile nations . I think that they did use the door to door preaching method as well as finding anyone anywhere that would listen .
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  Brummie

  The word in the text "this good news of the kingdom" to highlight and show their error is the word "THIS" because that meant that the Good news was a present reality and not a future setting up of a the WT phantom kingdom.

  For instance, if Jesus has said "THAT good news of the kingdom" he could well have been pointing to some future event that would happen in the heavens , but because he said "THIS message" he meant it was a present message that was being preached right there and then and not a future tense message. He didnt say "that message which you shall recieve is good news" He obviosely meant THIS Message which you have been given is the good news. They already had it, it wasnt a future hidden message that would be understood by CTRussells "eye of understanding" in 1874/1914. Tis truely stupid to veiw it this way when one thinks it through.
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  OHappyDay

  mizpah, it seems we have come to some of the same conclusions in our reading of the scriptures. There is no indication in the NT that the average Christian was a "preacher," and Paul's encouragement to preach was given to elders like Timothy, and the work was shared by the apostles and the "some" who were given the church as "evangelizers."

  The first-century C.E. world of the first Christians was a world of Jewish revolt against Rome, and door-to-door preaching would be difficult, to say the least. Neither the Jews nor the Gentiles were hospitable to visits by Christians. At some point, the Jews even pronounced a curse upon Christians in the regular synagogue service, to oust those Jewish Christians who were attending synagogue.

  No doubt what we term today "informal witnessing" took place. But, according to historians and the earliest "church fathers," what impressed the pagans and drew people to Christianity, was what Christians did -- the exemplary and devoted lives they led -- rather than what they said.

  Christian refusal renounce Christ by giving a pinch of incense to the emperor, and martyrdom in the arena spoke louder than any discourse. The commendation was, "See how they love one another! They would even die for one another!," not "What a fine sermon they preach!"
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  mizpah

  OHappyDay:

  A very good observation. I guess "actions speak louder than words" applied in the first century, too. But we don't want to forget that the spoken word did play an important role: "With the heart one excercises faith, but with the mouth one makes public declaration for salvation." When anyone of us gets good news we like to share it with others. It was no different in the first century about the "good news" concerning Christ. But that is quite different from the programed ministry and message of Jehovah's Witnesses today. But you are right. The actions of the early Christians were as important as the spoken word....and probably in some instances even more important.