by Blueblades 10 Replies latest jw friends
The WT.Society forbids the reading of apostate literature.
They claim that all religions have apostatized.
They claim that the Catholic Church is an apostate religion.
Yet they use the Bible that they ( the church ) canonized during the face off of which books should be canonized and which ones should not.
Simply put, how does the WT.Society know which books are inspired and which ones are not?
Blueblades
I wrote an article about this after the 1995 change in the 1914 doctrine called New Light From Old Books And Dead Opposers. It's at http://www.freeminds.org/history/busselmn.htm
Most Witnesses don't know W. E. Vine was an apostate and opposed Jehovah's Witnesses yet he is used as their expert for doctrines like the stake opposed to the cross and their disbelief in hell.
The way they know which books of the Bible are inspired is they look at which ones are in the Bible they printed and those are the ones that are inspired.
That's a good question, not only for JWs, but for all Protestants as well. Luther's motto "sola scriptura", calling upon "Scripture" against "Tradition" when "Scripture" is only known as such through Tradition, has rightly been called the Achilles' heel of Protestantism.
The 16th Century Reformers were Humanists first: they would never have condemned reading and knowledge. Unfortunately, a few generations later, their "Scripture" doctrine only led to ignorance of everything but the "Bible canon", with the side effect that what is called "the Bible" appears as a monolith fallen from nowhere (I mean heaven, of course!). I remember one Evangelical student in theology tearing away the deuterocanonical books from his Jerusalem Bible (he used that one because he liked the format). Silly, isn't it?
Gary,very good article,it supports my questions.
Here you have the Society using the very literature that they condemn as being from apostates and using it to try and support their doctrinal changes as new light and quoting scriptures from Apostate Christendoms versions of Canonized Bible books.
Thanks for the Article,it's the perfect example of what I'm trying to point out in my questions.
Narkissos,thanks for your input also,it too is proof of the hypocrisy of the WT.Society.
Blueblades
Actually any JW literature before 1950 would definitely be considered apostate since so much "new light" has shone forth, Blueblades. When I started reading the Studies in the Scriptures I wondered if Russell had started the WTS of today.
Blondie
I've asked many JW's this same question and was shocked to learn that very few are even familiar with the history of the bible or the bible writers.
Devon
Good point Blondie. Most of the Bible Students that I have talked with claim that Joe Rutherford started the JWS. And, as you noted, Russell's works have little to do with the present Watch Tower belief structure.
Not sure why any would insist Rutherford started WTBTS although he was president when the name changed. Maybe that's it.
Rutherford DID start the Jehovah's Witnesses. Russell started the Watch Tower Society.
Hi Petes, The reason I say Rutherford is the founder of the current Witness movement is history. Rutherford stole the corporation and it's assets and split the membership, history. Rutherford purged large numbers of the Bible Students in 1917 and 1918, history. The only Bible Students that stayed conformed to Rutherford's demands and supported him. Rutherford turned the movement into a hate club and initiated the current doctrine and practices, all well documented in history. GaryB
