by Pleasuredome 10 Replies latest watchtower bible
someone i know was given 'mankind's search for god' book. he read it because he thought it would be interesting to know about other religions. he told me that he soon realised that after so long in each chapter that explained a particular religion, the text started to become biased and sometimes patronizing against that religion. needless to say he got a bit fed up of reading the book.
does anyone here have experiences of hearing peoples opinions on JW books, who don't know anything about JWs?
All the experiences I have had with "worldly people" with the Mankinds Search for God book have been very positive
The Creation book I got the most negative comments from because it was so innacurate and misquoted people
A Bahai man I know read the information below and said it was accurate and was impressed, but then he did not read the whole book either.
Mankind's Search for God chap. 12 pp. 304-305 Islām?The Way to God by Submission ***
The
Bahā´ī Faith?Seeking World Unity1 The Bahā´ī faith is not a sect of Islām but is an offshoot of the Bābī religion, a group in Persia (today Iran) that broke away from the Shī`ite branch of Islām in 1844. The leader of the Bābīs was Mīrzā `Alī Mohammad of Shīrāz, who proclaimed himself the Bāb ("the Gate") and the imām-mahdī ("rightly guided leader") from the line of Muhammad. He was executed by the Persian authorities in 1850. In 1863 Mīrzā Hoseyn Alī Nūrī, a prominent member of the Bābī group, "declared himself to be ?He whom God will make manifest,? whom the Bāb had foretold." He also took the name Bahā´ Ullāh ("Glory of God") and formed a new religion, the Bahā´ī faith.
2 Bahā´ Ullāh was banished from Persia and was eventually imprisoned in Acco (today Acre, Israel). There he wrote his main work, al-Kitāb al-Aqdas (The Most Holy Book), and developed the doctrine of the Bahā´ī faith into a comprehensive teaching. At Bahā´ Ullāh?s death, the leadership of the fledgling religion passed to his son `Abd ol-Bahā´, then to his great-grandson, Shoghi Effendi Rabbānī, and in 1963 to an elected administrative body known as the Universal House of Justice.
3 Bahā´īs believe that God has revealed himself to man by means of "Divine Manifestations," including Abraham, Moses, Krishna, Zoroaster, the Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, the Bāb, and Bahā´ Ullāh. They believe that these messengers were provided to guide mankind through an evolutionary process in which the appearance of the Bāb initiated a new age for mankind. The Bahā´īs say that to date his message is the fullest revelation of God?s will and that it is the primary God-given instrument that will make world unity possible.?1 Timothy 2:5, 6.
4 One of the basic precepts of Bahā´ī is "that all the great religions of the world are divine in origin, that their basic principles are in complete harmony." They "differ only in the nonessential aspects of their doctrines."?2 Corinthians 6:14-18; 1 John 5:19, 20.
5 Bahā´ī beliefs include the oneness of God, the soul?s immortality, and the evolution (biological, spiritual, and social) of mankind. On the other hand, they reject the common concept of angels. They also reject the Trinity, the reincarnation teaching of Hinduism, and man?s fall from perfection and subsequent ransom through the blood of Jesus Christ.?Romans 5:12; Matthew 20:28.
6 The brotherhood of man and the equality of women are major features of Bahā´ī belief. Bahā´īs practice monogamy. At least once a day, they pray any one of three prayers revealed by Bahā´ Ullāh. They practice fasting from sunup to sundown during the 19 days of the Bahā´ī month of `Alā, which falls in March. (The Bahā´ī calendar consists of 19 months, each having 19 days, with certain intercalary days.)
7 The Bahā´ī faith does not have many set rituals, nor does it have clergy. Any who profess faith in Bahā´ Ullāh and accept his teachings may be enrolled as members. They meet for worship on the first day of every Bahā´ī month.
8 The Bahā´īs see themselves as having the mission of the spiritual conquest of the planet. They try to spread their faith through conversation, example, participation in community projects, and information campaigns. They believe in absolute obedience to the laws of the country in which they reside, and though they vote, they abstain from participation in politics. They prefer noncombatant duty in the armed forces when possible but are not conscientious objectors.
9 As a missionary religion, Bahā´ī has experienced rapid growth in the last few years. The Bahā´īs estimate that there are nearly 5,000,000 believers worldwide, though actual adult enrollment in the faith is presently a little over 2,300,000.
[Picture]
The Bahā´ī shrine at the world headquarters in Haifa, Israel
Mankinds search for God was the first Witness book I ever read and the most meaningful words in that book were these:
Logic tells us that a correct conclusion can be deduced only from a correct premise. If one starts off with a faulty premise, it is unlikely that one will reach a sound conclusion.
It was only years later that I realised the significance of these words and the fact that this was the very reason why this could not be "the truth".
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The book appealed to people casually interested in religious diversity not someone interested in really understanding the spirit and thrust of the history of religion. It really teed off the Hindu and Muslim community that I used it in. It grossly misrepresents the Hindu faith as if they were literalizing their colorful mythology. The Muslim teacher was entertained by the book and felt it typified the Christian ignorance of Islam. It does abruptly turn to berating each religion using strawman arguemnts and misrepresentation. It then attempts to hail the JWs as the only true religion by process of elimination. Nothing new, other than it did give the average JW the first exposure to other belief systems. A dangerous move in hind sight. At the book study it disgusted me when i was not conducting to have the conductor or others chuckling when answering the questions. The book had, I understand, sparked interest in religious research, leading to questions....
Logic tells us that a correct conclusion can be deduced only from a correct premise.
This is simply wrong!
From where did this writer learn about what logic says?
The writer is just making things up, writing down propaganda that sounds good.
What logic DOES say is this: Any conclusion, either true or false, may be deduced from a false premise. The logical operation of drawing a conclusion from premises is called "implication."
From an excellent website that talks about logical operations (as well as computer arithmetic)
http://www.rwc.uc.edu/koehler/comath/21.html
The implication operator (IMPLIES) is a binary operator, and is defined in a somewhat counterintuitive manner (until you appreciate it, that is!). It is traditional notated by one of the following symbols:
but we will denote it with an arrow ("->"):So p -> q follows the following reasoning: True premise implies a True conclusion, therefore T -> T is T; True premise cannot imply a False conclusion, therefore T -> F is F; and Y ou can conclude anything from a false assumption, so F -> anything is T.
p q p -> q T T T T F F F T T F F T
The writer of the watchtower book would change the value of (F->T) from T to F.
So instead of listening to logic, the writer is CHANGING the rules of logic to fit what he wants to write!
Now look a the very next sentence:
If one starts off with a faulty premise, it is unlikely that one will reach a sound conclusion.
So the writer has switched from logic saying that false premises can NEVER give a correct conclusion to "it is unlikely" that a false premise will lead to a sound (true) conclusion!!!!!
Is this being honest? Are they trying to manipulate the reader somehow?
Who are these people that write these things? Are their brains wired correctly? How do they get away with writing this stuff?
I have said this before and will again: The Watchtower writers have never cared about writing correct information, just what they make up while sitting in front of their typewriters!
--VM44
...AND, if the writer of this book is WRONG about what logic says, something he could have easily looked up, how do we know anything else in the book concerning the various religions of the world is correct?
For any particular statement in the book, did the writer bother to do research? or, did the writer just make up something that sounded reasonable to him?
--VM44
Blondie, If I'm correct the information on the Baha'i Faith you have quoted comes directly from the Encyclopedia Britanica. If that is the case, it is edited by a Baha'i. It sounds very familar and is pretty accurate. Unfortunately some of the spelling was changed by the Britanica editors and is picked up by the JWs. Wonder if they gave citations??
carmel
When I stopped believing in the JW religion, I actually used that book to look at other world religions. Then when I started to read it, I couldn't stand how biased it was. I eventually just read encyclopedia entries.
VM44,
That is exactly what I was trying to imply in my post but I could not have explained it that well. My problem was that it took some years to see it ? perhaps because I had an untrained eye and was not looking for problems at that time.
Pleasuredome was asking for the opinion of a worldly person ? which I was, so that was mine at the time.
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