Is Early Christianity the Basis For JW Practices?

by OldSoul 36 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  OldSoul

  Early Christianity: What Was It Like?

  • Did the early Christians ask the public for donations to fund their ministry or other works?
  • Did the early Christians encourage believers to distribute communications from the Apostles and older men in Jerusalem to the public as a primary part of their ministry?
  • Did the early Christians have to guess which individuals were anointed with Holy Spirit?
  • Did the early Christians provide detailed reports of their preaching and teaching activities to Jerusalem?
  • Did the early Christians ask new converts to pledge loyalty to the Apostles and older men in Jerusalem as a condition for baptism?
  • Did the early Christians ask new converts to pledge loyalty to or subjection to an organization or the authority of the Congregation before preaching to others?
  • Did the early Christians teach new converts that they should not develop their own thoughts about the worship of God?
  • Did the early Christians teach that sharing in preaching and teaching was necessary for salvation?
  • Did the early Christians use door-to-door as their primary method of teaching?

  The answer to each of these questions is, "No." So, if these practices (among many others) do not fit the pattern of early Christianity on what are they based? (Psalm 146:3)

  Respectfully,
  OldSoul
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  Bagira

  Dear Old Soul,

  you got the point..........just one more thing to add......according to the Galatians, chapter 1 and 2, Paul has preached on his own without communicating with the cong in Jerusalem for 17 years.....that much about centralized governing bodies

  Hi

  Bagira
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  OldSoul

  Bagira,

  Add to your heart's content. I hope this thread sparks additions to or debate over any one these points.

  Post more often, ya' slacker !

  Respectfully,
  OldSoul
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  tetrapod.sapien

  they're based on the rutherford, knorr, and franz good-old-boy clubhouse rules. it probably helped that they had an aversion to history and theology.

  russell was a good guy compared to them.
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  Bagira

  Early Christians had a different evangelium after the death of Jesus. See 1 Cr 15:14:

  "And if Christ be not risen, then [is] our preaching vain, and your faith [is] also vain. "

  Hi

  Bagira
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  minimus

  The basis for this religion is Pharisaical Judaism.
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  love2Bworldly

  I agree with Minimus. The JWs do not follow the example of early Christians. They take everything out of context and they are like the Pharisees of Jesus' day, trying to force men to follow the Law that Jesus fulfilled.

  I was just thinking the last couple of days about the way the JW's go door-to-door supposedly obeying the scripture about 'preaching the good news'. The modern world is a lot different than Jesus' time--there are churches everywhere and the Bible is available to almost anyone in the world. I don't think door-to-door is necessary for spreading Christianity in the modern world, I think it's just something the JW's are taking out of context in the Bible. But then they aren't true Christians anyway, they're a cult.

  I hope I don't sound preachy because I really don't mean it to come off like that.
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  minimus

  You don't sound "preachy". You just are saying the truth. Let me add that I think they suck.
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  IP_SEC

  At Acts 21:20 it is reported to Paul by the Jerusalem congregation that there are many myriads of brothers just in Jerusalem.

  That Greek word means either ten thousand or an undetermined large number. Which is being referred too? Were there many tens of thousands of believers just in Jerusalem by 60 CE?

  If so it would seem your 144,000 teaching is in danger because that number could have easily been filled by the end of the 1st century.

  Is it an undetermined large number? Then it is obvious that as late as 60 CE, the Jerusalem congregation had no idea exactly how many publishers there were in that city, much less the whole world.

  All were ministers of Christ, but did not report time and studies to the older men of Jerusalem.
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  Spook

  Eearly Christianity was much like modern Christianity...full of differing opinions, intollerance, and conflict. If you mean the early Christianity of the gospels, then that is an entirely different question.