A JW MISCONCEPTION:

by whyizit 9 Replies latest jw friends

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  whyizit

  My JW friends (I am not a JW, never have been) all seem to be under the assumption that all other churches do not like each other. They don't get along. That is why there is a Baptist church here, and a Lutheran church there....etc....

  I belong to a community church that is non-denominational, and this belief is just not true. Many of the area churches, including our's, participate with and encourage each other. We do not hate each other at all. Quite the contrary. I NEVER hear any of the pastors bad-mouthing each other, either.

  My JW friends CONSTANTLY bad-mouth and make fun of other denominations. They claim that all these other churches want is your money. Not true!!! Our church does not pass a collection plate. Money is rarely ever mentioned. They do, however, give us a periodical accounting of how much money has been received and where it all went. (Church expenses, missionaries, local charities, etc...) When I asked for this info. from my JW friends, they came up empty handed. Where is all the WTS money going???? Don't they give an accounting to the people of where all this money is going? I heard they are VERY well-to-do. What kind of charitable giving are they involved in? How many hungry and poor do they feed and clothe?

  Where do they get the idea that all churches hate each other, just because they don't believe the same exact way? (Romans 14:2-5) Doesn't this say that it is okay to differ on certain religious issues? We are all still in unity on our core beliefs, which is the Gospel as it is presented in the Bible. We don't have to be exactly the same in order to get along.

  I feel this is a common misconception among JWs. Did you find this to be true also?
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  lovelylil

  Welcome to the board and Amen to your post!

  The problem with the witnesses is they mistake having unity with your beliefs with being in total comformity with every letter and word in the bible. The WT Society has taught them to believe that if Christians disagree in any way at all, that they are not true Christians. As you pointed out that verse in Romans does show that you can use your own conscience to decide some matters. The WT interprets all scripture for the Witnesses so they will not agree with your interpretation of that verse in Romans - just to let you know. However, you are correct.

  But it is better for the WT to have total comformity on everything. They actually use this point to say they are the only true religion because they are all in agreement on everything. This is the wrong view of biblical unity. We only need to be in union with some simple things which are Christ was the promised Messiah, He died for our sins, he was raised the third day, he is the head of the Church and our Master. We have to put Christ ahead of everyone and even the church we attend. As a matter of fact it was Paul who spoke about being in union with one another and the WT pulls out this one verse but not the surrounding verses, which show that union meant to be in union that we are followers of Christ. Nothing more can be read into that but the Society does read into it. Although there are many denominations, they all are in Union with Christ and the basic teachings of Christianity, many of which the WT does not even teach.

  Some matters are open to interpretation and we are not obligated to follow everything our Pastor says if we do not agree. This is one privelage those Free in Christ have that the Witnesses do not. They Must agree with all the teachings of the WT Society. Or, they will be kicked out.

  Funny thing is; behind closed doors, the members do not agree with the WT on everything anyway. But they have learned to keep it to themselves.

  Another point they use is that people of other denominations go to war and kill each other, therefore if they are Christians they cannot love each other but must hate each other. This is a whole other topic and there is a thread that addresses it. I am not sure what it is called but has to do with whether true christians should go to war, etc. It may be listed under friends.

  Anyway, nice to have you here. Lilly
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  drew sagan

  The problem with the witnesses is they mistake having unity with your beliefs with being in total comformity with every letter and word in the bible.

  
  Amen to that! The witnesses simply can't see past the idea that it's not SPECIFIC teachings about life after death, door to door preaching, trinity, paradise, bible reading, washing hands... opps, that one just slipped in. Anyway, they don't get the idea that being a Christian is putting faith in the gospel message, instead being a Christian is about going back to a time with strict law and code hence going back to a time before Christ. This is a simple fact they could never admit, because of course it destorys their dogma.
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  bythesea

  This is an interesting topic for me as my husband and I have touched on it several times in trying to discuss the differences in faiths. He does truly feel that if left up to ones own mind to determine the meaning of scripture then it results in what we see today...a hodge podge of many denominations, who can agree on very little. I've attempted to show him that disagreeing on the minor things isn't important, but that the vast majority of all these denominations DO agree on the MAJOR issues...as you pointed out Lilly....at the core they are united in their beliefs.

  I found it interesting that in the small community where I have family (JW and non-JW) that the churches get together in the summer months for a once a month festival of praising God in the park, a BBQ, etc for all the areas churches. JW are the only ones not to participate. We understand why...they are not inter-faith, believing all those churches are part of Babylon the Great. I had to explain to my non-JW family WHY no one from the local KH participated in this upbuilding spiritual gathering. They thought it was totally wierd and were offended to know that they were thought of by the JW as being false Christians!!

  Hope more posters join in this discussion!!! Bythesea
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  Merry Magdalene

  I would only have to revise this slightly:

  The problem with the witnesses is they mistake having unity with your beliefs with being in total comformity with every letter and word from the WTS "faithful and discrete slave" isolating and twisting key scriptures in the bible.

  ~Merry
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  lovelylil

  Thanks Merry,

  that is a good point as most of what the JWs agree on, has nothing at all to do with biblical Christianity.

  Hi bythesea, hope you had a good trip!
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  whyizit

  Reminds me of Matt. 15 and the Pharisees nit-picking about "washing their hands".Matt. 15:19-20 sums up what is REALLY important.

  I appreciate all the in-put. Thanks!

  I just wonder, though....how can these verses be mis-applied? They say exactly what they say. Jehovah made it clear and it is not confusing. How does someone read them and not "get it"? Do JWs ever just read the Bible in context, the Bible alone?
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  Elsewhere

  Where is all the WTS money going????

  Real-estate and book publishing.

  Don't they give an accounting to the people of where all this money is going?

  The WTS does not give out any accounting information. The local congregations will give a very broad and vague report every month.

  I heard they are VERY well-to-do. What kind of charitable giving are they involved in? How many hungry and poor do they feed and clothe?

  None.
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  BecauseImBroken

  Anyone ever sit in the accounting room during the convention? It's a group of elders, laid back, not paying attention to the Assembly, talking about sports, drinking coffee, and half assed counting THOUSANDS of dollars that are brought in to them constantly. Nothing proffessional about it, and nothing to stop any of these guys from 'skimming off the top' if they wanted to. I dunno, if you do the math, the WTS gets a LOT of money; the report is that in 2005 they spent about $140 million on taking care of CO's. I was shocked. $140 million? They've got some MAJOR bucks. I lived in Palm Beach when the WTS got a hold of the local convention center and bought it for about $12 million. It was a big piece of land, and there was a baseball stadium on it. The WTS tore down the stadium, cleared the area, kept the convention center and some of the land to make a parking lot for the new Assembly hall to be built, and sold just a PIECE of the cleared land to home depot for $40+ million!! They made a profit lol. I didn't think they could do that. The West Palm Beach Christian Convention Center is perhaps the biggest and nicest of them all to date that is 100% under WTS ownership.
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  Good Girl or Bad Girl?

  My JW friends CONSTANTLY bad-mouth and make fun of other denominations.

  Because that's what JW's hear their whole lives. That they have the one true religion and that all other religions are false, greedy, adulteresses with the merchants and kings. They are evil, made by Satan. So that's what Witnesses believe and that's what Witnesses say. Oftentimes you will hear Witnesses saying something bad about other religions in a very sarcastic manner and then others around them will laugh. It's the love Jesus was talking about, I think, that identifying mark.