Do the dubs have a Judaic feel about them?

greendawn

Did or do you ever feel that the whole JW ambience is very Judaic in nature and not at all authentically Christian? To me the one thing that really does it is the perception of God as a Lord and not as a Father as is the case in the old testament. The whole point of baptism and the anointing of the Spirit is to effect that adoption by God yet virtually all dubs deny this anointing ergo God remains to them a Lord and a very harsh one at that. Was this intentionally done by the leadership to keep the R&F enslaved to the OT set up? To make it easier to intimidate and control them?

Nathan Natas

Yes. This is something that you don't find in russell's writings, but Rutherford started it and saw it as a great way to establish the pharisaical organization that was just his cup o' tea.

moshe

"is very Judaic in nature" Greendawn,I wish they were more like Jews today! JW's have no sense of humor- there are lots of Jewish comedians and jokes about Jews, unfortunately their is nothing funny about being a JW. Jews can freely express their opinions and agree to disagree- not so with JW's. They might concentrate on some of the OT Bible verses, but they avoid applying verses dealing with false prophets to themselves.

garybuss

If the new testament talks about the new covenant and the new covenant only applies to the anointed and mostly they are gone, there's only one game left for the great crowd of unwashed who only benefit from Christianity by association.

The problem with that is the anointed also claim the designation of "spiritual Israelites" and that leaves the unwashed with the designation of "spiritual Gentiles" and again the Gentiles only can benefit by application and association. The unwashed don't have a game of their own.

TD

JW's seem to be preoccupied with the Old Testament, but for me, the similarity ends there. Like most other Christian groups, the JW's know very little about Judaism. Their fondness for criticizing the Oral Law and specialized teachers of the Law, like the Pharisees is a good example.

fullofdoubtnow

Well, they are definitely like the Pharisees, with all their man made rules.

veradico

They have the same delight in law-making, or, rather, law-explaining that the Pharisees had. It can easily be stereotyped by those who are hurt by the practice, but it can come from a good place. The Pharisees were not all bad. They just fell into the dangerous and hurtful mistake of choosing abstractions over reality, of choosing law over life. The real world does not conform to proscriptive laws. Laws are, at best, reasonably correct descriptions of how reality happens to work. Ethical "laws" are more dangerous. They don't talk about how humans do behave; they tell humans how they ought to behave. Sometimes they are grounded in the reality of human nature and really point to healthy ways humans can conduct their lives. But those who become enchanted by the beauties and benefits of law and comfored by its presence and regularity can forget the real human condition. Sometimes the laws do not correspond to what we are and, instead of helping us realize our potential, stifle us.