by jwfacts 24 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
So if the Watchtower wrote that 1+1=3 would you have believed it. How would you have reacted to such an obviously wrong statement?
At one point I would have accepted it although (secretly) with great reluctance. Things that make no sense and have no logic have always driven me crazy-----even as a child. I remember asking my mom when I was 6 years old why we couldn't celebrate birthdays but celebrate their wedding anniversary. It just made no damn sense.
"Only 144,000 go to Heaven to be with Christ" This is a literal number. Where we have told you that many numbers are figurative in the Bible, this one is exact. Our reason is that Jesus is exactly one person and Heaven is exactly one place, so 144,000 has to be an exact number.
The rest of you will be an unlimited number of slaves to do the bulk of the preaching work to bring more money in the coffers.
And you will do it with a smile-------or in our next book we will write in a literal number of years you will shovel manure in the New System!
God doesnt even listen to the tearful prayers of those disfellowshipped from his Holy Organization.
As proof for this outrageous statement we offer various OT and NT snippets of scripture "Jehovah hates...." "Weeping and gnashing of teeth...." "Lake of fire..."
"A large percentage of JW children who go on to higher education eventually leave the organization."
So college is bad and leads to death. Actually no poll was taken on this but it sounds good and works!
Standing quietly in line at Conventions will result in Jehovahs favor. Attending your assigned boring Book Study will bring many rewards in the New System. Pioneering will lead to Everlasting Life.
Accepting the responsibilities of an elder will result in your becoming a PRINCE in the New System of Things. (Princes as we know tell others to shovel!)
The weird math that the JWs believe can take years to undo.
Yes the mind control is great!
And its all based on the charisma and charlatan persuasion of Charles Taze Russel over a hundred years ago. Its all a business and a great experiment in mind control.
Anewme
Of course - wouldn't we all? When you're in - you're in and you accept every single thing they say. That's why there are 2 opposing words - IN ..and ..OUT. You've got 6 million people who can't do the math to back up 607 but blindly believe that date is the right one - so for anyone in the org, if they were told emphatically and without doubt that one plus one equal three, then even if they mumbled under their breath that it was stupid, they'd still accept it if they wanted to remain. As one of Jehovah's Witnesses, you are not part of the world - so why would you believe a mathematician over your own governing body. ..............sammieswife.
Most JWs would try to justify it. I may not have openly doubted it, but I would never have accepted it. I'm guessing at that, of course. But there were many things that I never accepted. I never accepted that only JWs would survive Armaggedon.
My husband just reminded me that there were a few things that we openly disagreed with. One example was the teaching that the resurrected wouldn't marry.
Cellist
I guess I'm looking at this question too simply.
To me - if you are a witness, you attend the meetings, you follow the protocol, you socialize, you read the material, you speak the speak - then you must be accepting of the lifestyle it promotes. It's hard for me to split the two - if you don't accept something and say you don't to yourself, but show acceptance by attendance, service and in all other ways being a JW, then you are in actuality accepting. The math in this case is a small thing - it's the greater power that the acceptance in protocol lie.
If you don't accept the math and are willing to say you don't, then that is an indication to the witnesses that you are not accepting of their protocol at any number of levels.
I guess for me its like anyone grumbling that the JC is wrong but yet they still go along to the meetings, knowing that JC's are still being held. It's like grumbling that the 2 witness rule is wrong and sister xxx being disfellowshipped in a JC is wrong, but then going along to the meetings. It's like saying, shunning is wrong but then accepting reproof from an Elder from talking to that one shunned person in the KH. I can't split the two. sammieswife.
Thanks for the examples of where the maths doesn't add up (or 'math' for the Americans) .
The important point seems to be that even if you had not believed it, you would not be able to express that opinion. Open disagreement with any doctrine is reason for being d/f, as agreeing that the GB is directed by holy spirit is the criteria for being a JW.
JW Facts,
My entire life, before I left, seemed to be a fight over what came out of New York.
- The Watchtower never suggested 1975
My blood still boils when I see that statement which is an absolute lie.
To put it another way, 1 + 1 out of that outfit equals a goose egg!
r.
The WT version of 'new math'! I could see them justifying it with new scientific discoveries. Things change all the time, and we must not try to go ahead of Jehovah's organization. . .yada yada yada.
Point well made. I either accepted your bullet points for many years or didn't dare to question them.
It built up over time, eventually getting the best of me, but until the fallicies overcame me, I accepted
much of it without checking. Even when I knew I had to check, I stayed faithful to the doctrines in
my life and in my platform teachings. I think that's why I am fading too fast- I reached critical mass
of support for the BS.
So, about a year ago, I would have said, "I will teach that 1+1=3, but I don't like it."
Sometimes 1 + 1 = 3 if you allow them some time...
1 + 1 = 3 but only for very heavy 1's.
