The Way (sounds familiar)

by *jeremiah* 6 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  *jeremiah*

  I think the JW's and The Way should talk about a merger.

  Nature of Jesus Christ

  The Way teaches that Jesus Christ had no existence before birth except in the mind of God. That though Jesus was a perfect sinless man, he was only a man, not God.

  Wierwille asserted that God and Jesus Christ are separate, independently-thinking entities who are literally father and son. He holds that Jesus Christ did not exist until God created a fertilized egg in Mary's womb and that he did not have any consciousness until she gave birth to him.

  Regarding the Holy Spirit, Wierwille taught that there was a distinction between "The Holy Spirit" and "holy spirit". The former refers directly to God the Father while the latter refers to an emanation or power from God (a.k.a. "the gift of holy spirit")

  Mark and Avoid

  "Mark and Avoid" is a term for a form of shunning involving the separation of certain people from the main body of followers in the Way. The term is derived from the Biblical passage Romans 16:17 (King James Version, boldface added for emphasis)

  The group has been alleged to use "love bombing" [3] to control its initiates.

  I've also heard that this group preaches from door to door.

  Errors in key points of Way scholarship, including: 1) Inaccurate translations of key Bible passages which include contradictory or false definitions of biblical words; 2) misrepresentation or ignorance of the early Church's views on the Trinity, Christ's deity etc.; 3) misuse of ancient Greek texts or use of unreliable research works, as well as the inaccurate theory that the whole New Testament was authored in Aramaic; 4) overstatement of their leaders' qualifications and unnoted textual changes in their books.
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  Zico

  He holds that Jesus Christ did not exist until God created a fertilized egg in Mary's womb and that he did not have any consciousness until she gave birth to him.

  Didn't Jesus himself say he existed before Abraham? I wonder if they use a JW tactic on that scripture. i.e. 'It doesn't support our doctrine, so it must be figurative' Even the WT believes Jesus existed before as Michael, but they do sound as if they have a lot of similarities.
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  AK - Jeff

  They are similar in many ways - Wierwille even wrote a book entitled something like 'Jesus is not God'.

  I lived a few hundred yards down the road from the Indiana Campus in the 80's of the Way International. They do preach door to door. They are in many ways scarier than Jw's - more enculted - they live in commune type settings and grow and raise their own foods [at least that is what they did here.]. They seem to have health and fitness as part of the regime - they would run for hours on the roads in the area - some of them told us that is was a requirement for them to do so. They looked glassy eyed when you talked to them.

  I would think that doctrinally they are closer to Jw - but culturally and cultishly they are closer to Moonies.

  Jeff
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  *jeremiah*

  Thanks Jeff,

  I was talking amongst friends about my JW experience and found out that my friend grew up and escaped The Way.

  In our conversation,....we found many similarities between the two cults. What i found interesting is their speech seems to be similar to JW's,....using phrases like,...."the truth", "brother" and "sister", etc.

  Hmmmm....I wonder what their memorial or communion is like? I wonder if they parttake or pass the emblems.
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  anewme

  Any one of us could turn nut case and start a wacktower-like religion.
  I would certainly make a few changes though that might attract more followers and retain the flock a bit better.
  
  Starting with NO MORE FORMAL EVANGELIZING OR PROSELYTIZING!!!!!
  
  SUNDAY MEETINGS ONLY
  
  OPTIONAL BIBLE STUDY MIDWEEK
  
  CHARITY WORK WITHIN THE ORG AND IN THE COMMUNITY
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Unless you think God needs group hugs.
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  gillyballer1980

  Before Jesus came down he was God. Period. The entire bible states this.
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  nvrgnbk

  

  Hey Jeremiah, nice thread. Richard Abanes, the author of the above book is an ex-member of The Way.FYI.

  Nvr