The Narrow Road

by zack 6 Replies latest watchtower bible

• 

  zack

  The WTS claims that the narrow road Christ spoke of was the "one true" religion that many would forsake in exchange for all the "false" religions which are

  are "permissive" and teach "God dishonring lies."

  I always accepted this as a dub.

  Do any of you think it is possible that the "narrow" road is in fact the ABANDONING OF ALL MAN MADE RELIGIOUS SYSTEMS and the taking on for one self

  the responsibility and burden of that decision? Instead of being tied into a group, an organization, an umbrella whereby thinking and conscience is surrendered to others

  and we are either approoved or disapproved by others, the individual walking his own path and making decisions in life based upon his conscience and taking responsibility for those

  decisions--- is that the narrow road?

  I ask because during my fade it has occured to me that the message of Jesus was pretty simple, really. So simple, in fact, that many people professing faith in him

  cannot accept that you need follow only him. Love and faith are the only compass one needs, really, for according to him the "helper" (the SPIRIT) would then teach you all other things.

  But that road is narrow and not often traveled BECAUSE so many are afraid to walk it alone. It is just a though and I would appreciate your own.
• 

  WTWizard

  This could well be the true explanation. Remember, Jesus was speaking to a group of bicameral men who needed a leader, in an attempt to set them free to think on their own. And it was true that only a minority of them actually heeded that message and left being dependent on someone else to do their thinking. We see the same problem now, in that we need to have people ruling us to tell us how to do our jobs, take care of our health, and manage our money.

  And the root cause is the same. A small group of men are holding onto unearned power, forcing others to depend on them for permission. Specifically relevant to this forum, the Watchtower Society is among those who are seeking to use initiatory fraud to control the masses. We see that a minority of them find that narrow cramped way and come onto these boards. Most of them are content to stay on that broad and spacious road leading to stagnation. And most of them think they're on the narrow and cramped way that leads to life. Why so few finding their way? Because the leaders of the cult mislead them on purpose to thinking they are already on the road to life!

  How could we fall off the road to life? Simple: We could work our way back to the Watchtower Society and let them do our thinking for us once again. We could join another high-control group and let that group do our thinking. Or, we could become victims of secular or religious people or groups that mislead others into letting them control us. As long as someone else controls our thinking, we are on that broad and spacious road that leads to spiritual death (=stagnation). But when we think for ourselves and act accordingly, which is not always easy for laziness and/or dishonesty, we get on that road to a prosperous and fulfilling life. Take your pick.
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  carla

  I like that Zack, very simple.
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  Narkissos

  that road is narrow and not often traveled BECAUSE so many are afraid to walk it alone.

  I'd put a "Gnostic" spin on that and suggest "the road" is just the width of your foot because it is yours only. Like the parable of the Law in Kafka's Trial:

  In front of the law there is a doorkeeper. A man from the countryside comes up to the door and asks for entry. But the doorkeeper says he can't let him in to the law right now. The man thinks about this, and
  then he asks if he'll be able to go in later on. 'That's possible,' says the doorkeeper, 'but not now'. The gateway to the law is open as it always is, and the doorkeeper has stepped to one side, so the man bends over to try and see in. When the doorkeeper notices this he laughs and says, 'If you're tempted give it a try, try and go in even though I say you can't. Careful though: I'm powerful. And I'm only the lowliest of all the doormen. But there's a doorkeeper for each of the rooms and each of them is more powerful than the last. It's more than I can stand just to look at the third one.' The man from the country had not expected difficulties like this, the law was supposed to be accessible for anyone at any time, he thinks, but now he looks more
  closely at the doorkeeper in his fur coat, sees his big hooked nose, his long thin tartar-beard, and he decides it's better to wait until he has permission to enter. The doorkeeper gives him a stool and lets him sit down to one side of the gate. He sits there for days and years. He tries to be allowed in time and again and tires the doorkeeper with his requests. The doorkeeper often questions him, asking about where he's from and many other things, but these are disinterested questions such as great men ask, and he always ends up by telling him he still can't let him in. The man had come well equipped for his journey, and uses everything, however valuable, to bribe the doorkeeper. He accepts everything, but as he does so he says, 'I'll only accept this so that you don't think there's anything you've failed to do'. Over many years, the man watches the doorkeeper almost without a break. He forgets about the other doormen, and begins to think this one is the only thing stopping him from gaining access to the law. Over the first few years he curses his unhappy condition out loud, but later, as he becomes old, he just grumbles to himself. He becomes senile, and as he has come to know even the fleas in the doorkeeper's fur collar over the years that he has been studying him he even asks them to help him and change the doorkeeper's mind. Finally his eyes grow dim, and he no longer knows whether it's really getting darker or just his eyes that are deceiving him. But he seems now to see an inextinguishable light begin to shine from the darkness behind the door. He doesn't have long to live now.
  Just before he dies, he brings together all his experience from all this time into one question which he has still never put to the doorkeeper. He beckons to him, as he's no longer able to raise his stiff body. The
  doorkeeper has to bend over deeply as the difference in their sizes has changed very much to the disadvantage of the man. 'What is it you want to know now?' asks the doorkeeper, 'You're insatiable.' 'Everyone wants access to the law,' says the man, 'how come, over all these years, no-one but me has asked to be let in?' The doorkeeper can see the man's come to his end, his hearing has faded, and so, so that he can be heard, he shouts to him: 'Nobody else could have got in this way, as this entrance was meant only for you. Now I'll go and close it'."

  Or even better, as Antonio Machado put it:

  Caminante, son tus huellas
  el camino, y nada más;
  caminante, no hay camino,
  se hace camino al andar.
  Al andar se hace camino,
  y al volver la vista atrás
  se ve la senda que nunca
  se ha de volver a pisar.
  Caminante, no hay camino,
  sino estelas en la mar.

  Wanderer, your footsteps are
  the road, and nothing more;
  wanderer, there is no road,
  the road is made by walking.
  By walking one makes the road,
  and upon glancing behind
  one sees the path
  that never will be trod again.
  Wanderer, there is no road--
  Only wakes upon the sea.

  The Gospel's "narrow vs. broad way" is one of the early Christian forms of the widespread topos of "the two ways" which has a long Jewish background, especially in Qumran. On this and other expressions of apparent "elitism" (often paradoxical, inasmuch as the "chosen few" are also "the last that will be first"), you might enjoy some interesting posts at http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/6/104861/1.ashx
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  zack

  Thanks thus far. Narkissos, special thanks. I have always enjoyed your posts and the time you take to post a well reasoned reply.
• 

  A Paduan

  It's a road - not a side track or a dead end paddock rut (like the jw way?)

  It's less travelled than than the way of the world, which is about earning and deserving and 'ownership' and works, where people earn their passage along the road

  This road is a different way - it's one of grace, giving and fore-giving - a narrower road, but it is a road

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  MR. BORN AGAIN

  I'm rolling with you on this one Zack. I believe that the teachings of Jesus were more about realationship than religion. It's so simple but men make it so hard 4 what ever reason????