Yes Minimus I agree.
JWs do not act like Christians, they act live Jews.
Especially so when it comes to tipping in restaurants.
Rub a Dub
Jehovah's Witnesses Do Not Act Like Christians. They Act Like Jews
by minimus 40 Replies latest jw friends
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minimus
I am referring to acting like Jews ONLY in a religious context. If someone gets offended by that, what can I say? Every example that I gave was in regard to a religious setting.
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blondie
Why not, since the publications, especially the WT study articles, are based on the OT. Be like Job, Abraham, Joshua, David, etc. Where is Paul, Peter, James, Jesus, Timothy, Titus, etc. The WTS is so afraid that the average jw might start thinking they are like the Christians of the first century who were all anointed, to rule in heaven with Christ. Can't have the great crowd thinking that; better to focus their attention on people who were not Christians and had no hope to go to heaven. Otherwise, 700 more will start partaking this next memorial instead of just the 347 that did last year.
Blondie
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RubaDub
I am referring to acting like Jews ONLY in a religious context. If someone gets offended by that, what can I say? Every example that I gave was in regard to a religious setting.
Minimus ...
Just kidding ... but I couldn't resist.
Rub a Dub (of the circumcised tribe of Johnny Walker Black)
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minimus
Rub, I did think you were kidding but not TD.Hence my .
Blondie, you understand the point. When the Society talks about "spiritual Jews" as referring only to the remnant of anointed ones, it's all about the importance of being a "spiritual Jew, circumcised in the heart". Those that are "companions" are referred to as a "friend" of the spiritual Jew.
The Watchtower has always been obsessed with Jewish laws, Jewish people. They believed that the Jews were literally going to be brought to Israel. Then they changed it to---you don't have to be a natural Jew. You have to be a "spiritual Jew".
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TD
If someone gets offended by that, what can I say?
LOL; Sounds like you're at a loss for words, Min. Let me help you out::
"Now that I think about it, most of what I know about Judaism was learned through the lens of the JW religion and the Christian Bible. I didn't know, for example that the Pharisees of the Roman perid were not just some radical splinter group, but are actually the fathers of modern Rabbinic Judaism or that the liberal, moderate positions advocated by Jesus were actually the positions we know the real, historical pharisess of the Roman period to have held in opposition to the Sadduces of that period. --I guess I really don't know that much about the Jewish faith at all.... Sorry if I offended anyone."
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minimus
TD, as I mentioned earlier, I've talked to a few Jewish friends, university educated, and they clearly expressed that the Pharisees were like the ultra conservative Orthodox Jews who were more militant than anything else. In history, there's always a group in a country that are extremists. But certainly not most are to be considered with this label.
In Jesus' day, according to the NT (which the Jews do not believe in), the fanatical Jews were the leaders. So when I say that JWs (hopefully using those 2 letters capitalized is not offensive) act more like Jews, I'm speaking of it in the religious context of the NT. Obviously, there were more moderate Jews, politically and religiously at that time too.
Witnesses LOVE Old Testament laws and principles. Every thing that you can or cannot do is somehow tied into old Jewish law which Christians are no longer supposed to be under.
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TD
Min,
I've talked to a few Jewish friends, university educated, and they clearly expressed that the Pharisees were like the ultra conservative Orthodox Jews who were more militant than anything else. In history, there's always a group in a country that are extremists. But certainly not most are to be considered with this label.
It is important not to confuse the Hasmonean Pharisees of the second century BC with the Rabbis and Teachers of the later Roman period. The NT description of Jesus as a teacher expounding the higher principles behind the Law to the common people actually comes pretty close to what we know the latter to have been. (e.g. "A learned mamzer takes precedence over an ignorant High Priest")
This is apparent even in the NT, where Jesus himself is often called, Rabbi or Teacher. After the fall of Jerusalem, it was the Pharisees, in their schools and synagogues throughout the Diaspora who ensured the continuity of Judaism as a religion and these people were nothing like what the modern Christian caricature of first century Jews holds them to be. As A.N. Wilson observes,
"These Pharisees had not persecuted or killed Jesus, still less had they been friends of Pontius Pilate, who was their most ruthless persecuter. Nor did they object to the Gentiles hearing the word of God."
I think I do understand the point your were alluding to though and should not have been as upset as I was. I've pointed out myself that JW's sometimes attempt a Rabbinical approach, but miss it's purpose: http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/16/53118/1.ashx
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minimus
Thank you, TD. I appreciate your expression and I'm fascinated by the Jewish history .
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yesidid
Jehovah's Witnesses are the mongrel offspring (religion) of an unholy union between Judaism and Christianity.