dawn bible students

jehovahsheep

many ex-jws have become bible students-in essence students of charles russells writings.i have also started to study his writings and find them interesting.what are some your thoughts on these groups?

Witness 007

Yeah, example 607 B.C.E .....NICE! Not one scholar or book anywhere in the 21st Century has this date for Jeruselems destruction....this was 18th Century poormans research on his part! And check out the Pyramids theory.........WHOOOOOOO BABY!!!!!!!!! NUT CASE!

Terry

Several years ago I sought out a local Bible Student and went to visit him and his son in a trailer park.

He spent his spare time and extra money on cable tv access teaching from the Studies in the Scriptures and explaining the Chart of dispensations like Russell.

He referred to Pastor Russell lovingly.

He was a very decent, mild-tempered person and I liked him alot.

But--

Jesus returned in 1844 (I think he said) instead of 1914.

Same lunacy; different brand.

The Studies in the Scriptures are very pleasant to read in their old-fashioned erudition and sincere persuasiveness.

Just flip to the section on the Great Pyramid and it all falls apart. You can suddenly see that even the most ridiculous cractpot notions can be made to sound plausible once you buy in to Primacy of Consciousness (you believe it and it becomes real.)

Just a pleasant waste of time is all it was. I can see how people with no center to their life who need a purpose could get sucked in.

At least, if I had continued to meet with the Bible Student's group I had the heavenly hope!

Wasanelder Once

These groups are proto witnesses and simply an inbreeding gene pool. It would be like choosing to follow a cult leader today. The difference is he's been dead a LONG time, but his legacy lives on. I want a pyramid on my grave too! W.Once

The Oracle

Russel was completely off his rocker as far as I can tell from reading most of his earlier writings.

I am absolutely embarrassed by the fact that my great grandparents fell for the nonsense. I

t is hard to imagine how anyone would buy in to so many of his non-sensical teachings.

I guess the old saying rings true - there is a sucker born every minute.

For this reason we can expect witnesses and splinter groups who stick to Russels old teachings to be around for awhile yet. At least for the foreseeble future.

The Oracle

jehovahsheep

its probably my hunger for much information.i love god -does he reveal himself with any group?if not -how come?are you bloggers concerned about gods plans for the future?or you just godless people on the loose?

Jeremy C

its probably my hunger for much information.i love god -does he reveal himself with any group?if not -how come?

You may want to study Ray Franz’s book In Search of Christian Freedom. This may clear up some things for you.

One thing that the Biblical record does not support is God exclusively dealing with one single group or organization in modern times. What about the Nation of Israel; you may ask?

The NT clearly teaches that the Old Covenant with its earthly priesthood was done away with. There is no human mediatorship here on earth. The apostles stated unequivocally that Jesus Christ is the one and only mediator.

When you study the NT, you will find that Jesus never indicated that he came to establish an organization. Notice that when people were baptized, they were merely baptized in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. There was never any indication that Christians were baptized into a particular congregation, or in the name of the congregation doing the baptizing.

In terms of salvation, there in nothing in any of Christ’s teachings or the apostolic writings to suggest that salvation is attained through membership in any earthly institution. All of their writings spoke exclusively of relationship with Christ.

No congregation was able to boast of having God’s exclusive backing. Not Corrinth. Not Ephesus. Not Phillipi. Not even Antioch, where Paul was dispatched on his missions from.

You will notice that the concept of exclusivity crept into the Christians church after the deaths of the apostles. Exclusivity was just as erroneous as any of the supposed false teachings of the Greeks, which Paul had mentioned.

The Gnostics were one such group. Their whole focus was on "superior knowledge". They believed that their knowledge was superior to all other Christians, that God dealt only with them, and that such "correct knowledge" was a prerequisite for salvation. Sound familiar?

You really need to purge this concept of exclusive backing from your thinking. It is this kind of thinking that leads people to follow the kind of sophistry, rhetoric, and slogans of many groups and pseudo-Christian groups who claim to have Apostolic authority.

Being the member of an exclusivistic group may provide short-term gratification and feelings of security, but it will stifle one’s intellect, thinking capacities, and power of reason. It will not lead to the spiritual growth that one is seeking, but will lead to spiritual infancy and intellectual laziness.

zeroday

The reason many exJW's become bible students is that they just can not let go...they go from worshiping an organization to worshiping a man...RR is an exJW now bible student I'm sure he will be making an appearence on this thread to come to the defense of the bible students...

jehovahsheep

thank you jeremy c-i read ray franzs book.i am going to read the book you mentioned.ray has alot of discenment.

Octarine Prince

The truth is in the ether (aether).

dawn bible students

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