As explained to me recently, only Jehovah's Witnesses are actively fulfilling Matt 24:14, thus showing them alone to be the true religion. Sidestepping the glaring issue of Jesus stating that love would mark the identity of true Christians, let's examine that notion.
I have personally rebutted that opinion by stating, with accuracy, that many Christians have a gospel ministry and manage to reach hundreds of millions of people across the planet with their message.
The typical JW rebuttal takes the following shape;
- but they've never called on my door
- but they don't preach the truth, they preach things like the trinity
I feel it's worth examining those statements. Firstly, just because these Christians haven't knocked on your door does not mean they are not fulfilling Matt 24:14. Jesus, in those verses, and in every other verse relating to the Christian ministry, omitted to detail the methodology that would be used to preach the good news. It just so happened in the days before, oh, such things as newspapers, television, radio and this new fangled contraption called the InterWeb of World Wide Nets, the best way to reach listening ears was in places like synagogues, town squares and markets. However, because in the 21st C we have a little invention called technology, choosing to go from door-to-door between 9.30am and 11.30am weekdays is pretty much going to guarantee you find zero listening ears.
Quite how JWs defend the insistence on using such an outdated way of reaching people is puzzling. Oh, wait. They say it was the apostolic method, so they need to follow the 1st C example. But wasn't the apostolic method of meeting together in fulfillment of Heb 10:24,25 to meet in private homes? And as we know, the Governing Body say JWs aren't allowed to do that anymore. Quite why they cling to door-to-door while dropping meeting in private homes should be puzzling to all JWs
So while other Christian ministries use television, radio and the internet to preach the good news, JWs dismiss their efforts because they don't teach truth.
The JW version of truth is that the good news of the kingdom contains the following elements;
- God is going to destroy all non-JWs (this includes every man, woman and child in India, China and Pakistan, countries where there are, like, 4 JWs total)
- God is going to leave the cleaning up of all of mankind's detritus to the surviving 'great crowd of other sheep'
- this period of hard work is called the 1000 year reign of Christ
- it will not be like the cover of the Paradise Earth tract, it will be 1000 years of hard work
- the JW version of the good news contains little or no information of the new covenant, being a son of God, having Christ as your leader and teacher and other elements uniquely found in the teachings of evil Christendom (but surprisingly also part of all of Paul's letters and pretty much every utterance of the Lord himself)
What jumps out at me from this typical JW summation of why only JWs are preaching the good news (and qualify to be classed as true Christians) is thus;
Why don't they, if they have this true message of the good news (often called a 'warning message' - search the gospels for that little nugget. Yes, Jesus came to warn people about the kindliness of his yoke), drop the door-to-door ministry and get the TV transmitters wired up, get the YouTube account created, get the radio stations back up and running?
Or could there be another reason as to why they insist on the apostolic method of fulfilling Matt 24:14? Is there something they don't want people to know?
No one else fulfills the preaching of Matt 24:14
by passwordprotected 29 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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passwordprotected
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OnTheWayOut
Good thoughts in your post.
Yes, JW's set a standard that only JW's can meet.
RULES:
If anyone else preaches, they don't do it the right way.
If anyone else has any success, they are preaching the wrong message. -
passwordprotected
Pentecostalism has grown by 488% globally between 2000 - 2005.
They must be doing something right.
Or by JW rules, they must be doing something wrong. -
james_woods
If the JW has success (even a small amount of success) then that is because Jehovah is blessing the ministry. The JW are the fastest growing religion in the world. Well, that is, until another false prophecy passes the date of expectation.
If the JW sees a setback (such as in 1976)...then that is because Satan is working against the Faithful and Discreet Slave. This persecution just goes to show how close to the end of the world we are.
See - you can have it both ways.
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sacolton
What gospel do the JW preach?
Galatians 1:8
But even if we or an angel from heaven should proclaim to you a gospel contrary to what we proclaimed to you, let that person be condemned!
Is their gospel different than what the apostles preached?
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Satanus
Goo points, passwordprotected. The religion that has come the closest to matching mt24:14 is the catholic church. Consider this. Christianity sprang from humble beginnings. In time, however, it spread and became popular among the upper levels of roman society, and in the cities. Once it reached critical level, after 2 or 3 centuries, it finally became the legal roman state religion. This set the stage for it's propagation accross europe during the next few centuries. As well, forays were made into china, india, central, south and north america. So, there you have it. The roman catholic church has fulfilled that mandate. Case closed, preaching finished. What happened next? Nothing, the world keeps turning.
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civicsi00
There is an interesting article on the Freeminds website that talked about how the WT is against "expanding". Instead of taking advantage of the latest technologies to preach their version of the "good news", they prefer to stay in the dark and keep on going door-to-door.
I can't remember what the article is called at the moment..
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burningbridges
Witnesses are wierd. They want small numbers to show they are the "cramped and narrow path leading to salvation and not the broad path leading to destruction" and yet they love to boast about huge numbers and growing population. Quite the contradiction....
burningbridges
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truthseeker
Standard rebuttal to the "preaching work" evidence...
Matthew 24:23-27
23 If anyone says to you, 'Look, here is the Christ!' or 'There he is!' do not believe it.
24 For ( AN ) false christs and ( AO ) false prophets will arise and ( AP ) perform great signs and wonders (PREACHING WORK), so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect.
25 See, ( AQ ) I have told you beforehand. 26 So, if they say to you, 'Look, ( AR ) he is in the wilderness,' do not go out. If they say, 'Look, he is in the inner rooms,' do not believe it.
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StoneWall
Quite simply two of my favorite scriptures to debunk many things about only we have "truth"
Acts 1:7 "He said to them: “It does not belong to YOU to get knowledge of the times or seasons which the Father has placed in his own jurisdiction
How many times has it been said about the special knowledge they have of the times and specific dates...?
Luke 21:8" He said: “Look out that YOU are not misled; for many will come on the basis of my name, saying, ‘I am he,’ and, ‘The due time has approached.’ Do not go after them
Kinda funny the translations they used before the NWT in Russells time said "the time is at Hand".. Take a wild guess what one of his books was called back then?? The time is at Hand