New Light - July 15, 2008 SE of the WT - Sower and Seed - another angle

by independent_tre 38 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  independent_tre

  I've seen the topic where they try to explain invisible growth, but something else about this WT magazine stands out. If this isn't adulterating the word of God, I don't know what is. The WTS has done it again and managed to usurp Jesus' position and interject themselves into his place. Even though JW's have taught for years that the sower is Jesus Christ and the seed is the message about the Kingdom, they have changed that interpretation and have decided that the sower is no longer Jesus, but each individual witness proclaimer. The scripture clearly identifies who the sower is at Matt 13:37 ( NWT) where it reads:

  36 Then after dismissing the crowds he went into the house. And his disciples came to him and said: “Explain to us the illustration of the weeds in the field.” 37 In response he said: “The sower of the fine seed is the Son of man; 38 the field is the world; as for the fine seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; but the weeds are the sons of the wicked one, 39 and the enemy that sowed them is the Devil. The harvest is a conclusion of a system of things, and the reapers are angels.

  Now this little bolded part really kills me, the WT article " It is God Who Makes it Grow" paragraph 14 reads: (sorry no scan)

  "Who is this sower? Some in Christendom believe that this refers to Jesus himself. But how could it be said that Jesus sleeps and does not know how the seed grows? Surely Jesus is aware of the growth process! Rather this sower, like the one mentioned earlier, represents individual Kingdom proclaimers, those who sow the Kingdom seed by their zealous preaching activity. The seed that is cast to the ground is the word that they preach*

  *Footnote: it was previously explained in this magazine that the seed represents personality qualities that need to grow to maturity, being influenced along the way by environmental factors. However, it should be noted that in Jesus' illustration the seed does not change into a bad seed or rotten fruit. It simply grows to maturity. - See The Watchtower, June 15, 1980. pgs 17 -19."

  They don't bother to mention that historically JW'S have taught that the sower is Jesus! That "Some in Christendom" includes Jehovah's Witnesses. If you're gonna change your doctrine, at least own up to it. In their own publications, they have made the identity of the Sower known:

  3

  The fulfillment of the parable had its beginning with Jesus Christ, who earned the title "the Son of man". As stated in his explanation of another parable, "the sower of the right kind of seed is the Son of man." (Matt. 13:37, NW) He is the one to whom the great Cultivator, Jehovah God, entrusts the seed to be sown (WT 1950)

  This "minister of the Christ" was merely acting as an agent of the Great Sower of the seed, Jesus Christ. (WT 11/15 1973)

  Jesus Christ likened the sowing of seed to preaching the word, the good news of the Kingdom. He was the Sower of the Kingdom truths...(it-2, 1012 - 1015, 1988)

  In effect, then, the seed is the message of the good news in God’s Word, the Bible. Jehovah’s Witnesses highlight this Kingdom message as they sow seed in imitation of the original Sower, Jesus Christ (WT 1999 11/1 p14-19)

  It just amazes me that in an attempt to reshape scripture to fit their purpose, they basically deny something plainly written in the Bible. The whole basis of the article is increasing field service time and not becoming disheartened even after decades of little productivity. I guess giving the rank and file jw's a "promotion" to this new position of sower should help them keep at it a bit longer.

  Now when I look at the WT rags with a critical eye, the doctrinal flip flops can be identified and helps to prove that their teachings are no more 'inspired' than any other human or group claiming to be divine or God's direct channel. What's worse is that they are clearly twisting something that is plainly stated in the Bible. What even far worse is that many of the drones will never pick up on this inconsistency and take this as "truth" and gleefully comment that jw's are indeed the sowers of truth in the world. Sad.

  Maybe I haven't been paying close enough attention in the last few years, and they slipped this new little teaching in a while ago. If anyone remembers different, I'd like to hear it.
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  burningbridges

  amazing. i'm sickened... Jesus himself explains the verse and the watchtower has the adacity to try and say he was WRONG to say it was HE who it was meaning. SICK
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  heathen

  To the WTBTS jesus only sowed the "anointed remnant" thus leaving the great crowd to sowing the rest of mankind for him at this time . I've heard it said during the Revelation book study that it is now jehovah that is actually working with the great crowd and not jesus . Yes I've made a few meetings here lately . The great crowd are like the foreign proselytes of the mosaic covenant where they are allowed to worship as a jew but can't enter the covenant as a jew and have all the privileges that the jews where entitled to .I don't think they've ever had a president of the WTBTS that was not in the remnant , not sure on that one tho.
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  jehovahsheep

  thanks for bringing that out.could this be leading to some other changes?
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  wha happened?

  what a surprise, they made an about face on doctrine
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  Homerovah the Almighty

  but the weeds are the sons of the wicked one, 39 and the enemy that sowed them is the Devil.

  Jesus must have been talking about money making false prophets

  I always considered the JWS something like a weed that sprouted out of something good.
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  justhuman

  Another twisted "explaination" of the WT crap theology. They just can't let the Scriptures speak for themselves. They are always twisting the Bible, verses, they replace words in the Bible(like Cross- Stavros, with wood because they don't believe in Cross) that does not suit them, they even go beyond written, like the drama this year, a mythistorical event!!!

  I just don't know how can JW's "eat"that food coming from the FDS without questioning, and in this matter which is direct contradiction in Jesus words
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  sir82

  One has to wonder if this is a "trial balloon" for future weird / scary stuff.

  Suppose that they have some point they want to make which is in direct explicit contrast to the unambiguous words in the Bible itself. And further suppose that point is some GB-inspired mandate that is uncomfortable or even dangerous for individual JWs to undertake.

  To just print such a thing right now would cause consternation & alarm among even the most faithful JWs.

  So why not get the R&F used to the idea of "Watchtower truth" openly contradicting the Bible by starting with something small? In normal, day-to-day life, what does it really matter who the "sower" is? So what if the WT interpretation is at odds with what the Bible says? Doesn't directly harm me in any way.

  Perhaps we will begin to see more and more of these blatant contradictions as time goes on? Building up to a "biggie"?

  Or am I just infected by the conspiracy theorists who post regularly here?
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  Mary

  Wow.....excellent find!

  This is a wonderful example of how they switch what the bible says, into what they want it to say. Verse 37 clearly identifies "the sower" as Jesus. This is not difficult to understand. Yet they deliberately ignore a very basic, simple statement and instead they completely change it and claim it means "individual Kingdom proclaimers". Do they have any scriptural backing for this claim, or was it pulled out of their asses thin air, as per usual?

  What a pathetic joke.

  
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  TweetieBird

  I don't have a WT Library CD anymore, but was wondering if someone could do a search on "son of man" and see when they changed the identification from Jesus. There might have been an earlier article with "new light".