Certainly the JWs have lost all semblance of simplicity. Losing the Tuesday night book study in private homes to me is another step away from the simplicity of the early church. The fact Paul taught from 'house to house' is often mis-quoted by the Watchtower Society; in reality he was referring to his teaching believers in their own homes as he visited them.
What happened to the simplicity of the early church?
by Pahpa 24 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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greendawn
I was never convinced that the early church went astray soon after the apostles died, it was a gradual process that culminated in the union of the church with the Roman empire at which stage it was overwhelmed by masses of pagans entering the church without any real intention to follow a christian way of life. That's where the early church with its originally high moral standards became heavily secularised lowered its standards to accomodate them and lost its direction. Eg many bishops were drawn from the aristocracy even from the imperial family due to their social and not spiritual status and were often hopelessly corrupt.
It is also worth noting that the bishops of Rome, Alexandria, Antioch and later Constantinople demanded a superior status relative to other bishops due to the secular prominence of these cities at the time. The Roman bishop even demanded superiority over the other three because Rome was secularly more important. Of course their willingness to be bought by the Roman emperor made them something akin to a whore. Such of course are also all the leaders of the WTS.
So what began corrupting the early church even before the apostles died was the self serving, self seeking, egotistical nature of some high ranking officials and not as such the attempt to use Greek philosophy to understand scriptural issues.
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Pahpa
DD
I'm sure that "Christ crucified" was an important part of the kingdom message in the first century. But it was not the total message. I don't think one can separate the two. Paul's comments were showing the reaction of non-believers who rejected Christ, the center of the kingdom message. Those who responded favorably accepted Christ as the messiah and king which was also part of the gospel message. I see no contradiction.
GD
By the end of the first century there were already forces at work within the church to destroy it. The letters to the seven churches in the Revelation account describes the deplorable conditions of the church by that time. Jesus and the Bible writers warned about the "false teachers" who would enter into the church after the death of these men. The stoic and epicurian philosophers argued with Paul in Athens. Paul warns about the "widsom" of the world which in the Roman world would have included their obession with the Greek philosophers. To the Colossians he warns "Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit." (KJV) Since these were forces to be dealt with even during the apostles' time,I have no doubt that it played a major role along with other forces to totally corrupt the church early on...
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Pahpa
JB
I have to agree with you. Most of the home and "store front" churches fail within a short duration. I'm not sure that the simplicity of the early church can be replicated today. We're looking back nearly 2000 years ago to try to determine the structure and organization of it. Paul's letters to the churches help. But they still lack a lot of detail as to how they were conducted. And, maybe, it wasn't meant to be.
Jesus said that the "wheat and weeds" would be mixed together until the end. John doesn't even encourage those faithful members in the seven churches to separate from them and form their own groups. Rather, he encouages individuals "to overcome" by person integrity and faith. So, perhaps, this is the position we are in today. Jesus said where "two or three" are met together in is name, he would be in their midst. We may have to be satisfied with this kind of fellowship.
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THE GLADIATOR
Had Rome not adopted Christianity as the state religion, it would have fizzled out like a damp squid.
Once it became the state religion across Europe, Britain and America it ceased to have any meaning other than as a political vehicle. The unity of government with church gave Christianity huge political power.
Sex mad King Henry VIII realized the potential and separated from Rome.
Only I remain loyal to Rome and the Emperor.
Hail Cesar!
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Slappy
For a simple one word answer, Pride.
What started out as people who shared the same relationship with God, through Christ, meeting together to share in their joy and peace was marred and eventually upended by a few men who felt that they knew better than the others and began to force their ideas onto the others in the church. Eventually, some other proudful individual would form his idea of the truth that was in contradiction with that first overbearing individual and would lead a portion of the church away and a split would occur. To protect against this, a few 'proud' individuals evolved into a governing body of sorts in order to keep overbearing individuals under control. Then 'religion' as we know it today, was formed.
Check out www.johndarby.org/difficulties/index.html to see what I believe is the common template for the degredation simplicity and the formation of all organized 'religions' as we know them today.
bk
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Deputy Dog
Pahpa
I'm sure that "Christ crucified" was an important part of the kingdom message in the first century. But it was not the total message. I don't think one can separate the two. Paul's comments were showing the reaction of non-believers who rejected Christ, the center of the kingdom message. Those who responded favorably accepted Christ as the messiah and king which was also part of the gospel message. I see no contradiction.
Fair enough. It's not a contradiction.
But, here is my point. The witnesses still see the "kingdom message" the same way many did, including the disciples, did before the cross.
As long as Jesus was taking care of their physical needs, everything was great.
Mat 4:23
And Jesus went about all Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, and preaching the gospel of the kingdom, and healing all manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people.Mat 4:24
And his fame went throughout all Syria: and they brought unto him all sick people that were taken with divers diseases and torments, and those which were possessed with devils, and those which were lunatic, and those that had the palsy; and he healed them.While rejecting "Christ crucified".
Mat 16:21
From that time Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem, and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised up on the third day. 22Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You."Mat 17:22
And while they were gathering together in Galilee, Jesus said to them, "The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men; 23and they will kill Him, and He will be raised on the third day."And they were deeply grieved.Mark 8:31
And He began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again. 32And He was stating the matter plainly. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. 33 But turning around and seeing His disciples, He rebuked Peter and *said, "Get behind Me, Satan; for you are not setting your mind on God's interests, but man's."The disciples were looking for an earthly kingdom. Jesus was preaching a heavenly one, His death.
Now look at Paul's words:
1Co 1:17
For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not in cleverness of speech, so that the cross of Christ would not be made void. 18For the word of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. -
Pahpa
DD
Your point is well taken. We know that many did turn away with disappointment when Christ died. Many had expected him to rule as an earthly king with Jerusalem established as his capitol city. But the gospel message continued on with the inclusion of "Christ crucified" and gave significance to points that Christ made during his ministry. Example: "My kingdom is not of this world...." Christ said that many things not understood would be revealed later. But the basic "good news of the kingdom" remained the same. And this simple message drew in the multitudes as it spread throughout the Roman empire and beyond.
I think, though, that the Watchtower has gone well beyond the misunderstanding of the early Christians. It is promoted its own teachings that negate the scriptures. For example, the teaching of a invisible presence of Christ is exactly what Jesus' warned his followers about: "At that time if anyone says to you 'Look, here is the Christ' or 'there he is' do not believe it. For false Christs and false prophets will appear.....So, if anyone tells you, 'There he is, out in the desert' do not go out; or 'Here he is, in the inner rooms' do not believe it.' "
It is interesting that the Watchtower's teachings of these subjects evolved out the disappointment of its expectations and interpretations. It had to justify its own self appointed position as God's spokesman. And as in the case of the early church, the leaders were primarily responsible for the errors that crept in.
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Pahpa
Slappy
Thanks for sharing the interesting information. It does demonstrate how fast disintegration can occur within a group. In the case of Darby, Newton and the others it was their differences of opinion that caused the fracture within their group. By the way, some of the same issues about the "rapture of the church" are dividing many fundamentalist Protestant groups today. (Pre-trib, mid-trib and post-trib) As the saying goes: "The more things change, the more they remain the same."
Eventually, God will settle these controversies. Our obligation is only "to love one another" as Christ loved his disciples. We all can agree to disagree on doctrinal differences. But we should never judge another Christian because his opinion differs from ours.
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THE GLADIATOR
Eventually, God will settle these controversies.