the Brethren, Anabaptist (comprising Mennonites, Amish, and Hutterites), and the Quakers (Religious Society of Friends).
These groups do not fight in war.
How is the WT unique?
by isaacaustin 15 Replies latest jw friends
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WTWizard
They can be unique and still be wrong. I could start a cult that people fall upwards, and have no other religion or cult teaching the same thing. It would not mean that I am right, even if I could use the Bible to prove it.
They could also be the only ones that are wrong--just because they are unique does not prove anything.
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OnTheWayOut
I do not recall another group that claimed that the end would come so many times
(1914, 1915, 1918, 1925, 1940's, 1975, within the lifetime of people living in 1914, the 20th century, any minute now)
and still exists. -
BluesBrother
Interestingly, CTR made no claim to having unique doctrines, and the Proclaimers Book is quite upfront about it . Chapter 5 p 49
"C. T. Russell used the Watch Tower and other publications to uphold Bible truths and to refute false religious teachings and human philosophies that contradicted the Bible. He did not, however, claim to discover new truths.
From the latter part of the 18th century, many ministers and Bible scholars had been exposing the false teachings of the immortality of the soul and eternal punishment for the wicked. This exposé had been thoroughly reported in the book Bible Vs. Tradition, by Aaron Ellis, originally published in England and then in the United States in 1853 by George Storrs. But no one at that time did more than C. T. Russell and his associates to make this truth known.
What about other Bible doctrines that were discussed in the Watch Tower and other publications? Did Russell take full credit for uncovering these gems of truth? Explained Russell: “We found that for centuries various sects and parties had split up the Bible doctrines amongst them, blending them with more or less of human speculation and error . . . We found the important doctrine of justification by faith and not by works had been clearly enunciated by Luther and more recently by many Christians; that divine justice and power and wisdom were carefully guarded tho not clearly discerned by Presbyterians; that Methodists appreciated and extolled the love and sympathy of God; that Adventists held the precious doctrine of the Lord’s return; that Baptists amongst other points held the doctrine of baptism symbolically correctly, even tho they had lost sight of the real baptism; that some Universalists had long held vaguely some thoughts respecting ‘restitution.’ And so, nearly all denominations gave evidence that their founders had been feeling after truth: but quite evidently the great Adversary had fought against them and had wrongly divided the Word of God which he could not wholly destroy.”
Concerning the chronology he often presented, Russell stated: “When we say ‘our’ chronology we merely mean the one we use, the Bible chronology, which belongs to all of God’s people who approve it. As a matter of fact it was used in practically the form we present it long before our day, just as various prophecies we use were used to a different purpose by Adventists, and just as various doctrines we hold and which seem so new and fresh and different were held in some form long ago: for instance—Election, Free Grace, Restitution, Justification, Sanctification, Glorification, Resurrection.”
Then how did Russell perceive the role that he and his associates played in publishing Scriptural truth? He explained: “Our work . . . has been to bring together these long scattered fragments of truth and present them to the Lord’s people—not as new, not as our own, but as the Lord’s. . . . We must disclaim any credit even for the finding and rearrangement of the jewels of truth.” He further stated: “The work in which the Lord has been pleased to use our humble talents has been less a work of origination than of reconstruction, adjustment, harmonization.”
Russell thus was quite modest about his accomplishments. Nevertheless, the “scattered fragments of truth” that he brought together and presented to the Lord’s people were free of the God-dishonoring pagan doctrines of the Trinity and immortality of the soul, which had become entrenched in the churches of Christendom as a result of the great apostasy. Like no one at that time, Russell and his associates proclaimed worldwide the meaning of the Lord’s return and of the divine purpose and what it involved."
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keyser soze
They're the only ones who use god's name, therefore they must be right. *snicker*
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wobble
Keyser you are right to"snicker" ,because that is such a false claim on so many levels as we all now know.
But it was that thought that kept me trapped for many a long year, I could see many of the doctrinal faults, much that was wrong in their practise, but I kept on believing that as Almighty God had his name on it, He must be using them to a degree, and He would soon correct matters.
Oh what a blind fool I was !
But it just shows the power that Cult indoctrination has.
Love
Wobble