Christendom - Who are members?

donny

I was talking to a co-worker who is Seventh Day Adventist and he mentioned the term Christendom. I asked him what he meant by that term and he said it was religions who claimed to follow Christ but do not. I asked him if this included JW's and he said it did as they were part of this false Christianity that Jesus would one day judge as unworthy. This is pretty much the same way the Witnesses use the term. Some years ago I heard another person use the term Christendom in a similar manner and it also included everyone but them.

This seems to be an easy term for the "we're the truth" religions to grab and lump everyone else in so when you make a comparison it's easy to show how united you are versus those in "Christendom". You say "we don't worship idols like Christendom" and yet most religions calling themselves Christian do not worship idols.

A Baptist could use this term and say "Folks in Christendom have said things like the Creator promised a peaceful and secure new world before the generation that saw the events of 1914 passes away, but we follow the Bible because Jesus said we do not know the day or the hour of his return."

Using the term Christendom to lump everyone else in is just an easy way out.

Donny

mrsjones5

Yep, the old "us against them" attitude

WuzLovesDubs

I got news for all of them.... since there only was one perfect Christ...ALL OF HIS FOLLOWERS are in "Christendom".

Of course everybody wants to be King of the Hill and thinks they are BETTER and more HOLY than anybody else and as soon as they say that, they demote themselves to the bottom of it.

Ironic aint it.

donny

Yes it is ironic. I was always uncomfortable when I would hear or read material that seemed to take the easy way out by designating all of the "them folks" as if they are one in the same.

Donny

trueblue

Reminds me of this book study,I vagly remember the details but it was about Jehovah's book of memory that Jehovah never forgets you when you do something for him, and there was this City that Jehovah had destroyed because there was so much wickedness, but Jehovah provided one of all the people that was destroyed with a proper burial showing that jehovah never forgets.

Well I think I may have done something for Jehovah, @ least I tried and I can't go to very many meetings for verious reasons and I am not married to an elders daughter. I even have some very rough looking friends, and I will get dirty looks from witnesses if they see me with them.

I guess I will have to wait and see if Jehovah remembers me.

http://pages.suddenlink.net/baraboo57/TheLandThatMadeMeMe.html

DaCheech

if every religion thinks they are right, then who really is!

Rutherford was right in saying "religion is a sham and a racket" (including his)

Narkissos

I always found a bit odd the WT use of the French equivalent of Christendom, chrétienté, because in (non-JW) French it doesn't mean the sum or body of Christian churches (especially not "save one") but that of Christian peoples, or countries where Christianity is dominant. Iow it is a historical, secular word rather than a strictly religious one. I'm not sure how far this is true of the English word "Christendom" though.

llbh

When this word is used it does require some clarification by the user. it is too nebulous a word. JW's like many organisations use it in a pejorative sense, an 'us and them'. Others use it in a much more embracing way. to include all those of a Christian faith.

David

slimboyfat

Narkissos the general (non-Witness) meaning of the French word as you describe it sounds the same as the English word Christendom to me. The application to churches as a group also seems to be a Witness slant on the term in English. But it seemed to me to strike the right note for their purpose since one of the main things they criticise "Christendom" for is involvement in worldly (i.e. secular) affairs.

My wife tells me that Christenheit sounds very odd in German, as does a lot of Witness vocabulary translated apparently.

Then again Theocratese often sounds pretty odd in English to start with it has to be admitted.

I thought the entry in the 'official' Theocratese dictionary might be interesting:

Christendom

1. The realm of countries in the world where {apostate} Christianity is the official or predominant religion. 2. The people who are members of Christendom's churches. <<Christendom dismisses God's personal name as unimportant.>>

http://oroborus21.com/jwnet/theocratese/=C.html

slimboyfat

Using ordinary words but giving them a peculiar meaning is common Witness practice: "torture stake", "arrangement", "item", "territory", "higher criticism", "independent minded". An ordinary English speaker would likely be totally misled by Witnesses' use of those and many other terms.

Christendom - Who are members?

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