there isn't a religious organization more wrapped up in idolatry then the WTS and their repulsive worship towards the imagery of the WT , and also their god like style worship of the G/B, I believe they hate Jesus
Is the "torture stake" dogma a reverse idolatry in itself?
by JWoods 35 Replies latest jw friends
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isaacaustin
Jookbeard, I beleive you are right. Rutherford took away Christmas because it gave Jesus 'undue attention'. Their original songbook was revised because too many songs praised Jesus and not enough Jehovah. They sure changed that ratio.
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designs
If you study the dissenssions Martin Luther had with the Church of Rome over 'who is a priest' and Calvin's 'Limited Atonment' you can sort of get your head around Rutherford's teaching on Christ being the Mediator for only the 144,000. They functioned like the Levitical Priesthood for the rank and file 11 other tribes (other sheep).
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JWoods
It is interesting that the blood that was sprinkled before the mercy seat by the high priest was in the form of a cross. There are other items in the Bible and Judaism which point to a probable symbolic meaning to the form of the thing that Jesus died on.
NO, this misses the point entirely. Completely misses the point. Or, perhaps - illustrates it in the negative. Poster wants to either glorify or denounce the cruxiform (again in typical WT logic) by reference to "the thing that Jesus died on", and invoke at the same time some sort of weird mystic symbolism - as does WT, (except that the WT just wants to be different from the "churches" and have a different symbol) - In fact the point of the thread was this: Whether it was a cross or a stake or a tee, the Jehovah's Witnesses simply cannot let go of the symbolic and sadistic romantization of it. Much like the sentiment of that post above. In this sense, the Witnesses have jumped out of the frying pan of glorifying the cross, only to go on and glorify their version of the "torture stake" in manifestly more lurid imagery than anything conventional Christianity has ever come up with. When was the last time you heard a conventional Christian Easter service go on and on in detail about the forensics of the physical cause of Christ's death? The JWs do this with relish. When did you ever hear of a conventional Christian sermon refer to the cross as a "torture cross"? There is something single-mindedly lurid about the JW version, and that was the point of this thread.
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Finally-Free
The shape of the instrument shouldn't make a difference, but the JWs like to create issues where there are none. They just wanted to ensure that they were different from Christian religions and the cross was something easy for them to pick on, in typical JW fashion.
W
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JWoods
The shape of the instrument shouldn't make a difference, but the JWs like to create issues where there are none. They just wanted to ensure that they were different from Christian religions and the cross was something easy for them to pick on, in typical JW fashion.
I like that very much - "
different from Christian religions
"...Indeed they are. But still idolators.
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Deputy Dog
desigins
How is the "Priesthood of the believer" and "Limited Atonment" (to all believers) related to "Christ being the Mediator for only the 144,000"?
They didn't have 2 classes of believers
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designs
Rutherford's and Franz's idea was that the 144,000 functioned like the Levitical Priesthood in Israel. They had a unique covenant of their own, special meals and clothing etc.. They alone would officiate the Holy Sacriments, sprinkling blood etc. on the Day of Atonement and other festivals.
Very Catholic like in they way their priests function as go betweens to the laity. Luther opposed this and felt all believers were 'priests' much like most of Protestantism does today. The controversy was over texts from 1 Peter and Exodus. The Jews are described as all being 'priests' even though there was a tribe of Levi who were a distinct type of priest, double priests actually since they were priests in the general sense that all Jews were priests (meaning ones who live a holy life).
For Rutherford it was a way to elevate himself and a small clique of insiders over what came to be called the 'Rank and File'. There have been a few attempts over the years to abandoned this belief but it met with resistence from the Governing Body. I wrote several formal Papers on the subject to the Writing and Teaching departments over the years and got my head handed to me on a platter for my efforts...
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JWoods
You can have the cracker, but only the Priest can drink the wine.
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Deputy Dog
desigins
If I understand you are saying the JWs (144,000 are like the Priests) are like the Catholics who still have Priests. Unlike Cavin and Luther who believed Jesus is Mediator/High Priest for all believers.