which are the strong points of the WT?

by marcopolo 107 Replies latest jw friends

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  designs

  TTWSYF-

  Non-Violence movements and degrees of pacifisim have a history you may want to study further. The Anabaptists, Quakers, Menonites espoused non-violent means to settleing disputes along with the Bahia and a few others. Protecting your family from a burgler has a different context than national and religious wars.

  I belong to the Peace Alliance, among other social and environmental organizations, which is a political and social movement dedicated to establishing peace in our communities and internationally. One goal is to establish a position at the Federal Cabinet level to carry the voice of alternatives to armed conflict.

  Shalom aleichem
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  WTWizard

  Protecting pedophiles while silencing the victims.

  Initiating force, threats of force, and fraud getting people to waste their lives selling rags and then returning the proceeds, and then some, to the donation boxes.

  Ruining lives.
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  JediMaster

  TTWSYF -

  The old Testament does contain numerous examples of wars fought by God's people. The difference, as you yourselft said it, is that they were being fought at God's command, at a time when God was directly dealing with the Israelites. However, no one going to war today can make such a claim. Jesus commended the centurion on his faith, not on his career. And Cornelius' convertion, being a Gentile and a high-ranking member of the army, was to prove that God's salvation was now available to people of all nations and ways of life, not to prove He now backed the Roman army. I will kill and die to defend my family and friends from anything/anyone that might harm them. But not because of political differences between countries. Even when thugs break into the house, usually keeping quiet and cooperating yields better results than trying to retailate. Wars are once again the result of people in power manipulating those they're supposed to protect. I will not follow Mr President off to war any more so than I would follow th GB off a cliff. If they don't see eye to eye, they can settle it personally on the rink.

  Jedi Master
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  rnicole76

  Is correct pronouciation of God's name from it's original language a bible requirement? There are no scriptures saying this!

  My reading from the Bible indicates transliteration of names from one language to another is common and goes without saying biblically. Since the bible is written in numerous languages, Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic and makes no mention that this is wrong or not allowed. Our word for God's son "Jesus" is the English version and bears little in common in pronouciation with the original. Jehovah is just the established English version of YHWH (which is the FULL name for Jehovah in the vowelless Ancient Hebrew)

  Um i am confused by this. Didn't the WBTS say that we must call Him Jehovah to get salvation? I read from different articles that the name "Jehovah" came from the Catholics. What is your thought on this? What does the Watchtower have to say about this? If you don't know is that is the right pronunciation, then why use it?
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  debator

  Hi rnicole76

  Is "Jesus" (whose name is also important) okay as the English version of yahshua/iesous? (these are the hebrew and greek of Jesus's name in the Bible both were written as his name under inspiration they do not sound very similar in pronouciation). Are people really saying "Jesus "if they are using the English version of his name?

  Revelation 14:1
  [ The Lamb and the 144,000 ] Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads.

  Since the bible makes no issue over pronouciation only emphasising that we use God's name in whatever language we speak. why are you quibbling over the English version of Jehovah/YHWH?

  As Witnesses we accept we are using "Jehovah" as the established English version of the Hebrew YHWH like we use Jesus the established English version of Iesous in greek. We do not see this as making it any less his name it uses YHWH which is his name it is just spoken in a different language in my case English.

  Every single name you read in the bible in your current language is a transliterated name that is not in it's original language or pronouciation.

  What we are really doing here is trying to argue a special case for "Jehovah/YHWH" that we apply to no other name in the bible including Jesus's and without any Biblical principle for this. Since the bible is notably silent on pronouciation.
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  blondie

  Jedimaster, let me clarify, I was not calling the WTS a pedophile but just as I would find it impossible to find a good quality in a pedophile that was not negated by their seriously flawed actions, so whatever passes for a "strong"point in the WTS is negated by their seriously flawed actions.
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  isaacaustin

  Debator, the pronunciation is not of issue here. However, the insertion of the name jehovah/Yahweh into the NT is called adding to the word of God, with no justification for doing so.
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  mentallyfree31

  Objectively speaking, there are some strong points for people on the inside:

  (1) The house to house preaching - as far as I'm aware, they completely blow any other religion out of the water with the extent of the ministry. When they look in the NWT bible and it uses the words "house to house", this seals part of the deal in their mind that they are in the right religion. Of course they cannot connect the dots that "if what I'm preaching is wrong, then this is all null and void". But from a numbers and participation standpoint, it is quite impressive.

  (2) General Behavior: The members are so indoctrinated, lots of them follow the rules quite strictly. In public, they don't curse, don't steal - from a broad viewpoint non-witnesses will often think they are pretty nice people.

  (3) The general idea that "this is the real truth about God and therefore his entire organization believes exactly the same". This was a hindrance to me leading up to me taking the step to actually admit that I was wrong. So many different churches believing so many different things - I just knew that everybody can't be right. So the "perceived unity" of the JWs was a strong force for keeping my doubts in check.

  Those are just a few things that seem to have a hold on lots of Witnesses. I'm certainly not taking sides with WT, but trying to be non-biased in my observations.

  -mentallyfree31-
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  Quandry

  (1) The house to house preaching - as far as I'm aware, they completely blow any other religion out of the water with the extent of the ministry.

  Good point!!! Yes, think of how many times the same people went to the same houses with different "new light" on the teaching of generation alone!

  (2)In public, they don't curse, don't steal - from a broad viewpoint non-witnesses will often think they are pretty nice people.

  In public, most people don't steal. Also, many refrain from cursing. You are right, from broad viewpoint...they look good from the outside.

  (3) The general idea that "this is the real truth about God and therefore his entire organization believes exactly the same".

  In general, it's because of the fear of being accused of apostacy if you dare to question.
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  OnTheWayOut

  I agree with Blondie. I mean, to say they are a very efficiently run dangerous mind-control cult would be trying to focus attention on the "very efficiently run" part and trying to ignore the huge "dangerous mind-control cult" part.

  Any good in the members is "DESPITE" the WT organization. Any good that is accomplished by WTS itself (such as disaster relief) is negated by the damage they do (such as fleecing the flock in the name of disaster relief).

  I like to use this example: If your friend is hurt in a terrible disaster that kills many people, you don't thank God for the terrible disaster just because you met a cute nurse or doctor while taking your friend to the hospital for treatment. You just happened to get something good out of a terrible tragedy.