Good point, good scripture dear ST Ann,
"few are the ones finding it " 6 going on 7 Million is not few, got to find another cult, sorry, religion.
"Do Jehovah's Witnesses Believe That Their Religion is the Only True One?"
by ziddina 22 Replies latest watchtower scandals
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Dark Side
Millions that have lived in centuries past and who were not Jehovah's Witnesses will come back in a resurrection and have an opportunity for life.
Millions? Really? As discussed in another thread, there have been over 100,000,000,000 (that's 100 BILLION) people who have ever lived on Earth.
I wonder who didn't make the cut
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Dogpatch
Milton Henschel first shocked the world with this bold statement in "Religions in America" by Leo Rosten in his first edition (1975). I don't have the book anymore, but if anyone does please post his answer to the question, "Do you believe Jehovah's Witnesses are the only true religion?"
He was not coy with his answer. Being A JW at Bethel at the time, I thought it was the perfect answer. But now Uncle Milty is dead and is no longer in the only true religion. He isn't even president anymore.
Randy
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Deputy Dog
I remember having this discussion with a JW a few years ago, it would have been easier if I'd told him he had the right to an atorny. Getting an honest answer out of him was impossible.
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Heaven
"Do they believe that they are the only ones who will be saved?
No.
Then you don't HAVE to be a JW to be saved. There's absolutely no point.
This is in direct contradiction to what I was told as a teenager. I was told specifically that if I did not become a JW and do the door-to-door misery ministry I would not gain eternal life.
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blondie
Does the WTS teach that their organization is the only true religion....despite legal twists, this is fairly clear.
*** km 5/99 p. 2 Service Meetings for May ***What’s Wrong With My Religion?
Discussion between two ministerial servants. We encounter many people who are favorable toward the truth and admire Jehovah’s Witnesses. However, the ties they maintain with their church hinder them. They find it difficult to believe that we have the only true religion and that their form of worship is false. This becomes a major barrier to their spiritual progress.
***2005 - What Does the Bible Really Teach? bh chap. 15 pp. 145-151 Worship That God Approves ***
HOW TO IDENTIFY THE TRUE RELIGION
5 How can ‘the road to life’ be found? Jesus said that the true religion would be evident in the lives of the people who practice it. "By their fruits you will recognize them," he said. "Every good tree produces fine fruit." (Matthew 7:16, 17) In other words, those who practice the true religion would be recognized by their beliefs and their conduct. Although they are not perfect and they make mistakes, true worshipers as a group seek to do God’s will. Let us consider six features that identify those who practice true religion.
6 God’s servants base their teachings on the Bible. The Bible itself says: "All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, that the man [or woman] of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16, 17) To his fellow Christians, the apostle Paul wrote: "When you received God’s word, which you heard from us, you accepted it, not as the word of men, but, just as it truthfully is, as the word of God." (1 Thessalonians 2:13) Hence, beliefs and practices of the true religion are not based on human views or tradition. They originate in God’s inspired Word, the Bible.
7 Jesus Christ set the proper example by basing his teachings on God’s Word. In prayer to his heavenly Father, he said: "Your word is truth." (John 17:17) Jesus believed the Word of God, and everything he taught harmonized with the Scriptures. Jesus often said: "It is written." (Matthew 4:4, 7, 10) Then Jesus would quote a scripture. Similarly, God’s people today do not teach their own ideas. They believe that the Bible is God’s Word, and they base their teachings firmly on what it says.
8 Those who practice the true religion worship only Jehovah and make his name known. Jesus declared: "It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service." (Matthew 4:10) Thus, God’s servants worship no one other than Jehovah. This worship includes letting people know what the name of the true God is and what he is like. Psalm 83:18 states: "You, whose name is Jehovah, you alone are the Most High over all the earth." Jesus set the pattern in helping others to get to know God, as he said in prayer: "I have made your name manifest to the men you gave me out of the world." (John 17:6) Similarly, true worshipers today teach others about God’s name, his purposes, and his qualities.
9 God’s people show genuine, unselfish love for one another. Jesus said: "By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves." (John 13:35) The early Christians had such love for one another. Godly love overcomes racial, social, and national barriers and draws people together in an unbreakable bond of true brotherhood. (Colossians 3:14) Members of false religions do not have such a loving brotherhood. How do we know that? They kill one another because of national or ethnic differences. True Christians do not take up weapons to kill their Christian brothers or anyone else. The Bible states: "The children of God and the children of the Devil are evident by this fact: Everyone who does not carry on righteousness does not originate with God, neither does he who does not love his brother. . . . We should have love for one another; not like Cain, who originated with the wicked one and slaughtered his brother."—1 John 3:10-12; 4:20, 21.
10 Of course, genuine love means more than not killing others. True Christians unselfishly use their time, energy, and resources to help and encourage one another. (Hebrews 10:24, 25) They help one another in times of distress, and they deal honestly with others. In fact, they apply in their lives the Bible counsel to "work what is good toward all."—Galatians 6:10.
11 True Christians accept Jesus Christ as God’s means of salvation. The Bible says: "There is no salvation in anyone else, for there is not another name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must get saved." (Acts 4:12) As we saw in Chapter 5, Jesus gave his life as a ransom for obedient humans. (Matthew 20:28) In addition, Jesus is God’s appointed King in the heavenly Kingdom that will rule the entire earth. And God requires that we obey Jesus and apply his teachings if we want everlasting life. That is why the Bible states: "He that exercises faith in the Son has everlasting life; he that disobeys the Son will not see life."—John 3:36.
12 True worshipers are no part of the world. When on trial before the Roman ruler Pilate, Jesus said: "My kingdom is no part of this world." (John 18:36) No matter what country they live in, Jesus’ true followers are subjects of his heavenly Kingdom and thus maintain strict neutrality in the world’s political affairs. They take no part in its conflicts. However, Jehovah’s worshipers do not interfere with what others choose to do about joining a political party, running for office, or voting. And while God’s true worshipers are neutral regarding politics, they are law-abiding. Why? Because God’s Word commands them to "be in subjection" to the governmental "superior authorities." (Romans 13:1) Where there is a conflict between what God requires and what a political system requires, true worshipers follow the example of the apostles, who said: "We must obey God as ruler rather than men."—Acts 5:29; Mark 12:17.
13 Jesus’ true followers preach that God’s Kingdom is mankind’s only hope. Jesus foretold: "This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come." (Matthew 24:14) Instead of encouraging people to look to human rulers to solve their problems, true followers of Jesus Christ proclaim God’s heavenly Kingdom as the only hope for mankind. (Psalm 146:3) Jesus taught us to pray for that perfect government when he said: "Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth." (Matthew 6:10) God’s Word foretold that this heavenly Kingdom "will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms [now existing], and it itself will stand to times indefinite."—Daniel 2:44.
14On the basis of what we have just considered, ask yourself: ‘What religious group bases all its teachings on the Bible and makes known Jehovah’s name? What group practices godly love, exercises faith in Jesus, is no part of the world, and proclaims that God’s Kingdom is the only real hope for mankind? Of all the religious groups on earth, which one meets all these requirements?’ The facts clearly show that it is Jehovah’s Witnesses.—Isaiah 43:10-12.
***2002 - The Road to Everlasting Life—HaveYou FoundIt? ol part 7 p. 22 Who Practice the True Religion? ***Part 7---Who Practice the True Religion?
TO ENJOY a warm, loving relationship with God, we must have nothing to do with false religion. We must practice true religion. Today millions of people throughout the earth are doing that.
2 As the Bible foretold, the true worshipers make up "a great crowd" who have come "out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues." (Revelation 7:9) In 235 lands, millions of Jehovah’s Witnesses are actively helping others learn about Jehovah’s loving ways and requirements.
*** w01 2/1 p. 10 pars. 7-8 Have You Made the Truth Your Own? ***
7 Take, for example, the question: How do we know that we are practicing the form of worship that Jesus taught? To answer this, what criteria must be considered? The Bible points out that authentic Christians must have true love among themselves. (John 13:34, 35) They must sanctify God’s name, Jehovah. (Isaiah 12:4, 5; Matthew 6:9) And they must make known that name.—Exodus 3:15; John 17:26.
8 Another identifying feature of true worship is respect for God’s Word, the Bible. It is the unique book that reveals God’s personality and his purposes. (John 17:17; 2 Timothy 3:16, 17) Additionally, true Christians proclaim the Kingdom of God as man’s only hope for everlasting life on a paradise earth. (Mark 13:10; Revelation 21:1-4) They keep separate from this world’s corrupt politics and its defiling way of life. (John 15:19; James 1:27; 4:4) Who today have really met these criteria? The facts establish that there is only one answer—Jehovah’s Witnesses.
*** w01 6/1 p. 16 pars. 16-17 "If God Is for Us, Who Will Be Against Us?" ***
Millions of people throughout the world have evaluated the facts and have become convinced that Jehovah’s Witnesses alone are practicing the true religion. They have reached this conclusion on the basis of what Jehovah’s Witnesses teach and how they conduct themselves, as well as on the basis of the benefits their religion has brought. (Isaiah 48:17) Millions are, in effect, saying, as foretold at Zechariah 8:23: "We will go with you people, for we have heard that God is with you people."
17 Is it presumptuous of Jehovah’s Witnesses to point out that they alone have God’s backing? Actually, no more so than when the Israelites in Egypt claimed to have God’s backing in spite of the Egyptians’ belief, or when first-century Christians claimed to have God’s backing to the exclusion of Jewish religionists. The facts speak for themselves.
*** Life Everlasting book pe chap. 22 p. 190 Identifying the True Religion ***ONE TRUE RELIGION
19 It is only logical that there would be one true religion. This is in harmony with the fact that the true God is a God, "not of disorder, but of peace." (1 Corinthians 14:33) The Bible says that actually there is only "one faith." (Ephesians 4:5) Who, then, are the ones who form the body of true worshipers today?
20 We do not hesitate to say that they are Jehovah’s Witnesses.
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No Apologies
Is it presumptuous of Jehovah’s Witnesses to point out that they alone have God’s backing? Actually, no more so than when the Israelites in Egypt claimed to have God’s backing in spite of the Egyptians’ belief, or when first-century Christians claimed to have God’s backing to the exclusion of Jewish religionists. The facts speak for themselves.
HAHA, the arrogance is amazing. The Israelites' leader brought down 10 plagues on the land of Egypt, and parted the Red Sea. First century Christians were able to heal the sick, resurrect dead persons, speak in tongues, etc. What have the leaders of the JWs ever done to put themselves in that kind of company???
And I love their logic, can anyone match the definition of true religion, the definition we just made up ourselves? Well then we must be the true religion!
No Apologies
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ziddina
Wow, look at all the comments!!
Blondie , excellent comments and exquisite skills at finding pertinent quotes!!! Thank you!!
No Apologies - Right on!!
Heaven - GOOD point!! All I saw within the article was the hypocrisy; you spotted an excellent point to bring out to any JW who happens to call or attempts to 'bring one back into line with the "Truth" ™ '...
Deputy Dog - good one!!
LeaderNoMore... Also a good one!! Made me laugh!
Villalobo, Dogpatch - thanks for bringing me up to speed on the WTBTS' history!
Flipper! Thanks for your prompt comment, succinct and to the heart of the matter, as usual...
Balsam, yeah... I can't "identify" very well, though - I was always an unwilling participant; I was beaten - well, hit/kicked/slapped - into the religion/cult, so I really never had any enthusiasm for 'going out in service'; I tended to envy so-called "worldly" people rather than judge them...
St Ann, it took me a while... I get it now. Good point, but I'm a bit afraid that a blithely obtuse JW at the door might take your comments as confirmation that they have "the Truth"™... After all, 7 million is only 1% of 7 billion people...
Thanks all for your comments!! Zid
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Hoping4Change
Henschel's remarks:
Hopefully this link will work. The JW section starts on pg 132. You will need to use the page arrow buttons to go back to the page, the drop down 'COntents' menu will not get you there (at least I couldnt use it)
http://books.google.com/books?id=S0yN0eBwaCcC&pg=PA675&dq="Religions+in+America"+Leo+Rosten&hl=en&ei=Z0lYTKvlNYH48AbqsejGCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false
"Do Jehovah's Witnesses Believe Theirs is the Only True Faith?
Certainly. If they thought someone else had the true faith they would preach that. There is only "one faith", said Paul.
Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe that there is more than one way to gain salvation or that the majority of the people
will meet the strict requirements of true faith. Jesus showed that only a minority would be right: Narrow is the way which
leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it"