Sayings of Everlasting Life heard "Nowhere Else" but in JW Organization?

InterestedOne

I just finished reading the 9/15/2010 WT study edition article for Nov 8-14, and the last few sentences of paragraph 7 on page 18 jumped out at me. Referring to the "one association" which I assume means the JW organization, the author says "... where else can we turn? Nowhere else can we hear the sayings of everlasting life. -- John 6:68"

Am I correct in my assumption that by the "one association" the author means specifically the group known as "Jehovah's Witnesses" who are organized and directed by a group of men known as the "Governing Body" with office headquarters in the "Watchtower" building in Brooklyn, and who publish their statements through the nonprofit corporation called the Watchtower Society? I just want to make sure who exactly the author is talking about because he/she didn't make clear who the "one association" is, not to me anyway. Maybe a more seasoned WT reader would know who the author is talking about, but I wanted to make sure.

Assuming the author is specifically referring to the JW organization, I am not sure why he/she cites John 6:68 to support the claim that "nowhere else" can a person hear the sayings of everlasting life. John 6:68 says the following:
"Simon Peter answered him: 'Lord, whom shall we go away to? You have sayings of everlasting life;"
Peter is speaking to the person, Jesus, whereas the WT author is referring to the JW organization. The reason I don't understand the WT author's statement is that the sayings of Jesus are publicly available and have been for a long time in the Bible. If the "sayings of everlasting life" the author refers to are limited to the sayings contained in the Bible, then anyone with access to a library or the internet can hear these sayings regardless of whether they have any encounter at all with the JW organization. Thus, the author's statement that "nowhere else can we hear the sayings of everlasting life" is simply false.

On the other hand, if by "sayings of everlasting life" the author is referring to extra sayings in addition to the sayings contained in the Bible, then the statement would be "true," or at least consistent with the author's perspective. This leads to a basic question I have about the author's perspective: Do JW's believe their organization possesses extra sayings that no-one can hear unless they talk to JW's?

sabastious

They have the only TRUE teachings of everlasting life.

That would be the dub argument.

-Sab

wannabefree

Welcome InterestedOne

moshe

Well, we like to hear some background info from new posters. Welcome.

Ding

InterestedOne,

Actually, the Watchtower Society teaches that no one can truly understand the Bible without them.

They believe Jesus returned invisibly in 1914, that in 1918-1919 he checked out all the religions in the world and chose the Watchtower Society to be his "faithful and discreet slave organization" to dispense his spiritual food at the proper time.

Thus, the Watchtower organization is Jehovah's sole channel of communication to man today.

I'm not making this up.

They really believe and teach this.

jwfacts

Your summary is spot on.

JW's fall somewhere between Protestant tradition of 'Sola Scriptura' (that the Bible alone is the complete basis for Christian teaching) and Catholic 'Magisterium' (that God has continued to reveal truths). Though paying lip service to 'Sola Scriptura', the Watchtower claims God uses the Governing Body to progressively reveal the understanding of Bible truth, and no where else can this be found.

Black Sheep

It doesn't get much clearer than this.

BTW, they no longer keep these requirements

InterestedOne

Wow! Thank you Black Sheep for that article. I guess that answers my question. If I understand that article correctly, the JW organization is claiming to have statements from the Lord in addition to what is in the Bible. Therefore, the current WT study article is consistent with the idea that -only they- have the sayings of everlasting life, no-one else. Even though anyone can read the Bible, which includes the sayings of Jesus, whom Peter was speaking to in the verse they cite (John 6:68), somehow reading the sayings of Jesus in the Bible is not enough to hear the sayings of everlasting life. Somehow, the sayings of everlasting life only come through the JW organization. It would have been nice if they cited a verse to support this claim.

Also, thanks to others for welcoming me. Sorry to just barge in with a question without introducing myself. I was trying to figure out how to put up a bio, but I don't see a way to change my "settings." So, at risk of going off-topic, here is some of my background:

I have a friend, whom I admire very much, who is a JW. Over the years, we didn't really talk about it, but she mentioned the Bible once in a while. About a year ago we started talking about it more. She also invited me to a couple of meetings. All it took was a couple meetings and I felt like something weird was going on. One of the elders asked me who I was "studying" with. Silly me, I thought we were speaking the same form of English. I pointed to my friend since we had been discussing various Bible passages, etc., and I figured we were "studying" the Bible. She got nervous and tried to explain to the elder that we really weren't "studying" the Bible. He looked at her and said, "you have to turn him over." I didn't know what was going on, and I didn't realize the fact that she is female and I am male was an issue. I also didn't realize the word "study" is a loaded term in JW language.

Since I still wanted to try to understand my friend's perspective, I agreed to be "turned over" and do a "Bible study" with total strangers. There is a KH closer to my home than the one my friend attends, and of course the "brother" assigned to "teach" me is in my vicinity, so I have been effectively separated from having any reason to discuss the Bible with my friend. I email her sometimes, and she just says I can ask my Bible "teacher" about it. The study is going very slowly because I ask a lot of questions. The "brothers" keep questioning my motives, and I keep repeating that I simply want to hear the message they are conveying to the world and evaluate what I think of it.

So far, this has been one of the most bizarre and eye-opening experiences of my life. Their use of language is really blowing my mind, and I am learning what to watch out for in other areas of life such as in political propaganda, speeches, advertising, etc. The use of vagueries and manipulation of emotion is so outstanding to me that sometimes when I return home from meetings, I feel like I need to take a shower to wash it off. It's like there's a haze over everything. So weird. This is why I finally decided to post a question to this board. I feel as though the literature and JW's themselves are not being up front with me about what they believe. As I read the literature, I want to say, "Ok Mr. anonymous author, out with it. Tell me clearly what you are saying. Enough with the vague language already." I want to be able to have intelligent discussions with my friend about her worldview and help her to think clearly about her beliefs. I respect people's choices to believe certain things, but I hate to see people being manipulated with language to the point where their thinking is garbled.

I hope to learn more from all of you as well as possibly contribute thoughts that may be helpful to others.

ThomasCovenant

Hi ''Interested One''

Thanks for joining and posting such well thought out comments and questions. You seem to me to be like the child seeing 'the emperors new clothes'. It'll get worse as you're only scratching the surface. What seems sad is that your female friend will eventually no longer be your friend. She has two persons inside her.

1)The friend that you have come to like and associate with

2)The JW who will struggle to cope with the cognitive dissonance that you will bring her.

And thanks Black Sheep for that 1943 Watchtower article.

You have to laugh otherwise you'd cry at the stupidity of it.

Lozhasleft

Hello IO and Welcome.

Loz x

Sayings of Everlasting Life heard "Nowhere Else" but in JW Organization?

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