WTBTS "uses" heroes of church history only when it suits them to make a point

by AuntBee 27 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  AuntBee

  " God raised up bold champions for his Word, among whom were Luther, Zwingli, Melanchthon, Wycliffe, Knox and others." (Divine Plan of the Ages) Um...hello?? Bold champions for His Word? I thought they were deluded trinitarians completely out of step with Jehovahs Organization (wherever it was at the time), observing pagan holidays, not politically neutral (Zwingli died on the battlefield) and weighed down with various babylonish practices!!

  I also love that chart saying that Luther was one of the seven messengers of the church, along with a few other Trinitarians, and Arius and Russell. ROFLMAO.
• 

  Ding

  Good point, Aunt Bee!

  Can you imagine what would happen to a JW who admitted to an elder that he was studying theological writings by those "bold champions for God's Word" and learning a lot from them?

  For that matter, what would happen to a JW who read the Divine Plan of the Ages, The Finished Mystery, Millions Now Living Will Never Die, or other "old light" of the WTS and announced that he agreed with their teachings?
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  wobble

  Well, why shouldn't a JW agree with Russell's rubbish ?

  It was the "food at the proper time" that they were teaching in 1919 when Jesus chose them over any other sect to look after his "belongings", so it must be O.K otherwise Jesus would have chosen another group.

  I like the point you make in the post title Aunt Bee, some years ago they did a series of articles on a number of such heroes of church history, quite well written and readable actually, but as you say, they did not let on the full information as to the beliefs held dear by these guys, or more especially why the heroes had come to their particular exegesis.

  That might set Dubbies thinking.

  A case of the WT being "economical with the truth" again.
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  AuntBee

  DIng: That would make a good youtube, someone studying the Reformers, because they were bold champions of God's Word. And then maybe they'd be reproved or something.

  Wobble: Do you know what year those articles were published, were they in the WT? I do have the cd, maybe i can find it.
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  blondie

  *** w84 8/15 p. 27 One God in Three? ***Shortly afterwards it appears in its Latin form of trinitas in Tertullian.” However, Theophilus’ triad was made up of “God, and His Word, and His wisdom”—hardly Christendom’s Trinity! As to Tertullian, the encyclopedia admits that “his Trinitarian teaching is inconsistent,” among other things because he held that “there was a time when there was no Son.” So the least that can be said is that these two men had in mind something quite different from Christendom’s coeternal Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

  BUT 18 YEARS LATER

  *** w02 5/15 p. 31 The Paradox of Tertullian ***Tertullian viewed the Son as subordinate to the Father. However, in his attempt to counteract modalism, he went “beyond the things that are written.” (1 Corinthians 4:6) As Tertullian erroneously sought to prove the divinity of Jesus by means of another theory, he coined the formula “one substance in three persons.” Using this concept, he attempted to show that God, his Son, and the holy spirit were three distinct persons existing in one divine substance. Tertullian thus became the first to apply the Latin form of the word “trinity” to the Father, the Son, and the holy spirit.
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  slimboyfat

  I don't see a contradition there blondie. I think Tertullian taught both that there was a time when the Son was not, and that he shares the divine substance with the Father.
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  designs

  Its no different than the Evangelicals and Protestants bragging about their Reformers until you point out what lying, murdering rat bastards they were and then its- Oh! but they were imperfect, or Oh! maybe they weren't really born again. Crap is a cow paddy by a different name.
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  brotherdan

  Luther, Zwingli, Melanchthon, Wycliffe, Knox and others.

  You have to remember what they are trying to do here. They are trying to make a connection from themselves to Jesus' apostles. There was supposed to be an unending faithful slave (which there was/is...but it sure doesn't include them), from the apostles down to the end.

  In the end though, men like Luther will always be remembered as champions of Gods Word, while men like Russell, Rutherford, Knorr, and Franz will be remembered as destroyers of it.
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  slimboyfat

  Men like Luther and Calvin with also always be remembered for murder and anti-seimitism too.
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  brotherdan

  Luther and Calvin were good men. Did they have extreme faults? Yes of course. But they fought against the corruption of Christianity.