Why a publishing company and not a news channel

by maksym 23 Replies latest jw friends

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  maksym

  It is interesting to say that the means of communication of God [jehovah ]happens to be varied throughout the ages. In Apostolic times God had eyewitness to proclaim the message. These faithful men furthered the message by spreading the message by word of mouth coupled with oral tradition. Moving forward to more modern times God decided to choose a publishing company in a young country like the United States to be the home of end time light that would help the faithful ones?
  
  I find it hard to believe that God uses man made printing presses and this type of communication to further His interest.
  
  If we analyze the concept, and concede to the JW point of view, God decides to make a few men his spokespersons. They in turn supposedly write articles that give print for them for the entire world.
  
  Only does the printing press, a man-made object or invention preclude this scenario. Why? Why did God choose the United States? Both suggestions are preposterous. But why printing and not a radio program or a television station, or an internet channel.
  
  Personally I believe that IF the Jw’s did NOT have any literature, the religion would crumble.
  
  Can anyone refute this? I mean if all JW’s went to the KH and did not have any printed material they would be doomed.
  
  They believe in printed page. They worship print from a publishing company. If they don’t worship it they surely are guilty of idolatry.
  
  What do you say? Why not something else like a newspaper or something. There is so much more to getting a message out than just printing magazines and books.

  Thanks
• 

  maksym

  The other question would be if God is capable of communicationg with everyone, why would He use an impersonal object like a publishing company instead of just communicating with each person individually. I mean seriously I can talk to people, why can't God to each person, who is all powerful. Does He need a publishing company to do his work for Him? That is rediculous.
• 

  maksym

  okay, enough ranting.
• 

  blondie

  In Russell's day his sermons were printed in the newspapers.

  *** jv chap. 5 pp. 55-59 Proclaiming the Lord’s Return (1870-1914) ***

  Opening the Door of "Newspaper Gospelling

  "By the end of the 19th century, the world was crisscrossed with telegraph lines. Telegraphic communication was inexpensive and fast; it revolutionized the press. News could be quickly transmitted over long distances and printed in newspapers. In the early part of the 20th century, C. T. Russell and his associates saw newspapers as an effective way of reaching large numbers of people. Russell later said: "The newspaper has become the great factor in the daily life of the civilized world."

  The December 1, 1904, issue of the WatchTower announced that sermons by C. T. Russell were appearing in three newspapers. The next issue of the WatchTower, under the heading "Newspaper Gospelling," reported: "Millions of sermons have thus been scattered far and near; and some at least have done good. If the Lord wills we shall be glad to see this ‘door’ keep open, or even open still wider." The door of "newspaper gospelling" did open still wider. In fact, by 1913 it was estimated that through 2,000 newspapers Russell’s sermons were reaching 15,000,000 readers!

  How, though, did Russell manage to get a weekly sermon printed even when he was traveling? Each week he telegraphed a sermon (about two newspaper columns long) to a newspaper syndicate. The syndicate, in turn, retelegraphed it to newspapers in the United States, Canada, and Europe.

  Russell was convinced that the Lord had pushed the door of newspaper preaching wide open. During the first decade of the 20th century, the Bible message that Russell and his associates proclaimed became widely known through such newspaper sermons. A publication called TheContinent once stated concerning Russell: "His writings are said to have greater newspaper circulation every week than those of any other living man; a greater, doubtless, than the combined circulation of the writings of all the priests and preachers in North America."

  -----------

  Now Rutherford used radio extensively, even thinking it was divinely provided by God

  *** jv chap. 7 p. 80 Advertise the King and the Kingdom! (1919-1941) ***

  Broadcasting the Kingdom Message

  Within two years after regular commercial radio broadcasting began, radio was being used to transmit the Kingdom message. Thus on February 26, 1922, Brother Rutherford delivered his first radio broadcast, in California. Two years later, on February 24, 1924, the Watch Tower Society’s own radio station WBBR, on Staten Island, New York, began broadcasting. Eventually, the Society organized worldwide networks to broadcast Bible programs and lectures. By 1933 a peak of 408 stations were carrying the Kingdom message to six continents!
• 

  transhuman68

  Good thread. The WTS rely on the printed page, as it is the way they control the questions and the answers. They cannot allow any open discussion of their absurd doctrine, or their past mistakes.
• 

  Pika_Chu

  I know, right? If this message is so important that the lives of 6 Billion people are at stake every waking moment, then why doesn't ths benevolent WT God communicate with humanity just a little bit more effectively?
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  OUTLAW

  The WBT$ message is Only for Jehovah`s Witness`s..

  If it was Broadcasted on a News Channel..

  People outside of the WBT$ organization might hear it..

  .....................;-)...OUTLAW
• 

  wasblind

  People outside of the WBT$ organization might hear it..

  .....................;-)...OUTLAW

  And laugh at the silly things that are taught

  that's why they have public editions and a separate

  mag for JW's only
• 

  LostGeneration

  Jehovah is just a tricky fellow..

  After making Adam, he stayed pretty focused on what was happening. Once he and that evil wench Eve ate from the magic fruit tree, it was "Get out of my lovely Garden"

  Then he tired of his creation, except for one dude's family who he kept alive in a gigantic box while he flooded the rest of the earth.

  He took a pretty active role for a few hundred years, marching those Israelites out of Egypt and even providing tasty snacks on the ground each morning.

  He was a bit bi-polar though, smoking fools like Uzzah who has the gaul to try to keep his personal chest of treasures from falling to the ground. Or having his main man Moses kill off those pesky married women in Numbers 31.

  After a record like this, I think an obscure sect of Adventism in the late 19th century is about the right choice.
• 

  wasblind

  " I know, right? If this message is so important that the lives of 6 Billion people are at stake every waking moment, then why doesn't ths benevolent WT God communicate with humanity just a little bit more effectively? "

  Hello there Pika_Chu,

  better yet, if the message is so urgent, why not use the fastest means available

  to sound out the warning ???? After all, did we have to wait for the printed paper

  to be delivered to our door to hear about the earthquake in Japan ????