by tia.dalma 30 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Here is a link to their main site
I've read a little about them and they do not believe in trinity, and have similar believes as Jehovah's Witnesses.
They also try to keep all ten commandments, in addition to that.
I did not research all their doctrines, but a lot of them look familiar to me.
What do you think?
Same boat, different skipper.
yaro: yet another religious organization.
i take it you are in search of some JW alternatives due to the "where else should we go to" line. do yourself a favor and take a shortcut: there is no true religion.
They are an extension of the religion of Herbert W Armstrong . . . a fundamentalist religion very similar to JW's but less high-control. They have already published a public apology in the past for misleading their followers with their long list of failed prophecies. This new manifestation of the religion has promised to get it right this time. (?)
Black Sheep is right . . . same boat different skipper . . . it's still called the Titanic
You should ask me what do I think about God himself!
Be aware that this group has divided into at least 2 groups. The second group is the one that made the apology and have switched to the beliefs of what are considered more traditional, e.g., trinity. The group that remained has kept the original beliefs of Herbert W. Armonstrong and made no apology.
If I recall, Armstrong's son is leading a religious group now, too. I don't know if it is one of the two that originally fractured or if he set up his own spinoff.
Here's the story of the initial breakup after Armstrong died, and how the church leaders decided to take the organization into the mainstream:
They teach that masturbation is a sin.
They are pretty much a different version of the JW's, except that the Church of God practices tithing, and they celebrate certain festivals. They don't go door-to-door though, but instead they use the internet and other means for spreading their message.
Interestingly, I looked on their website for local congregations, and found only phone numbers, not addresses. Where do they meet? Sounds secretive to me.
I'm actually studying thru much of thier material. They appear to have a good working foundation when it come to explaining things about the feast days and holy days that true Christians should be following. They also give wonderful explanations as to why theses days are celebrated in relation to man's salvation.
They have what I believe to be a keen insight into the scriptures, for instance, the discrepancy regarding when Christ was to celebrate the passover during the institution of the Lord's Evening Meal was greatly cleared up for me. The Jews no longer followed the traditions of old when it came to keeping time. Instead of counting as God had prescribed, the day begining at sunset, they were following the traditions of Rome by begining their day at sunrise, reason why the discrepancy exist even today. Witnesses as well as those from the previous followers of the WCG slated that day as Sunday evening sundown, this year. Traditional Jews associated the Passover of Monday, 24hrs. later. Because the timing never changed from those ancient times, the discrepancy continues to exist. It was the same confusion during Jesus day, as well.
Other beliefs I think they have correct are about the fallacy of Christ being crucified on Friday. Jesus statement regarding being in the heart of the earth for 3 days and 3 nights makes the Good Friday killing of the Christ a fallacy. The Sabbath that was being spoken of was not the traditional weekly Sabbath, begining at sunset Friday to sunset Saturday, but was an Annual Sabbath that was not dependent of it falling on traditional weekly Sabbath. The calendar the Jews were following was not like we follow today. That annual Sabbath was defined as a Great Sabbath in scripture. All there information, books, videos and others can be down loaded on line at no charge, whatsoever. Or you can request hard copies of thier materials in the form of books and DVD's, also without charge. They have helped me to understand my Bible in ways, no Jehovah's Witness ever has.
Don't just take my or any other's word for Gospel, pro or con, but the information is there. If you read it, I think you'll be very enlightened, if not, at least amused.
My favorite place to get the info can be found at thetrumpet.com There are other offshoots as well, yes, but when discussing the Lord's Supper and their celebrating the Evening Meal, it was stated that divisivness in the congregations would have to show up, if for nothing other than showing who actually had God's approval. Something that could never take place in a KH.
1st Corinthians 11:17,18
17In the following directives I have no praise for you, for your meetings do more harm than good. 18In the first place, I hear that when you come together as a church, there are divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it. 19No doubt there have to be differences among you to show which of you have God's approval.
1st John 4:1
1Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.
The above scripture, too could never be followed in a KH. There is no room for questioning anything that comes from the hierarchy at the top.
There are a few churches that have about the same right:wrong ratio as JWs. Unitarian Universalists, United Church of God, Christadelphians, etc. Don't bother; there is no "true" church, only true followers. No group leads to salvation and no group has it right.
I actually sent an email to the United Church of God about their blatant misquote of the Jewish Encyclopedia concerning "between the evenings". I checked their citing of the material and it directly contradicted what they said, so I called them on it and sent them a real excerpt. I got the exact same non-response, copy-and-paste reply one would expect from Bethel. They even used the same false quote from the source I was bringing to their attention they'd lied about in the first place. This is identical to the total disregard the Society has for truth and facts, in favor of their own authority and assumed "faithful and discreet slave" status.
