WT Article: What Should Children Learn

by corpusdei 7 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  corpusdei

  I was just perusing the latest Watchtower (available here) and noticed something that made me chuckle a little. In one of the first articles talking about what children should learn, they quote Exodus 22:22-24:

  What the Bible teaches: “You people must not affliict any... fatherless boy. If you should afflict him at all, then if he cries out to me at all, I shall unfailingly hear his outcry.” —Exodus 22:22-24.
  Lesson: Jehovah listens to the prayers of even small children. We can talk to God regularly and express our innermost thoughts and feelings to him.

  I'm a great fan of examining quoted verses in context, and we already know that the Old Testament is full of fire and anger and cutting off of foreskins, so I thought "This one should be good". And sure enough:

  22 YOU people must not afflict any widow or fatherless boy. 23 If you should afflict him at all, then if he cries out to me at all, I shall unfailingly hear his outcry; 24 and my anger will indeed blaze, and I shall certainly kill YOU with the sword, and YOUR wives must become widows and YOUR sons fatherless boys.

  So, Good Little Witness Moms and Dads, while you're oh-so-lovingly rewiring your kids head so they'll be a Good Little Witness Child, you might as well go all the way and point out that Jehovah must be the God of Peace and Love, since he was ready and waiting to lay some Divine, blazing, hack and slash, widow and orphan making anger (on His own people, no less) in protection of ancient orphans.

  That's sure to make them sleep easy at night, innit?
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  cantleave

  Lol - I love the God Myth - why should people worship him, because he'll smite you if you don't!
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  corpusdei

  I just noticed this, re-reading my post. In order to protect orphans, God is ready, prepared and willing to go out and make some new orphans. But no worries, those new orphans will be just fine, no trauma or anything from their parents getting killed by Divine Mandate. After all, they would know for an absolute fact that God is out there to protect them too.
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  corpusdei

  What the Bible teaches: “Again and again they would put God to the test, and they pained even the Holy One of Israel.”—Psalm 78:41.
  Lesson: Our speech and actions affect Jehovah’s feelings, so we should think before we speak and act

  Damn straight. I'd sure be careful about annoying the Divine Orphan-Maker.

  (OK, now I'm just being silly)
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  NewChapter

  Divine, blazing, hack and slash, widow and orphan making anger (on His own people, no less) in protection of ancient orphans.

  WOW, excellent point. The despised orphan-maker.

  NC
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  blondie

  Everytime I see a thread about WTS publications, current or past, it astonishes me that obviously ex-jws have more knowledge and understanding and desire to read the WTS drivel than its own members.

  My experience as a jw and my continuing observation of jws since is that few if any did more than glance at them and did not even open it up until the night before the book study or WT study to do the 5-minute underlining to impress the mike handler study. Few ever read the magazines they "featured" on Saturday even making comments to the householder about the article that had nothing to do with the material...after all the householder was not going to read it, how would they know.

  At least those people killed by God have a resurrection per the WTS, the ones killed at Armaggedon, including children, babies, and babies still in the womb descend into eternal destruction.
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  corpusdei

  blindie>> You make a very good point - despite extolling the virtue of critical thought and criticism of arguments against Witness doctrine, any type of internal critical analysis by an individual Witness is, in practice, actively discouraged. That's really what got the ball rolling with my own crisis of faith - I actually read the bible like they suggested. Cover to cover. And, well, sh*t just didn't add up like they promised it would.
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  jworld

  "Everytime I see a thread about WTS publications, current or past, it astonishes me that obviously ex-jws have more knowledge and understanding and desire to read the WTS drivel than its own members."

  lol Blondie you are so right. I find reading the WT much more interesting with a critical eye now than I ever did before. Its a strange situation really. I'd say I do it out of humor. I sort of laugh (at myself) that I ever believed this stuff. It's almost therapeutic.