by Sour Grapes 29 Replies latest jw experiences
in my genuiine life, "this system of things"
has been supplanted, superceded, replaced,
voided and relegated to the circular file by
a much more rational idea: "this one sure life"
"this system of thing"s reminds me of my
dead mother's expression "crock of crap"
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed
by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."
- Mark Twain
Yes, twenty years from now, if they are still alive, those dubs will be looking back at their lives and realising what they could have been, what they could have had if they had not lived with their minds set on a future paradise that has not come.
The WT specifically tells them to do that "Seek first the kingdom" they say. "You should live as though seeing the one who is invisible" - never mind what you can see, feel touch and enjoy, it is all worthless.....they preach.
As for this "system of things, it has been with us since the dawn of civilisation and will be here as long as men live on this planet . There is no other.
An earlier poster made a point that I have also come to conclude, that Matt 24 v 3 is a mistranslation og the Greek word aion (sp?) which refers to an undetermined time period, not a tangible system of things.
Fear induced brainwashing is a wonderful thing isn't it. ?
Especially when it comes from an organization that proclaims itself so righteous, holy and pure, through divine intervention.
At the same time proclaims every other organization evil and worthless and a detriment to humanity.
" This System of Things " is a marketing catch phrase embellished as part of the fear propagated dogma
of the Watchtower Publishing house. Satan is the ruler of this system of things and is soon to be destroyed so protect yourself
and join god's organization the Watchtower Corporation and oh yes buy and distribute are literature so you have an opportunity to save other people.
If you don't, god wont approve you and will be negatively looked upon on your final judgment.
Thats if you want to avoid a horrendous and terrible death by the almighty one.
"well, in this system of things we will never be caught up in our work at home."
Wait, what? There won't be dust or dirt in the NS? Or will the angels houseclean for the dubs?
Or, "in this system of things we will always have bad weather."
Um, again, what? Since when are they teaching there won't be bad weather in the NS?
"the slaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaave". He sounds like goat boy from Saturday Night Live"!!
Srsly....ROFL!!
I really liked what WasAnElderOnce and ambersun both shared on this topic. Yes, many Witnesses are socially apathetic and irresponsible. They feel they have no obligation to do their part to build better communities and nations. They don't have to have any empathy for the less fortunate. They don't have to do anything to improve others' lives that the door-to-door work doesn't allow. It is indeed sad.
I have purged the expression "system of things" from my vocabulary. I have also given the boot to the world "worldly". That is something straight from the lexicon of the Pharisees of Jesus' day, who referred to the common people as amha'arets, which could be translated as 'people of the dirt'. Witnesses have been brainwashed into thinking that their fellow humans aren't members of a worldwide family but rather are nothing more than the scum of the earth. Their attitude is no better than those of other bigots I have known and loathed.
After I was disfellowshipped, I lost my job, my home, and my savings. I'm still unemployed and have no home of my own, but I'm not destitute. It was my "worldly" friends who rescued me from the streets when the Witnesses, handcuffed by their practice of shunning, did nothing even when they knew my circumstances. My experience showed me that if I had to choose between associating with Witnesses or "worldlings", the latter would win hands down. Doubtless, the Witnesses reasoned that "this wicked system of things" was giving me only what I deserved since I had "turned my back on Jehovah". Just another reason for me to never return.
Jehovah's Witnesses refer to their special jargon as "the pure language". It's pure, all right...pure garbage! I'm happy that I no longer speak it.
Quendi
Watchtower vocabulary is influenced by the NWT. (system of things occurs 38 times in the NWT)
Or, "of the order of things." Gr., ai?o´nos; Lat., sae´cu?li; J 1-14,16-18,22 (Heb.), ha??oh?lam´. (This is the footnote when "system of things" occurs in the NWT showing that it is not the only way it is translated)
In other bibles they use the phrase "present world" and "present age."
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=titus%202:12&version=NIV;HCSB;ASV;KJV;AMP
or "end of the age" or "end of the world"
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=mt%2024:3&version=NIV;HCSB;ASV;KJV;AMP
The bibles the WTS used prior to 1950 used those phrases not "system of things"
Hi Blondie,
I know a smattering of koine Greek and studied Latin for three years. I translated Virgil, Caesar, Cicero and other writers. So when I encountered the NWT rendering of the Greek aion as "system of things" and noted that Jerome had rendered the same word by its Latin equivalent saeculum, I was stunned. I knew that both the Greek and Latin words meant "age". So what made the NWT committee choose "system of things"? That is an expression that isn't even remotely close to the basic meaning of the original language word or other ancient translations of it. But like a good Witness, I let it go, choosing to believe that these "spirit-directed" men had access to manuscripts and information I did not. I know better now.
Quendi
System of things creates a better notion of plurality to the expression.
The all and many things driven or instigated by Satan, including all governments and religions these are all looked upon
as items of the system as a greater singular whole.
The idiosyncratic JW use of "system of things" substitutes for what we typically hear: "age" world," etc. As in, "The end of the age," or in the prayer glorifying God in the "world without end."
Use of the term "system" seems to suggest (and support) their idea that all the bad things we experience are the product of an external set of facts: Chicago corruption, say, or crony capitalism is a system that people live under rather than part of who we are. In this way, JWs manage to neatly miss a central point of the entire Judaeo-Christian insight: we are all fallen. Talking, instead, of the "system" enables JWs to project sin on to others and suggests JWs are victims of those sins instead of perpetrators themselves.
It is part of one thousand ways JWs use speech to elevate themselves above everyone else (in their own thinking) and justify whatever means are used to enforce their separateness.
My dad likes to use the word "inculcate" when talking JW talk.
Interesting. JWs use it all the time. Check out the definition and etymology: to teach by frequent repetition, with the roots of the word from the Latin "to trample." I think most people (me included) sort of associate the word with something like "cultivate," with the idea of making grow. But the word is quite closely associated with the metaphor of pounding the idea into somebody's head.
