Ridiculous "it must be the Truth"-type experiences in Bible Study

stillstuckcruz

Two weeks ago during the bible study, we werein chapter 7 of the publication " 'Bearing Thorough Witness' About God's Kingdom". Paragraph 16 and 17 say this:

16. Christians today are priveleged to share in the work like that done by Philip. Often, they are able to present the Kingdom message to those they meet in informal settings, such as when traveling. In many cases, it is apparent that their meeting up with an honesthearted individual is no coincidence. This is to be expected, for the Bible makes clear that the angels are directing the preaching work so that the message reaches "every nation and tribe and tongue and people." (Rev. 14:6) Angelic direction in the preaching work is precisely what Jesus foretold. In his illustration about the wheat and the weeds, Jesus said that during the harvesttime-the conclusion of the system of things-"the reapers are angels." He added that these spirit creatures would "collect out from his Kingdom all things that cause stumbling and persons who are doing lawlesses." (Matt. 13:37-41) At the same time, the angels would gather prospective heavenly heirs of the Kingdom-and later "a great crowd" of "other sheep"-whom Jehovah wants to draw to his organization. (scriptures...)

17. As evidence that this is taking place, some of those whom we approach in our ministry say that they had been praying for spiritual guidance. Consider one experience in which two Kingdom publishers were accompanied by a small child. At the end of the morning, the two Witnesses were about to stop their preaching work, but the child was unusually eager to go to the next home. In fact, he went by himself and knocked on the door! When a young lady opened the door, the two adult Witnesses approached to talk to her. To their surprise, the woman explained that she had just been praying for someone to call on her to help her to understand the Bible. A bible study was arranged.

END

Those two paragraphs really show me juse how narrow-minded the witnesses are. They try to use these few experiences of individuals praying for "truth" and "guidance" as having the only truth. That angels are answering their prayers by sending the JDubs to their door. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have seen MANY, MANY, MANY experiences(including those on this forum) who feel that God has answered their prayers in VERY different ways. Those experiences seem to FAR outweight the few the JW's feel they have. I've seen those who say the prayed for truth and then realize a blatant misquoting of the scriptures by the JW's. Of course, the GB would NEVER publish any other experiences as they would lose credibility(which they barely have in my book). But any thinking JW would realize that the answering of prayers by the world is not limited to them being sent to the door of a "worldy", "honesthearted" individual. Thoughts?

wannabefree

Here is a Mormon experience.

The Importance of Missionary Work Sister Petra G. de Hernandez of Monterrey, Mexico, told her story:

"Nineteen years ago my husband died in an automobile accident. It was then that I felt the need to find God, so that he could help me with my family. My youngest daughter was eleven months old.

"One night, in the midst of my desperation, ... I prayed to the Lord as if I were talking to another person. I asked him to show me the path to take in life. I told him that I knew he existed, but I didn't know where. I asked him to show me how or where to find him. I did it with such faith and desire to find the truth that I shall never forget that prayer.

"The answer to my prayer was not long in coming. One morning two young missionaries knocked on my door and said they were from the Mormon Church and that they brought me a very important message. I had heard about the Mormons, but I had not been the least interested in them. I let them come in and they began the first lesson. As I received the first lesson, I felt that what they were saying was true, and I told them I wanted to be baptized with my family. ...

"Since the day we accepted the gospel our lives have changed completely. I was now sure that God hears our prayers. ...

Taken From

sd-7

Right. The law of averages says that inevitably if you knock on a lot of doors you'll find someone praying to find 'the truth' or whatever. If the Devil himself knocked on doors, he'd run into some of the same people, wouldn't he? That doesn't prove anything in itself. Those same JWs could have simply ignored the kid and called it a day, or been sick and stayed home, or interrupted earlier to go on calls. Someone, somewhere is going to believe this sort of message, but there's not necessarily any spiritual significance to it beyond what someone chooses to assign to it.

I can probably make one up right now:

"19-year-old Katya was praying to find the truth about God. She was depressed because she'd just lost her older brother in a car accident. Two Witnesses found her and she agreed to a Bible study. However, later she returned to her homeland of Ukraine. How would she continue learning about God? She prayed to meet the Witnesses again and continue learning about the Bible. Just then, a knock on her door led to an answer--two Witnesses were at her door! She resumed her study and gradually made spiritual progress to the point of dedication and baptism. Experiences like these demonstrate that the angels are directing the preaching of the good news."

<--Of course, it could be omitted that like, 5 years passed after she returned to Ukraine, in which she didn't encounter any Witnesses at all even though she was praying about it. But it doesn't matter. Angels were a little backlogged, I'm sure.

--sd-7

IsaacJ22

Yeah, all too typical. I tend to think the literature is largely there to encourage JWs to continue being JWs. That, and passing down edicts to the average Witnesses in their KHs. I guess the donations help too. :)

I do find the similarities bewteen JWs and Mormons striking. More so than JWs and most other groups. The stories of ex-Mormons impress me as much as the stories of many XJWs.

fade_away

23 year old Robert was a Jehovah's Witness with many questions about his faith. After asking the elders for answers they simply said "wait on Jehovah" and "Don't speculate on what isn't revealed yet". One day in his desperation for answers, he looked online and read the history of the WT entirely. What he found was nothing less than shocking! The false prophecies, the lies, and the brainwashing technique to make everyone believe it all without question. No wonder the elders are unable to answer him. No wonder they warn against the internet. Robert returned to the elders with the answers to his questions and they were not well recieved by the elders. Robert is now a disfellowshipped brother and a member of the apostate community as well as the Athiest community with goals for higher education. Is this not proof that we have the holy spirit of knowledge and free thinking? (applause) Clearly we are living in the last days....of the WTBTS.

stillstuckcruz

sd-7- wow your made up experience actually sounds very close to what the WT would say. It's very true that experiences leave out often vital information that could potentially change the view of the overall experience IMHO. Of course, those omissions aren't soley done by the WT. You usually only place in portions of what you feel is relevent to the point your trying to make....in this case, that angels direct their preaching.

I just wish more JW's would have a wider radar.

iamwhoiam

Andre, an 18 year old brother from Romania has been battling with masterbation. Although his urges were very strong, Andre continued to ask Jehovah for help. One week later, a new Awake! article was presented by the "Faithful and Discreet Slave" entitled, Is Masturbation Wrong? "It was an answer to my prayers", says Andre. "I was able to see that masturbating (see Pornia) automatically makes me homosexual since I am technically having sex with myself."

GOrwell

Of course, since the entire preaching work is directed by angels, a JW would never, ever, have to fill out a house-to-house form. Really, filling out a non-existent form like that would really show a lack of faith in God and his angels, no?

agonus

Come on guys, the WT has told us OVER and OVER again, these kind of experiences happen FAR TOO OFTEN TO BE DISMISSED AS MERE COINCIDENCE! Whaddya want, actual numbers? Jeez, people! Where's your faith?

trailerfitter

I have noticed this ... I occationally, if I have time debunk the AWAKE mag "she" deliberately leaves lying around and the little statements from those who "have been found" my wife kept showing me, why I do not know why..

What I found rediculous was the language they use ...I mean it is written for children isn't it? It is written in the way a red top tabloid would write. In the UK the SUN has a reads age ability of 8 years old. The WT publications are wirtten for younger??

The persuation techniques are very easy to spot as most articles will guide the reader into thinking the information has been provided by the one true representative of god on earth.

Ridiculous "it must be the Truth"-type experiences in Bible Study

Share this