God is very displeased if you celebrate Mothers Day. It is linked with pagan gods. The WTS even gave the faithful a reference from a 1950s Encyclopedia Britannica in the Reasoning Book to prove it.
Out Of All JW Beliefs Which Is The Weirdest?
by minimus 150 Replies latest jw friends
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Little Imp
Lol Cantleave and Outlaw
I've seen many double posts by others and wondered why, now I know, it just happens!!!
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minimus
Weird belief---that one should aspire to be a "Pioneer".
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MrMonroe
In The Golden Age (March/April 1935) dear old Clayton Woodworth published a three-part article claiming the calendar was the work of the devil. His solution: a new "theocratic" calendar replacing the names of all the days of the week (drawn, naturally, from pagan gods) to new ones: Lightday, Heavenday, Earthday, Starday, Lifeday, Mansday and Godsday.
The months of the year were also renamed in a calendar that started the year in the (northern) spring. Those months would be called Redemption, Life, Visitment, Freedom, Vindication, Hope, King, Peace, Order, Logos, Jehovah and Temple.
Since Woodworth was part of the faithful slave class and therefore in direct receipt of God's new light, it's odd that it was never adopted. In the end, I guess they just decided to compromise with Satan's world for the sake of convenience.
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minimus
Mr. that was a great expose'. very good one!!!
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AndersonsInfo
Good thread Minimus. Not meaning to highjack this interesting and sometime “funny” thread with a long-winded post, but I’m all for fairness so I just have to say that not all religious beliefs of JWs are weird. This is not to throw a blanket on this worthy of note thread that for the most part is right on the money. And please don’t think I’m in any way a critic of this thread because I’m not, but facts are facts. Yet, I respect that “beauty is in the eyes of the beholder” and we all have a right to our opinions.
Inasmuch as I speak as a former JW who loves to do research, I have found that under all the JW dogma weirdness, there are some elements of belief within the Witness religion that are acceptable to reputable religious scholars. And I’ve learned that behind weird or annoying beliefs posters have cited could be an interesting human story (even though I don’t know all the stories) as to how and why the belief came to be introduced into the JW world.
In that I like to share knowledge about interesting subjects, I’d like to comment about what one poster wrote on this thread. This is not a big deal; just, I think, an interesting subject for discussion.
A poster wrote:
Suddenly, one day in the late 1960s, the WTBTS decided that the human heart could think (like a second brain) and it could act as a "bad brain" which would guide a christian into immorality if they did not overcome it with their head brain.
They actually had parts on the district assemblies in about 1970 with heart and brain props to explain this to the enthralled masses.
I remember this like it was yesterday and the concept did seem to be weird, yet exciting because we thought Jehovah's organization gave us a "new truth." But this was not a new idea, just new to JWs. I actually came across detail about the subject the poster brought up when I was part of WT's Writing Department and the information came particularly from one Bible dictionary, but other Bible dictionary’s supported what the WT org. was saying at the district conventions that particular year in the 1960s.
I'm not here to defend JWs weird beliefs mentioned by at least six pages of posts, but in this case, there was a reason for WT's notion that Biblically speaking the heart could think and it is attributed to the language of the Bible.
Remember, old timers, the WTS's push to have all of us purchase The New Bible Dictionary that was published in 1962? We were told at the time that, overall, this dictionary supported JW's beliefs.
If you look up "Mind" in The New Bible Dictionary this is what you’ll find: MIND. See HEART.
Under HEART, it is stated, The Hebrews thought in terms of subjective experience rather than objective, scientific observation, and thereby avoided the modern error of over-departmentalization. It was essentially the whole man, with all his attributes, physical, intellectual, and psychological, of which the Hebrew thought and spoke, and the heart was conceived of as the governing centre for all of these. It is the heart which makes a man, or a beast, what he is and governs all his actions.
Character, personality, will, mind, are modern terms which all reflect something of the meaning of 'heart' in its biblical usage.
The New Testament usage is very similar... 'It (the heart) does not altogether lose its physical reference, for it is made of "flesh," but it is the seat of the will, of the intellect, and of feeling. This means that "heart" comes the nearest of the New Testament terms to mean "person".' There is no suggestion in the Bible that the brain is the centre of consciousness, thought, or will. It is the heart which is so regarded, and, though it is used of emotions also, it is more frequently the lower organs, in so far as they are distinguished, that are connected with the emotions. As a broad general statement, it is true that the Bible places the psychological focus one step lower in the anatomy than most popular modern speech, which uses 'mind' for consciousness, thought, and will, and 'heart' for emotions.
'Mind' is perhaps the closest modern term to the biblical usage of 'heart', and many passages could well be so translated.
In VINE'S COMPLETE Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, the explanation under HEART is similar to the above quoted dictionary. About the OT, VINE'S states, "By an easy transition the word [heart] came to stand for man's entire mental and moral activity, both the rational and the emotional elements.
As to its usage in the NT it denotes (a) the seat of physical life, (b) the seat of moral nature and spiritual life, the seat of grief, desires, affections, the perceptions, the thoughts, the understanding, the reasoning powers, the imagination, conscience, the intentions, purpose, the will, faith...[Scriptures are found after each use which I left out.]
The heart, in its moral significance in the OT, includes the emotions, the reason and the will.
And for what it’s worth, unlike The New Bible Dictionary, VINE'S does have a section discussing MIND and how it's used in scripture. And the cited scriptures didn’t have any connection with "HEART" like the ones quoted in The New Bible Dictionary.
Hopefully, posters are not annoyed with this post of mine. Please view my efforts as they are meant to be, that of passing along a bit of information that might clear up a misconception.
Barbara
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james_woods
A poster wrote:
Suddenly, one day in the late 1960s, the WTBTS decided that the human heart could think (like a second brain) and it could act as a "bad brain" which would guide a christian into immorality if they did not overcome it with their head brain.
They actually had parts on the district assemblies in about 1970 with heart and brain props to explain this to the enthralled masses.
I remember this like it was yesterday and the concept did seem to be weird, yet exciting because we thought Jehovah's organization gave us a "new truth." But this was not a new idea, just new to JWs. I actually came across detail about the subject the poster brought up when I was part of WT's Writing Department and the information came particularly from one Bible dictionary, but other Bible dictionary’s supported what the WT org. was saying at the district conventions that particular year in the 1960s.
I'm not here to defend JWs weird beliefs mentioned by at least six pages of posts, but in this case, there was a reason for WT's notion that Biblically speaking the heart could think and it is attributed to the language of the Bible.
Remember, old timers, the WTS's push to have all of us purchase The New Bible Dictionary that was published in 1962? We were told at the time that, overall, this dictionary supported JW's beliefs.
If you look up "Mind" in The New Bible Dictionary this is what you’ll find: MIND. See HEART.
Under HEART, it is stated, The Hebrews thought in terms of subjective experience rather than objective, scientific observation, and thereby avoided the modern error of over-departmentalization. It was essentially the whole man, with all his attributes, physical, intellectual, and psychological, of which the Hebrew thought and spoke, and the heart was conceived of as the governing centre for all of these. It is the heart which makes a man, or a beast, what he is and governs all his actions.
Character, personality, will, mind, are modern terms which all reflect something of the meaning of 'heart' in its biblical usage.
The New Testament usage is very similar... 'It (the heart) does not altogether lose its physical reference, for it is made of "flesh," but it is the seat of the will, of the intellect, and of feeling. This means that "heart" comes the nearest of the New Testament terms to mean "person".' There is no suggestion in the Bible that the brain is the centre of consciousness, thought, or will. It is the heart which is so regarded, and, though it is used of emotions also, it is more frequently the lower organs, in so far as they are distinguished, that are connected with the emotions. As a broad general statement, it is true that the Bible places the psychological focus one step lower in the anatomy than most popular modern speech, which uses 'mind' for consciousness, thought, and will, and 'heart' for emotions.
'Mind' is perhaps the closest modern term to the biblical usage of 'heart', and many passages could well be so translated.
In VINE'S COMPLETE Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words, the explanation under HEART is similar to the above quoted dictionary. About the OT, VINE'S states, "By an easy transition the word [heart] came to stand for man's entire mental and moral activity, both the rational and the emotional elements.
As to its usage in the NT it denotes (a) the seat of physical life, (b) the seat of moral nature and spiritual life, the seat of grief, desires, affections, the perceptions, the thoughts, the understanding, the reasoning powers, the imagination, conscience, the intentions, purpose, the will, faith...[Scriptures are found after each use which I left out.]
The heart, in its moral significance in the OT, includes the emotions, the reason and the will.
And for what it’s worth, unlike The New Bible Dictionary, VINE'S does have a section discussing MIND and how it's used in scripture. And the cited scriptures didn’t have any connection with "HEART" like the ones quoted in The New Bible Dictionary.
Hopefully, posters are not annoyed with this post of mine. Please view my efforts as they are meant to be, that of passing along a bit of information that might clear up a misconception.
Barbara
That poster was me - and no matter if other religious thinkers believe it or not, the human heart cannot think.
So, the believe is weird.
Note that the JWs themselves eventually dumped the teaching - it was apparantly too weird even for them.
Note - I remember having to make the Fiberglass heart and brain for the district assembly - in the part, they lit up and "talked" to each other.
That was weird too.
I complained to the circuit overseer that this was nonsense - and he replied that it was proven because his heart beat faster when he was having sex. I kid you not.
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Free!!
This is just too much!! hahahah!! I was part of the cult for about 6 years and never heard of all this craziness!! WOW!
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Think About It
Walking a picket line is the Devil?
Think About It
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Reality79
@james woods
I complained to the circuit overseer that this was nonsense - and he replied that it was proven because his heart beat faster when he was having sex. I kid you not.
LOL WTF????