So sayeth the F&DS on page 26 of the 2/2012 WT. Under the title "Why does god have an organization?" it says "god chose the israelites to be his witnesses." Unbelievable!
Ancient Israelites were the original JWs!
by serenitynow! 10 Replies latest watchtower bible
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diamondiiz
They've said that forever, nothing new. Adam was Jehovah's first witness turned apostate :)
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blondie
Actually, since Isaiah 43 applied only to the literal Israelites, and the WTS says only the 144,000 are spiritual Israelites, then only the 144,000 could be Jehovah's witnesses. With the emergence of the great crowd/other sheep doctrine in 1935, this created a problem in the organization. For some years, they did say only the anointed were Jehovah's witnesses. With the rapid increase of the non-anointed, it was necessary to adjust that doctrine, or do they?
w50 1/15 p.27 ***
Only today the anointed witnesses and their good-will companions have no jackals to carry the firebrands of truth.
w55 5/15 p.314***
Only the remnant of Jehovah's anointed witnesses and their companions have such a distinguishing mark by being persecuted the world over. Matt. 24:9.
But notice this circular reasoning around the fact that this should only apply to the anointed.
w81 3/15 p.***
For example, Isaiah 43:10-12 applied first to the natural Israelites whom Jehovah God delivered from Egypt and made his witnesses. Today, this scripture applies to the spiritual Israelites whom Jehovah has delivered from Satan's organization, making them Jehovah's Witnesses. Proof that this term cannot be limited to the anointed remnant of spiritual Israel can be seen from the fact that today there are more than two million worshipers of Jehovah who have an earthly hope and who truly are witnessing to their God, Jehovah.
but then
***w67 12/1 p.***
Today Jehovah God has a spiritual Israel, a Christian Israel. (Gal. 6:16) Just as the natural, fleshly Israelites were Jehovah's witnesses, so these Christian spiritual Israelites are His witnesses.
and
***w66 2/15 p.120***
Beginning with the April 1, 1935, issue of TheWatchtower the announcements thereof said: "Again TheWatchtower reminds its readers that a convention of Jehovah's witnesses and Jonadabs (what the non-anointed were called) will be held at Washington, D.C., beginning May 30 and ending June 3, 1935.
and if Isaiah 43:10-12 applies to the great crowd, are they then part of the steward?
***w81 10/1 p.22***
Reason, backed up by similar Scriptural examples, makes it clear that the "steward" (oikonómos) pictures a class, a collective body, corresponding to a juristicperson, a legal person like a corporation that is recognized by the law of the land. For instance, Jehovah God called the entire nation of ancient Israel "my servant whom I have chosen." (Isa. 43:10) In like manner, the "steward" pictures the "little flock" of spiritual Israelites, the full body of dedicated, baptized disciples of the "master," Jesus Christ, who have been begotten by God?s spirit to the heavenly inheritance with their "master," the glorified Jesus. This composite "steward" was alive and available for being appointed by the departing Master, and a remnant of that "steward" class is on earth today and proving faithful to the Master Jesus Christ. Since each member is faithful and discreet, the whole class is also.
yet
w65 6/1 p.336***
More than thirty years ago they were given a name that was based on Jehovah?s Word, namely, Jehovah?switnesses. (Isa. 43:10) These are, not Jews according to the flesh, but, rather, spiritual Judeans (meaning, 'praisers of Jehovah'), spiritual Israelites composed of many nationalities who have been brought out of captivity to Babylon the Great.?Rom. 2:28, 29; 9:6; Eph. 2:11-18; Heb. 8:7-13.
These people, Jehovah's witnesses and their companions, are the only ones in the earth who are praising and blessing the most important, the most wonderful and the most holy name in all the universe, the name of Jehovah!
Natural Israelites = Jehovah's witnesses (Isaiah 43:10-12)
Natural Israelites = Spiritual Israelites (Galatians 6:16)
Jehovah's witnesses = (only) spiritual Israelites (144,000)
Hmmm
Blondie
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designs
'companions' = wood gathers = rank and file just in case you were feeling good about yourself for a brief moment at a Watchtower Study.
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Band on the Run
Just a reminder that more than 144,000 anointed existed a long time ago. You're not safe in heaven before the throne of the Lamb evidently. J. certainly screwed up with creation. My mom used to remark about Exodus. The plagues in Egypt, the Passover, the slaughter, the Exodus, manna from heaven, parting of the Red Sea. Moses goes up to Mt. Sinai for a short while. Golden calves are worshipped by the time he gets back. It makes you wonder. If I experienced such miracles, I would keep my side of the street very clean.
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smiddy
Blondie
That`s just too deep for the average rank & file jehovah`s witness to comprehend.
They would have to THINK and thats not something their trained to do.
Thank you ,I must keep this
smiddy
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Ucantnome
I understood and I could have misunderstood, that the Israelites were witnesses of Jehovah in that they had witnessed his saving them from their enemies. Taking them safely out of Eygpt and into the promised land. Establishing them as a nation with him as their God.
Many in the first century were witnesses of Jesus in seeing the miracles and finally his death and resurrection and the birth of the christian congregation. Witnesses of Jehovah's purposes working out through these events.
In 1925 Jehovah's Witnesses had an article in the Watchtower "Birth of the Nation" explaining Rev. 12 and the birth of the "man child" as the birth of the new kingdom or government. In the book Deliverance with the scripture from Isa. 43:12 quoted in the front and in the chapter "The Nation Born" It says the the time for the birth of the nation was 1914.
This birth also meant the resurrection had begun. Those anointed members of the kingdom being raised to heavenly life soon after 1914.
I understood that they were witnesses of this. More of Jehovah's purposes working out.
As I had joined in the preaching of the good news of the establishment of God's Kingdom I was also a witness in as much I could see the remaining ones with the heavenly hope who were engaged in preaching this and the organization on earth that was bearing witness to it.
I no longer believe the resurrection started in those years.
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Larsinger58
If I experienced such miracles, I would keep my side of the street very clean.
Excellent point! But that's why that generation was condemned to wander in the wilderness for 40 years and why they are mentioned last behind Egypt and Assyria who converted to monotheism and Yahwehism after the 10 plagues!
Order of mention is not haphazard in the Bible, but shows preference. After the ten plagues, which killed off Amenhotep III, his son, Akhenaten, took over and became a monotheist worshipping Yahweh as "Aten." Apparently Egyptian influence over Assyria (Mitanni) caused them to follow suit and formally accept Yahweh/Aten as the true god, dumping the false gods of Egypt as "worthless." But while Akhenaten and Egypt along with Assyria had good focus here after the ten plagues, as you note, it didn't take long for the Israelites to revert back to pagan worship. So at this time the pagans were more "witnesses" than the Israelites were, which explains why Egypt and Assyria are mentioned first and Israel last in this passage:
ISA 19: 25 " because Jehovah of armies will have blessed it, saying: “Blessed be my people, Egypt, and the work of my hands, As·syr´i·a, and my inheritance, Israel.”
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Larsinger58
Akehnaten, the monotheist, and all of Egypt were "witnesses" for a short while immediately after the 10 plagues!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpkK6XoqRQo
LS
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Doug Mason
Ucantnome,
I agree with you. Isaiah 43:10 was written at the time of the Babylonian Captivity, and the people were being told that they had witnessed YHWH yet they had failed him.
Because they had done so despite having witnessed him, the nation was being punished and indeed it was YHWH's intention to destroy them (Isa 43:28 -- read the whole context).
Doug