When "All" doesn't mean All

by ozziepost 11 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  ozziepost

  The March 15 issue of The Watchtower carries a study article with the theme text; "Look! I am with you all the days until the conclusion of the system of things." (Matthew 28:20)

  Was this to herald some new thought? Perhaps 'new light'?

  No, indeed the article shows a remarkable ability to ignore the text altogether.

  Just two paragraphs are devoted to Jesus' being with his followers in the first century. The remaining 19 paragraphs are devoted to the time period from 1914.

  What of the intervening 1900 years? Where was Christ? He's certainly not found in the annals of the WTS. So where was he?

  How could Jesus say that he would be with his disciples all the days until the conclusion of the system of things? By WTS reckoning it can be ignored. It just doesn't fit into their reckoning.

  Yet they cannot deny the very words of their theme text.

  Selective 'seeing'? Interesting.....

  Cheers,
  Ozzie

  "If our hopes for peace are placed in the hands of imperfect people, they are bound to evaporate."

  
  - Ron Hutchcraft Surviving the Storms of Stress
• 

  RunningMan

  Actually, the Bible has a unique perspective on the word "all". Consider the following reference:

  1 Samuel 30:17: "And David smote them from twilight until the evening of the next day, and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred men who mounted camels and fled."

  If "not a man escaped", how could 400 flee on camels.

  In other words, the Bible is so full of crap that it can't even write a coherent sentence at times. How can it be expected to keep 1300 pages straight?
• 

  Xander

  That *would* make a funny Monty Python sketch, though...

  Booming Voice: "And David smote them from twilight until the evening of the next day, and not a man of them escaped....

  Much Quieter Voice: "except four hundred men who mounted camels and fled...."

  Booming Voice: "Oh, right, except them...."

  Much Quieter Voice: "They weren't dead yet...."

  Booming Voice: "Yes, I see that, now...where was I...ahhh, right, 'and not a man of them escaped....'

  A fanatic is one who, upon losing sight of his goals, redoubles his efforts.
  --George Santayana
• 

  gumby

  RunningMan:....and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred men who mounted camels and fled."

  Suppose you were in a bar last night and a good band was there playing. You tell your friend the next day...."The band was so good last night that nobody left except these 4 guys."
  Point........does this mean your full of crap for saying that?

  Ozzie: On one hand the society says there has always been a faithful and descret slave class on earth at any given time since pentecost....then on the other hand they say the 'weeds choked out the wheat' after the death of the apostles up until the time "Russell" came along and...."turned on the light in the 20th century" on Gods word."

  They do not feel Jesus was active at all during these " dark ages"
  I guess they feel Jesus just let Satan wipe out christianity.

  I enjoyed your post here......it was an intresting way of looking at it that way.
• 

  Moxy

  CART MASTER
  Bring out your dead! [clang]
  Bring out your dead!
  CUSTOMER
  Here's one.
  CART MASTER
  Ninepence.
  DEAD PERSON
  I'm not dead!
  CART MASTER
  What?
  CUSTOMER
  Nothing. Here's your ninepence.
  DEAD PERSON
  I'm not dead!
  CART MASTER
  'Ere. He says he's not dead!
  CUSTOMER
  Yes, he is.
  DEAD PERSON
  I'm not!
  CART MASTER
  He isn't?
  CUSTOMER
  Well, he will be soon. He's very ill.
  DEAD PERSON
  I'm getting better!
  CUSTOMER
  No, you're not. You'll be stone dead in a moment.
  CART MASTER
  Oh, I can't take him like that. It's against regulations.
  DEAD PERSON
  I don't want to go on the cart!
  CUSTOMER
  Oh, don't be such a baby.
  CART MASTER
  I can't take him.
  DEAD PERSON
  I feel fine!
  CUSTOMER
  Well, do us a favour.
  CART MASTER
  I can't.
  CUSTOMER
  Well, can you hang around a couple of minutes? He won't be long.
  CART MASTER
  No, I've got to go to the Robinsons'. They've lost nine today.
  CUSTOMER
  Well, when's your next round?
  CART MASTER
  Thursday.
  DEAD PERSON
  I think I'll go for a walk.
  CUSTOMER
  You're not fooling anyone, you know. Look. Isn't there something you can do?
  DEAD PERSON [singing]
  I feel happy. I feel happy.
  [CART MASTER knocks him over the head.]
  CUSTOMER
  Ah, thanks very much.
  CART MASTER
  Not at all. See you on Thursday.

  mox
• 

  Xander

  What of the intervening 1900 years? Where was Christ? He's certainly not found in the annals of the WTS. So where was he?

  How could Jesus say that he would be with his disciples all the days until the conclusion of the system of things? By WTS reckoning it can be ignored. It just doesn't fit into their reckoning.

  You know, I've wondered along these lines.

  I mean, we *know* what the society was like back then. Their fear of aluminum (Satan's metal!), celebrating Christmas, use of the cross, heh - who has the quote in their sig about 'healing UV rays'. Uggghhh.

  Now, take a look at some of the other religious organizations at the time. Were not, say, various protestant sects more closely in line with 50's and 60's era WTBTS teaching?

  So, how come those teaching were 'the light of God' in, say, the 50's, but when the protestants had them around the turn of the century, they were false teachings?

  And why, when 'Jesus returned', did he then pick them as the 'true religion'? I mean, c'mon, we *know* what they believed then!?!

  A fanatic is one who, upon losing sight of his goals, redoubles his efforts.
  --George Santayana
• 

  RunningMan

  Would anyone care for some more examples of the Bible's inability to string together a coherent sentence? Yes? Well here are a couple:

  In Dueteronomy 10:15-17, God says that he "treats none with partiality", yet in the same sentence he says that he chose the Isrealites, "in preference to all other peoples". How can you be impartial, yet prefer a certain group? It looks like God needs a dictionary.

  Then there is this gem: "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness... but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation." - Exodus 34:6,7

  Punishing innocent persons four generations removed from a crime is hardly "merciful and gracious". It's more like a sadistic misuse of power.

  So, once again, if God can't keep a sentence consistent, how can he keep 66 books consistent?
• 

  Room 215

  Ozzie,

  Gumby has a point when he talks of the Sciety's muddled teaching on the FDS. They've been known to use the compound adjective "the 1900-year-old'' FDS" yet they also teach he was appointed in 1918. This confusion is the inevirable result of writing in an vacuum an uncritical environment which recludes a loyal ombudsman from pointing out these inconsistencies.
• 

  WTLies

  Here is another example of All not meaning All in Watchtower speak:

  *** w89 8/15 30,31 Questions From Readers ***
  Is Jesus the Mediator only for spirit-anointed Christians or for all mankind, since 1 Timothy 2:5, 6 speaks of him as the "mediator" who "gave himself a corresponding ransom for all"?
  1 Timothy 2:5, 6 is not using "mediator" in the broad sense common in many languages. It is not saying that Jesus is a mediator between God and all mankind. Rather, it refers to Christ as legal Mediator (or, "attorney") of the new covenant, this being the restricted way in which the Bible uses the term.

  William,
  Former member of a Non-Prophet
  Organization
• 

  dungbeetle

  about Deuteronomy: true God chose the Israelites, but ANONE was allowed to join the Israelites. Remember when the Israelites fled Egypt, Egyptians went with them. You didn't even have to actually accept the religion; you did have to follow all the rules, and you still were guaranteed the rights and freedoms of the natural Israelites, regardless of their origin.

  Unless you killed them first, of course. And also, I'm sure these laws were followed as well by the Israelites as all the others...NOT!!!

  In 1975 a crack team of publishers was sentenced to death by a judicial commiteee. They promptly escaped from the cult and now live life on the run. If you have a problem ... and if you can find them ... maybe you can contact the A--postate Team"