by soft+gentle 20 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
If you've decided to return to the KH S&G, I'm not sure you need to be asking the question. The WTBS infer that there isn't another 'true' religion out there for people to go to. They may be right in that but neither are they a true religion, not at all. It's Christ that all should be seeking, as the real Truth and Life and mediator between us and Jah.
Loz x
Haha...this "where/who" issue always makes me laugh.
A few of us were sitting around recently and the subject of a DF-ed friend who "has doubts" came up. A Bethelite chimed in with the "where will you go away to?" I looked at them with a perplexed look on my face and said "Don't you mean "Who?"
"Huh?"
"You said 'Where will you go', but the verse says 'who will you go away to', as in following someone else instead of Jesus. As far as I know, Mr. DFed isn't Shinto or anything, is he? I just wanted to make sure you weren't implying he had converted to Islam, or Shinto or something."
Come to the Dark Side there are Cookies over here
Try even inferring to a J W that "Jesus" may be found anyplace other than the WT& TS........and you are marked as an apostate from that moment on.
I'm not convinced that this is a meaningful semantic distinction to make, but I'm open to argument. For instance, to a Witness, anywhere but the "truth" means that someone is under Satan's influence, so regardless of whether they're non-denominational Christian, agnostic, or Buddhist, they're serving Satan. Therefore, the "who" in the scripture is always "Satan".
Does saying "where" in place of "who" change the meaning of the thought? Peter followed up that question with the reason the apostles weren't going to leave Jesus; it wasn't healing miracles, or free food. It was because Jesus had sayings of everlasting life. To a Witness, only their understanding of the Bible, with its earthly hope for the majority, is "saying of everlasting life". So the Society doesn't need to make prophecies or perform miracles in order to encourage Witnesses to follow them. They just have to convince Witnesses that only they are on the "narrow road" using fear tactics and encouraging black-and-white thinking by saying things like, "You can't sit on the fence -- Satan owns the fence!".
In my mind, highlighting the semantic distinction to a J-dub:
1. provides the person with a gentle reminder that J-dubs do not have a monopoly on offering a path to Jesus' teachings.
2. reminds them that plenty of people leave the WTS, not because of some sinful practice, but because they truly feel in their heart that "the Truth" (The Narrow Road) to Jesus can be better found outside of the WTS.
Every JW makes this mistake when quoting this scripture. It's amazing.
Of course, so did I, back in the day. I was venting some of the problems I saw in the organization and said, "But...where can you go?"
In nature, living things feed themselves. The skills are hard-wired. Usually this is referred to as "instinct."
Among Jehovah's Witnesses it is viewed as un-natural to feed yourself at the proper time.
Pastor Russell seems to have fed himself on a hodge-podge. He cherry-picked among Adventist beliefs. He had a sweet-tooth for End Times.
Now we have to ask those in the Kingdom Halls (who would parrot Jesus' query) :WHO taught the founder of what became Jehovah's Witnesses?
Who taught C.T.Russell and those who followed?
He was a congregational christian and he left and went away to agnosticism. Then, he went away to Adventists with End Times charts.
Bouncing around was Pastor Russell's teacher and tutor.
Where did he "go away to"? HIS OWN VERSION of other people's thinking!
The point is this. There has been no demonstrable chain of true teaching! It is a fiction.
Neither Russell nor Rutherford or Knorr or subsequent JW leaders has a claim on anything other than self-invented CONJECTURE rather than true-teaching.
How can we say this with confidence?
THEY KEPT CHANGING IT!!
End of story.
If the Truth were TRUE they wouldn't have to keep changing it.
Leaving behind a group that keeps guessing wrong is hardly the act of an Apostate! It is more the act of a rational thinking instinct!
The light hasn't been getting brighter so much as it has flickered on and off and on and off like a cord with a short-circuit in it!
Therefore?
Therefore, going away from "Jehovah's Organization" means UNPLUGGING from false religion. Plain and simple.
Wherever two or more are gathered, Jesus promised, there he is also. How complicated is that??
Alas, now that the GB announced that Russell was never was part of the "Slave" and the "Slave" only got appointed in 1919, most will care even less about where Russell got his ideas.
Alas, now that the GB announced that Russell was never was part of the "Slave" and the "Slave" only got appointed in 1919, most will care even less about where Russell got his ideas.
Simple test of that logic.
IF Russell were not the "Slave" why was 1914 identified by him and THEN subsequently used by the 1919 leadership?
The strongest doctrinal foundation JW's assert is 1914 and they can't wiggle out of it.
What Russell asserted as to significance was changed after it failed to be THAT which he predicted.
The post-1919 leaders pushed the invisible 2nd coming of Russell forward and rebooted 1914 as their STARTING pointed instead of
Russell's END point.
That's the name of that tune!
We need to ask WHY the 1919 leaders FALSELY publicized 2 glaring errors immediately: Million Now Living Will Never Die and 1925 as the End?
Was this the best Jehovah could do? Choosing leaders that get 2 out of 2 wrong within just 6 years of being selected as God's mouthpiece?
