The GB's Obsession with the Catholics

by TTATTelder 23 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  kurtbethel

  I dunno...projection maybe?

  
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  stillin

  Easy picking. They are already "professed Christians." And much of their doctrine and practices can be, seemingly, shot to pieces with selected scriptures. I know, I was very Catholic when I started "studying" with the Witnesses. Being very Catholic is about as solid as being very mushy. I have only met one well-versed Catholic who really knew his stuff. I respected him for that. He was a CO's father.
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  never a jw

  Quite ironic, it was the early Cartholic church that created, copied, translated and basically preserved JW's sacred book. A bunch of apostates, as Doug Mason would say, assembled the Bible. The Bible was the main product of the greatest "apostasy" after the second century, and it was courtesy of the people who formed the Catholic church.
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  stillin

  Never a JW: haha. Thank GOD for the Catholics!
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  AndDontCallMeShirley

  Do you think it is a competition thing? Are they bashing their biggest Christian competitor?

  .

  All behavior ultimately stems from the baser emotions- fear, jealousy, envy, etc. People tend to put others down because the traits they attack, in reality, reflect their own innate flaws. If one religion is pointing the finger at another, few, if any, are looking at the one pointing (at least initially).

  WT is jealous of the CC. The CC got there first-centuries before WT- and WT is angry they lost. While condemning the CC, WT is trying its damndest to play catch up...

  .

  Here's one example of how WT, in one breath, condemns the CC, but in the other actually emulates it:

  2/22/12 court hearing, Re: Menlo Park, Ca.

  In the case involving the cong. in Menlo Park, Ca., the WT attorney, Mr. Rouse, said this on page 4 of the court transcripts:

  " I am general counsel of the National Organization of Jehovah's Witnesses out of Brooklyn, New York...this is one of our 13,000 congregations in the United States. We are a hierarchal religion structured just like the Catholic Church. And when the order from the Pope comes down in the Church defrocking a priest and kicking him out, he no longer has any say in any matter of the parish".

  p.5:

  ".... He [Jason Cobb] claims he wants to be reinstated as a director and an officer in the Menlo Park Congregation. This is contrary to our church rules and regulations and bylaws.

  We brought our organizational bylaws book, our rule book here, and we are prepared to present witnesses that this is a hierarchal organization. It is governed from the top down."
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  Apognophos

  Wow, hadn't seen that before. But yes, the up-and-comer is always angry at the establishment. You see it in all walks of life, even musical artists. Once they achieve acceptance they become part of the establishment and start embracing the status quo. Then they become "The Man" for the next generation to rail at. Rutherford was no doubt jealous of the widespread acceptance of, and obedience to, the Church.
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  Finkelstein

  I think it was Rutherford who really cranked up the demeaning hatred on to the Catholics.

  At one time JWS even used to picket Catholic churches with placards saying things like Religion is a Snare and a Racket

  and other degrading postulations.

  The real reason why the WTS. went after the Catholics is because they saw Christendom's core beliefs were stemmed from this

  one religious organization and they were right upon that.

  The contemptuous belittling of this enormously large religious organization in their mind helped to draw attention to the WTS.

  themselves who were set about as presenting a truer more faithfully religious practice.

  .

  Of course history now shows that the WTS. became just as false and corrupt of religious organization on its own,

  perhaps even worse then the religions that they had for so long pointed a finger at.

  .

  Religion in men's minds is about power and control unto themselves and the WTS. could very well be used as

  a sociological model derived from that intent.

  The WTS men cultivated and accumulated that power and control through its proliferation of their own published literature.

  .

  "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men."
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  kaik

  As it mentioned by others, it is inherited in Anglo-saxon religious fanatism that dominated all religous awakenings in Northern America. English church and its descending protestant and evangelical churches created from Catholic church as scapegoat of all wrong with European mainstream religion. USA was since its creation in 1783 always anti-catholic, this was inherited by Baptists, Adventists, and later JWs. Catholic church with its extensive properties, religious churches, dominant education and social services represented everything that is wrong with ancestral Europe for white settlers in USA. Additionally, USA in the 1790's broke off relationship with France as it was obligated and bounded by treaty to it, and French Catholic settlers were considered as a dangerous troublemakers in new republic and Adams wanted to expel them out. The anti-french and anti-catholic feeling was prevalent during the 2nd Awakening which was formative for development of early JW doctrine.
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  Apognophos

  Ah, that makes a lot of sense, kaik. I remember reading that it was considered a big deal when JFK was elected -- a Catholic president! As if America had just made a daring step in a progressive direction against its prejudices.
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  RottenRiley

  TTATT-Elder, I have pointed that out many times, it seems the Catholic Church is more secure and handles abuse better than those religions you mentioned. If the Watchtower spoke about Islam and Hindus like the Catholic Church, Suicide Bombers or a Fatawah would be placed on their heads. They are cowards, don't you think so?