ravingferret
By all means continue your study. Try a couple of things though, and see what happens;
1. Ask them to prove that the WTBTS is really Jehovah's mouthpiece and not a false prophet, without badmouthing other religions and keeping in mind that the only Biblical test for a prophet was if they made claims in Jehovah's name and the prophecy didn't come true. Keeping this in mind
"From a purely human viewpoint, it could appear that these developments could hardly take place before the generation of 1914 disappears from the scene. But fulfillment of all the foretold events affecting the generation of 1914 does not depend on comparatively slow human action. Jehovah's prophetic word through Christ Jesus is: "This generation [of 1914] will by no means pass away until all things occur." (Luke 21:32) And Jehovah, who is the source of inspired and unfailing prophecy, will bring about the fulfillment of his Son's words in a relatively short time." (Watchtower 5/15 1984 page 6; bold added - brackets theirs) (thanks JanH)
Until they can prove this (which they can't) talking about doctrine that comes from the GB is totally meaningless. I have about 18 pages of research that I have done with nothing but quotes from their own publications and their own translation of the Bible- the New World Translation that proves they are false prophets if anyone is interested.
2.Just because JW's can "prove" other religous groups wrong dosen't mean they are right.
Simplified example:
Catholic: The sky is red.
Protestant: The sky is green.
Mormon: The sky is orange.
Jehovah's Witness: The sky is purple.
Me: I wonder which is right?
JW: The sky is not red, green, or orange. If it's not those it must be purple. No, no don't bother to look into it yourself I'm a follower of Jehovah and would never mislead you.
Make them prove it without a single word of comparison to other religions.
3. Ask them questions that make them think. The average JW is so indoctinated he/she dosen't even have to listen to you to know what you are going to ask and so answers from what has been drilled into them by rote, so ask things that aren't in their little book of drivel "Reasoning from the Scriptures"
Examples:
1.After I live through the Big A as a JW what happens next?
Their own book (I forget the title-something about living forever in paradise on earth) says that the survivors will have to clean up and rebuild the earth into a paradise for all the people to be resurrected into. Let's look at that for a minute- billions of bodies to clean up, all the rubble to clean up, homes to build, and clothing food and such provided for newly resurrected ones, the majority of which will be "evil ones" getting their second chance to accept "the truth". All this will have to be done by hand since all machinery, factories, etc. will have been destroyed. Sounds like fun huh!?
2.If I get a second chance why shouldn't I just ignore your message and since you believe in soul sleep and I will be unaware until resurrected then I will miss out on all the work of recreating the paradise? What would I have to lose by following that course?
3. You teach that the JW's will be teaching all these resurrected ones about the truth. Does that include all the JW's that have died over the years?
4.If so how will you close the knowledge gap since what you teach now bears almost no resemblance to what you taught in Russell's day? Will all those older generation JW's be resurrected first so you can bring them up to date on the "new light"?
5. Your living forever book teaches that JW's will be administrators of the paradise earth. JW's keep totally out of any type of government so what training program have you implemented so that they will have the skills necessary to deal with mundane issues that come up, such as sewers, trash disposal etc.? (The Mormons believe the same thing and they have such a program. They are kooks too but this isn't a Mormon site)
6. You teach Jehovah God limited his own knowledge so that he wouldn't be responsible for sin. Is this the reason he fails to present truth to you in an understandable whole?
7. Since the truth must be presented in pieces to JW's how is it that sometimes you see the pieces as exact opposites? For example, organ transplants were once called marvels of modern medicine and were ok, then cannibalistic, then a matter of conscience and once again ok. Is Jehovah God not powerful enough to make sure you at least see the parts correctly?
8. In the above example, how is the light getting brighter? Seems to me to be vacillation. (And don't even show me the sailboat)
9. In light of present day JW teaching explain John 5:24 to me.("Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life." -NKJV, but it reads about the same in the NWT)
Anyway, the JW's tactics are always to avoid talking about the WTBTS and the GB but they love to talk doctrine, and to attack other religions as if that makes them correct by default. I don't see how you can discuss doctrine without discussing whether or not its source is correct.
Always question take nothing anyone says (including me) at face value. Do you own research. The truth about the WTBTS is out there but you have to be willing to hear it.
One more thing to consider: this is the GB's definition of a lie-" saying something false to a person who is entitled to know the truth and doing so with the intent to deceive or to injure him or another person". This differs slightlyfrom mine, I thought a lie was just saying something false. So you have to ask yourself (obviously they aren't going to say "oh no your not entitled) if they think you are entitled to know the truth. If they don't they will lie to you and think they are doing right. They call it "theocratic warfare".
God's Word commands: "Speak truth each of you with his neighbor." (Eph. 4:25) This command, however, does not mean that we should tell everyone who asks us all he wants to know. We must tell the truth to one who is entitled to know, but if one is not so entitled we may be evasive ( Watchtower June 1, 1960)
Some things to think about
Todd
p.s.
I was actually impressed by the fact that there are so many sites that are anti-witness,an excellent witness in itself,does make one wonder how 6,000,000 can become so hated in the world,
Please explain this kind of reasoning to me. Let's put it another way- If you were going to buy a car and found lots of research stating it had huge problems this would be an excellent endorsement of the car?
Edited by - tkmmorgan on 12 July 2002 13:21:23
Edited by - tkmmorgan on 12 July 2002 13:37:5
