What do Mark, Luke, and Paul all have in common?

by Coded Logic 20 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Coded Logic

  According to scripture, none of them ever met Jesus.

  I was a JW for 20 years and I never knew this! I thought they were all Apostles! Paul knew of Jesus through his roadside conversion on the way to Dimascus after Jesus was already dead, and Mark and Luke were disciples of Peter and Paul.

  I used to critize people of in other religions all the time for not knowing anything about their Bibles. Talk about the pot calling the kettle black. Someone out there please tell me I wasn't the only biblically-challenged-know-it-all in the orginization.
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  prologos

  Coded Logic, we did not care much the truth ABOUT the bible but knew selected bits in the bible, in my days summarized in the little book:" Make sure of all things".

  The truth ABOUT the bible and it's content IS of course, that it could not possibly be true, most of it.
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  Witness My Fury

  A cult like the watchtower is only ever going to feed it's own bias and agenda, bible study my frickin ass! They only want you to know what suits them, anything that doesnt is avoided or glossed over, no wonder we were in a mental prison.
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  XkhanX

  Cool facts. I was a jW for over 20 yrs too and misses this. Thanks for sharing.
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  Oubliette

  Their names are all four letter words.

  CL: Someone out there please tell me I wasn't the only biblically-challenged-know-it-all in the orginization.

  You weren't.

  The WTBTS likes to make it's members believe they are "bible scholars" when the fact it, most aren't even all that knowledgeable about what JWs believe.

  Of course, it's pretty hard to keep up with the constant doctrinal changes and the vast number of extra-biblical policies and practices.

  Just the other day, a born-in JW in his late 20s confided to me that he'd really like to grow a beard. I asked him why he didn't. He said, "You know, privileges and parts on the podium [sic]."

  I asked him, "Do you even know why JWs don't grow beards?"

  He, not too surprisingly, said, "Uhh, no. Not really!"

  Let's review: It's a cult!
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  GreenhornChristian

  I knew that, but I was one of those "I know more than you know" putts.

  Something i I did not know till recently is that the Pauline letters were written before the Gospels, Acts of Apostles. Interesting...
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  Chris Tann

  I was a zealous pioneer, an m.s. and studied like crazy. The only problem was I thought WT publications told me everything I needed to know. I now see that I was mistaken. Now I wonder, if the Apostle Matthew wrote that gospel,why not make it evident that he did for future generations to be confident that a disciple of Jesus wrote it. Also, why have two gospels written by men who didn't know Jesus? Why didn't Peter or Andrew or even Thomas write gospels. There were no shortage of Apostles to choose from. This would give it more authority.

  Then there's the book of John. He doesn't say it's John the Apostle. The ending implies someone else wrote it or at best finished it. Personally, I believe Jesus's friend Lazarus wrote it- plenty of evidence for that. No Coded Logic,you were not the only one. If we want truth,we must pick apart everything and strip it to its core,not being afraid of what we discover,but embracing it.
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  Ucantnome

  Someone out there please tell me I wasn't the only biblically-challenged-know-it-all in the orginization.

  i wasn't a know it all. i didn't know much at all it was so boring. i know more now since i left and that's not a lot but it's less boring now.
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  fulltimestudent

  Coded Logic: Someone out there please tell me I wasn't the only biblically-challenged-know-it-all in the orginization.

  To be Biblically challenged, is the one common feature of Christians of all denominations.

  Only a small percentage go beyond the basics. So out of the two billion in the world, that self-label as Christians, I think you'd be lucky to find 50,000,000 who really understood something about their religion, that is beyond the basics.

  And, in all the (JW) congregations with which I associated, you could be confident that around 50%, knew ONLY the basics, but no detail and that in spite of all the meetings, Watchtowers articles, books etc, etc.

  It was all a grand waste of time and lives.
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  blondie

  I knew that Mark and Luke had not met Jesus when I was a jw....but then I dug a little deeper, wanted to be sure when I answered anyone I could say "the bible says" not some WTS publication.

  It did not bother me: I have read many credible historical books about people alive long before me and even during my lifetime. I have never met any but 1 US President so far but with good research and comparison with other sources, a fairly clear picture can be gained.

  I found that most jws did not know there were 66 books in the bible, nor how many were OT andn NT. I'm not talking about a 2 year in the "truth" jw, but 25 or more years, including school overseers.

  To many jws, the words of the WTS as as reliable as the bible and to question them is to question God.

  I remember a person at the door asked my companion if he had read the magazine he was offering. To the brother's credit he stumbled before saying no. The man said "if you have no read it, why should i." and shut the door...did the brother read the magazines after that, no..........