i believe the jws are morphing into a mainstream social religious group. We've long been taught we had the truth due to our suoerior doctrine. It appears that the GB knows that their teachings are ludicrous and indefensible. Therefore to prove we have the truth they highlight not going to war, translating many languages and using the name jehovah. So basic. I guess maybe this is because they've had to recently dump everything they taught during the tenure of Fred Franz. So now because JWs don't go to war and translate books into different languages they have the truth. SuuuuuuRe.
Today's watchtower. Why no emphasis on doctrine?
by kneehighmiah 24 Replies latest jw friends
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AlphaMan
On the surface JW's may be able to convince some that they have the truth, but a deeper look shows their falsehood. If they mentioned not going to war in today's Watchtower then on the surface that may sound reasonable, but then you think of the Roman soldier in the bible who because a Christian. Few JW's make the connection between JW's up into the 70's going to prison over neutrality, but now the Watchtower Society allowing alternative service. A deeper look into anything the JW's use to show they have "the truth" always shows them to be a hypocritical, made-man, man-led religious organization.
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helpmeout
I agree. This WT study was an exercise in back slapping. We know we have the Truth because we know we have the Truth. Good grief!!
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Vidiot
True, they are striving to give the appearance of mainstreaming, but that's all it it is... appearance.
x
Authentic internal mainstreaming (in a manner that will enable a religion to survive and thrive in the Information Age) involves quite a bit more than a slick website and televangelism.
They need to abandon shunning, apocalypticism, Biblical literalism, exclusivity, homophobia, mysogyny, the demonization of life-saving medical practicies, and the concealment of criminal acts (among other things).
x
The WTS, however, has recently and quite stridently reiterated its stance on the ostracization of former members, Armageddon, creationism, the two-witness rule, and forbidding blood transfusions.
x
Like I said... appearance.
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Vidiot
BTW, in answer to the question in the thread title; it hasn't really been about "doctrine" in a long, long time.
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Oubliette
Because doctrine doesn't matter.
Steven Hassan has been saying this for years. Apparently the GB members (or whoever actually runs this corporation) have read his work.
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Magnum
I agree 100% and have been thinking that for a while.
they've had to recently dump everything they taught during the tenure of Fred Franz
That still boggles my mind. Think of the hundreds of thousands of man-hours spent at book studies poring over the writings of Franz in those old, deeper books. Now it seems that all that has been intentionally forgotten - swept under the carpet. Many of those who were strong JWs at that time are dead, but what about those who are still alive? What do they think? I think a lot of them don't even realize that the Franz stuff has been dumped.
How can they possibly say the light is getting brighter? JWs get more and more confused and understand less and less as time goes on. They have less confidence in their ability to defend their doctrines. At least in the Franz days, JWs were confident, studious, etc. At least in those days it seemed (at least to me) like they had the truth. But not now.
We put a lot of emphasis on the writings of one socially inept little nerd back in those days. What if we had known that one day all that "deep" stuff we studied would be dumped? Just imagine all those book studies I had to sit through as a kid - wasted. I could have stayed home and played like all the other kids, or at least done something that wasn't a waste.
The JWdom of today is nothing like the one of a few decades ago. Even though I now realize it was all wrong back then, too, at least it seemed more noble and dignified, and the individual JWs seemed to be of a higher caliber.
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AlphaMan
We put a lot of emphasis on the writings of one socially inept little nerd back in those days. What if we had known that one day all that "deep" stuff we studied would be dumped? Just imagine all those book studies I had to sit through as a kid - wasted. I could have stayed home and played like all the other kids, or at least done something that wasn't a waste.
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What a colossal waste of life and time. The Tuesday Book Study at the house I went to as a teenager was the longest hour in the history of man. The droning on & on from the pages of those big bat-shit crazy doctrine books. The house had no AC. The beatings I would get for skipping or being made to go. It was suppose to be the truth that would help you survive 1975. Now it was nothing more than lies. It's now 2014 with new lies.
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prologos
truth did refer to the Teachings=different doctrines. we used to go the door with the premise: "We are right about our teachings, you are wrong. so: convert or be destroyed."
Now they parade out the faithfull thousand individuals that gave their lives to the impossible pacifist ideal, the tranlation into almost dead languages ( in the process possibly creating a script), highlicgting a disputed name, a name subordinated to "Jesus" in much of the NT.
WT doctrines have been so doctored, they never were, and can not be now the truth.
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88JM
Why no emphasis on doctrine?
I think if they had another whole meeting about 607 B.C./1914 A.D. then people really would die of boredom. Or get suspicious that the org doth protest too much.