by minimus 23 Replies latest jw friends
Because Christ is the focus of the NT....that doesn't jive with JW's.
JWs are into rules and consistently compare themselves to the Israelites.
All other Christian denominations reject being compared to whining, idol worshipping unappreciative, apostate rejecters of Christ, who at last were rejected by God. Go figure?!!
Edited by - Lieu on 22 July 2002 1:7:19
The wt system of rules, regs, and the chosen org parrallels the ot system of rules, regs and the chosen people quite closely. Love and other spiritual principles needn't get in the way of getting the job done and keeping order. The job of selling books and recruiting.
Anarchic nt events like the holy spirit meeting at pentacost, which focussed on individual experiences would take away power from the gb. Putting principles into effect where individuals are able to apply them as they see fit would decentralize power. Fearful control freaks like the fascistic ot system much better.
SS
Also, I think the mediator stuff gets in the way too.
See, the OT has emphasis on human mediators .... whereas the NT, has emphasis on well, an invisible one.
Since the GB does not see fit to allow Christ to be the mediator for all JWs....emphasis on the NT would cause too many problems for JWs.
People would start to think Christ was supposed to be thier mediator, that they were supposed to have their training continued by the Holy Spirit, that the Elders are primarily there for upbuilding and are organizers of special activities (such as distributing food baskets and making sure the poor in the cong have what they need), that they aren't supposed to be cursing other people, and that love is the enduring quality....could you imagine the rukus that would cause?
Its better to hold emphasis on the psycho behavior of the Israelites....besides the OT Mosaic Law emphasized how people could NEVER do enough to be forgiven of sins....this fits in well with JW dogma.
Edited by - Lieu on 22 July 2002 1:25:16
Howdy,
I am not sure that your hypothesis/assertion is true. Actually, some of the most important scriptures that JWs cite and that serve as the backbone for modern day procedure/doctrine are Christian-Greek (New Testament) scriptures.
However, assuming that your hypothesis/assertion is true there are a couple of reasons. First, the Hebrew-Aramaic (Old Testament) scriptures make up about 2/3rd of the Bible by volume. Thus any approach to use the whole Bible as JWs attempt to do is as a result going to have a majority of utilized scriptures coming from the majority OT.
Secondly, and perhaps more importantly, most of the recent (last 20 years) publications have focused on "organizational" matters. Simply put the OT serves as a better basis for supporting a rigid (JW) organization structure, having a more concrete foundation in all of the rules and procedures set forth there for the Jewish system of worship.
While there was some cohesiveness to the early Christian congregations including some shared direction among the brothers, it seems apparent that these were a much looser "association of brothers" in terms of procedure than what parallels the firm command and control hierachy of the JW organization.
--Eduardo
I personally feel that they use the OT more because it is black and white. There really is no grey area. The NT is about love and conscience, something that they are not comfortable with. When you think about all the laws they like the rank and file to follow..it is much easier to use the OT.
Leslie
Do you think it's because most Christians stress Christ's words and JW'S need to be different?
That's not true. Christ himself NEVER quoted from the Greek Scriptures because they didn't exist then. However, Christ quoted the OT dozens of times. Furthermore, the NT writers quoted from the OT hundreds of times. Since they were without dispute the very foundation of Christianity, and they liberally used the Hebrew text, how is it that Christendom considers it as relatively insignificant, even producing abbreviated versions of the Bbile that only contain the NT and Psalms? We need to be different because the others are WRONG! / You Know
My opinion is that they "use" the NT ONLY to use Pauls letters to the corinthian congregation as LAW. They actually do use the OT MORE than the NT in the flock book which basically tells elders how to follow and hold members to the Mosiac law.
I got theatened with DFing when I tried to follow and imitate what Jesus said and not Paul, when I was involved it the Pharisee-like cult of JWism. And I've told anyone who ever asked me about the cult or who happened to be studying with the cult members that they really should be called Paulians and NOT Christians, by the teachings they make up and by making those teachings into rules by making them punishable offences and/or "sins".
What the WTBS publications print and what they actually do are two different things. And they are fixing that by leaving out some chapters from the old book , in the new book released. They left out the chapter about what they think of those who still hold people to the mosiac law, because they do just that. It's proven in the elder's flock book.
peace,
somebody