Take pride in being organised?

by Drue 4 Replies latest jw friends

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  Drue

  Take pride in Organisation?

  Could it be that Jehovah gave the Law to the Israelites not so much as a blessing but also as a curse to teach them that 'organised religion' is not so good after all?

  JWs as an organisation take pride that they are organised, presumably, mirroring Gods arrangement with Israel (literal Israel = FDS, gentile supporters = "great crowd", the 'Nephinim' and 'sons of the servants of Solomon' = JW administration from the number of the other sheep [see WT April 15 1992], 3 yearly festivals = 3 yearly JW conventions and assemblies etc, Jewish priestly mediatorship = WT Borg (see, I used this word :)). Even though Israelites as a nation certainly occupied a special position among other nations and had divine laws, could God just have given them a lesson that law-keeping (even if it is His own laws) is burdensome and ineffective? Then, if JWs are so proud to be the only 'nation' that lives by Divine Laws (disseminated from Brooklyn) has not actually learned God's lesson given to all humans through Israel? Thus, could it be that the WT failed to see that worship cannot be 'national' but first of all 'personal', which was what God wanted to show?

  A predictable objection would be that JWs do not imitate the Israelite arrangement but the Christian one (yet everyone would be forced to admit articles comparing the Jewish temple, sacrifices, festivals and other elements of fleshy Israel's worship with the today's WT appear all too often, ignoring the change brought in by Christ). They claim to have abandoned the Jewish legalism (quoting for example Galatians 3:21) but at the same time insisting that the new code of laws was brought into effect (compare Rom 13:8)

  The argument of the WT is: God had only one nation, namely Israel, so today he should have only one organisation that serves Him correctly and enjoys an approved position before him. My thought is, even if we are to assume that JWs are truly imitating Gods arrangement (and that Israel WAS organised a la WTS), look what happened with fleshy Israel? If God's own pattern failed (or rather was never meant to last) how can we expect that imperfect humans can develop an organisation truly meriting God's unique favour? Why seek to imitate the arrangement that already failed once? Why at all try to find similarities with the former system? Should they (the WT) instead try to distance themselves from this?

  This may be an obvious thought to many of you but you know, a very obvious thought may just strike a former JW like an old Watchtower from the top shelf.

  Drue

  Edited by - Drue on 23 March 2001 11:9:48
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  Prisca

  Well, you stuck this old ex-jw on the head! Great arguement here against organised religion. I have in my own experience seen the disadvantages in trying to do things for the benefit of the organisation, to the detriment to the individual. It makes sense that the Jewish system didn't work when you have rules upon rules. Jesus gave us just 2 commandments (love God, and love your neighbour). Pretty simple to follow, eh?
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  Carmel

  Drue,

  One needs to stand back and take a look at the history of anti-organization rhetoric. It seems the organized church has always had its detractors over the history of religion, at least the Abrahamic/Judaic/Christian/Muslim traditions. Central to the argument is IMHO, the typical ins vs the outs. In other words a political argument, not one of whether or not "god endorses organization vs a chaotic mess".

  More recently the Protestant break with Catholocism gave vent to a stong anti-orgainization sentiment again not so much because the protestants were convinced it was inheritantly invalid but that it had been used as a vehicle of abuse and intolerance. Clearly the reformation would have been successful if the "organization" was out of the way!

  I would challenge you to consider how embedded the assumption is and how easy it is to fall back onto the mantra of blaming the presence of organization when a) there is a history of abuse supported by the "organized church' and b) you are coming out of an organization that emphasises the importance of the organization over the deity itself and c) you have no altrenatives with which to compare what would support a positive paradigm for organizing.

  regards,

  carmel
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  ICHING

  drue - if worship isn't kept "national" no mags get sold - end of story

  I-CHING
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  ozziepost

  Drue,

  You may have subconsciously argued against the 144,000 in your post. Here is what you said:
  <<JWs as an organisation take pride that they are organised, presumably, mirroring Gods arrangement with Israel (literal Israel = FDS, gentile supporters = "great crowd">>

  So the 'other sheep' are the Gentile Christians and the 144,000 stand for the Jewish Christians. Well done!

  Ozzie