In JW Dogma: John Outweighs Jesus

by Room 215 11 Replies latest jw friends

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  Room 215

  The book of Revelation, purported to have been written by the apostle John in his tenth decade of life, and one of the most contoversial entries into the Biblical canon (so many early fathers opposed its inclusion, it made it in by the ``skin of its teeth") and full of arcane imagery and so convoluted that that it's been the cause of often bitter sectarian wrangling over its interppretation for 1900 years, seems for the WTBTS to outweigh the words of Jesus in its formulation of dogma.

  Consider how the insistence of the literal application of the 144,000, for example, has distorted -- and vitiated the impact of-- such plain-language parables as the Sheep and the Goats, the Ten Virgins and the Other Sheep,not to mention the influence of this book on their worldview. In short, this one book has become for JWs a prism through which to peer into the rest of the Bible.

  That's the view from Two One Five; what say you?.
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  Navigator

  ROOM 215

  I agree with you. We would all be better off if the early church fathers had decided to exclude that little "piece of work".
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  Dia

  I think you're absolutely right about JWs and the book of Revelation (tho I wouldn't go so far as to have an opinion about whether or why it should/shouldn't be in the Bible).

  I think if you want to start a cult, it's best to form it around something very valuable, very obscure and hard to understand.

  It's a whole lot easier than trying to build a cult around the clearer words of Jesus. But who am I to say? That happens, too.
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  Dia

  By the way, there was recently (within the last 3 years or so) a book series and maybe even a movie, which was all about Revelation and very popular with the fundamentalist Christian arena.

  Did JWs ever comment on it?
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  minimus

  Many fundamentalists use Revelation to go haywire on some crazy predictions. Really though, The Faithful and Discreet Slave outweighs everything.
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  jack2

  I always thought it was interesting how certain books either got accepted or rejected as part of the Bible's "canon". I'm not sure about excluding Revelation, but it certainly is a puzzler and forming dogmatic teaching around such symbolisms is problematic to say the least.

  Edited by - jack2 on 13 November 2002 8:42:0
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  UnDisfellowshipped

  Well, I do agree that the Watchtower has distorted and perverted and corrupted the meaning of Revelation, as well as the other 65 Bible Books, to fit their own dogma.

  It's just a very bad shame that the Watchtower doesn't focus on John's other Writings in the Bible.

  The Gospel of John shows clearly that Jesus Christ is God.

  The Gospel of John shows clearly the kind of love we are supposed to have for one another.

  1st, 2nd, and 3rd John all focus on Jesus Christ and the LOVE of God.
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  DanTheMan

  To me it seems like Paul is king in Watchtower-world. How often were we looking up something in Romans, or Corinthians, or Hebrews? It seemed like all the time to me. I got tired of reading Paul. I find his writings to be somewhat condescending and shrill. No wonder the WT quotes him so much. Here's a couple of quotes that I like:

  Protestantism was the triumph of Paul over Peter, fundamentalism is the triumph of Paul over Christ. - Will Durant

  ---

  The Christian churches were offered two things: the spirit of Jesus and the idiotic morality of Paul, and they rejected the higher inspiration... Following Paul, we have turned the goodness of love into a fiend and degraded the crowning impulse of our being into a capital sin.
  -

  Frank Harris
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  ozziepost

  I think the WTS believes The Watchtower carries more weight than the Bible.
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  Blueblades

  The WT.buildings by the Brooklyn Bridge have these Big Slogans:"Read the Bible Daily".Read Watchtower and Awake! Yes! I dont recall the exact comparative numbers,but it was a few pages of the Bible compared to thousands of pages of Watchtower literature.An example in point being the Daily Text and Comments.Usually one or two scriptures,then a couple of paragraphs from the Watchtower outshining the scriptures.I have over 50 years of WATCHTOWERS and AWAKES that take up more pages than the many translations of the Bible that I have in my library.Yes! The Apostles John and Paul outweigh the words of Jesus in the voluminous WT.literature.So, come to me all you who are thirsting, says Jesus is replaced by "Read the WT. and Awake! and Tracts and Brochures and Booklets and Books etc. etc. Blueblades