Not long ago I started a thread about how my wife & I sent letters to the Society but received no response, well we got one. My wife wrote a letter asking about the similarity between pagan mystery cults and Christianity, especially she mentioned the eucharist meal of bread and wine representing blood and body of dying saviors such as Mithras and Dionysus.
Their response was:
(1) Reading worldly materials raises "insidious doubts". "Christians do not need to make a study of mythology." Included was a photocopy of a QFR that said "it would be foolhardy, as well as a waste of valuable time, for Witnesses to expose themselves to false religious literature...true Christians are commanded to shun apostates...As LOYAL Christians let us hold to God's standards, feeding our minds on what is true and righteous, and holding appreciatively and LOYALLY to the CHANNEL from which we first learn Bible truth."
(2) Christians would never have copied the pagans because they were demonized.
(3) Jesus was a historical person.
The first point is nothing more than "Information Control", a standard method of high control groups (cults). This is when you control the information a person is allowed or encouraged to accept. Access to non-cult sources of information is minimized or discouraged through guilt or invoking a sense of loyalty. A legitimate organization will allow people the freedom to think for themselves, read whatever they like, and talk to whomever they choose in order to arrive at their own decisions, where as a destructive mind control group will want to do the thinking for people.(paraphrase of Steven Hassan's book "Releasing the Bonds")
The second point is nothing more than conjecture shaped by ignorance of the wide variety of Christian practice and theology prior to the Roman Catholic Church. A quote from the letter about the eucharist sacrements, "As you know, Jesus borrowed the bread and wine symbols from the Passover celebration, a much older part of the true worship of Jehovah. It certainly was not done in imitation of pagan worship." Can anyone remember bread and wine representing flesh and blood of a dying savior being part of the passover celebration? We can't either.
The third point, while certainly a good topic was not relevant to the question. Interestingly however, they provided two photocopies from the Encyclopedia Britannica and Will Durrant's book, each of which renounces the non-Christian references to Jesus as frauds or irrelevant to the issue of an historical Christ. I wonder if they read the article in full or just liked the one line from these articles that they quote in the wts and Greatest Man book. Obviously much of this response is due to a large number of letters from readers questioning whether Jesus actually existed.
Additionally, they refer to a comment in the insight volume under the topic "gods & goddesses". It says "the mythologies of the ancients ECHO various parts of the Biblical record...also the religions of many ancient peoples included the worship of a god placed in the role of a benefactor who dies a violent death on earth and is then restored to life. This may suggest that such a god was actually a deified human wrongly viewed as being the promised seed. (Gen 3:15)" I missed this acknowledgement when looking for evidence that they were aware of the work of religious historians that have cataloged hundreds of pagan parallels to Bible stories. The explanation that the Devil heard Gen 3:15 being spoken and from this was able to summize the great divine plan and preemptively create counterfeits is ridiculous of course. The interpretation of Gen 3:15 as referring to a messiah was not until late Judaism.
Comments and questions welcomed.
Update...Letter from Wt
by peacefulpete 20 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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peacefulpete
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William Penwell
If that first response doesn't scare a person I don't know what would. The Dubs are so hypocritical when it comes to telling interested ones to examine their beliefs but then telling their own followers not to read anything that may bring into question the WT beliefs. Also the way they answer you is that they are awful defensive and obviously have to response to your inquiry. That should definitely set off warning bells.
Will
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nicolaou
I posted this about a year ago but got no takers ( http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/12/29687/1.ashx ), seems appropriate to repost it here though.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- An inscription in the Vatican states plainly, "He who will not eat of my body, nor drink of my blood so that he may be one with me and I with him, shall not be saved." This is not terribly surprising, unless you consider that this is inscribed on the remains of the temple the Vatican was built on - one dedicated to the God Mithras.
Such eerie parallels between the pronouncements of Jesus and Mithras are not the only similarities. Mithras was known to his followers as "The light of the world," or "The good shepherd," and exhorted his followers to share ritual communion. He is born in a cave, with shepherds in attendance.
Attis, is known to his followers as "The lamb of God," and his crucifixion and subsequent resurrection were celebrated annually, with ritual communions of bread and wine. His virgin mother, Cybele, was worshipped as "The queen of heaven."
Thousands of years before Jesus, there was a passion story told about a God man, born of a virgin mother - in a stable. He travels about with his followers, preaching and performing miracles, until one day he allows himself to be arrested and tried for blasphemy.
He is found guilty and executed, only to rise from the grave three days later, where the women weeping at his tomb do not recognize him - that is, until he assumes his divine form as the God Dionysus.Common to all of these 'mystery' religions (so called because one had to be initiated or baptized into the faith to learn its doctrines), including early Christianity, are themes of rebirth, redemption, and the transmission of life-changing information. Many religions in those times shared similar themes.
Of course, later Christians were terribly perturbed by these similarities- one creative Church father, Justin Martyr, concludes that the devil copied Christianity before its time! Had he paid a little more attention to the past, he might have noted that the association of Jesus with Dionysus is not so strange - philosophers had been making connections between Jehovah and Dionysus for centuries.
New Testament authors stuck sly references to Pagan gods throughout the gospels. Did early Christians, like their modern descendents, believe that theirs was the one and only true manifestation of religion? Consider the words of Clement, of Alexandria, "There is one river of Truth, which receives tributaries from every side." If only the later followers of the religion listened more closely, the mysteries may not have been lost.
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Not my own work - I just found it fascinating.
Nic'
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ESTEE
"it would be foolhardy, as well as a waste of valuable time, ...to expose themselves to false religious literature...
LOL!!! So true...so true...that's why I quit reading the WT!!!!!
ESTEE
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LDH
I especially like the way they "quote" the books they wrote themselves. LOL! Can you imagine someone going to, say, US News and World Report and asking for proof that an article they wrote was true--and they were simply referred to an earlier USNWR magazine?!?!?
That's laughable!
"I'd like to see some empirical proof of the assertation you made in the July 1, 2003 article, dear Editor!!"
"Well, for unbiased proof I'll refer you to the July 1, 2000 edition where we made the same wild-ass speculation!"
LMAO.
I thought it was a nice touch they did the copying for you.
Lisa
"No Comment" Class
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Swan
Isn't this statement counter to the one where they applaud the Boreans for studiously examining their beliefs before casting them out and burning their books?
Reading worldly materials raises "insidious doubts". "Christians do not need to make a study of mythology." Included was a photocopy of a QFR that said "it would be foolhardy, as well as a waste of valuable time, for Witnesses to expose themselves to false religious literature...true Christians are commanded to shun apostates...As LOYAL Christians let us hold to God's standards, feeding our minds on what is true and righteous, and holding appreciatively and LOYALLY to the CHANNEL from which we first learn Bible truth."
Also, since when is a study of Greek mythology "apostate"?
I think I'm missing something here.
Tammy
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gumby
(1) Reading worldly materials raises "insidious doubts".
Then Fred Franz must have had a shitloed of doubts!
There are endless articles in the Watchtowers about mystery religions. How is it that writers for the society can read all this material so they can deliever these precious articles..........then tell us not to peek at them ourselves? Does Jehovah provide a protective barrier around these writers so they do not get influeced themselves?
What I'd really like to know is........How can they re-search this stuff and not see it themselves while re-searching? R.Franz was bright enough and humble enough to call the kettle black (at least in seeing the fallacies of the Organisation).........why do not the rest see things that are in error and admit it?
Too many chickenshits in the world......that's why.
Gumby
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Axelspeed
LDH...just had to say, you are hilarious! LMAO
Axelspeed
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Oxnard Hamster
(1) Reading worldly materials raises "insidious doubts". "Christians do not need to make a study of mythology." Included was a photocopy of a QFR that said "it would be foolhardy, as well as a waste of valuable time, for Witnesses to expose themselves to false religious literature...true Christians are commanded to shun apostates...As LOYAL Christians let us hold to God's standards, feeding our minds on what is true and righteous, and holding appreciatively and LOYALLY to the CHANNEL from which we first learn Bible truth."
It should read....
(1) Reading "worldy" materials may actually educate people. Can't have that if we want to control everybody. It would be foolhardy, as well as a waste of valuable time, for
our slavesWitnesses to expose themselves to educational materials. True Christians are commanded to shun anything not sanctioned by the WTS, as loyal followers allow us to brainwash them, feeding our minds on garbage other people came up with by taking liberties with the Bible, and holding appreciately and loyally to the channel from which we were first tricked. -
rocketman
Wow, what a cowardly reply (well, portion, anyway)......can you scan the whole letter pete? I'd love to see it (not sure why, guess I'm in a gagging mood).