Jonah's success, J-dubs failure in preaching.

by Darkknight757 15 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Darkknight757

  3:1 Then the word of the Lord came to Jonah a second time: 2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you.”3 Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. 4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 5 The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.6 When Jonah’s warning reached the king of Nineveh, he rose from his throne, took off his royal robes, covered himself with sackcloth and sat down in the dust.

  
  

  
  So I was sitting through the meeting this evening and a thought occurred to me, God blessed Jonah and made his ministry successful when he went to Nineveh, yet how can the dubs claim God is blessing the preaching work they are doing today? Where's the proof? 100,000 hour average hours per new publisher? In just a few days Jonah convinced an entire city to turn around.😳

  Peter did one speech after Jesus death and 3000 were converted in one day. What dub in their right mind can even begin to think that God is blessing the preaching work today?
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  dbq407

  I had a few issues with the article tonight, but the one that stood out is how they tried to say that even though god felt regret over the calamity he had spoken, didn't mean his own judgement had been in error. They then proceeded to use deut. 32:4 saying that his activity is perfect and all his ways are justice.

  Well either the bible contradicted itself here or i misunderstand what regret means. Usually regret i thought was feeling bad about something you did that wasn't right?

  Also they said god is nothing like the rigid,cold,even harsh god so often portrayed by religious leaders. When actually he is exactly like that if you read the old testament.
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  Darkknight757

  Agreed dbq. Also how did God NOT punish Jonah? He caused a storm that nearly killed him and other innocents. Then he gave Jonah a 3 day acid bath in the stomach of a huge fish.

  By the way, Nineveh was only 3 square miles. Why do the dubs think it was like 75 square miles? Weird.
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  dbq407

  The gb can tell the flock anything they want and they just eat it up. Critics, historians, professionals are always wrong, unless their views actually support what the gb says.
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  Lieu

  JWs aren't failures. Seriously. Everyone knows who they are and not to answer the door.

  Not sure why we should equate the everyday publisher with a Prophet and Apostles.

  All those "preaching" instructions and proclamations are for the "annointed". Run of the mill publishers aren't under any obligations to preach since none of the NT applies to them, per WTBTS.

  Jonah got sucked up because he was upset that God didn't kill everyone in Nineveh. Kinda like a mean Elder, Jonah wanted the Ninevehvites disfellowshipped despite repentance. Lol
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  prologos

  "God showed mercy to Jonah by not letting him drown", but he caused the storm in the first place (or did not stop it, endangering all). Then he send him on a mission to preach the downfall, when gad must have known full well, that here would in the  end no destruction. He made af ool out of Jonah, and the witnesses are like fools with their 1914, 1925, 1975 2075 predictions, ostensibly miraculously derived at by  god's spirit-directed organisation.

  In the end, blame Jonah, or ha-noj, because he got it all backward.
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  smiddy

  The majority of Jehovah`s Witnesses and I am speaking of the rank and file publishers who would average 10 hours a month going from door to door for the bulk of their life , say 20-30 years preaching would not gain one convert in all the time they have witnessed door to door.

  I was preaching for 33 years and I never gained one convert in the door to door work , however I gained a few converts with family and thankfully none are in the religion anymore except one niece ,sadly.

  A congregation of 100 witnesses spends on average 10 hours a month , how many interested people from all that witnessing come to the Kingdom hall , more often than not.?....... none.

  Multiply this by thousands of congregations in any Country and what do you get.........not much

  smiddy
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  Darkknight757

  Agreed smiddy. I was at it for a solid 20 years putting in more than average hours and using all the "best" tactics with no result.

  It certainly is a great way to keep people inundated with busy work.

  
  

  edit: a note from para 6

  “6 When Jonah finally entered Nineveh, its sizable population of more than 120,000 may have made the place only more intimidating.* He walked for a day, penetrating ever deeper into that teeming metropolis, perhaps looking for a suitable central location to start spreading his message.”

  So did Jonah walk for an entire day, ignoring all until he found a "suitable central location to START spreading his message?"

  Jonah 3:4 Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” 

  Says he went a day's journey PROCLAIMING!! Perhaps I'm wrong here but it would seem silly to remain silent for an entire day in order to find a good spot to preach. Unless Jonah had an apathy cart?? One can only guess.
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  prologos

  "Jonah was not a false prophet." even though he preached a doomsday message that was proven wrong. that is the idea that wt wants to sink in . Jonah was not preaching the truth. The "truth", his message, was only a means to an end. he was used. He suspected that in the beginning, he knew it at the end. Now his story is used again to spur on JWorgers to get converts. The imitation faith on the march. Macmillan.
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  The Rebel

  Imagine the scene, it's a lovely day outside and your thinking of taking the family out for a picnic. I would call that an idyllic way to spend the day wouldn't you? Now imagine suddenly there is a knock, knock on the bloody door. You know who it is? Honestly haven't you got better things to do than answer it? Why stop having a good time, to listern to an evil and nonsensical message from a cult? This is why it takes 100,ooo hours per conversion.

  The Rebel.