Why blame the Watchtower?

by deegee 9 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

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  deegee

  If God has a relationship with every Christian and every Christian is praying to him then wouldn't he tell every Christian the same thing so that Christians would agree on matters of doctrine and practice?

  It is certainly puzzling why sincere and devout people equally seek God's will and pray to him yet they all come up with different answers so that there are approximately 40,000 different Christian denominations (Center for the Study of Global Christianity (CSGC) at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary).

  Before his death, Jesus called for agreement among his followers rather than division (John 17:20-21). He declared that he would send the Holy Spirit to guide persons into all the truth (John 14:16 - 17, 26, John 15:26, John 16:7,13 - 15).

  So shouldn't anyone who has a relationship with Jesus, reads the Bible, and listens to the Holy Spirit come to the same conclusions as others who are doing the same thing?

  Isn't Jesus and the Holy Spirit capable of communicating the same ideas, beliefs, and practices to all of his followers so that sincere and devout Christians would all agree on what Jesus is telling them?

  It seems to me that if Jesus and the Holy Spirit were capable of communicating the same ideas, beliefs, and practices to all of his followers then the Christianity we would see would look very different from the Christianity we see today, with all of its division and disagreement.

  I can only conclude that Jesus tells different people different things, but then why would Jesus contradict himself? Why would Jesus tell some people one thing and others something else?
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  Zoos

  This is precisely why "ONLY JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES have the true faith and will inherit God's kingdom", and "anyone who disagrees is NOT OF OUR SORT."
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  punkofnice

  This is another reason why I am now of an atheistic mindset.
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  TheWonderofYou

  Cos I am only human after all

  dont put your blame on me... may be Im blind .... look in your mirror ... to see it clearer

  ___

  I blame the watchtower ONLY for INHUMAN practices of a cult not for human errors.

  If a group of christians seperates itself by saying we have only the truth and resigns to speak with all other who call themselves christians this group is establishing a sect. The sect gives up the community, the Eucharist community, or doesnt celebrate the Lord supper togehter with other christians. Thats a cult.

  If Jesus meant with unity the Eucharist unity or an organisational unity or a more philosophical unity can be subject of further discussion. But the most imortant for unity is talking with others.

  Only by talking, debating, dicsussing with friends you can "separate the spirits", (what is from god and what no) find out wether your argmuments or thoughs are reasonable. If the watchtower talked with other christians they would find out e.g. how a modern church discipline looks like, but they avoid education.

  There are today many religious orders within the christian faith, they have different programmes, life styles,e.g. the cistercian. JWs could be an religious order in unity with the global church, whether orthodox or protestant or something else wouldnot matter, but they are excommunicating themselves from the unity.

  Despite that sectiarian attitude the christians dont hate JWs and the members of the JWs, they are "only one face" of the christian faith for us. JW wear the face or mask of zealous fighters who avoid company with the world. Arianism was one face of christians, in the early church, christian belief had many faces and so it is today. Diversity can even make sensible for new more facetes of christian faith and the necessity of loving each other.

  Unity of faith doesnt exclude variety. Even variety of interpretation. The christian faith is the result of debating in rabbinic style about the bible. Even in the 1st century there was everything open and ready for change and debate .

  For the modern church the JW are also christians, although outsiders of own decision.

  It doenst turn about giving up culture, customs in any case. What did jesus mean really about unity, a unity of all mankind not only the group of preachers, that was already the spirit of the gospels?
  

  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RpimiNvcRC4
  
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  prologos

  blame wt for what precisely? They are not inspired, will err, are in a constant state of error, awaiting new en-light-enment. no god or christ is talking to them, obviously, so: why not blame yourself?
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  Steel

  The more I studied this subject, I am more impressed how much all the denonations of false religion have in common without a central body. The core ideas of Christianity are basically all the same no matter what church you go to.

  -Salvation though faith

  -Jesus was the manifestion of god in the flesh

  Minor differences in dogma really don't matter that much.

  What bothers me now is how intellectually lazy the approach JW have toward bible study ( if they really study at all). The unity they always talk about is just laziness combined with building core dogma around the most debatable books of the bible.
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  Bugbear

  Deegee

  I think you have nailed a quite interesting question but not really hit the very deep of the answers. You ask which of the 40.000 different “Christian” faiths are wrong and who is right, expand your questions to the millions of interpreter of Islamic, Buddhist, Hindus and other. Why not include the Greek God Zeus, or Oden Tor or the myriads of African different tribe “believes”. Are you sure that everyone else is wrong but the Christians?

  True is that all these representations of “religion”,,,do pray to their God. Everyone claim that they have been heard….That God is with them.?? Everyone claim to have the answers on some wholly book, or some claims to have a deeper feeling, a closer contact with “the higher” spheres which only they can understand. With that claim goes also a responsibility to really take the consequence of their preaching. When they have found to be wrong, none of them step down and admit, that they have lead their people on the wrong track. Not one admits to be a liar, not one will step down and lose his position as a “father”, priest, pope, or Prophet. Human greed for power is immense. With the power also goes an economical factor. If they can control their followers mind, they also often can control their wallets.

  It´s a self-spinning wheel. A perpetum Mobile…. And very few people have the guts or knowledge, or the strength to stop this wheel… and start to ask the right questions: where are your proof, where are your logics, where are the findings that can support your claim.

  Interesting thread …..
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  Crazyguy

  The problem lies in the Bible itself. If thier was a loving god why would he write such a pile of crap? And another thought it's written that Jesus said he would reveal things to children not a bunch of old fart men.
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  Finkelstein

  I can only conclude that Jesus tells different people different things, but then why would Jesus contradict himself? Why would Jesus tell some people one thing and others something else?

  The honest and truthful answer to this is that the writings in the bible were actually mystical or mythological in nature, such as the stated Old Testament prophecies, the prophesied Messiah, the future forthcoming return of that Messiah and his new world order, the book of Revelation etc.
  

  Many men over time took it upon themselves to decipher these writings and proclaim they have the correct interpretation of those writings and then subsequently proclaim that others were inherently wrong (false Religion), not truly guided by god's holy spirit as it were.
  

  In 1919 the President of the WTS. and the Jehovah's Witnesses sect made a proclamation that Jehovah had selectively chosen him and the JWS Christian based Publishing organization.

  Some this obvious corruption or wrongful interpretation were devised inherently to support to the proliferation of their own published works in the vein of charlatanism.
  

  Yet Rutherford's doctrines and the doctrines created by his predecessor C Russell were duly wrong and were very much acting like every other Christian based faith and worse according to scripture.
  
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  fukitol

  http://infidels.org/library/modern/theodore_drange/confusion.htmlhttp://http://infidels.org/library/modern/theodore_drange/confusion.html