Let's start the ball rolling with two connected claims.
- The religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses is the one true religion
- All other religions are satanic, including all the churches of Christendom.
What are some of the more exceptional self-authenticating claims made by Jehovah’s Witnesses?
by Vanderhoven7 22 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Vanderhoven7
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Vanderhoven7
Add that pair, to this pair
3. If you don't trust the Governing Body you don't trust Jehovah.
4. If you leave our organization you leave Jehovah.
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TonusOH
Their view that non-JWs are doomed is perhaps the most striking difference as someone who was born in and is now outside of the bubble. I think that it is one of the views that helped me get out over time, because it's impossible not to meet people that you feel don't deserve that fate.
5. The WTS is a spirit-guided organization-- its leadership is informed by Jehovah through his holy spirit.
(5a. Jehovah somehow manages to give them the wrong information from time-to-time.)
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BoogerMan
Spiritism (talking to dead humans) is wrong, but it's OK for the Governing Body to do it! 🤣🤣🤣🤣The Org Communicates With Dead Humans:
re chap. 20 p. 125 par. 17 - "This suggests that resurrected ones of the 24-elders group ("anointed Christians") may be involved in the communicating of divine truths today."
w07 1/1 p. 28 par. 11 - “The First Resurrection”—Now Under Way! - "It seems that resurrected ones of the 24-elders group ("anointed Christians") may be involved in the communicating of divine truths today. Why is that important? Because the correct identity of the great crowd was revealed to God’s anointed servants on earth in 1935. If one of the 24 elders was used to convey that important truth, he would have had to be resurrected to heaven by 1935 at the latest. That would indicate that the first resurrection began sometime between 1914 and 1935."
The Governing Body's voice is the same as Jehovah's!
w57 6/15 p. 370 par. 7 - "It is vital that we appreciate this fact and respond to the directions of the “slave” as we would to the voice of God, because it is His provision."
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carla
Boogerman, do they still claim to be the only 'channel' to God? in today's world of 'channeler's' who claim to 'channel' dead loved ones, non dimensional beings, extra terrestrials and so forth, they would fit right in! Are they just trying to be all things to all people?
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Vanderhoven7
6 Only Jehovah’s Witnesses will survive Armageddon.
7 Only Jehovah's Witnesses understand the Bible.
8 There are no true Christians outside of the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses.
9 The Governing Body's voice is the same as Jehovah's!
w57 6/15 p. 370 par. 7 - "It is vital that we appreciate this fact and respond to the directions of the “slave” as we would to the voice of God, because it is His provision."
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Magnum
One of their biggest self-authenticating claims has to do with their preaching work.
10 They are fulfulling Mt 24:14 and they are the only ones doing so.
However, even when I was at my peak as a zealous, believing JW (late 80's / early 90's), I lamented the way the preaching work was carried out. I really believed in it and wanted it done in an appropriate way to an appopriate degree. However, it wasn't.
I wanted to use the Bible and have discussions, but I was forced to place magazines using brief presentations. Those magazines were filled mostly with fluff. There might have been a few good sentences or sometimes an entire good article in some of the mags, but they were often buried in fluff.
I found that most JWs were simply not qualified to do such an important work. I was often cringing when working with other JWs as I observed their ineptness.
Now, the preaching work is almost non-existent. It is still mosly fluff and it is carried out by JWs who are mostly not qualified, but, now they are much less qualified than they were a few decades ago. They are much more ignorant of their own doctrine than JWs were a few decades ago. They lack the boldness that a lot of JWs used to have. They run from deeper questions and challenges now. The quantity and quality of the preaching work have decreased. It is, at best, a faint whisper now - puny and weak.
If JWs were who/what they claim to be, having the one and only way to salvation for billions about to be violently destroyed (according to their doctrine), their preaching work should be like the shouts of the Israelites marching around Jericho on the seventh day or like the warning work of Jonah in Nineveh. However, the preaching work of JWs is nothing like those things.
I remember hearing/reading when I was in JW Land that JWs had progressed greatly beyond the days when they used phonographs to preach. Now, though, they've gone back to the same method, just with updated technology; they simply point people to their website or use recorded videos.
So, the whole world is about to be violently destroyed and JWs are providing an appropriate warning??? Hah, we getter better/clearer/stronger warnings in our area for a local thunderstorm. If JWs are who/what they claim to be, they are going to have blood on their hands. They are nowhere near close to fulfilling Mt 24:14. They don't have a clear message and never have. Clarification: Maybe they had a clear mesage, but they never presented it clearly. By far, most people on earth have no clue what the JW message is.
No, their ineffective preaching work does not authenticate them.
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Vanderhoven7
Ian Ribinson writes:
- They Are God’s Sole Channel of Communication on Earth.
- Their New World Translation (NWT) Is the Most Accurate Bible – they also discourage external linguistic or historical critiques, relying on their own scholars (whose credentials are often questioned).
- They Were Chosen by Jesus in 1919
- Their Predictions About the End Times Are Still True – Even though past prophecies (1914, 1925, 1975, "this generation" teaching) have failed, they maintain that their overall prophetic framework is correct.
- Only They Truly Understand the Bible – They claim that without their literature, one cannot correctly understand the Bible.
- Everyone Outside the Organization Is Misled by Satan
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Sea Breeze
JW's are the only church who claim they were specifically named in scripture: THE Faithful and Discreet Salve.
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Anony Mous
The name itself Jehovah’s Witnesses betrays their aggrandizement.
They are witnesses of God himself, which is scripturally the role reserved for the Messiah.
- The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are witnesses of Jesus.
- Jesus' works are a witness of him.
- Scripture is a witness of Jesus.
- Jesus' disciples, including John, are witnesses of him.
- People who encountered Jesus are witnesses of him.
- They claim to be one or more of the above, but not of Jesus but of the godhead himself?