They have two sets of books:
1) the published kind: pleasing to the ear
2) the one talked about at Assemblies, transmitted by Circuit Overseers, and reinforced by letters sent to congregations by elders!
The WTBTS Lies On Their Website
by Corvin 13 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Terry
We have all known people who are very prejudiced about others who begin their sentence with: "I'm not prejudiced, but...." as if that is all that is necessary to exonerate the bilge that follows.
People without a sense of humor never admit to it.
Rich people are always calling themselves __middle class__.
The moral of the story is this. The WTBTS substitutes propaganda for reality by spoonfeeding what I call "happy talk".
By telling JW's they are happy people, protected from the world, normal, superior in every way to their neighbors yet imminently fair and unprejudiced they are selling the customer himself. It is an old sales trick. Politicians use it all the time. "America is the greatest country in the world" is an example of that happy talk.
Mind control is a balancing act. It is not quite hypnosis. It is salesmanship laced with fear.
Think of how many people view persons afflicted with AIDS. They feel sorry for them, but, avoid like the plague any meaningful contact. That is how JW's view their neighbors and "friends" who don't believe as they believe.
When a JW looks at a non JW they see dead people's bones being picked by birds of prey. Life is just waiting around for Jehovah to kill everybody but them. How normal is that? It is as close as you can get to quarantine.
Quarantine: To isolate an individual who has or is suspected of having a disease, in order to prevent spreading the disease to others; alternatively, to isolate a person who does not have a disease during a disease outbreak, in order to prevent that person from catching the disease. Quarantine can be voluntary or ordered by public health officials in times of emergency.
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Leolaia
Here is a funny thing I found....a neat bit of selective quoting. To support its position on "being no part of the world" while not being physically separated from the world, it quotes from the second-century Epistle to Diognetus which presents a similar view:
*** w51 3/1 pp. 139-140 Early Christians Under Roman Rule ***
Some historians 15 have debated over why God?s people were singled out and persecuted beyond measure, but when one sees the issue it is quite simple to understand. A letter addressed to Diognetus, who lived in the early part of the second century, says: "The Christians are not separated from other men, either in their earthly abode, nor by language, nor customs; they never inhabit separate towns, they use no peculiar speech, no singular mode of life.?They dwell in the towns of Greeks, or of Barbarians, just as chance has assigned their abode and inasmuch as they follow the customs of the country with regard to raiment, food, and other such matters, they show a temper and conduct which is wonderful and remarkable to all men. They obey the existing laws, nay, they triumph over the laws by their own conduct."
*** w93 7/1 p. 14 Christians and Human Society Today ***
Most of the Roman emperors misunderstood the early Christians and persecuted them. Showing why, The Epistle to Diognetus, thought by some to date from the second century C.E., declares: "Christians dwell in the world, but are not part and parcel of the world."
However, when you look up the original source, you find something rather unexpected -- as far as Watchtower theology is concerned. The early Christian source quoted by the Society in support of its view of how early "faithful" Christians lived in the world has this to say:
"For Christians are not distinguished from the rest of humanity by country, language, or custom. For nowhere do they live in cities of their own, nor do they speak some unusual dialect, nor do they practice an eccentric lifestyle. But while they live in both Greek and Barbarian cities, as each one's lot was cast, and follow the local customs in dress and food and other aspects of life, at the same time they demonstrate the remarkable and admittedly unusual character of their own citizenship....In a word, what the soul (psukhe) is to the body (soma), Christians are to the world. The soul is dispersed through all the members of the body, and Christians throughout the cities of the world. The soul dwells in the body, but is not of the body; likewise Christians dwell in the world, but are not of the world. The soul, which is invisible, is confined in the body, which is visible; in the same way, Christians are recognized as being in the world and yet their religion remains invisible. The flesh hates the soul and wages war against it, even though it has suffered no wrong, because it is hindered from indulging in its pleasures; so also the world hates the Christians, even though it has suffered no wrong, because they set themselves against its pleasures. The soul loves the flesh that hates it, and its members, and Christians love those who hate them. The soul is enclosed in the body, but it holds the body together; and though Christians are detained in the world as if a prison, they in fact hold the world together. The soul, which is immortal, lives in a mortal dwelling; similarly Christians lives as strangers amidst perishable things, while waiting for the imperishable in heaven. The soul, the better; and so Christians when punished daily increase more and more. Such is the important position to which God has appointed them, and it is not right for them to decline it" (Epistle to Diognetus 5:1-4, 6:1-10).
The Christian author, defending Christianity against Roman criticism and persecution, is here clearly likening Christians to an immortal, invisible soul that dwells in a fleshly body. Interesting how the Society never quotes this part. And such is the statement from a Christian describing those faithful who resist persecution and hold fast to their faith. So....were such faithful Christians really "apostates" for believing in an immortal soul, or is there something wrong with the Society's denial that immortality of the soul was not part of early Christian faith? It's the same problem for Ignatius and Polycarp, both early second-century men who were long-time faithful Christians martyred by the Romans for their faith, but who referred to Jesus as "God" in their epistles.
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SAHS
Jehovah's Witnesses are found at all levels of society, and they do not physically separate themselves from those who do not share their beliefs.
That?s true. They don?t physically separate themselves from people in the ?world,? such as workmakes, schoolmates, neighbours, etc. . . . . They just don?t associate with them, talk to them, or have anything to do with them (except, of course, to make a ?sale?).
?SAHS