What is actually meant by "Not part of the world". JWs claim they are no part of the world. In joining here, am I guilty of being a "part of this world"?
Not part of the world
by sun_dae 19 Replies latest watchtower bible
-
-
Leolaia
Simply put....By the Witness definition, yes definitely. By the Bible definition, no.
-
MungoBaobab
The early Christians were in a cult, Jesus was just another charismatic cult leader, and all it takes is time and staying power for a cult to become a world religion. "No part of this world" means exactly what the JWs say it means, being a weirdo with a weird religion.
The Baobab has spoken.
-
fairchild
It depends on who you're asking..
"The world", according to JW's is this current 'wicked' system of things and its oh so wicked desires. It entails any emotional place, person or thought that goes beyond the realm of the WTS and its teachings.
A 'wicked desire', for example, could be the desire to do extensive research on the things the WTS teaches.
-
jgnat
Here's a start:
World (general)
(From International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)(2) Aion.
We have indicated above the speciality of aion. It is a time, with the suggestion always of extension rather than limit (so that it lends itself to phrases denoting vast if not endless extension, such as "to the aions of aions," rendered "forever and ever," or "world without end"). In Hebrews 1:2; Hebrews 11:13, it denotes the "aeons" of the creative process. In numerous places, notably in Matthew, it refers to the "dispensations" of redemption, the present "age"of grace and, in distinction, the "age" which is to succeed it--"that world, and the resurrection" (Luke 20:35). Then, in view of the moral contents of the present state of things, it freely passes into the thought of forces and influences tending against faith and holiness, e.g., "Be not fashioned according to this world" (Romans 12:2). In this connection the Evil Power is said to be "the god of this world" (2 Corinthians 4:4).
http://bibletools.org/index.cfm/fuseaction/Def.show/RTD/ISBE/ID/9234
I really like this article, it about sums up my thoughts on the issue:
http://www.theocentric.com/theoarchives/000286.html
It would be very tidy if we could collect a bundle of nearly-perfect living people, give them a name, say, "Jehovah's Witnesses", and declare that anyone who joins this exclusive group is "not of the world", even though they eat the carrots from the ground like everybody else. Being "not of the world" in a biblical sense is a very personal affair, and is refreshed daily. Will I respond to an appeal for help with my selfish, hedonistic, fleshly self, or will I push to do good regardless? That is how I can walk this earth and rub shoulders with all souls, and yet remain apart from my "worldly" nature.
-
Leolaia
http://www.escapefromwatchtower.com/world.html
Like other high-control cults, the Society defines itself as the only path to God and thus anything that lies outside its domain is considered "worldly". It administers extrabiblical laws and rules on things like birthdays, internet usage, attire, beards, etc. which have no real basis in the Bible but which by their observance and non-observance are supposed to mark one as "worldly" or not. Since the Bible was not written with the Jehovah's Witnesses in view, it obviously does not define the "world" as everything outside the Jehovah's Witnesses. Witness indoctrination however may make you feel that it is wrong, or "worldly" to discuss topics on an internet message board, and this is a means of keeping control and discouraging dissent and debate about itself.
-
Narkissos
Fwiw, I think that this expression is rooted in Christian or Jewish-Christian Gnosticism. The Gnostic salvation is essentially the realisation of one's divine origin and destiny: whence the sense of being "spiritually" alien to the "world," the true maker and ruler of which is not the Gnostic God (or Father). This is quite obvious in John's Gospel and still shows in Pauline literature.
All the moral implications of "being no part of the world" are secondary to this worldview imo. Wherever this original worldview is ignored, any talk about "being not part of the world" reduces itself to shallow sectarian ethics.
-
Justin
I think the gnostic influence is the key to understanding this concept. According to this view, those who are considered spiritual have their origin in the divine and by consequence cannot be part of the material world, while those whose origin is in the demiurge are by definition material and cannot help but be part of the world. The expression "no part of the world" was taken over by the orthodox (as early as the Gospel of John?) but without the original meaning.
For our purposes, "no part of the world" has been given a moral significance. When this is done, it remains a vague principle to which specific applications must be made. The WTS makes the applications for its people and tells them what practices are considered to be part of the world and which practices may be morally neutral or even OK. It's a form of control.
-
A Paduan
The ways of the world
- "deserve" what you get
- earn your own way and the respect that comes with it
- look after yourself first, seek security
- sacrifice one if the ninety-nine will 'benefit'
results in
- narrowmindedness
- blaming victims
- altered ways of thinking and an altered 'truth' about the world
-------------------------------------------------------------------
Jwism is rooted in the ways of the world
-------------------------------------------------------------------
The ways of heaven
- forgive and do good to your enemies
- the ninety-nine are best served when caring for the one
- don't be afraid
- and so on
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Want to be "no part of the world"? Drop jwism
-
Carmel
Several Christian scholars that I have read consider the term "world" to refer to anything that is "ungodly" or "comes between you and God". I don't know the Hebrew and Greek words for earth and world, but they are distinctly different. If I recall corectly the term earth can refer to the physical planet and/or it can mean man's attachment to materiality, i.e. the earth of human hearts.
carmel