by Check_Your_Premises 10 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Just a quick question. I have heard it alluded to before that jw's think it is ok to omit, or to feign ignorance, or even lie when "theocratic warfare" is at stake.
If so, can you give citations of examples where they condone giving less than "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth"
Thanks.
I found this one from May 1, 1957. Others?
Use
Theocratic War StrategyA WITNESS of Jehovah was going from house to house in Eastern Germany when she met a violent opposer. Knowing at once what to expect she changed her red blouse for a green one in the very next hallway. No sooner had she appeared on the street than a Communist officer asked her if she had seen a woman with a red blouse. No, she replied, and went on her way. Did she tell a lie? No, she did not. She was not a liar. Rather, she was using theocratic war strategy, hiding the truth by action and word for the sake of the ministry.
In this she had good Scriptural precedent. Did not Rahab hide the Israelite spies by both action and word? Did not Abraham, Isaac, David and others likewise hide the truth at times when faced with a hostile enemy? They certainly did, and never do we read a word of censure for their doing so. Rather, we read of their being termed exemplary servants of Jehovah. Their actions were in line with Jesus? wise counsel: "Look! I am sending you forth as sheep amidst wolves; therefore prove yourselves cautious as serpents and yet innocent as doves."?Matt. 10:16, NW.
Perhaps some will wonder as to where the line is to be drawn between use of theocratic war strategy in hiding the truth and the telling of lies. First of all, let it be noted that whenever one takes an oath to tell the truth he is obligated to do so. By dedicating himself to do God?s will each Christian has taken a vow or made an oath to do God?s will and to be faithful to him. To this oath he certainly must be true. Likewise, when a Christian is placed on a witness stand he is obligated to speak the truth if he speaks at all. At times he may prefer to refuse to speak and suffer the consequences rather than betray his brothers or the interests of God?s work. And, of course, there is no occasion for use of war strategy when dealing with our Christian brothers. In dealing with them we tell the truth or tactfully remind them that what they seek to know does not concern them.
Lies are untruths told for selfish reasons and which work injury to others. Satan told a lie to Eve that worked great harm to her and all the human race. Ananias and Sapphira told lies for selfish reasons. But hiding the truth, which he is not entitled to know, from an enemy does not harm him, especially when he would use such information to harm others who are innocent.
A great work is being done by the witnesses even in lands where their activity is banned. The only way they can fulfill the command to preach the good news of God?s kingdom is by use of theocratic war strategy. By underground methods the literature is brought into the country and distributed. Would it make sense to hide this literature by one?s actions and then reveal its whereabouts by one?s words when queried? Of course not! So in time of spiritual warfare it is proper to misdirect the enemy by hiding the truth. It is done unselfishly; it does not harm anyone; on the contrary, it does much good.
Today God?s servants are engaged in a warfare, a spiritual, theocratic warfare, a warfare ordered by God against wicked spirit forces and against false teachings. God?s servants are sent forth as sheep among wolves and therefore need to exercise the extreme caution of serpents so as to protect properly the interests of God?s kingdom committed to them. At all times they must be very careful not to divulge any information to the enemy that he could use to hamper the preaching work.
[Footnotes]
For details see The Watchtower, February 1, 1956.
I no longer have an Aid book so I do not have the page number, but LYING was defined in the Aid book as giving misleading information or witholding information from those ENTITLED to the information. If a Witness thinks the person asking is not entitled, say anyone not a Witness, it is fine by Jehovah to tell them anything whether it is truthfull or not.
Here are few more quotes:
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w92 12/15 p. 22 Why Is It So Easy to Lie? ***A lie is defined as "1. a false statement or action, especially one made with intent to deceive . . . 2. anything that gives or is meant to give a false impression." The intention is to cause others to believe something that the liar knows is not the truth. By lies or half-truths, he strives to deceive those who are entitled to know the truth.
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w60 6/1 p. 351 Questions from Readers ***God?s Word commands: "Speak truth each of you with his neighbor." (Eph. 4:25) This command, however, does not mean that we should tell everyone who asks us all he wants to know. We must tell the truth to one who is entitled to know, but if one is not so entitled we may be evasive. But we may not tell a falsehood.
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w60 6/1 p. 352 Questions from Readers ***There is one exception, however, that the Christian must ever bear in mind. As a soldier of Christ he is in theocratic warfare and he must exercise added caution when dealing with God?s foes. Thus the Scriptures show that for the purpose of protecting the interests of God?s cause, it is proper to hide the truth from God?s enemies. A Scriptural example of this is that of Rahab the harlot. She hid the Israelite spies because of her faith in their God Jehovah. This she did both by her actions and by her lips. That she had Jehovah?s approval in doing so is seen from James? commendation of her faith.?Josh. 2:4, 5; Jas. 2:25.
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w60 6/1 p. 352 Questions from Readers ***This would come under the term "war strategy," as explained in The Watchtower, February 1, 1956, and is in keeping with Jesus? counsel that when among wolves we must be as "cautious as serpents." Should circumstances require a Christian to take the witness stand and swear to tell the truth, then, if he speaks at all, he must utter the truth. When faced with the alternative of speaking and betraying his brothers or not speaking and being held in contempt of court, the mature Christian will put the welfare of his brothers ahead of his own, remembering Jesus? words: "No one has greater love than this, that someone should surrender his [life] in behalf of his friends."?Matt. 10:16; John 15:13.
*** w57 5/1 p. 285 Use Theocratic War Strategy ***
Lies are untruths told for selfish reasons and which work injury to others. Satan told a lie to Eve that worked great harm to her and all the human race. Ananias and Sapphira told lies for selfish reasons. But hiding the truth, which he is not entitled to know, from an enemy does not harm him, especially when he would use such information to harm others who are innocent.
*** w54 10/1 p. 585 Lies Lead to Loss of Life ***
A LIE is a false statement made by one to another who is entitled to hear and know the truth and which false statement tends toward injury to the other.
*** g00 10/8 p. 30 From Our Readers ***Lying I found the article "The Bible?s Viewpoint: Lying?Is It Ever Justified?" (February 8, 2000) to be thought provoking. But by any reasonable definition, does not the Bible condemn all deception?
D. S., United States
In the Bible, lying generally involves saying something false to a person who is entitled to know the truth and doing so with the intent to deceive or to injure him or another person. God-fearing individuals such as Abraham, Isaac, Rahab, and David thus engaged in forms of deception but were not condemned as liars. Of course, they did so under extraordinary circumstances. Their actions therefore do not justify needless deception. For example, if a Christian has sworn to tell the truth in a court of law, he will either tell the truth or remain silent.?ED.
the measure you give will be the measure you recieve
obviously
That last quote fromt he 2000 awake that said a JW would not lie under secular court oath is simply for government consumption. They have and do lie under oath to furthur their imagined directive. And why should it be any different to deceive a judge/official (or anyone) when under oath or not under oath? Do honest people need to be threatened with purgury charges to be honest? Or conversely if there is truly a need to protect another from harm why would the secular oath change my resposibilty? It seems that this line in the awake was simply a well placed piece of political correctness.
Considering their whole religion is a lie, I think we can safely say that the WT literature support lying. JW's can hardly open their mouths without lying. What is more the Bible do to. Lying is an old and honored Bible tradition. As with so many other things lying was only wrong when others did it. This the same all over the place. Just take a look at something I whipped up in my spare time back in the days when I still cared about this bullshit:
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Stupidity, lies and cheating
In a post in another thread our friend aChristian talkes about ?apparent? contradictions, not bad considering the Bible is full of the most glaring contradictions all over the place, but they say that faith can move mountains. Anyway, let us take a look at one of the stories from the Bible, which demonstrate the twisted logic and completely relativistic ?morals? of God and his ?chosen heroes?. Take Abraham for instance.
*** Rbi8 Genesis 20:1-18 ***
20 Now Abraham moved camp from there to the land of the Neg'eb and took up dwelling between Ka'desh and Shur and residing as an alien at Ge'rar. 2 And Abraham repeated concerning Sarah his wife: ?She is my sister.?
As we can see Abraham is acting like a craven wimp, lying to save his coward skin while putting his wife at risk of being sexually assaulted by Abimelech. What an outstanding act of bravery and what a wonderful sign of his trust in God Then the story gets even weirder:
*** Rbi8 Genesis 20:1-18 *** With that A?bim'e?lech king of Ge'rar sent and took Sarah. 3 Afterward God came to A?bim'e?lech in a dream by night and said to him: ?Here you are as good as dead because of the woman whom you have taken, since she is owned by another owner as his wife.? 4 However, A?bim'e?lech had not gone near her. Hence he said: ?Jehovah, will you kill a nation that is really righteous? 5 Did not he say to me, ?She is my sister?? and she?did not she too say, ?He is my brother?? In the honesty of my heart and with innocency of my hands I have done this.? 6 At that the [true] God said to him in the dream: ?I too have known that in the honesty of your heart you have done this, and I was also holding you back from sinning against me. That is why I did not allow you to touch her. 7 But now return the man?s wife, for he is a prophet, and he will make supplication for you. So keep living. But if you are not returning her, know that you will positively die, you and all who are yours.?8 So A?bim'e?lech got up early in the morning and proceeded to call all his servants and to speak of all these things in their ears. And the men got very much afraid.
Instead of giving Abraham, the craven liar a stern reprimand, God is leaning on the innocent Abimelech, who is the victim of Abraham and his wife?s despicable trickery. Abimelech is rightfully upset about Abrahams dishonesty and expresses
*** Rbi8 Genesis 20:1-18 *** Then A?bim'e?lech called Abraham and said to him: ?What have you done to us, and what sin have I committed against you, in that you have brought upon me and my kingdom a great sin? Deeds that should not have been done you have done in connection with me.? 10 And A?bim'e?lech went on to say to Abraham: ?What did you have in view in that you have done this thing??
Abrahams lame excuse sounds like this:
Rbi8 Genesis 20:1-18 *** 11 To this Abraham said: ?It was because I said to myself, ?Doubtless there is no fear of God in this place, and they will certainly kill me because of my wife.? 12 And, besides, she is truly my sister, the daughter of my father, only not the daughter of my mother; and she became my wife. 13 And it came about that, when God caused me to wander from the house of my father, then I said to her, ?This is your loving-kindness which you may exercise toward me: At every place where we shall come say of me: ?He is my brother.??
Not much of an excuse, eh? He seem to rationalize that she is actually his half sister, same father but different mothers, and apparently this lie was Abraham?s and Sarah?s standard procedure when they encountered strangers. Talk about a courageous and upstanding patriach?
But this story is quite inexplicable for another reason too:
*** Rbi8 Genesis 20:1-18 *** 17 And Abraham began to make supplication to the [true] God; and God proceeded to heal A?bim'e?lech and his wife and his slave girls, and they began bearing children. 18 For Jehovah had tightly shut up every womb of the house of A?bim'e?lech because of Sarah, Abraham?s wife.
One wonders what kind of twisted and insane reasoning is behind God?s punishment of an innocent man, for being tricked by the coward and lying ?Great Prophet? Abraham.
We know that Abraham had used the same stupid subterfuge before in Egypt:
*** Rbi8 Genesis 12:10-20 ***
10 Now a famine arose in the land and A'bram made his way down toward Egypt to reside there as an alien, because the famine was severe in the land. 11 And it came about that as soon as he got near to entering Egypt, then he said to Sar'ai his wife: ?Please, now! I well know you are a woman beautiful in appearance. 12 So it is bound to happen that the Egyptians will see you and will say, ?This is his wife.? And they will certainly kill me, but you they will preserve alive. 13 Please say you are my sister, in order that it may go well with me on your account, and my soul will be certain to live due to you.?
14 So it happened that, as soon as A'bram entered Egypt, the Egyptians got to see the woman, that she was very beautiful. 15 And the princes of Phar'aoh also got to see her and they began praising her to Phar'aoh, so that the woman was taken to the house of Phar'aoh. 16 And he treated A'bram well on her account, and he came to have sheep and cattle and asses and menservants and maidservants and she-asses and camels. 17 Then Jehovah touched Phar'aoh and his household with great plagues because of Sar'ai, A'bram?s wife. 18 With that Phar'aoh called A'bram and said: ?What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? 19 Why did you say, ?She is my sister,? so that I was about to take her as my wife? And now here is your wife. Take her and go!? 20 And Phar'aoh issued commands to men concerning him, and they went escorting him and his wife and all that he had.
Of course God punished Pharaoh, which had been tricked into the whole mess. Not one word to the idiot Abraham that he should quit lying. What an example of outstanding moral discernment on behalf of God.
But this weird history doesn?t end here. Imagine, the Bible tell us that exactly the same thing happened again, this time with Abraham?s son Isaac:
*** Rbi8 Genesis 26:1-11 ***
26 Now there arose a famine in the land, besides the first famine that occurred in the days of Abraham, so that Isaac directed himself to A?bim'e?lech, king of the Phi?lis'tines, to Ge'rar. 2 Then Jehovah appeared to him and said: ?Do not go down to Egypt. Tabernacle in the land that I designate to you. 3 Reside as an alien in this land, and I shall continue with you and bless you, because to you and to your seed I shall give all these lands, and I will carry out the sworn statement that I swore to Abraham your father, 4 ?And I will multiply your seed like the stars of the heavens and I will give to your seed all these lands; and by means of your seed all nations of the earth will certainly bless themselves,? 5 due to the fact that Abraham listened to my voice and continued to keep his obligations to me, my commands, my statutes, and my laws.? 6 So Isaac went on dwelling at Ge'rar.
7 Well, the men of the place kept asking with respect to his wife, and he would say: ?She is my sister.? For he was afraid to say ?My wife? for fear that, to quote him, ?the men of the place should kill me because of Re?bek'ah,? because she was attractive in appearance. 8 So it came about that as his days there extended themselves A?bim'e?lech, king of the Phi?lis'tines, was looking out of the window and taking in the sight, and there was Isaac having a good time with Re?bek'ah his wife. 9 At once A?bim'e?lech called Isaac and said: ?Why, she is no other than your wife! So how is it that you said, ?She is my sister??? At this Isaac said to him: ?I said it for fear I should die on her account.? 10 But A?bim'e?lech continued: ?What is this you have done to us? A little more and certainly one of the people would have lain down with your wife, and you would have brought guilt upon us!? 11 Then A?bim'e?lech commanded all the people, saying: ?Anybody touching this man and his wife will surely be put to death!?
As you can see Isaac apparently did just the same thing as his father with exactly the same people. One wonders what the Philistines were thinking about this family of pathological liars and cowards.
Norm.
The opposite of truth. Lying generally involves saying something false to a person who is entitled to know the truth and doing so with the intent to deceive or to injure him or another person. A lie need not always be verbal.
While malicious lying is definitely condemned in the Bible, this does not mean that a person is under obligation to divulge truthful information to people who are not entitled to it. Jesus Christ counseled: "Do not give what is holy to dogs, neither throw your pearls before swine, that they may never trample them under their feet and turn around and rip you open." (Mt 7:6) That is why Jesus on certain occasions refrained from giving full information or direct answers to certain questions when doing so could have brought unnecessary harm. (Mt 15:1-6; 21:23-27; Joh 7:3-10) Evidently the course of Abraham, Isaac, Rahab, and Elisha in misdirecting or in withholding full facts from nonworshipers of Jehovah must be viewed in the same light.?Ge 12:10-19; chap 20; 26:1-10; Jos 2:1-6; Jas 2:25; 2Ki 6:11-23.Jehovah God allows "an operation of error" to go to persons who prefer falsehood "that they may get to believing the lie" rather than the good news about Jesus Christ. (2Th 2:9-12) This principle is illustrated by what happened centuries earlier in the case of Israelite King Ahab. Lying prophets assured Ahab of success in war against Ramoth-gilead, while Jehovah?s prophet Micaiah foretold disaster. As revealed in vision to Micaiah, Jehovah allowed a spirit creature to become "a deceptive spirit" in the mouth of Ahab?s prophets. That is to say, this spirit creature exercised his power upon them so that they spoke, not truth, but what they themselves wanted to say and what Ahab wanted to hear from them. Though forewarned, Ahab preferred to be fooled by their lies and paid for it with his life.?1Ki 22:1-38; 2Ch 18.
this is from the insight book which is the same info as was in the old aid book which someone was mentioning earlier...tijkmo
elders and co's et al will expect us to lie as to their whereabouts come the great trib....given the way they treated me i know who i'll be revealing the identity of long before they put electrodes on my testicals
It must because thats all thats in it!
