"Sometimes those of us who treasure right doctrine think we possess and inside track on the truth of God. God informs us, however, that supposed knowledge, lacking in a pure love of God, is a sure route to spiritual arrogance (1 Corinthians 8:1-3). There is something about being cocksure of possessing the truth that breeds spiritual cockiness. Sometimes good theology subtly breeds conceit, the greatest cancer of spiritual health. "
Seeing Ourselves In The Pharisees Extreme Righteousness - page 71 - Tom Hovestol
This is such a good point. You could never get JW's to admit that their self-righteousness and cocksuredness resembles the Pharisees!!
This spiritual conceit is indoctrinated into every adherent in the JW organization, man, woman and child, from top to bottom. Everyone is well-trained to block out any consideration of alternate thoughts, or if not block it out to at least play it down so that it's no longer significant.
Does this lack of humility help JW's in their ministry to the outside world? Ha!
GopherEven if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there. Will Rogers (1879-1935)
How right you are. And I'm sure many of us have seen it.
I have read in several books dealing with the mystical path that the final test and the biggest danger in exponentiating spiritual growth was to - in the end - deify the transcended self. I have a friend who has done that. When I met him in 1983 he was well on the path; humble, loving, giving, insightful and compassionate. Today he is quick to take offense at the slightest disagreement with his deified opinions, vain, egotistical. It's hard to bear.
And then there's the WTBTS. When you have donned the mantle that claims you speak for God, well, that's hard to top.
Good point, your post.
Francois
Where it is a duty to worship the Sun you can be sure that a study of the laws of heat is a crime.
For the GB, their humility is their conceit and their conceit is their humilty. Rutherford is the model for this: such a conceited asshole(*), but because he once admitted the obvious, that he cocked-up big time about 1925, he is credited with HUMILTY. It was only his status in the corporation that allowed this, had he been from the rank and file he would have been just 'conceited'.
Did you get my mail?
philo
* Asshole: My thanks to Farkel this apt description
Good post. I have to agree that it is those that think they have the truth and only those who beleive like them are going to be saved that have really fooled themselves.
I beleive in Jesus Christ and feel that's very important.
But there are so many thing in the Bible that can be understood in a variety of ways. It's these persons that insist on their own interpretation of things, if a person is just a little bit reasonable they would not be so opinionated. What is really necessary for a Good relationship with God, it's not having all the Bible answers but how we treat others and not so much what we do, but more importantly why we do what we do.
