defd, three sincere questions

OldSoul

defd,

On page 146 of What Does the Bible Really Teach?, the opening sentence of paragraph 6 purports to represent one of the six criteria for determining the true religion. It reads: "God's servants base their teachings on the Bible."

Question 1: Do you believe that to be a certain mark of the true religion?

Question 2: Do you believe that absence of Scriptural basis for teachings is a mark of false religion?

Question 3: Do you personally know, or can you find, the Scriptural basis for the teachings of Jehovah's Witnesses? Feel free to view these as rhetorical.

Respectfully,
OldSoul

AK - Jeff

OS - The questions you pose are excellent.

Jeff

ithinkisee

Crickets chirping ....

-ithinkisee

confusedjw

I think question 3 to be over generalized. Wouldn't it be better to ask a very specific question? All of us could answer YES for question 3 since much of what JW's teach is based on the bible.

Perhaps - What biblical basis is there for teaching that the Organization is in fact a mediator been humans and God?

OldSoul

I didn't ask for much of, confusedJW, I asked whether "the teachings" are Scriptural. I had already established the context of the question with question #2.

Any Witness that agrees with the Faithful and Discreet Slave agrees that the presence of teachings that cannot be based on Scripture make a religion false. That is the only basis on which a Witness will label Christendom as "false" religion.

I didn't get specific because there should be no need. If it is all true, it should all be based on Scripture. Getting specific I have done in many other threads.

These three questions put in a nutshell the source of JW cognitive dissonance. If you can answer "yes' to #1, and "yes" to #2, you should be able to honestly answer "yes" to #3. However, as many Witnesses know, there are no Scriptures to support many major doctrines.

There are no Scriptures to support doctrines that are so adamantly believed that you risk expulsion for speaking a word against it or even for insisting on Scriptural proof. This is a source of cognitive dissonance for Witnesses, because they want so badly to have THE TRUTH™ that they rationalize the false away.

Respectfully,
OldSoul

AK - Jeff

This is a source of cognitive dissonance for Witnesses, because they want so badly to have THE TRUTH™ that they rationalize the false away.

So true. Take the change in understanding of the 'Superior authorities' in the early 60's.

For Thirty years or thereabouts, the witnesses had accepted the Jesus and Jehovah were the SA's. So they had the 'truth', even though it was obviously not 'true'.

On the other side was evil Christendom - the perveyor of 'false religious beliefs' - who all along accepted that the SA's were the governments in charge of the earth. During the same 30 years Christendom's teaching that was a 'falsehood', not due to whether or not it was true or false, but who was saying it at the time. Cognitive Dissonance of the highest order I would say.

Woe to those who are saying that good is bad and bad is good, those who are putting darkness for light and light for darkness, those who are putting bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter! Woe to those wise in their own eyes and discreet even in front of their own faces! Isaiah 5:20,21

I dare say that should they flip-flop on this again - the determination of truth would be due to who was saying what - not what was actually 'truth'

Jeff

Finally-Free

Can I add a question?

Have Jehovah's Witnesses ever taught anything that is not explicitly supported by the bible? If so, how can one still call them the "truth" in light of the following scriptures?

Gal. 1: 8
However, even if we or an angel out of heaven were to declare to YOU as good news something beyond what we declared to YOU as good news, let him be accursed.

Rev. 22: 18, 19
“I am bearing witness to everyone that hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone makes an addition to these things, God will add to him the plagues that are written in this scroll; 19 and if anyone takes anything away from the words of the scroll of this prophecy, God will take his portion away from the trees of life and out of the holy city, things which are written about in this scroll.

W

AK - Jeff

Good point, FF.

I remember thinking, even while in the org, how odd that the common expressions took away from the Bible. "The Watchtower stated.....", "A member of the GB said.....", "A prominent elder or CO told me.....".

I rarely ever heard anyone say with conviction that the 'Bible says this or that" without backing it up with a Watchtower article.

When I attended Pioneer School one of the CO instuctors stated that Paul was not part of the 1st Century GB. The other conductor [also a CO] raised his hand and stated that he was mistaken and quoted the Watchtower article, year and page, where the answer could be found. Later the CO apologized to the group stating that he had looked up the article in the Watchtower and that Paul was a GB member.

The source mentioned and quoted was an old WT, not the Bible.

Jeff

jgnat

Boy, if I were defd, I'd have a lot of trouble showing up on this thread. As sincere as your questions are, the imagery that comes to mind is:

OldSoul

jgnat,

Honestly, if defd doesn't post I will be pleased as punch. I hope he has read and considered them carefully, at least. I am not in any way put off if he doesn't respond. I would be surprised if he does. He still wants them to be right so very badly. I highly value loyalty and I think he is very loyal. But, I also value honesty and integrity very highly. I believe defd does, too. I think right now, his sense of loyalty is battling his honesty and integrity. I am not sure which will win out, but I know which I'm rooting for.

It is my hope that my sincere questions will eventually become his sincere questions. He is not stupid and he is honorable. My intention is to put these sincere questions before him. I believe I have done that.

Whatever other fun people want to have with this thread is up to them.

Respectfully,
OldSoul

defd, three sincere questions

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