JW's have a conflict of being "Followers of Christ" and "Witnesses of Jehovah". Jehovah is Malevolent and Jesus is Benevolent. They are the mordern Albigensians serveing a Good god(Jesus) and a Evil God(Jehovah).
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w95 9/1 pp. 28-30 The Cathari?Were They Christian Martyrs? ***
Who
Were the Cathari?The word "cathar" comes from the Greek word ka·tha·ros´, meaning "pure." From the 11th to the 14th century, Catharism spread particularly in Lombardy, northern Italy, and in Languedoc. Cathar beliefs were a mixture of Eastern dualism and Gnosticism, imported perhaps by foreign traders and missionaries. The Encyclopedia of Religion defines Cathar dualism as belief in "two principles: one good, governing all that was spiritual, the other evil, responsible for the material world, including man?s body." The Cathari believed that Satan created the material world, which was irrevocably condemned to destruction. Their hope was to escape from the evil, material world.
Cathari were divided into two classes, the perfect and the believers. The perfect were initiated by a rite of spiritual baptism, called consolamentum. This was performed by the laying on of hands, after a year?s probation. The rite was thought to release the postulant from Satan?s rule, purify him from all sin, and impart the holy spirit. This gave rise to the designation "perfect," applied to the relatively small elite who acted as ministers toward the believers. The perfect took vows of abstinence, chastity, and poverty. If married, a perfect had to leave his or her partner, since the Cathari believed that sexual intercourse was the original sin.
Believers were individuals who, while not adopting an ascetic life-style, nevertheless accepted Cathar teachings. By kneeling in honor of the perfect in a ritual called melioramentum, the believer requested forgiveness and a blessing. To enable themselves to lead normal lives, believers contracted with the perfect a convenenza, or agreement, providing for death-bed administration of spiritual baptism, or consolamentum.
Attitude
Toward the BibleAlthough the Cathari quoted the Bible extensively, they viewed it primarily as a source of allegories and fables. They considered that the greater part of the Hebrew Scriptures came from the Devil. They used parts of the Greek Scriptures, such as texts contrasting the flesh with the spirit, to buttress their dualistic philosophy. In the Lord?s Prayer, they prayed for "our supersubstantial bread" (meaning "spiritual bread") instead of "our daily bread," material bread being a necessary evil in their eyes.
Many Cathar teachings were in direct contradiction to the Bible. For instance, they believed in the immortality of the soul and in reincarnation. (Compare Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10; Ezekiel 18:4, 20.) They also based their beliefs on apocryphal texts. Nevertheless, insofar as the Cathari translated parts of the Scriptures into the vernacular, to a certain extent, they did make the Bible a better-known book in the Middle Ages.
Not
ChristiansThe perfect considered themselves the rightful successors of the apostles and, consequently, called themselves "Christians," emphasizing this by adding "true" or "good." In point of fact, however, many Cathar beliefs were foreign to Christianity. While the Cathari did recognize Jesus as the Son of God, they rejected his having come in the flesh and his redeeming sacrifice. Misinterpreting the Bible?s condemnation of the flesh and the world, they considered all matter to stem from evil. They therefore maintained that Jesus could only have had a spiritual body and that while on earth he merely appeared to have a fleshly body. Like first-century apostates, the Cathari were "persons not confessing Jesus Christ as coming in the flesh."?2 John 7.
In his book Medieval Heresy, M. D. Lambert writes that Catharism "replaced a Christian morality by a compulsory asceticism, . . . eliminated redemption by refusing to admit the saving power of [Christ?s death]." He considers that "the true affinities of the perfect lay with the ascetic teachers of the East, the bonzes and fakirs of China or India, the adepts of the Orphic mysteries, or the teachers of Gnosticism." In Cathar belief, salvation was dependent, not on the ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ, but rather on the consolamentum, or baptism into the holy spirit. For those thus purified, death would bring about a release from matter.
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w95 9/1 p. 30 The Cathari?Were They Christian Martyrs? ***The Cathari were far from being true Christians. But did their criticism of the Catholic Church justify their cruel extermination by so-called Christians? Their Catholic persecutors and murderers dishonored God and Christ and misrepresented true Christianity as they tortured and slaughtered those tens of thousands of dissenters.
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w81 8/1 pp. 14-15 The Waldenses?Heretics or Truth-Seekers? ***
THE
SEARCH FOR BIBLE TRUTHWhether Waldo was the actual founder of the Waldenses or not, to him must go the credit for taking the initiative of having the Bible translated from Latin into the vernacular languages then spoken by the common people to whom he and his associates preached. And remember, this was some 200 years before Wycliffe translated the Bible for English-speaking dissidents.
The basic position of the early Waldenses was that the Bible is the one source of religious truth. In a world that was just emerging from what has been termed the "Dark Ages," they groped in search of Christian truth. They apparently did the best they could with the few books of the Hebrew and Greek Scriptures they possessed in a language they could read and understand. It would seem, from certain records, that they did not get straightened out on such doctrines as the Trinity, immortality of the soul and hellfire.
Nonetheless, these early Waldenses understood the Bible well enough to reject image worship, transubstantiation, infant baptism, purgatory, the worship of Mary, prayers to saints, veneration of the cross and relics, deathbed repentance, confession to priests, Masses for the dead, papal pardons and indulgences, priestly celibacy and the use of carnal weapons. They also rejected imposing, elaborate church buildings and considered "Babylon the Great, the mother of the harlots" to be the Church of Rome, from which they invited their listeners to flee. (Rev. 17:5; 18:4) All of this in the late 12th and early 13th centuries!
In their preaching work the early Waldenses taught the Bible, laying much emphasis on the Sermon on the Mount and the Model Prayer, both of which set forth God?s kingdom as the thing to pray for and to seek first. (Matt. 6:10, 33) They maintained that any Christian man or woman who possessed a sufficient knowledge of the Bible was authorized to preach the "good news." Additionally, they believed Jesus to be the only intermediary between God and man. Inasmuch as Jesus had died once for all time, they held that his sacrifice could not be renewed by a priest celebrating Mass. The early Waldenses celebrated the Memorial of Christ?s death once a year, using bread and wine as symbols.
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w81 8/1 p. 15 The Waldenses?Heretics or Truth-Seekers? ***
PREACHING
BRINGS PERSECUTIONThe primitive Waldenses contended that it is not necessary to go to a church building to worship God. They held underground meetings in barns, private homes or wherever they could do so. There they studied the Bible and trained new preachers, who were sent out with more experienced ones. They traveled two by two from farm to farm and, in the towns and villages, from house to house. The authoritative
Dictionnaire de Théologie Catholique (Vol. 15, column 2591) states in an article that is otherwise unfavorable to the Waldenses: "From their very earliest years, their children began to learn the Gospels and the Epistles. The preaching of their deacons, priests and bishops consisted mainly of quotations from the Bible."
Other works inform us that the Waldenses had a fine reputation for hard work, high morality and honesty in paying their taxes. They disfellowshiped unrepentant sinners. Moreover, they have been called "the most ancient and the most evangelical of the medieval sects."
Such were these God-fearing people who were hunted down by their religious persecutors, many of them being burned at the stake. A great number of them were victims of the terrible crusade that Pope Innocent III ordered in 1209 against the Cathars and the Albigenses in the south of France. Others were tortured and killed by the dreaded Inquisition that began in southern France in 1229. Some of the Waldenses succeeded in fleeing to other countries, and many more took refuge in the high mountain valleys of the French and Italian Alps, where Waldensian communities survived for centuries.
However, as time passed by, many of the Biblical doctrines that Waldo and others had discovered by reading the Bible were abandoned. In the early 16th century, the Waldenses were absorbed by the Protestant Reformation. Toward the end of the 17th century they even took up arms.
But the early Waldenses, although accused of being "heretics," were in fact sincere truth-seekers and pioneers in Bible translation, Bible teaching and simple Christian living. To be sure, they did not break free from all the false doctrines of Babylonish false religion. But they apparently lived up to the knowledge they had of God?s Word. Many, it would appear, were willing to die rather than renounce their faith. Of course, only "Jehovah knows those who belong to him." We can, therefore, safely leave any reward of future life in his hands.?2 Tim. 2:19.
I think we are forced to claim to be "Christian" to gain membership or tolerance in Christian lands. If Jehovah is malevolent which he is. No amount of lying can disprove the definitions of the words in the dictionary. His followers will try to be like him, and also become malevolent like the Jews the god Jesus came to preach to. I think that Jehovah?s Witnesses only problem is that we lie and misrepresent who we actually model ourselves after, but our name betrays our hand. I feel sorry for the EX- Jehovah?s Witnesses that didn't realize this and assumed that they where following Jesus. I believe the WTS is JEHOVAH'S "spirit directed organization" but like Jehovah himself his spirit is hostile and malicious. I am going to explain the Jehovah?s Witnesses once and for all using the watchtower. You get the real nature of our religion.
Who Were(are) the Cathari (Jehovah?s Witnesses)?
Attitude Toward the Bible Although the Cathari (Jehovah?s Witnesses) quoted the Bible extensively, they viewed it primarily as a source of allegories(parallels) and fables(prophecy). They considered that the greater part of the Hebrew Scriptures came from the Devil(Jehovah). They used parts of the Greek Scriptures, such as texts contrasting the flesh with the spirit, to buttress their dualistic philosophy. In the Lord?s Prayer, they prayed for "our supersubstantial bread" (meaning "spiritual bread") instead of "our daily bread," material bread(cash money baby) being a necessary evil in their eyes.
From the 11th(19th) to the 14th(20th) century, Catharism(Jehovah?s Witnesses) spread particularly in Lombardy, northern Italy, and in Languedoc(America& Europe). Cathar(Jehovah?s Witnesses) beliefs were a mixture of Eastern dualism(Judaism) and Gnosticism, imported perhaps by foreign traders(Russell) and missionaries(Rutherford/Knorr). The Encyclopedia of Religion defines Cathar (Jehovah?s Witnesses) dualism as belief in "two principles: one good, governing all that was spiritual, the other evil, responsible for the material world, including man?s body." The Cathari (Jehovah?s Witnesses) believed that Satan(Jehovah) created the material world, which was irrevocably condemned to destruction. Their hope was to escape from the evil, material world.
Cathari (Jehovah?s Witnesses) were divided into two classes, the perfect(Anointed) and the believers(Great Crowd). The perfect (Anointed) were initiated by a rite of spiritual baptism, called consolamentum (memorial). This was performed by the laying on of hands (partaking emblems), after a year?s probation (study& baptism). The rite was thought to release the postulant from Satan?s rule, purify him from all sin, and impart the holy spirit. This gave rise to the designation "perfect,"(anointed) applied to the relatively small elite who acted as ministers toward the believers?
Believers (great crowd) were individuals who, while not adopting an ascetic life-style, nevertheless accepted Cathar (Jehovah?s Witness) teachings. By kneeling (attending) in honor of the perfect in a ritual called melioramentum (memorial), the believer requested forgiveness and a blessing. To enable themselves to lead normal lives, believers (elders) contracted with the perfect (anointed) a convenenza, or agreement, providing for death-bed administration of spiritual baptism, or consolamentum (memorial).
There is nothing wrong with being a JW as long as you know what it is. I sincerely ask you all in it to listen to the watchtower read what we actually printed instead of hiding your head in the sand then getting baptised. Once you become a ?mature Christian? you?ll know what we are and accept it as what you believe, or you will leave. I think the brothers baptize people too early, which signify the people actually understand the org when they don?t. I did not say Jehovah is Satan BTW. He replaced Satan if that is possible, and Satan became something else.
