Posts by Aaron Eldridge

30

Cults - Steven Hassan's BITE model.

by ithinkisee in

combatting cult mind control : the #1 best-selling guide to protection, rescue, and recovery from destructive cults.

by steven hassan.

isbn: 0892813113

How do the Jehovah's Witnesses understand the narrative of the Bible/themselves?

by Aaron Eldridge in

i'm trying to get my head around a basic overview of how the jehovah's witnesses understand the narrative flow of scripture and their own history within that.

to me this provides a good general framework from which most of their theology flows.

this is a brief sketch that i have done off the top of my head.

Aaron Eldridge

Here is my updated outline. Thank you everyone for the feedback.

Story of the Bible for Jehovah's Witnesses
Hebrew Scriptures
Earth created as Paradise; man is intended to live forever, care for the Garden of Eden eventually transforming the Earth into a paradise through procreation.
Man sins. God punishes man by death and death becomes inherited.
God puts in place a temporary sacrificial system to atone for sins.
God chooses a people, the nation of Israel.
Christian Greek Scriptures
Christ came as another perfect man/'Second Adam' to atone for the original sin of man.
As God's son, though inferior, Jesus is able to reveal/reflect the character of God.
Israel rejects God by killing his son, thus God has to choose a new people.
God welcomed in 144,000 people to be his new chosen ones, a.k.a. Spiritual Israel.
When that number is filled there will be others that come alongside that are not in the new covenant but are allowed to be God's friends through association with the 144,000.
Post - Biblical History
The early church fell into apostasy after the death of apostles.
The majority of the church adopts pagan teachings, such as the Trinity/eternal soul/existence of hell, and further distance is put between God and the church.
God sets a time when he will once again have a clear organization on earth. This will coincide with the return of Christ which will mark the 'beginning of the end'.
1914 Christ rule in heaven began, the Kingdom is established. The beginning of the end started.
1918 God chooses a people, the Intl. Assoc. of Bible Students/ aka Jehovah's Witnesses.

Near Future
Armageddon/ Great Tribulation/ Judgment of Mankind.
1000 year rule of Christ begins, Satan is bound.
Resurrection for the Jehovah's Witnesses first and then others that have died throughout history.
Earth reworked into Paradise. A preaching work continues to those that are resurrected whom have never heard the Jehovah's Witness message.
1000 years ends with Satan being released.
Jesus gives up his spot on the throne and Jehovah takes over ruling.
Final tempting of mankind by Satan, majority of man apostatizes.
Final judgment of mankind; Satan is destroyed and apostates are annihilated.
Survivors live forever on Paradise Earth.

14

How do the Jehovah's Witnesses understand the narrative of the Bible/themselves?

by Aaron Eldridge in

i'm trying to get my head around a basic overview of how the jehovah's witnesses understand the narrative flow of scripture and their own history within that.

to me this provides a good general framework from which most of their theology flows.

this is a brief sketch that i have done off the top of my head.

I wouldn't give you as clear as an answer or some other people on this form could. You probably would do better starting your own topic, that way it would be more visible and you would get some responses. Also, there have been plenty of topics about Michael/Jesus in the past, so you may want to use this sites search function to look at past post

14

How do the Jehovah's Witnesses understand the narrative of the Bible/themselves?

by Aaron Eldridge in

i'm trying to get my head around a basic overview of how the jehovah's witnesses understand the narrative flow of scripture and their own history within that.

to me this provides a good general framework from which most of their theology flows.

this is a brief sketch that i have done off the top of my head.

Aaron Eldridge

@ N.Drew

Thanks for your comments, the clarification helped. I went and looked up a recent watchtower article which I believe it marries the two ideas together, granted there is more emphasis placed on what you said. Definitely an error on my part and I sincerely appreciate your help! Here is the article below:

*** w08 4/1 pp. 10-11 Will Our Earth Ever Be Destroyed? ***

God's Purpose for the EarthIt was never God's purpose that the earth be abused and polluted as it is today. Instead, God created the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, and placed them in a beautiful garden. Of course, their Paradise home would not have remained beautiful on its own. God assigned them "to cultivate it and to take care of it." (Genesis 2:8, 9, 15) What delightful and satisfying work God gave to our once perfect parents!

But God's purpose for the earth involved much more than caring for that original garden. He wanted the whole earth to be transformed into a paradise. That is why God gave this command to Adam and Eve: "Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth and subdue it, and have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and every living creature that is moving upon the earth."-Genesis 1:28.

14

How do the Jehovah's Witnesses understand the narrative of the Bible/themselves?

by Aaron Eldridge in

i'm trying to get my head around a basic overview of how the jehovah's witnesses understand the narrative flow of scripture and their own history within that.

to me this provides a good general framework from which most of their theology flows.

this is a brief sketch that i have done off the top of my head.

Aaron Eldridge

@ band on the run

Yeah, that was a pretty big oversight on my part. Thanks for the suggestion.

9

WTBTS Doctrinal Help

by Merkaba in

i'm trying to compile a list of j-dub beliefs that are not solidlysupported by scripture - examples: abstaining from wearing beards, "door-to-door" witnessing, hierarchical authority structure.... can you guys help me out with some that stand out to you?.

thanks in advance!.

Aaron Eldridge

My favorite is the two class doctrine, the 144,000 versus the great crowd.

14

How do the Jehovah's Witnesses understand the narrative of the Bible/themselves?

by Aaron Eldridge in

i'm trying to get my head around a basic overview of how the jehovah's witnesses understand the narrative flow of scripture and their own history within that.

to me this provides a good general framework from which most of their theology flows.

this is a brief sketch that i have done off the top of my head.

Aaron Eldridge

I'm trying to get my head around a basic overview of how the Jehovah's Witnesses understand the narrative flow of Scripture and their own history within that. To me this provides a good general framework from which most of their theology flows. This is a brief sketch that I have done off the top of my head. I'm sure there are plenty things that I'm missing, perhaps even major oversights. What thing should be added?

Story of the Bible for JW's
Hebrew Scriptures
Earth created as Paradise, man is created to care for it. Man is intended to live forever.
Man sins. God punishes man by death and death becomes inherited.
God puts in place a temporary sacrificial system of sacrifice to atone for sins.
God chooses a people, the nation of Israel.
Christian Greek Scriptures
Christ came as 'Second Adam'/ another perfect man to atone for the sins of Adam.
God welcomed in 144,000 to be his new chosen people, a.k.a. Spiritual Israel.
The early church fell into apostasy after the death of apostles.
1914 Christ rule in heaven began, the Kingdom is established.
1918 God chose a people, the Intl. Assoc. of Bible Students/ aka Jehovah's Witnesses.
Near Future
Armageddon/ Great Tribulation/ Judgment of Mankind.
1000 year rule of Christ begins, Satan is bound.
Resurrection
Earth reworked into Paradise.
1000 years ends, Satan is released, Jehovah takes over ruling.
Final tempting by Satan, majority of man apostatizes.
Final judgment, Satan is destroyed, apostates annihilated..
Survivors live forever on Paradise Earth.

3

N.T. Wright, Michael F. Byrd, Scott McKnight, E.P. Saunders, Etc.

by Aaron Eldridge in

jw
friends

these are some of my favorite new testament scholars.

all of these guys and many others fall within the "jesus is the restoration of israel" court of new testament studies.

obviously these are not the only ones, there are many others but these are my favorite thus far.

Aaron Eldridge

I do like reading a variety of views. However, at the moment these type scholars that I mentioned above are of the most interest to me.

I've read Elaine Pagels but did not find her to suit my taste. She seems to be highly biased in her view, without realizing that she is highly biased. Someone along the same line of thinking as Pagels that I do like is Robinson. To me he is much more engaging and less inflammatory/biased in his views. I guess in the end I see Pagels as being somewhat disingenuous, in the same sort of category as Bart Ehrman. They seem to say outrageous things in popular level books that would never fly in scholarship, seemingly they do this to sell more books. But that's just my two cents.

Borg and Crossan are both very enjoyable to read. Of all the Jesus seminar scholars these two are definitely my favorite. Meeting Jesus again for the first time was a very good book and a refreshing change of pace for the popular level books.

As far as truth is concerned, I guess I'm somewhat postmodern. I do believe in absolutes, I just question our ability to fully know them.

I'm completely unaware of Thomas Merton. Just look him up on Wikipedia and he does look thoroughly interesting. Many thanks for the suggestion.

3

N.T. Wright, Michael F. Byrd, Scott McKnight, E.P. Saunders, Etc.

by Aaron Eldridge in

jw
friends

these are some of my favorite new testament scholars.

all of these guys and many others fall within the "jesus is the restoration of israel" court of new testament studies.

obviously these are not the only ones, there are many others but these are my favorite thus far.

Aaron Eldridge

These are some of my favorite New Testament scholars. All of these guys and many others fall within the "Jesus is the restoration of Israel" court of New Testament studies. Obviously these are not the only ones, there are many others but these are my favorite thus far. Just wondering if anyone else out there has read their works or have any thoughts about them.

I just finished reading the third bookin the Christian origins and the question of God series of books, by Wright.

Next up is Michael Bird's Jesus and the origins of the Gentile mission. Looks to be quite good and if reading his other books (in particular Crossing over land and sea:Jewish missionary activity in the second Temple Period) are any indication this will be fantastic.

thoughts, comments, suggestions, hate and discontent?…

3

Gentile Times?

by garbonzo in

why do they believe in the gentile times again?

why would god wait so long to have an earthly organization of truth?

is this explained?

Aaron Eldridge

The question of why, would best be answered by explaining why Russell adopted the belief. It was not original to him, rather he borrowed and reshaped it from the Adventist tradition. They developed this as a way of explaining why Christ was returning in the 19th century. So the question of why is more a function of social psychology than theology. An answer of this sort involves more speculation than answering the question of what they believed.

If what you are asking is what they believed, then it is a matter of inert facts in the form of theology. It is much easier to explain than the why.

So before answering, are you asking the why or the what?