this is the title of my latest article, which is available on the link below.... http://jwsurvey.org/cedars-blog/are-jehovahs-witnesses-a-hierarchical-religion-and-does-it-matter.
inspired by the illustration in the april 15th watchtower (above), i thought it would be worthwhile to further explore this facet of the society for two reasons.... because the society has spent decades criticizing the catholic church for being hierarchical, andbecause the society has recently become more open about its hierarchical nature than ever before.below is a diagram i have prepared which shows the organizational similarities that watch tower society now shares with the catholic church.... .
until recently, the governing body could place the "faithful slave" above it at the top of the pyramid, but as of october 5th this fuzzy doctrine was scrapped - thus removing the final distinguishing factor between the governing body and popedom.. as always, i would be interested in your thoughts.... .
Very interesting! Only the WT can use a chart like they did above and in the same breath deny any sort of clergy/laity distinctions.
I suppose if they wanted to be more sneaky about it, they should not have listed the entities top to bottom. Perhpas if they had publishers at the top, GB in the # 3 position, etc, they could have claimed that they were just listing the types of people and groups that exist in the WT.
Can they still say that they have no clergy class? It sure does look alot like the Catholic structure... At least in the Catholic church structure they put God at the top...
the wts says that people should read the bible daily, but did you really do that as a jw?.
or were you kept so busy reading wt literature, attending meetings, and going door to door, that you basically had little time for the bible itself?.
also, doesn't the wts teach that no one can understand the bible without "the slave" to teach its true meaning?.
I was a regular bible reader. But of course if there was something I didn't understand, I would run to a bound volume and find the "right" answer.
each night i draw closer to completing towers of midnight.
i'm on page 918 or so right now, and somehow it makes me sad.
i started over from the beginning about 8 months ago (this is my third time through the available canon), and i'm nearly through everything published up to now.
I love Sanderson. His new series "way of kings" is wonderful. And like Londo, I loved elantris too. I gave up on WOT at book 8. I'd like to start over again and read the whole series.
i've recently been thinking about our culture and how christianity in our western culture has failed to keep up with advancements in science.
) churches have let reason sink into the intellectual closet of fundamentalism.
"feel good" churches seem to be the norm today.
Are you Jewish, designs? You think the Jews are as wrong in their theology as I do, if I understand you right. You just seem to hate Christianity more than Judaism. Which is fine. You can freely go bash your head against the wall.
i've recently been thinking about our culture and how christianity in our western culture has failed to keep up with advancements in science.
) churches have let reason sink into the intellectual closet of fundamentalism.
"feel good" churches seem to be the norm today.
Read Isaiah 53. There was to be one born to Israel that would be bruised for their iniquity. Or would die for their sins. It matters not that the Jews reject original sin. They are still sinners, as is everyone else. And they are in need for forgiveness of this. MANY Jews have acknowledged this and have come to faith in Christ. The messianic Jewish movement is growing, even among leading Jews.
i've recently been thinking about our culture and how christianity in our western culture has failed to keep up with advancements in science.
) churches have let reason sink into the intellectual closet of fundamentalism.
"feel good" churches seem to be the norm today.
And to be totally honest, EP, when I was looking up definitions of "nothing" I was thinking "What about QM that demonstrates particles jumping from one place to another, going "out of existence", time traveling (in effect), etc. How does this effect "nothing"?
i've recently been thinking about our culture and how christianity in our western culture has failed to keep up with advancements in science.
) churches have let reason sink into the intellectual closet of fundamentalism.
"feel good" churches seem to be the norm today.
See, EP? If you would've said something like that before, I would've loved it! Nicely done!
i've recently been thinking about our culture and how christianity in our western culture has failed to keep up with advancements in science.
) churches have let reason sink into the intellectual closet of fundamentalism.
"feel good" churches seem to be the norm today.
And, BTW, I can't find a better definition of "nothing" than what I gave you. Maybe I left out "qualitative" in my last definition?
Abscent of anything quantative or qualitative.
i've recently been thinking about our culture and how christianity in our western culture has failed to keep up with advancements in science.
) churches have let reason sink into the intellectual closet of fundamentalism.
"feel good" churches seem to be the norm today.
You need to understand the scientific meaning of the word.
Ok, I accept that. Then give me the meaning of the word. Or do you too not know and you're asking? My issue is that you tend to tell people "You're wrong" as if that answers it. I don't care if you think I'm wrong. HOW am I wrong? Show me. I'm not dense. Maybe my reasoning is flawed. At least direct me to the place that has the "right" answer. Because I surely haven't found it, apparently.
