Posts by TerryWalstrom

26

QUESTIONING THE OBVIOUS or deconstructing Jehovah's Witnesses

by TerryWalstrom in

what is the most obvious thing you can think of about jehovah's witnesses from the standpoint of worldwide recognition?.

wouldn't it be 2 primary things: the name jehovah and secondly, the public testimony or witnessing?.

let's begin deconstructing those two things.. first, why would christians refer to themselves by any other name than christian?.

Some Scholars "feel" that...

by enigma1863 in

i am tired of jws using spin words to make it sound like scientist and scholars are not sure about what they are talking about whenever the wtbs doesn't agree with what they are saying.

they'll say stuff like the bible is true but some scientists feel evolution is.... do you know any good examples of these twisting of words?.

TerryWalstrom

Their tactics only work on people who have never gone to college.

Having citations in support of your facts is the first lesson learned in "higher education."

No wonder they discourage it so!

26

QUESTIONING THE OBVIOUS or deconstructing Jehovah's Witnesses

by TerryWalstrom in

what is the most obvious thing you can think of about jehovah's witnesses from the standpoint of worldwide recognition?.

wouldn't it be 2 primary things: the name jehovah and secondly, the public testimony or witnessing?.

let's begin deconstructing those two things.. first, why would christians refer to themselves by any other name than christian?.

TerryWalstrom

What is the most obvious thing you can think of about Jehovah's Witnesses from the standpoint of worldwide recognition?

Wouldn't it be 2 primary things: the name Jehovah and secondly, the public testimony or witnessing?

Let's begin deconstructing those two things.

First, why would Christians refer to themselves by any other name than Christian?

It was first in Antioch (in the 1st century) they began calling themselves Christian, according to scripture.

Did early Christians ever call themselves Jehovah's Witnesses? No.

The Old Testament Jews did not call themselves Jehovah's Witnesses either.

In fact, the religion of Judaism identifies itself in terms of its own ethnic origins rather than any evangelical testimony about Jehovah. The word "Jew" (in Hebrew, "Yehudi") is derived from the name Judah, which was the name of one of Jacob's twelve sons.

Secondly, did the Jews go from city to city, tribe to tribe, nation to nation witnessing about Jehovah? No. They avoided contact with outside people. Judaism was not Jehovahism. Judaism was concerned with rituals and ceremony (sacrifices and law keeping) in order to receive protection from God.

Jews moved about and did what they did under the auspices of divine approval, specifically protected and approved by the deity Jehovah. Noteworthy is the fact Jews were not evangelizing or aiming to acquire members from the outside. They were chiefly concerned with internal affairs. The world at large meant nothing but trouble.

Christianity, on the other hand, after the destruction of ritual worship in Jerusalem, became more and more about safety in numbers since the Jews were scattered (Diaspora). For Christians to survive they had to gain members. This was done by word-of-mouth (witnessing).

QUESTIONING THE OBVIOUS

Early Christianity believed one fundamental hardcore teaching which it trusted no matter what: Jesus would return shortly and take them to His heavenly kingdom.

The facts of history demonstrate this 'return shortly' evaporated into a broken promise.

HOW DID CHRISTIANITY CONTINUE if the most basic promise of Jesus returning shortly failed?

____________________

Christianity changed to a new fundamental and spiritualized the old fundamental; EXACTLY the way Judaism had done. In other words, Christianity continued by inventing a new foundation each time the old foundation failed. Christianity became an organized central government.

Jews expected an earthly Messiah who would be like David and become king. Instead, some Jews embraced Jesus while others began a revolutionary insurrection against Rome. Jesus was executed and the temple destroyed.

REBOOT!

___________________

Where does this leave us in our deconstruction project?

We find that it is the nature of superstitious belief that, because it is wishful thinking, it can be modified and adapted to fit new circumstances. It can MOVE THE GOALPOSTS. This isn't seen as 'cheating' but it is psychologically necessary.

Unless religious faith is adaptable, malleable and changeable it dies.

______________________

Charles Taze Russell's core group of early followers rallied around what?

A NEW BIBLE STUDY METHOD which was detailed Subject by Subject.

The Bible was the center of attention.

What changed?

Russell began shifting appreciation for BIBLE to his OWN writings as superior!

He bragged that a person who used only his Studies in the Scriptures would be far better off than a person who used only the Bible.

This was ADAPTATION and a SHIFT from basic Protestant sola scriptura to CULT control.

___________________-

After Russell's death, Judge J.F.Rutherford's biggest problem was finding a way to peel off the cult of personality from Pastor Russell and, somehow, apply it to himself. The meaning of the identity: Christian WAS TOO AMBIGUOUS. The meaning of the identity: Bible Student WAS TOO AMBIGUOUS.

By inventing a new identity JEHOVAH'S WITNESS, Judge Rutherford did what Jews did when being a Jew became a liability (Romans saw them as insurrectionist enemies).

This was CHANGE, adaptation, malleability, and survival.

______________________________________

Every time a religious foundation is upended it must be morphed, shifted, redefined in order to remain useful.

JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES were CHRISTIAN, but being 'Christian' was associated with Bible Students and Russell.

Rutheford tore off that 'Christian' label and REBRANDED by changing it to JEHOVAH.

When Rutherford died, Nathan Homer Knorr rebranded JW's as Missionaries and Ministers rather than street peddlers denouncing Government, Big Business, etc.

NEW LIGHT is merely the process of retiring unworkable foundational beliefs. It requires subtle transition and nothing more.

THE CORE IDENTITY of JW's shifted completely in 1972/73 to an ORGANIZATION LOYALTY cult.

It is no longer chiefly about Bible, magazine sales, or missionary work. It is about a bloodless coup of REFORMATION occurring recently in which all the annoying and troublesome identifying doctrines are scrapped.

This new Jehovah's Witnesses is now ABOUT ITSELF.

It has become a Narcissistic SELF-WORSHIPPPING cult. The image of this beast is JW.ORG

2

WEB PAGES OF INTEREST to researchers into the nefarious machinations of all things Jehovah's Witness

by TerryWalstrom in

i'm always looking for interesting pages that have fresh, bold, and evidentiary facts on the dishonesty of watchtower minions.. why don't we use this topic to post any interesting pages you have found.. this one i now offer:.

financial honesty & integrity of jehovah's witnesses.

http://jwemployees.bravehost.com/newsreports/2016.html.

TerryWalstrom

Thanks!

Anybody else find interesting sites for the rest of us to explore?

2

WEB PAGES OF INTEREST to researchers into the nefarious machinations of all things Jehovah's Witness

by TerryWalstrom in

i'm always looking for interesting pages that have fresh, bold, and evidentiary facts on the dishonesty of watchtower minions.. why don't we use this topic to post any interesting pages you have found.. this one i now offer:.

financial honesty & integrity of jehovah's witnesses.

http://jwemployees.bravehost.com/newsreports/2016.html.

TerryWalstrom

I'm always looking for interesting pages that have fresh, bold, and evidentiary facts on the dishonesty of Watchtower minions.

Why don't we use this Topic to post any interesting pages you have found.

This one I now offer:

FINANCIAL HONESTY & INTEGRITY OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

http://jwemployees.bravehost.com/NewsReports/2016.html

_______________

http://krqe.com/2014/05/08/family-of-man-with-brain-injury-fights-building-plan/

12

Your Expert Research is needed!

by Atlantis in

friends:.

doug mason needs no introductions here.

we all know him to be an excellent writer, such as: blondie, terry, jwfacts, barbara anderson and countless others on this board.. doug is asking for assistance on a new project he is working on to explain in terms easy to understand, the changes the watchtower now expects jehovah's witnesses and others to believe.. your expert knowledge on these subjects such as: 144,000, great crowd, order of special full time servants, and governing body would be greatly appreciated.

TerryWalstrom

Knowing Doug, I'll bet he went off and found his answers already!

I don't (and haven't) read any of the magazines or books in decades. I mostly get my 'new' light from videos on YouTube.

7

Please update me on these subjects

by NoGoodDeed in

i'm sorry that i do not get the time to visit this site very often, but when i do i find it a bit exciting to see what has happened since my last visit.

this post is really about two subjects, but i think that they connect so i will only do one introduction.. child abuse:.

it's almost march and i have not heard whether candace conti or the watchtower won her case before the california state appeal supreme court.

TerryWalstrom

Well, Terry is now registered as TerryWalstrom.

So, I'm schizo!

15

Sketches of Revelation, this and that

by TerryWalstrom in

i've been rummaging around on bart ehrman's blog and such and managed to distill six cogent views about.

the book of revelation, i thought i share for whatever it is worth.

1. parts of the book of revelation could scarcely be explained if it were written by jesus own disciple, john.

TerryWalstrom

I view Ehrman as a breath of fresh air. He's sort of like Jimmy Stewart in Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. An honest man totally-out-of-place among cronies.

Arguably, until Ehrman, few Bible scholars or New Testament experts wrote best-selling books about the Bible.

I subscribe to his blog and I wish there had been something like this decades ago. But of course, it took Al Gore's invention of the Internet to make debunking possible in an international, highly visible way :)

15

Sketches of Revelation, this and that

by TerryWalstrom in

i've been rummaging around on bart ehrman's blog and such and managed to distill six cogent views about.

the book of revelation, i thought i share for whatever it is worth.

1. parts of the book of revelation could scarcely be explained if it were written by jesus own disciple, john.

TerryWalstrom

I've been rummaging around on Bart Ehrman's blog and such and managed to distill six cogent views about

the Book of Revelation, I thought I share for whatever it is worth. (ehrmanblog.org/)

1. Parts of the book of Revelation could scarcely be explained if it were written by Jesus’ own disciple, John.

The author, for example, occasionally mentions “the apostles,” but he never indicates that he is one of them (e.g., 21:14). Even more intriguingly, at one point of the narrative the prophet sees twenty-four elders around the throne of God (chap. 4). Most interpreters understand these figures to represent the twelve Jewish Patriarchs and the twelve apostles of Jesus (cf. 21:12, 14); among them, of course, would be the two sons of Zebedee. But the author gives no indication that he is seeing himself! It appears then that the book was written by some other Christian named John, a prophet who was known to several of the churches of Asia Minor.

2, On the basis of a detailed study of all such clues in the text, most investigators think that parts of the book were written during the sixties of the Common Era, soon after the persecution of the Christians under Nero. If one begins counting with Julius Caesar, Nero happens to have been the sixth ruler of Rome. He was also one of the author’s chief enemies. The book was evidently not completed, however, until some thirty years or so later, probably around 95 CE during the reign of Domitian.

3. The use of a pseudonym made particularly good sense for apocalypses of the “historical sketch” type. For by pretending to be someone living in the distant past, an author could “predict” the future with remarkable accuracy: he was, after all, living after the events that he “predicted”! A typical ploy, then, was to write in the name of a prophet from ancient times who revealed a number of events that were to take place. When the author then continued to predict what was soon to happen in his own day — the reader didn’t know when this was, of course, since the author claimed to be writing from the distant past — he was naturally granted the benefit of the doubt. That is to say, these “future” events (from the time of the reader) were just as certain to occur as those that had already happened. The prophet had been right about everything else; surely he was also right about what would come next!

Note: The first apocalypse known to use this ploy came to be included in the Hebrew Bible. It is the book of Daniel, allegedly written by the great wise man of the sixth century BCE during the days of the Babylonian captivity, but actually written, in the judgment of almost all critical scholars, sometime during the period of suffering associated with the Maccabean revolt, some 400 years later. No wonder “Daniel” could predict the rise of the Persians and the Greeks, and even more accurately detail events that were to transpire near the time of the Jewish uprising. The author of these “prophecies” lived after they had taken place.

4. The “great city” that ruled the world in John’s day was obviously Rome, commonly called the city “built on seven hills” (hence the beast’s seven heads). Thus this vision is about the city of Rome, which was supported by the Devil himself, a city that had corrupted the nations (the whore who fornicates with the kings of earth), that exploited the peoples of earth (she is bedecked in fine clothing and jewelry), and that persecuted the Christians (she is drunk with the blood of the martyrs). Why is she called Babylon? This symbol too is clear for those who know the Old Testament, where Babylon is portrayed as the archenemy of God, the city whose armies devastated Judah, leveled Jerusalem, and destroyed the Temple in 587 BCE. In Revelation, then, “Babylon” is a code name for the city opposed to God — Rome, God’s principal enemy. Like Babylon of old, Rome too will be destroyed (v. 16). Indeed, this is the point of much of the entire book. The enemy of the Christians, Rome of the first century, would soon be destroyed in a cataclysmic display of divine power.

5. My sense is that once the book was being read outside of the community in which it was written, the original interpretation of it came to be lost. (But I should also say that lots of early church fathers were not in favor of including it in the canon.)

6. Does anyone think the early Christians living in 95-105 AD could understand more than the general message? Less than 5% of the population in the first century was able to read and write. Nobody can remember half the imagery, time spans, vials/wrath and chronology after someone has read Revelation to them one time - Impossible. The illiterate Christian living in the first/second centuries could not have grasped and understood the chart data. This leads me to an important rule in biblical exegesis: The text cannot mean to us what it could NOT have meant to the original audience.

This is not a very popular rule. Eusebius (who was far more skeptical) cites Dionysius of Alexandria, from his work "On the Promises," as saying about the Revelation:

"Yet, having formed an idea of it as a composition exceeding my capacity of understanding, I regard it as containing a kind of hidden and wonderful intelligence on the several subjects which come under it. For though I cannot comprehend it, I still suspect that there is some deeper sense underlying the words." Ecc. Hist. VII.25

22

The Watchtower organization's crime against humanity

by TerryWalstrom in

who are the real heroes of society?.

are they not the people who are doctors and nurses and teachers and firemen and policemen and counselors and humanitarians?.

because of the watchtower organization, we are missing generations of those kinds of heroes who will not exist (but could have) because jehovah's witnesses destroyed them by convincing millions of it's members those professions are meaningless and unimportant for them to pursue.

TerryWalstrom

What does it say about confidence in "Truth" that it is seemingly indefensible against an education?

What debate did Jesus ever shrink from? Did he not confound his highly educated elders in the Temple with his insight and wisdom?

The young JW I've been counseling for the last five months astonished me in saying, "I hate Science."

I was dumb-founded. I gently probed his reasoning on that, and it came down to something rather unexpected.

Science can't be out-argued so it must be hated instead.

I extrapolate that to higher education as well.