Anybody who studies the Christian religion and in particular the fundamentalist part, will soon discover how important the Devil is. He comes in handy in all kinds of situations. When a fundamentalist is cornered and unable to answer questions he can always accuse his opponent of being an agent of the Devil. When someone questions the authority of the Watchtower Society, naturally it must be the Devil at work, etc.
*** w86 7/1 26 Lining Up With Jehovah's Integrity Keepers ***The course of Christian integrity involves tests and sacrifices and for the same reason that it did for Christ-we have a common enemy, Satan.
It has always amused me to see how Watchtower literature completely contradicts itself over and over again. One wonders in vain about what kind of control they have in the writing department in Brooklyn. My guess is that they have so many people involved in the writing, and that these people have very little contact with each other. It also seems to me that these people are very lazy when it comes to check up on what they have said about the same subject earlier. Anyway, let us amuse ourselves with some more of the Watchtower contradictions. In 1995 the Watchtower printed an interesting article about placing blame:
*** w95 2/1 26 Whose Fault Is It? ***Thus the stage was set in the garden of Eden for humans’ refusing to accept responsibility for their own actions. Have you ever been guilty of this? When problems come up, do you quickly blame others? Or do you analyze the situation to see whose fault it really is? In daily life, it is so easy to fall into the trap of blaming others for our mistakes and to say, “It is not my fault!” Let us look at common situations and see what some people tend to do. More important, reflect on what you would do under the same circumstances.
Very well put, don’t you think? It is difficult to disagree with what the Watchtower says here. One can’t help but think about how Brooklyn always blame the rank and file Witnesses for their own prophetic blunders. The next statement is also very interesting:
*** w95 2/1 28-9 Whose Fault Is It? ***Such ones often live their lives recklessly, making financial and other decisions on the assumption that God will save them. If their imprudent actions result in some disaster, economic or otherwise, they blame the Devil. To do something rash without first ‘counting the cost’ and then to blame Satan for the failure, or worse yet, to expect Jehovah to intervene, would be not only presumptuous but also contrary to Scripture.—Luke 14:28, 29.
Look at the two last lines here, which I have outlined in bold. What is the standard policy line of the Watchtower representatives when confronted with evidence of the Watchtower Society very rash and utterly failed predictions? What is the standard line when confronted with evidence of serious abuse of power by their elders? Well, we all know, don’t we? “Jehovah will keep his organization clean”. “We just have to wait on Jehovah!” But here they tell us that to expect “Jehovah to intervene” to correct their failures, would be “presumptuous” and “contrary to Scripture.”
Let us take a look at the next statement from the Watchtower and then compare it to statements from other Watchtowers:
*** w95 2/1 29 Whose Fault Is It? ***Those with the propensity for blaming the Devil or God for their own questionable actions have much in common with followers of astrology, who merely substitute the stars for God or the Devil. Thoroughly convinced that almost everything that happens is beyond their control, they overlook the simple principle stated at Galatians 6:7: “Whatever a man is sowing, this he will also reap.”
Now look at what the Watchtower wants the faithful Jehovah's Witnesses to believe:
*** w95 1/1 9 Triumphing Over Satan and His Works ***18 Satan’s crafty “machinations” have recently appeared in yet another form. In some lands many adults have experienced invasive thoughts conveying the overwhelming impression that as children they were sadistically abused by satanic cults.
*** w95 1/1 9 Triumphing Over Satan and His Works ***20 At present a Christian can be certain that, in one way or another, Satan is behind these horrible thoughts. If some in the congregation suffer in this way, they are wise to see such frightening mental impressions as a direct attempt by Satan to upset their spiritual equilibrium.
Seems like the Watchtower has the same “propensity for blaming the Devil or God” for just about anything too.
9 comments:
Again, I ask, why the constant quotes from the Watchtower?
What about those of us who do not read it?
interesting.
Hey man, you did better already. This article really is a lame accusation. Wrong conclusions achieved through shallow analysis! Wow, you can give yourself a cookie now.
@ronde:
Well I can understand why he is quoting the Watchtower magazine. Just because it is one of the main vehicles to publish what could be called the official teachings of JWs. In some of your other postings you were right. Obviously JWs are not obliged to believe everything that is said in the Watchtower mag. Why? Well it is said in the magazine, that it is NOT inspired by God, but written by men. So per definition, there won’t be everything 100 percent correct all the time. Also the writers and the GB confess that they make errors and that they do not know everything. That’s pretty clear if the authors of the Watchtower are imperfect humans.
The crucial point is that normally JWs do not publicly speak about certain points which they themselves understand in a different way. Why? Well because they could be wrong as well. And they do not want to make others stumble, over their thoughts. In my opinion there is nothing wrong with this kind of approach.
To sum it up, if one wants to challenge what JWs teach, one will definitely look in the Watchtower to find something wrong. (But please if one of the readers or the blog author wish to do so, try to put your challenge in a logical way with valid arguments and do not use child reasoning). On the other hand if one really finds something, so what? As I explained, that is not really a tragedy.
@all those who write phrases like (I just sum up a kind of best of here):
“...not a very loyal JW. You continue to separate yourself from your groups food source...the Watchtower.”
“if in fact you are in the org I'm sure your body of elders would find it interesting, too.”
“if you really are a JWs you should not be here.”
“do your elders know that you are visiting such websites?”
etc. etc., well you know who you are.
May I ask those of you some questions? Have you really been so afraid of the elders of your congregation or circuit overseers or even the GB, when you were JWs yourselves? Where is the problem to let an elder know that you do not believe every tiny detail that is written in the Watchtower? Where is the problem with talking to confused JWs and as much confused ex JWs or people who never were JWs? It is just the same as knocking on doors in the field service. You’ll never know who will open the door. And it doesn’t matter! So why should one be afraid to tell an elder that one is writing to some people on the internet?
Maybe you would have a different view if you stop being afraid!
@all those who write phrases like:
“you are so emotional, sarcastic, defensive,… blah blah blah”
“your post is pointless, dumb,… blah blah blah” (of course without ever stating why this would be the case)
“Whenever something negative is said of the Watchtower you people get into attack mode like dogs.”
These statements don’t make any sense! Yes it is true some of the writers here who are defending JWs get sometimes carried away by emotions etc. and might end up offending others. But if you are honest you will admit, that also some of those (if not most) who are attacking JWs do the same. They are not very polite most of the time. So if you are not satisfied with the wording here, address your complain to both groups, not just to one!
If there are “pointless” posts, or “dumb” arguments, be accurate and quote them and tell everyone why a particular argument or post is wrong. Otherwise, a mere assertion is not much more than “pointless” or “dumb”. And if you are not able to challenge a certain argument, admit it or remain silent.
What is wrong with defending what you believe is true? I don’t get the point here. Look the word up in a dictionary! Defending something does only make sense if somebody is attacking it. Now guess who starts the whole thing. The aggressor, the one attacking. So the same reasoning, just the other way around, would be: “Whenever you meet a JW you start to cobemplain about the Watchtower, the GB, and the people who are JWs”. No intelligent person, who does not feel some kind of anger would do so. Why? He would just not feel the need for a sermon every time he gets in contact with a JW. So if no one would attack JWs, no one would defend them. But if you attack or try to challenge JWs, which is fine if you have valid arguments, be a man and let a JW answer, without complaining that he does so!
@enigmatic
Hey man, thanks for your answer one and a half week ago. Sorry I’ve been on a busy trip, so I could not answer. I appreciate your thoughts. If you are interested in further discussion let me know. I think some different conversation mode would be appropriate (maybe email?).
The quotes from the Watchtower are to show the hypocrisy and how much they contradict themselves.
If you actualy would read the entire post you would see why and possibly understand the point they are trying to make.
They do a good job here, pointing out how misleading and confusing the Watchtower is. Although, this does keep the people in control, with fear.
Well where is the problem with these quotes? If one considers the context, there is nothing wrong with them.
man i really enjoyes your blog (its in my blogroll!) and these T-shirts!!! !!!
m-t-i.blogspot (m.t.i stands for witnesses of jehovah in Greek)
cu!
Oh he finally speaks!!!
Blog owner said and then deleted:
"Jehovah's Witnesses get their teachings from the Watchtower. If you listen to Jehovah's Witnesses they are telling you information that they learned from the Watchtower magazine."
That is just one magazine.
There is the books that are released at the conventions. They are published by the WTBTS also.
Then there are the Kingdom Ministries. They are not the Watchtower. They are published by the Christian congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses.
There are the public talks that are prepared from the Bible.
There are the circuit assemblies that are not the Watchtower but are from the Bible teachings, etc etc.
"As a witness you must read the Watchtower."
Oh really? Must?
Not that I have anything against the Watchtower magazine, it is a good magazine. I just protest your constant worshipping of it. Circuit and district overseer talks and assembly talks are just as good and even better than the Watchtower. So one does not need to read the Watchtower. The truth is the truth. It is from the Bible.
ronde,
you just do not get it, do you?
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