Malawi and MCP Cards?

[Srecko Sostar]

WTJWorg teaches believers that "truth" must be based on the Bible. Anything contrary to "Bible truth" is called, by WTJWorg, a "lies" or "false teachings". 

Quote from https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2018603?q=religious+lies&p=par

 

6, 7. (a) Why are religious leaders who lie especially guilty? (b) What lies have you heard religious leaders tell?

⁶ Religious leaders who lie are especially guilty because they endanger the future life prospects of those who believe their lies. If an individual accepts a false teaching and practices something that is actually condemned by God, it can cost that person his eternal life. (Hos. 4:9) Jesus knew that the religious leaders in his day were guilty of such deception. He told them to their face: “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because you travel over sea and dry land to make one convert, and when he becomes one, you make him a subject for Gehenna [everlasting destruction] twice as much so as yourselves.” (Matt. 23:15; ftn.) Jesus condemned those false religious leaders in the strongest terms. They truly were ‘from their father the Devil, a murderer.’—John 8:44.

⁷ Whether called pastors, priests, rabbis, swamis, or by some other title, religious leaders abound in the world today. Like their first-century counterparts, they are “suppressing the truth” from God’s Word and have “exchanged the truth of God for the lie.” (Rom. 1:18, 25) They promote such false teachings as “once saved, always saved,” the immortality of the human soul, reincarnation, and the foolish idea that God would condone homosexual lifestyles and same-sex marriages.

I have not noticed here that WTJWorg is full of understanding towards the religious leaders of other religions. They do not credit them with good intentions and sincerity in their belief in "their own truth". What will we do with it then? I believe that WTJWorg is misleading its believers. That is my "experienced truth". With what arguments can someone turn my "truth" into a lie?

Since I do not claim that my knowledge, experience ("truth") came because I was "guided by HS", nor do I claim that it is the only correct and authoritative one for millions of other people, then that does not make me, it doesn't put me in a category of a "false teacher". The most anyone can do is call me an idiot or delusional.
In contrast, GB claims that they are the only ones appointed by God to spread the "only truth" found only in WTJWorg. Then it completely changes the way this group of religious leaders should be viewed/questioned. As far as I know, they did not say that "they believe" how "the truth" was written in the publications. They say that this is "the truth" and that there are no other truths but theirs.

 

[Pudgy]

That’s what happens when you change the definitions of words…… It comes back to bite your buttocks off, one bite at a time.

[Srecko Sostar]

8 hours ago, Pudgy said:

Do you have a link to those WT pages?

Link to book:

https://www.academia.edu/34138714/Ever_changing_teachings_of_Jehovahs_Witnesses_The_most_important_changes_in_the_doctrine_of_the_Watchtower_Society_in_the_years_1879_2015?email_work_card=title

Link to WT magazine:

https://archive.org/details/WatchTowerAndHeraldOfChristsPresence1910-1919/page/n1545/mode/2up

https://archive.org/details/WatchTowerAndHeraldOfChristsPresence1910-1919/page/n1547/mode/2up

[Srecko Sostar]

1 minute ago, George88 said:

the current viewpoint of Watchtower.

Emphasis is on "current".

lol

[Srecko Sostar]

3 minutes ago, George88 said:

cross

WTJWorg is not honest about this, too. Encyclopedia Britannica is not consistently cited in JW publications.

[Pudgy]

…. neither are Superman comic books, or Popular Mechanics magazine ….

[TrueTomHarley]

6 hours ago, TrueTomHarley said:

It is well not to describe religous interpretations as ‘lies’ when they cannot immediately be identified as such.

2 hours ago, Srecko Sostar said:

WTJWorg teaches believers that "truth" must be based on the Bible. Anything contrary to "Bible truth" is called, by WTJWorg, a "lies" or "false teachings". 

Within the Christian tradition, there is nothing inconsistent about these two statements. Except for a few scattered early mentions—no more than mentions—in early history, there is no place in which one can learn of Christianity but the Bible.

The ‘lies’ and ‘false teachings’ of the vast bulk of Christendom can immediately be identified as such. That the ‘soul’ is mortal and dies when the person dies, that with a single exception, ‘hell’ come from one of three original language words, none of which mean eternal suffering. That Jesus’s followers should be ‘no part of the world,’ whereas most Christian churches are fully part of the world—that God is not one-in-three persons, that the grand overall theme of the Bible is not, ‘be good, so you will go to heaven when you die,’—these teachings can be instantly identified by scripture as ‘false.’

Such ‘false’ religious teaching unfailingly paint those who espouse them into outrageous moral corners—such as ‘comforting’ bereaved parents that the reason their baby died was that God needed another angel in his garden, which is why he picked the very best—your child.

Most of the main teachings of churches are not found in the Bible. It is the attempt to read them in that causes persons to throw up their hands in frustration and even disgust. Deprived of nourishment, flooded with junk spiritual food, inquiring minds are left to scavenge elsewhere. Some settle for atheism, some for agnosticism, some settle on churches that pay scant attention to biblical things in favor of a social gospel, even a political one.

So, they are not just lies. They are harmful lies. They are lies that are near-universal in the church world. The GB has mounted a successful sustained, and worldwide assault on them. To ignore this and instead flail away about mistakes they may or may not have made is astoundingly small-minded to me.

[Many Miles]

2 hours ago, TrueTomHarley said:

So, they are not just lies. They are harmful lies. They are lies that are near-universal in the church world

I'm sure there are exceptions, but in my experience most religions are businesses. They end up selling what sells. It's good for business.

I'm not trying to generalize. There are good people found amongst various religions. It has always struck me that individuals can belong to a religion, attend its services and engage in its activities, yet openly speak of disagreements of which they hold diametrically opposed views. They don't see the religion they associate with as an anchor for their souls. They just see it as a place where they can be with people who want to do right and love people. For these people, the church they associate with is just a rendezvous point. Their personally held beliefs are something else altogether.

2 hours ago, TrueTomHarley said:

The GB has mounted a successful sustained, and worldwide assault on them. To ignore this and instead flail away about mistakes they may or may not have made is astoundingly small-minded to me.

The hurt does not come from the fact of mistakes. The hurt comes when religious leaders pound an idea of basis-of-teaching that is then ignored by the same leaders to preserve a preferential position. Take, for example, the basis of 'soundly reasoning from the scriptures'.(1) That implies teachings will conform to rational conclusions. As an example, a teaching of what "soul" is. It's not a single thing by itself. Rather, it's two things in a state of composition that equate to "soul", when and only when those two things remain together as one. In the case of "soul", those two primary components are 1) a body formed from the earth and 2) breath of life. Together, those components were "soul". Apart neither is "soul". Only together is there "soul".

But the notion that a thing is not itself when it's decomposed is not treated equally across all teachings, even ones related to the subject of "soul".

1. "Reason from the Scriptures in a way that is convincing. Using heartfelt entreaty and sound logic, Paul convincingly ‘reasoned with others from the Scriptures.’" (Underlining added) (Ref https://www.jw.org/en/library/magazines/w20100215/Skillfully-Wield-the-Sword-of-the-Spirit/

 

[Pudgy]

How simple everything would be if we only had the old “Make Sure Of All Things …” book, the NWT before it was paraphrased, and the whole “.. stay alive till ‘75 …” fiasco was apologized for, and the Congregations were governed per Matthew the 18th Chapter.

…… sigh …..

[Pudgy]

I think I will try to get a copy off of Ebay ….

I miss that simple clarity.

[Pudgy]

YIKES!  $45 + shipping!

[Pudgy]

….. perhaps the JW Library has one ….