Dialog with Jehovas Witness

  • Thread starter Thread starter rpwolfgang
  • Start date Start date
Status
Not open for further replies.
No you wrong… Maybe you should do some research on Russell history and see who he studied the Bible with… The fact remains you will start to learn the Bible when you study it… That’s why I asked you have you studied the Bible? An that’s the difference… We follow Jesus example in the way he preached… You cant say the same… Theres nothing that Jesus done that we aren’t doing… His focus was on his ministry our focus is on our ministry you can’t deny that… Jesus preached about the good news of the Kingdom, today we are preaching about the good news of the kingdom… I asked this question Matthew 24:14 says this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth at then the end will come… So if no one preach about God’s Kingdom then how will this scripture be fulfilled? You seem to put little importance on the preaching work when you know how important it is…read the Bible God has always needed people to preach his message… Before Jesus time, during Jesus time and after Jesus time
It doesn’t matter to me who Russell studied the Bible with.

And yeah, you will learn the Bible if you study it, but if you study it improperly, are you really studying it or just someone’s varied opinion of it?
 
It doesn’t matter to me who Russell studied the Bible with.

And yeah, you will learn the Bible if you study it, but if you study it improperly, are you really studying it or just someone’s varied opinion of it?
👍
Which is precisely what the JWs do. It’s not a matter of what the Bible says but of what the Watchtower B&T Society tells them it says.

I have read many of their works and tracts and most of it is the most twisted misinterpretations of scripture that I have ever seen anywhere.

Moreover, when they have approached me at my door and I have agreed to take their materials in exchange for a tract of my own, they refuse, so it is obvious that they are trained to do so and their pastors (or whatever) are afraid they might encounter materials that show the holes in their teachings. I have no such direction from any Catholic authority and it is in fact that freedom to examine such things that has made my own faith all the stronger.

There’s a lot of mistakes in JW teachings.
 
First off, The Catholic Church has NEVER EVER taught that black people were “cursed.” This might be the most ignorant thing I’ve read on these forums, and believe me, I’ve read a LOT of ignorant things. If you’re going to say something as absurd as that, you had better well be able to back it up, and I don’t see no citations in your post for that.

You have a very fluid definition of truth. Truth can change as long as more knowledge comes along, is pretty much what you said. Uhhh, no. Truth is Truth is Truth is Truth. Truth is an absolute concept, meaning that if something is true, it can’t change. If I say “Jack has an apple” and I really believe it, but in actuality Jack has an orange, no matter how much I say Jack has an apple and really believe it, it’s not true. Do you see what I’m saying here? You can proclaim one thing to be Truth while holding the caveat that it can change later, depending upon the whims of those in charge.

The Catholic Church has not changed it’s core beliefs in the 2,000 years it’s been around. Sure there were opinions that might have changed (geocentricism for example) but it wasn’t a part of the deposit of faith to believe that the Earth was the center of the universe.

My challenge to you is to find me 1 thing we as Catholics believe now that we didn’t believe as an absolute rule of faith 500 years ago, or even 200 years ago when Russell was starting the Witnesses.

I can understand someone making a mistake if they say “I think this is what’s going to happen, but I could be wrong.” That’s not what happened with the JW’s. They were absolute and adamant that the world was going to end in 1914, and if you didn’t believe you would be destroyed. And then it didn’t, but it was sure going to happen in 1917. And it didn’t. And it’s awfully convenient for you to come here and say “Well, we made those statements, but now we have ‘new light’ and we were just silly back then and didn’t really know any better.”

To me, that’s like playing ball with the kid who has to have everything go his way, and if it doesn’t, he’ll just take his ball and go home. Basically, what your organization has done is say “We reserve the right to change doctrine for any reason, any time” and you just go along with it. The Catholic Church can’t do that. Why? Because we have the deposit of Faith through both Scripture and Tradition that goes all the way back to before there was even Scripture, and that was given to us by God the Father, through His Son Jesus, in unity with The Holy Spirit.
Even though I gave you biblical example you still question… Do me a favor… Read those verses I gave you an then tell me what was the difference between then an now…

What you saying about 1914 isn’t true… Again… Should I go into the history of that too now?
 
This is a reply to your opinion related to that post…
Firstly you absolutely correct when you say that apostacy didn’t start immediately after Jesus’ death… Apostasy started developing in Pauls day amongst the 1st Christians an the congregation of Christ… It’s when all the apostles died that apostasy took its full force, an the number of true Christians got less an apostasy grew more. What you must understand too is that even when Jesus and the pharisees were preaching from the same writings and quoting many verses of prophets before them it was evident that Jesus teaching was the truth, likewise today just because we all using 1 Bible it doesn’t mean everyone is teaching the truth, like pharisees back then were doing it for selfish reasons today too people can do it for selfish reasons for prominence, for money I mean look at how much pastors, priests, etc gets paid we don’t have ranks in our congregation we don’t get paid for leading the congregation we don’t even ask for tithes or contributions, I’m not sure how it works in your faith if your leaders get paid or not… But that’s besides the point… You mentioned of our devotion we show for the preaching work I thank you for that, with that being said we have preached to many people using there own Bible’s reading the same verses which is in our Bible, seems like everyone uses that excuse that we have our own Bible just because one or 2 verses have different wording. I don’t hear anyone question why God’s name has been removed from the majority of the bibles, or do you?
So when did the apostasy happen, who started it? I would like to read about it or at least read writings of a faithful disciple in the first century.

Saying the NWT of the Bible has one or 2 verses different is like saying Brigham Young had one or two wives! I have a copy of the last interlinear that was published by the WBTS and the translations of the Greek that are rendered don’t even match the wording in the next column. One simple example is translating the same Greek word as “worship” if referencing God the Father but as “obeisance” when referencing Jesus.

If you refer to “Jehovah” not being in bibles, this is from Judaism 101 on jewfaq.org/name.htm :

“The word “Jehovah” comes from the fact that ancient Jewish texts used to put the vowels of the Name “Adonai” (the usual substitute for YHVH) under the consonants of YHVH to remind people not to pronounce YHVH as written. A sixteenth century German Christian scribe, while transliterating the Bible into Latin for the Pope, wrote the Name out as it appeared in his texts, with the consonants of YHVH and the vowels of Adonai, and came up with the word JeHoVaH (“J” is pronounced “Y” in German), and the name stuck.”
 
Even though I gave you biblical example you still question… Do me a favor… Read those verses I gave you an then tell me what was the difference between then an now…

What you saying about 1914 isn’t true… Again… Should I go into the history of that too now?
Really? Better check again.
Russell taught his followers the non-existence of hell and the annihilation of unsaved people (a doctrine he picked up from the Adventists), the non-existence of the Trinity (he said only the Father, Jehovah, is God), the identification of Jesus with Michael the Archangel, the reduction of the Holy Spirit from a person to a force, the mortality (not immortality) of the soul, and the return of Jesus in 1914.
When 1914 had come and gone, with no Jesus in sight, Russell modified his teachings and claimed Jesus had, in fact, returned to Earth, but that his return was invisible. His visible return would come later, but still very soon. It would result in the final conflict between God and the Devil—the forces of good and the forces of evil—in which God would be victorious. This conflict is known to Witnesses as the battle of Armageddon, and just about everything the Witnesses teach centers around this doctrine.
History of the Jehovah’s Witnesses
 
Tell me what was the eunuch reading? Isaiah right… Isaiah 53:7,8 to be specific… You must remember back then they quoted from scripture, by this time they had scrolls of the scriptures not a literal Bible… Jesus was familiar with scripture he often said when defending himself it is written meaning that he quoted from the old testament which was written down already when Jesus was tested by Satan. It’s also interesting if you read Acts how it’s says the apostles was spreading the good news, an you absolutely correct Jesus SENT them to go out an preach… So now ask yourself this… If Jesus is head of the congregation today, and he directs the cong by means of holy spirit, then who is he sending to preach the good news today? Who do you know that’s preaching this good news?
Not sure what your point is about Isaiah? Mine was that the eunuch needed Philip to help him interpret it.

Jesus sent the Apostles, they in turn appointed others and sent them passing on the deposit of faith. That’s why I can read writings of early Christians line Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, and Polycarp and find that they believed the same things I do today.
 
Even though I gave you biblical example you still question… Do me a favor… Read those verses I gave you an then tell me what was the difference between then an now…

What you saying about 1914 isn’t true… Again… Should I go into the history of that too now?
So Russell didn’t say the world was going to end in 1914?
 
So Russell didn’t say the world was going to end in 1914?
I think 1914 was revised to be the date of “Jesus’ presence in heavenly Kingdom power”

The parousia was reinterpreted as Jesus’ “presence” rather than physical return.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I don’t believe that ChosenOne7 has access to Watchtower literature that goes that far back.
 
So Russell didn’t say the world was going to end in 1914?
And not the only time this was done. "judge “Rutherford Hayes also did something similar later on. Which, if true, has the following scriptural insights and mandate.
***Jeremiah 28:[9] As for the prophet who prophesies peace, when the word of that prophet comes to pass, then it will be known that the LORD has truly sent the prophet.”

Ezekiel 33:[33] When this comes – and come it will! – then they will know that a prophet has been among them."

1st Samuel 3:[19] And Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground. [20] And all Israel from Dan to Beer-sheba knew that Samuel was established as a prophet of the LORD.

Deuteronomy 18:[21] And if you say in your heart, `How may we know the word which the LORD has not spoken?’ – [22] when a prophet speaks in the name of the LORD, if the word does not come to pass or come true, that is a word which the LORD has not spoken; the prophet has spoken it presumptuously, you need not be afraid of him. ***

Now…will you follow the word of God or will you follow men who have been shown to be false prophets?
 
I think 1914 was revised to be the date of “Jesus’ presence in heavenly Kingdom power”

The parousia was reinterpreted as Jesus’ “presence” rather than physical return.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I don’t believe that ChosenOne7 has access to Watchtower literature that goes that far back.
ChosenOne has access to the internet, therefore, he has access to the same literature that we do. Bottom line is, Russell said something was going to happen, preached it as absolute truth, and when it didn’t turn out the way it was supposed to, he conveniently changed that truth to something else.

This is the crux of my argument against the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and something I will go to my grave with. Truth never changes. There are no “versions” of the truth. Anything other than the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth are called lies.
 
ChosenOne has access to the internet, therefore, he has access to the same literature that we do. Bottom line is, Russell said something was going to happen, preached it as absolute truth, and when it didn’t turn out the way it was supposed to, he conveniently changed that truth to something else.
But you have to realize they will say anything on the internet is a lie and they most likely won’t have the information in the kingdom hall to look it up. The watchtower magazines after 1914 did a sidestep and said Russell was misinterpreted.
 
But you have to realize they will say anything on the internet is a lie and they most likely won’t have the information in the kingdom hall to look it up. The watchtower magazines after 1914 did a sidestep and said Russell was misinterpreted.
I guess that’s true, which brings us to another issue. How can you tell if your information is legit if it only comes from one source? As Church Militant said, one of the great blessings of Catholicism is the fact that we can go look to other faiths and see what they have to offer. If you can’t compare your beliefs with anything else, and the only info you get on those faiths (and your own) is from one very controlled source, it makes sense that you have to believe what they say.
 
Greetings ChosenOne7, I may be getting a little confused…
1 Timothy 3:15. To answer that first question we believe what the scripture says, “the congregation of the living God,” saying that this is “a pillar and support of the truth.” The entire congregation of anointed Christians certainly proved to be such a pillar in the first century. That is where they could hear truth taught and supported, where they could be built up. Similarly, the worldwide Christian congregation is God’s household, “a pillar and support of the truth.” Our regular attendance at and participation in the meetings of our local congregation is a key way for us to be built up, strengthened in our relationship with God, and prepared to do his will. Writing to the congregation in Corinth, Paul focused on what was said at such meetings. He wrote that he desired that what was said at their meetings be clear and understandable so that those attending could be “built up.” (1 Corinthians 14:12, 17-19) We today can be built up if we recognize that Jehovah God has authorized the arrangement for local congregations and is supporting it.
How does this address your statement - “my philosophy is if you can prove to me what you believe is in the Bible I’ll believe” in your previous post?
And to answer your second question you right they had no bible, bibles wasn’t used back then they used scrolls in the 1st century. But scrolls were not easy to use or carry. Every time Christians wanted to find a scripture, they had to unroll a scroll and later roll it up again. Scrolls usually had writing only on one side. The Gospel of Matthew filled one whole scroll. Then people started using the codex, which was the first kind of book. A reader could open a book and easily turn the pages to find a scripture. Historians say that Christians quickly started using books and that after the year 100, most of them were using books.
I agree with the history lesson but how does this address my question - "how a philosophy like this [your philosophy of “if you can prove to me what you believe is in the Bible I’ll believe”] just all of a sudden comes into existence since there were no bibles during the 1st few centuries.

Peace!!!
 
We believe the Bible is what changes lives… Not us… We are just there to help… An yes Mormons preach too but just like Catholics that added the apocryphal to the Bible, Mormons too have another book besides the Bible they preach from. Those extra books sometimes contradicts scriptures in the Bible… The Bible doesn’t contradict itself, you will find that scriptures an teachings are quite consistent… I’m not sure if you agree to that or not… But as Jehovah’s Witnesses we believe the Bible is God’s word nothing else
Did you know that the Bible has always contained the books you call apocryphal? Since the books of the Bible were set in 360 - 380 AD until after the Reformation. The Latin Vulgate Bible (which was THE Bible) contained 73 books. The truth is 7 books were actually removed from the Bible, that’s why you don’t have them today. The original King James version of 1611 included them also.
 
In the last 125 years, Jehovah’s Witnesses have published literally millions of words in publications such as The Watchtower. This includes powerful arguments against atheism and the theory of evolution, eloquent defences of the Bible as the inspired word of God, articles upholding the Bible’s stance on moral issues such as abortion, fornication, adultery and homosexual lifestyles. Watchtower publications have long exhorted their readers to display Christian qualities and imitate Jesus. They have shown how applying the Bible’s counsel can benefit family life. Through The Watchtower, millions of people have been comforted by the Bible’s message of hope.
You might expect that evangelical Christian organizations would happily applaud most of the above. After all, evangelical Christians believe in God and reject evolution, consider the Bible to be God’s inspired word, oppose sexual sins and abortion. They, too, speak of the need to imitate Jesus and display Christlike qualities. You would expect, then, that evangelical Christian groups could find a lot of positive things to say about The Watchtower. You’d think they’d congratulate Jehovah’s Witnesses for energetically spreading the above-mentioned views throughout the world and in literally hundreds of languages. But you would be wildly wrong.

An analysis of quotations from The Watchtower and other Jehovah’s Witness publications made by evangelical Christian writers - particularly on the Internet, but also in print - reveals that, far from commending Witness literature for all the positive material they publish, these writers consistently attack Jehovah’s Witnesses and actively seek anything that could possibly be used to discredit them - including many things published more than 100 years ago!
Critics of Witness publications immediately reveal their bias. The Watchtower Society is their ideological opponent, to be defeated at all costs. They comb through old Watchtowers, going back as far as 130 years. They take whatever suits their purpose and ignore the rest. They rip quotes out of their context, attempting to make it look as though they say much more than they actually meant. Why do they do it? They do it because it is their job to do it! In short, they are far from being an objective source of information.

Frankly, few Jehovah’s Witnesses are likely to be taken in by such chicanery. It is easy to detect an agenda behind this type of mudslinging. Just about anyone who wanted to believe it has already done so. And as for the rest of us, what hasn’t killed us has made us stronger.
You of course fail to mention what is written in some of those Watchtowers as it relates to the other churches (Christendom I believe you refer to it as) and the Catholic Church in particular.

I just had 2 JW visit on Sunday by and we spoke about the Bible and John 6 in particular. They asked if they could come back and I said they were welcome any time. Then he said to me that they were just interested in making sure people read their Bibles, no matter which version, no matter what Church they belong to. This is obviously not their true agenda so why say it?

And PS - Ever read what evangelical christian writers have to say about Catholics ?
 
An analysis of quotations from The Watchtower and other Jehovah’s Witness publications made by evangelical Christian writers - particularly on the Internet, but also in print - reveals that, far from commending Witness literature for all the positive material they publish, these writers consistently attack Jehovah’s Witnesses and actively seek anything that could possibly be used to discredit them - including many things published more than 100 years ago!
Why would taking something from the Watchtower publications from 100 years ago be discrediting to the Witnesses? Is not what was true than true now? Has the religion “evolved” to such an extant that things believed 100 years ago are not relevant now?

Not so with the Catholic writings. Writings from the early church fathers are just as relevant today as they were then.

As mentioned before why does the Watchtower in some of their publications mention Roman Catholicism by name in not containing truth when if not for the Catholics you would not have a bible that the Witnesses translated to suite their beliefs? If Witnesses have the complete truth why not teach it? Why is it necessary to disparage Roman Catholic Christianity?

Consider the Watchtower publication Should you Believe in the Trinity. They do their best to disparage the Christian belief in the Trinity by editing the Fathers writings to mean something completely different than what they did say. In doing so the governing body had to read the Fathers so they know the truth which they seem to hide from their congregants beautifully. Thank God for the person or persons who took the time to go through this magazine and quote the fathers accurately.

Thanks for sticking around.
God Bless
 
So, correct me if I am wrong…

The story of Jehovah’s Witnesses, the one and only true religion, is surely unique. Always in Need of Correction, But Hey, That’s What God Was Going For…

Jesus Returns in 1874 (But God Will Change That Later)

It was in July of 1879 that Jehovah God Almighty enlightened the humble American haberdashery owner, Charles Taze Russell, to publish the journal from which truth from God would flow until the end of the world.

That journal was The Watchtower, and God had chosen Mr. Russell to teach the truths in the Bible through this periodical to warn them of an important event—the End of the World—which God had Russell publish in the pages of *The Watchtower *as due by the year 1914.

You see God wanted people to believe that Charles Taze Russell was on to the truth and that unless people listened to this truth from Russell that they would be wiped away at Armageddon (which again God moved Russell to publish in* The Watchtower *as coming in 1814).

Mr. Russell was enlightened by God to teach others that Jesus’ promised return, the Second Coming, had actually occurred several years previously in 1874.

Now if you didn’t see anything happen that was particularly noticeable that year it because Jesus’ Return was invisible. Russell explained in The Watchtower, God’s printed publication for channeling truth to the world, that God allowed people to believe for almost 2000 years that Jesus’ Second Coming was going to be something people could see, but God enlightened Russell with the truth: the Return of Christ was an invisible event and it occurred in 1874.

You see Russell had done a thorough investigation of the Bible, and his study showed him that the Bible provided a hidden series of calculations, calculations that showed that mankind would be allowed only 6000 years to go astray until Jesus’ Return (invisibly) in 1874.

After that God also had hidden in Scripture formulas that He would be merciful for only 40 years in order to gather the rest of 144,000 Christians (chosen since the first century but now including only a few thousand by the 1870s) and prepare them to enter the Kingdom in 1914 when Armageddon would break out.

So said Russell who published it in that journal of truth that was produced by means of Jehovah God’s direction, The Watchtower.

Of course when 1914 came Russell and his fellow believers thought that the Great War (which would later be remembered as World War I) was proof positive that their calculations were right.

But on Halloween night (of all nights), Russell died two years later in 1916 without seeing any of his calculations God’s Spirit had enlightened him to preach about be fulfilled.

Jehovah Moved His True Religion to Preach Things That Needed Correction

It was obviously the way Jehovah God wanted it to be, for you see, Russell was incorrect and what he wrote in The Watchtower—God’s printed channel for publishing the Truth (and the only periodical of its kind) and the organization God thereby enlightened by means of it (even though it’s author was wrong—even though he was chosen not to be but to empowered by the Holy Spirit to write the truth from the Bible) had within it another man whom God would use to bring precious truths to the world: Judge Rutherford.

Under Rutherford it would occur that Jehovah would call the people who had followed Russell (and his mistaken teachings) to be called by his name “Jehovah’s Witnesses.” And even though Rutherford had no explanation for what 1914 meant, he was moved by God to offer a new date to the Jehovah’s Witnesses (now the only true religion on earth): that date was 1924.

In 1924 the earthly resurrection was to occur and “millions now living will never die!”

Since by the end of the 1920s their numbers were no about 90,000 and they believed they were the “remnant” of 144,000 who would live in heaven with God (and only 144,000 Christians are going to heaven, mind you), Jehovah’s Spirit had Rutherford teach that the calling of anymore people to heaven ended in the 1930s and now only people who would live on earth would be gathered.

(Oh yeah, nothing happened in 1924. But obviously God’s Spirit wanted this to happen because it did, and this is of course the only true religion.)

Rutherford died and was replaced by others, men whom Jehovah would have adjust the mess of calculations made by Russell and Rutherford.

(To be continued…)
 
Continued…

Someone had better not tell Joseph Smith about this, but I am sure he is busy being his own God over some other planet while Russell reigns from heaven as God’s channel of truth among the 144,000.

Jehovah Uses a Channel of Truth that Never Teaches Anything Accurately…Really?

You see, even though this was the one true religion and you could tell it was because it was the only one teaching the truth, they did teach false things like Jesus return occurring in 1874 or that Abraham, Isaac, and David would rise again in 1924 or that the world would end in 1914. Even though all this was written under the guidance of God’s Spirit, Jehovah’s one and only true organization now taught that the beginning of the “end of the world” only started in 1914, and that the 6000 years of human history was still to end in the future…another date known as 1975!

When 1975 came and went, they dropped the whole 6000 year thing that Russell taught ended in 1874 (under God’s direction, never forget). Obviously this was the kind of thing God was going for in leading humankind with the Truth.

The 1975 mistake was not blamed on Fredrick Franz, the Governing Body member who under the direction of God’s Holy Spirit introduced it in 1966 in a book the Governing Body published entitled “Freedom of the Sons of God”—no, the mistake was said to be that of those who believed and preached the 1975 date (and God still moves his faithful Witnesses to do so today, because that is how Truth works).

So the “end of the world” was then said to be slated for the “lifetime” of those old enough to remember the Great War of 1914. Before this generation passed away, Armageddon would come, or so Jehovah had his true religion believe, print, and preach.

Now Jehovah has moved his true religion of people to discard much of what they once practiced and believed and preached (even though everything they once practiced and believed and preached was given to them by God’s Sprit-directed true religion, the one and only).

Now Jehovah has enlightened his people with the real truth.

Now they know that everything they believed since the 1870s was wrong—even though it came by means of God directing them by the Sprit.

Now they know the end of the world is coming before two overlapping generations come to an end (because this is what God was going for since the beginning).

These “truths” will never change.

Because truth does not change.

This is what happens when Jehovah God uses his Spirit to develop a true religion on earth: it’s always correcting itself.

Expect no further updates people, because if there is even a chance of that then nothing that a JW preaches should believed for now because as their history shows it could be false information tomorrow.

That’s obviously the sign of the One and Only True God, right?
 
All you need to do is study the Bible… Like you believe what the Pope is saying is correct so you should read the Bible and see if it is so… Yes you can look up things on the Internet about any religion and find out all the bad things about it, where we differ is that we will use the Bible the teachings that we have been taught makes sense it’s not something that can’t be explained or that makes us confused, hence I advise or encourage all of you to make a study of the Bible… We believe it’s inspired by God you don’t you believe more in the apocryphal if that’s the case atleast check if the apocryphal is in line with what the Bible says if it’s not which would u believe more the Bible or the apocryphal… We have many Catholics who have studied the Bible and that can now tell us the difference between Catholics beliefs an what the Bible says… I’m not here to mock your religion or beliefs… I have read some verses in the apocryphal which confuses me because it says something different to what the Bible says… So Im not sure if you have read the Bible in accordance with the apocryphal an if you did how did you miss all of the difference… All I know of is that 5 years ago there was about 7million Jehovah’s Witnesses today we over 8.2 million… That’s people coming from all kinds of religions… I ask myself how is it that more an more people can accept this teachings that everyone is so against… One question I ask them is how… They all say it’s only after they studied the Bible… Why
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top