What is "The Truth" from JW perspective

[Srecko Sostar]

In the jargon of Jehovah's Witnesses, phrases like: "Being in the organization" or "Being in the truth" mean only one thing, that the person in question is a member of Jehovah's Witnesses, that he is a baptized member of this "religious organization", that is, the JW Church.

The problem with this sort of JW thinking is in their concept of meaning of word "Truth" in JW community. For them, the meaning of the word "truth" is equated with religious knowledge, which is a body of doctrines and interpretations derived from the study and research of the Bible by leading individuals within their Main Ecclesiastical* Body ( body called the Governing Body). Because GB dictates how the Bible can and should be understood, and they alone have the right to interpret the biblical text.

(Although JWs never say their organization is the Church. They do not use the term "Church" for their congregations or whole Organization. The term "Society" is also not in common use. And at least the members of JW congregations do not see themselves as a "non-profit corporations", which they actually are because they are legally registered as such and that's also not used in JW jargon.)

* ecclesia noun

ec·cle·sia 

1: a political assembly of citizens of ancient Greek states

especially : the periodic meeting of the Athenian citizens for conducting public business and for considering affairs proposed by the council

2: CHURCH sense 4d

3: one of the local organizations of the Christadelphians

 

Thus the GB's "digested" text of the Holy Scriptures gains significant status and is called "Truth" in JW jargon. This "truth" is also called "food at the proper time." Also, "spiritual food from YHVH's table."

How come that collection of doctrines and interpretations as taught by WTJWorg cannot be called "Truth"? Primarily because the variability (changes, clarifications) of doctrines and interpretations does not fit into the very content of the unique meaning of the word "Truth". "Truth" is a value that can and should last through all times and in all circumstances. Faced with various challenges and ideas, the "truth" should withstand every test and show that it is valid for everything and everywhere. If it is not universal, then either it is not "true", or we need to use other terminology to denote the current value or rule or interpretation that governs our reality or our foreseen, imagined relationships with people and God, and also our understanding of the world. .

 

the truth noun

1.the real facts about a situation, event, or person 

2.the body of real things, events, and facts 

3.a judgment, proposition, or idea that is true or accepted as true

 

Now we come to the frequently used words in WTJWorg.

The phrase "food in proper time" is used from one of Jesus' many illustrations. The illustration is talking about literal human food. Can it also be applied to "spiritual" food? You can, if you want to. But then it changes the purpose of the illustration and creates a new dynamic for the characters in another reality. Keep in mind that the servant who distributes the food is not the source of the food. Neither literally nor figuratively.

The term "spiritual food" and "spiritual drink" occurs only in 1 Corinthians 10:3,4. It is related to the events in the Desert during the journey to the Promised Land and Moses as the leader. What fed them in the desert? Manna. This is the "spiritual food" that fell from the sky. And the water that flowed from the rock in the desert. This "spiritual" (thing, matter, cause) fed and watered the physical, human stomachs of children, women, men, and livestock.

The role GB ascribes to itself is to share "spiritual food". But what and where is "spiritual food". The only one that all Christians in this world know and acknowledge is found in/as the book, Bible. And nowhere else. This, they believe, is the only "inspired Word" from God for humans.
Ask yourself, can the "uninspired word" be a worthy substitute for the "inspired Word"? Can the "uninspired word" accurately interpret the "inspired Word"?
Can people who claim not to be "inspired by the Spirit" correctly interpret the "inspired Word"? Well, it's clear that they can't.

Jesus claimed to be the Way, the Truth and the Life. If He is the Truth, then there is no truth in our claim that we are "In the Truth" or that some organization, religion, faith is the "Truth". That's a nonsensical claim. Because it is contrary to Jesus' claim that He is the Truth.
People, including JWs, can only parade with the claim that they are "in the Truth" that they "know the Truth". The most they should dare to say is that they have a personal opinion and that they believe, that they hope that Jesus will accept them as his followers.

So what kind of "Truth" is it when it comes to WTJWorg? It is about human doctrines, interpretations and speculations. It is about human cognition and the processes that, among JWs, are called progressive processes of understanding.
This kind of JW logic reminds me of the JW counterargument for the theory of evolution. JWs would object to very long processes of organism development with a simple question. If the eyes of an organism developed over hundreds of thousands of years, this would mean that that form of life (human or animal, whatever) was deprived and could not see around itself, could not see food or danger, and this lack could be the reason for not survive.

If we apply the same way of summarizing, then it would mean that the GB cannot "see" the truth because it does not have developed "spiritual eyes" since in these 143 years the "approach to the Bible text" has constantly changed, important and less important doctrines and interpretations have changed. So, the idea of "a light that shines brighter and brighter", and so that nothing can be discerned well in the meantime, and the idea that real progress is achieved through deep and continuous study, while mistakes are made in the meantime, is just an attempt to justify one's own ignorance and tool for manipulate with the faith of believers.

[Pudgy]

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I fully agree but there is another aspect.

Humans iterate towards solutions.

Even Elon Musk tests rockets by taking off the shelf components, kludging them together, and see if it blows up!

Continuous error is part of every human progress.

Vocabulary: Recognize Reality … and it gets simpler and more accurate.

Ignore Reality and you have to change the meanings of what words REALLY mean.

This of course does NOTHING to change reality.

That’s why I recognize the essential 15% of “Core Truths” as the real “The Truth”, and the 85% imagination and wishful thinking as generally unavoidable drivel.

……. sigh ….,

…. It’s like at a State Fair when Fozzie Bear buys an ice cream cone for himself and Kermit the Frog. A cone of honey ice cream for himself, and a cone of dragonfly ice cream for Kermit, and the vendor (played by comedian Bob Hope) advises  “….. don’t get ‘em mixed up!”.

[Pudgy]

Oh Yeah?!   Neither John the Baptist, nor Jesus, Nor any of the Apostles, or anyone mentioned in the Bible EVER baptized children.

Or… gave the disciples a 100 question test.

etc.

[Pudgy]

BECAUSE … baptizing a child at age 8 or 12 or 16 is the same as inducting them into an army! 

That’s why 1st Century Christians NEVER did that.

[Pudgy]

26 minutes ago, Pudgy said:

Oh Yeah?!   Neither John the Baptist, nor Jesus, Nor any of the Apostles, or anyone mentioned in the Bible EVER baptized children.

Or… gave the disciples a 100 question test.

etc.

 

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[Srecko Sostar]

2 hours ago, Errikos Tsiamis said:

While wisdom is often associated with age and experience, it is possible for someone young to possess sufficient wisdom to make the decision to be baptized. 

There is a popular saying; "A tree bends while it is young". Most children and young people like to be guided and taught by adults. So mostly time and persistence of adults is enough to guide children according to the "wisdom" of those adults. In good faith or because of tradition, the influence on young minds within the framework of ideology can perhaps be called by some other words.

[Thinking]

5 hours ago, Errikos Tsiamis said:

Ultimately, it is up to church leaders and parents to discern the readiness of a young person for baptism, taking into account their level of understanding, maturity, and commitment to the Christian faith. I

Ultimately it is up to Holy Spirit as to wether a child or anyone is ready for baptism.

You’re wrong on this one ….your teaching an invisible dogma of our organization and no young person ….especially a child can ever understand the weight and the cost of loyalty to Jesus and Jehovah.

I speak from a lot of experience in the truth..and talking with some very sad cases.

What some of the elders and parents do to these young ones is nothing short of spiritual abuse. Their young shoulders cannot carry such a heavy yoke that even we adults struggle with….

 

From their own lips they admit they had no idea what they were really doing nor the cost of taking such a stand but the pressure of pleasing their parents and the congregation was a major part .

You are very wrong on this brother…and I’m am very heavy hearted that we have not learned from our past.

 

[Pudgy]

 

The problem with baptizing young children, or even teenagers is that they don’t have enough experience to know what is right. They know what they’ve been taught in the surroundings and environment and with the teachers that they were exposed to.

Let’s use an example of a 13-year-old boy growing up in pre WWII Berlin Germany. What a boy knows and what the boy believes in is what he has been taught, and based on this he decides in time that he wants to dedicate his life to the Nazi party and the goals of National Socialism, and allegiance to Adolf Hitler, unquestionable, and absolute.

…. so, he joins the Hitler Youth Corps or as did Catholic Cardinal Ratzinger did as a boy, before he became Pope Benedict XVI and served in the German army as an artillery man, or boy, and he eventually rises to the ranks to become a Gestapo Colonel.

His holy mission is to bring the blessings of German civilization to the rest of the rest of the world. And to rid the world of the vermin posing as people who are cluttering up the genetics of humanity.

He knows his cause it’s just because one of the things that Gestapo does is fund with their own salary orphanages all over conquered territory. Even with food shortages these orphanages are supported and defended.

Of course the children are orphans because he had to kill their Aryan  parents, but that’s just a minor detail. 

Then One day, while directing Jewish prisoners to lead Jews into the concentration camp gas chambers he comes to the realization of his own mortality, and that he doesn’t want to be a Nazi, he doesn’t anymore believe in National Socialism, and believes Adolph Hitler is ruining civilization.…. but he took a solemn oath as a teenager to Germany … and besides, if he defected, he would be shot, or exiled, or imprisoned or sent to a labor camp …. and they would round up his family, his mother, his wife, his two children and his sister and send them to a labor camp.

And of course, he did defect from his sworn oath made as a teenager, and was court martialed, and disappeared, and all his relatives were punished for what he did. He has become a non-person forbidden to even be spoken about.

It’s really a shame that he was not 20 years older and had never joined the Nazi Party …never taken that oath before he even understood what he was doing.

 

 

 

 

[Srecko Sostar]

2 hours ago, Pudgy said:

The problem with baptizing young children, or even teenagers is that they don’t have enough experience to know what is right. They know what they’ve been taught in the surroundings and environment and with the teachers that they were exposed to.

So, parents enlighten their children with the "truth" that they adopted as adults, or were exposed to as children, too. One of the important features of the JW sermons was that for a very long time they particularly pointed out that the Catholic Church violates the Holy Scriptures because they baptize newborn babies. And they supported this with biblical quotations which state that the first Christians baptized only adults, namely men and women. In fact, they proudly pointed out that Jesus was baptized at the age of 30 and that this was the right example to follow.

How did WTJWorg come to baptize underage children? Probably the cause of this is the supposed "progressive understanding" of God's Word and the desire of the leadership of the JW Church (GB) to show how the Scriptures are fulfilled because even "little children" praise God JHVH. Or they could not find a "biblical reason" to forbid the baptism of minors. Obviously, there is no legal reason, too, to prohibit such a practice, because Catholics baptize babies. It is not surprising, because GB repeatedly referred to the Catholic Church to show that JW elders have the same status as the clergy of Christendom.

We see that we have touched at least 2 "truths" so far. Baptism of minors and the clerical status of the JW elders and those in similar service (MS?). What interpretations of the biblical text allow this practice of WTJWorg?

How did WTJWorg come from condemning Clericalism (and baptism of children) to comparing and defending the status of JW elders with the (same) type of argumentation used previously against the clergy of another Church?

Which and what kind of "truth" do JW members not see ..... or which/what "truth" do they see?