Treasures from God’s Word and Digging for Spiritual Gems – ‘Learn from Your Mistakes’
Jonah 3:1-3 – Jonah learned from his mistakes (ia 114 par. 22-23)
“Medice, cur ate ipsum” (Latin),
“Latre, therapeuson seauton” (Greek),
“Physician, cure (heal) thyself” (English), Luke 4:23.
This is a Latin proverb quoted by Jesus. Why a proverb in three languages (for emphasis!).
Because to the writers and authorisers of this meeting and its material, (the Governing Body a.k.a the Faithful and Discreet Slave) we say the same: “Physician, cure thyself”.
The error of the calculation of using the type/antitype of the Seven Times from 607 BC to 1914 AD has been known to be in error since at least the early 1980’s. Yet it is still promulgated as truth, despite overwhelming evidence from the Bible itself that this is an inaccurate understanding. There is no antitype of the Seven Times that befell Nebuchadnezzar. Even if there was, Jerusalem did not fall in 607 BCE, but rather 587 BCE.[I] Armageddon did not come as foretold by the Organization in 1914, 1925, or 1975. Yet we are told Armageddon is just round the corner. It is imminent. We are even given a new interpretation of the fulfillment of Matthew 24:34—the “overlapping generations” doctrine—to provide us with a fuzzy new deadline. (As an aside, have you found either (a) any witness that is prepared to defend their belief in this teaching, and/or (b) any witness that can explain how it works?)
What about the Organization's failure to deal with the growing scandal of child sexual abuse. Like the proverbial ostrich, we seem to be sticking our collective head in the sand, hoping the problem will just go away.[ii]
We therefore implore the Governing Body “learn from your mistakes and turn to a course of obedient service to God” by only teaching clearly accurate truths from the Bible. (ia 114 par. 23)
We also encourage all the many good-hearted Witnesses who are real lovers of God and truth to take personal responsibility for their own salvation. In doing so, you will avoid perpetuating the mistake made by hundreds of millions of other fellow Christians around the world who also abdicate their responsibility to the leaders of their religion by following the dictates of imperfect men, many of whom have agendas of their own rather than the agenda of our King Christ Jesus.
Obadiah 12 – What lesson can we learn from God’s condemnation of Edom (jd112 par. 4-5)
In the reference in paragraph 5 it says: ”imagine that a Christian offended you or had a problem with one of your relatives”. Why only a Christian? Why not a Muslim or an Atheist or a Buddhist, etc.? Because earlier the reference says: “the way I deal with my brothers” thereby implying that only witnesses are Christians! There are many non-JWs who are acts like real Christians while sadly, there are many Jehovah’s Witnesses who do not reflect the nature of the Christ by their deeds and interactions with others.
Yes, indeed, try to “”imagine that a Christian offended you or had a problem with one of your relatives” because he had doubts and expressed them to you, or offended you by questioning whether the Governing Body truly has the backing of Jehovah and Jesus Christ?
“Will you harbor resentment, not putting the matter behind you or not attempting to settle it?” or rather perhaps by personally researching God’s Word yourself, you could see why the fellow brother has such views and even if you still disagree, you agree not to make an issue out of it.
Would it be Christian to “act coolly, avoiding his company, or speaking negatively about him” perhaps to others saying that he or she is “mentally diseased”?[iii]
Would it really be Christian for “you to reflect the Edomite’s spirit and rejoice over the brother’s difficulty” because such a one may be unjustly removed from the congregation and no longer be able to fellowship with those he has counted as lifelong friends?
“How would God want you to act?” How would Jesus expect you to act? With love, or with Pharisaic obedience to a scripture that is misapplied out of context in an effort to maintain control?
Kingdom Rules (chapter 21 par. 8-14)
Re: Paragraphs 8 & 9
In Matthew 24:29-31 “Was Jesus also referring to a supernatural manifestation in the heavens? Perhaps he was.” Both cited references (Isaiah 13:9-11, Joel 2:1,30,31) appear to be referring to the destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BC and 70 AD respectively, but Jesus is not referring to the destruction of Jerusalem in those three verses in Matthew, but to the single (not composite) sign occurring at his presence and events relating to it.
What though can we learn from a closer examination of the scriptures?
The first point from Matthew 24:29 is to note that when it mentions “tribulation” it does not appear to be referring to the tribulation from Matthew 24:21, but rather the immediately preceding verses Matthew 24:23-28. Here Jesus warned the early Christians not to be persuaded to believe that Jesus’ presence had occurred without clear undisputed evidence visible to all. The word translated “tribulation” is thlipsis in Greek; it carries the sense of feeling internally or mentally pressured, or the feeling of being hemmed in with no escape. Does this refer to the pressure to believe in false Christ’s, which would “mislead, if possible, even the chosen ones”? Or is it the tribulation or trials that Christians undergo as part of the refining process to make them worthy which Jesus spoke of at Matthew 10:38? Or is it something else?
Adding to this is Matthew 24:30, where Jesus possibly quoted the words of Daniel 7:13 when he said, "they will see the Son of man coming on the clouds of heaven". In that verse though he first speaks of "the sign of the Son of man" appearing in heaven. What exactly this “sign” will be, is not stated in the scriptures, but it is interesting to note that the word translated “sign” (Greek: sémeion) means typically a miraculous sign, or one that clearly distinguishes the person or event from all others. This would therefore need to be supernatural given that all natural signs could be confused with other causes. Jesus uses two words to emphasize he is not speaking metaphorically: "And then will appear" (Greek: phainó, "to shine, become visible, show") and "they will see" (Greek: horaó, "See, look upon, experience"). While both can be used metaphorically, the context doesn't support that understanding since "all the tribes of the earth will beat themselves in grief" when this sign appears and when they see Jesus coming in the clouds.
Matthew 24:31 shows that it is not until this time, when Jesus has indisputably arrived, “coming on the clouds of heaven [sky]” and is visible to mankind, that he “will gather his chosen ones” from all over the earth. This indicates the gathering is done at one time, rather than over a long period of time. Further, why would “all the tribes of the earth beat themselves in lamentation” over things they have not seen and are unaware of. Thus, the teaching of the organization that Jesus has been invisibly present since 1914 cannot be accurate. The Organization acknowledges that Matthew 24:30 is a future event, separate from the 1914 presence, yet they claim that the chosen have been gathered since 1919. So they create two "presences" of Jesus: an invisible one in 1914 and a visible one in the future, yet tie the gathering to first one. This thoroughly confuses the Scriptural account.
Mark 13:23-27 contains additional information. In verse 23 we are exhorted to “watch out” the Greek term for which is to be observant, and take heed. Why? Because Jesus has “told you all things beforehand.” [Greek: warned, foretold].
Luke 21:25-28 conveys many of the points already mentioned above about Matthew 24 and Mark 13. In addition, verse 26 talks about “men become faint from fear and expectation” and it is these ones who “will see the son of man coming” (vs. 27). Verse 28 then makes a contrast that it is the chosen ones (Jesus disciples) who will “lift [their] heads up, because [their] deliverance is getting near.” The Greek word translated as “deliverance” (Greek: apolytrosis) means "redemption – release effected by payment of a ransom". So, Christ’s faithful followers can lift their heads up, not for deliverance from tribulation, or the anguish of the nations, but because the time for the application of Jesus' ransom sacrifice is about to take place for them.
Gog of Magog (paragraph 12)
How would you answer? Is Gog of Magog
- Russia[iv]
- Prince of Demon Origin[v]
- 8th Demon Prince[vi]
- Satan the Devil[vii]
- A coalition of nations[viii]
Gog of Magog has been all of the above at different times according to the organization.
Does Jehovah change his mind so drastically and communicate it so frequently? Titus 1:2 states “God, who cannot lie”. So how can these teachings be from God?
Magog was a place in central Turkey in ancient times. When we examine the passage in Ezekiel 38 we find the following interesting points. For a considerable time after the death of Alexander the Great, the Seleucid dynasty ruled this area of Turkey, and were a number of the Kings of the North foretold in Daniel. Antiochus IV came in 168 BC and ransacked Judea and the Temple.
Ezekiel 38:10-12 talks about “Is it to get a big spoil that you are coming in?” Antiochus IV offered pigs on the Temple altar and forbade Jewish worship. This provoked the Maccabean revolt. In it the Maccabean’s turned on the Hellenized Jews as part of their attempt to restore what they viewed as true worship. They also used guerrilla tactics against the army of Antiochus in the mountainous region of Judea to great effect.
Ezekiel 38:18 talks of the “ground of Israel”. Ezekiel 38:21 says “and I will call forth against him throughout all my mountainous region a sword.” (See also Ezekiel 39:4) It then goes on to say “Against his own brother the sword of each one will come to be”. Was this the fulfillment of the prophecy? We cannot and should not say so. However, also by the same token, we cannot use it as an antitype to apply to today, just because we desire it to be so, as the organization and other apocalyptic Christian groups do. In this case, it certainly is best to wait for Jehovah to make clear its fufillment and not guess, or make false prophetic interpretations.
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[i] See a short summary of some of the evidence that the Bible agrees with 587 BC for the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians.
[ii] Just an interesting side point. Ostriches have had this bad reputation since Roman times. However, in reality they do not hide their heads, they run at the sign of danger. It seems the reputation has come about because of their habit of eating sand and pebbles to help their food digestion.
[iii] WT 2011 7/15 p16 par. 6 “Well, apostates are ‘mentally diseased,’”
[iv] WT 1880 June p107
[v] WT 1932 6/15 p179 par. 7
[vi] WT 1953 10/1 par. 6
[vii] WT 1954 12/1 p733 par. 22
[viii] WT 2015 5/15 pp29-30
Archived Comments
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Comment by Warp Speed on 2017-11-13 18:10:21
Thanks again for a top-notch review Tadua.
Interesting how type/antitypes were supposedly retired, yet, show up everywhere still.
Comment by MarthaMartha on 2017-11-14 07:14:37
Thanks Tadua, another great review and food for thought.
I find it interesting that the points raised in the "digging" section, when used to prod us to ' learn from your mistakes' or ' be humble and obedient' etc, always has a subtext that can be applied to the source of the counsel.?
I'm glad that you read the subtext too. ??
I also like it that when I read your reviews I can have a quick read through, but I need to go back and read again and digest. That's the sign of proper depth... Unlike other offerings that are essentially baby food needing no thought to absorb and accept. What did Meleti call it? Pablum. I had to look that one up in the dictionary... I expand my vocabulary here as well as my spritual outlook. ?
Thanks for your hard work Tadua.
Comment by Worldling on 2017-11-14 07:27:31
peep hole=people
Comment by Dajo on 2017-11-14 12:22:37
Thanks for that insightful review/analysis,
my co-worker had his meeting last night so I'll use some of these points in discussion today, (Wednesday).
Mine is tonight so I'll be well armed with a 2 edged sword to cut through any pablum that should be on the table.
Comment by Eleasar on 2017-11-14 17:33:35
Tadua,
Very good work. Excellent contextual points. Well done.
I have been revisiting Matthew 24 and trying to read and study it contextually. The challenge is the drilling in my of previous understanding slows down the process.
In verse 3, the word is sign ( singular) and that is why wt calls it a composite sign. The other word is parousia. This is interesting if you check the appendix in the reference bible 1984. There it looks like a very strong argument is made for translating it presence. On digging further, there is a level of dishonesty.
The references quoted are interesting:
1864“the SIGN of THY presence”The Emphatic Diaglott (J), by Benjamin Wilson, New York and London.
1897“the sign of thy presence”The Emphasised Bible, by J. B. Rotherham, Cincinnati.
1903“the signal of Your presence”The Holy Bible in Modern English, by F. Fenton, London.
1950“the sign of your presence”New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures, Brooklyn
They include the 1950 NWT??. The other three are are 19th and very early 20th century. Now the word has a primary meaning of presence. But in 1908 Rudolf Deissmann released his work “light from the ancient east”. This is important as it changed the understanding of biblical Greek and he demonstrated it wasn’t classical or a holy version of Greek but Koine (common) Greek. The bible was written in the everyday language of people. This has changed our understanding of the language. One of the new findings were that parousia has a secondary technical meaning of a visit or arrival of a high official or royalty.
The above is not explained and Liddell and Scott and TDNT gets only partially quoted. The rest of the quotes in these dictionaries give a lot more time parousia as a royal coming.
I struggled with the question why is Matthew the only one using it. Matthew only uses it 4 times and all in chapter 24. Then it dawned on me after prayer and meditation that Matthew’s gospel has a theme focusing on the King and the Kingdom. Therefore, when the King returns (arrival) parousia is the technical meaning. This also explains why Jerome and the early Latin versions translated it adventus and not praesentia.
The early bible students were trying to explain the date of 1874 and overcame the problem with Benjamin Wilson’s Diaglott. They had to justify the chronology Barbour had developed. There was no conspiracy but purely an over zealous defence of a faulty line of reasoning and chronology.
Now if we focus on arrival/coming as the meaning and a singular sign, semeion in Greek, reading Matthew 24 changes. The word sign in verse 3 is also the same word in verse 30. That is Jesus answer to the second part of verse 3. Now Matthew 24:36-44 makes more sense as Christians must be always be prepared. The 4 parables that follows from verse 45 to end of chapter 25 is teaching Christians how to stay awake.
Once this is clear, we need to focus on living in Christ. That is the main thrust of the New Testament. This is what please the Father and the Son as our king and leader will support and guide us always.
This is far more comforting and useful then thinking about God’s sovereignty and to wait until the new world for relief. The relief is available now through Jesus.
Comment by lost in space on 2017-11-15 03:11:44
I have really begun to pay heed to the sequencing of events in Matthew 24 thru 25,Mark 13 and Luke 21 "match up accounts" and felt so good you have taken on consideration of these as well ? It seems evident BOTH references by Jesus to Jerusalem in the Luke 21 account refer to the 70ce Jerusalem judgment. Excellent observations Tadua, as always.Witness doctrine tries to make one reference there to fit the 2520 year antitype of Dan 4 "prophecy". So problematic and improbable.
Comment by wild olive on 2017-11-16 21:44:38
Hi Tadua
Thanks for the work on the CLAM, personally don't know how you can do it, must be a gift of the spirit.
Just on the points you make on the treatment and justification that's handed out to those who are disfellowshipped.
Yes many of them do in fact fall into behaviour that is destructive , this happened to me, when I accepted the facts that my JW beliefs were flawed and unscriptural , it sent me into a tail spin, I can feel for those who have gone through the same, and this is part of the "fruit" that the org is bearing , putting people into a corner where there is no escape, I for a while , hated anything to do with God or the bible, I felt more like an atheist. I had Isa 65:1 fulfilled personally.
The GB likes to point to the spiritual tragedy of such people , not realising they caused it.Reply by Anazitisi on 2017-11-17 03:28:30
Hi wild olive
Your experience is so similar to many others who visit this site. When we learnt the ‘truth’ most of us will also have learnt the erroneous teachings of all the other major religions. It is therefore inevitable that when we realise the serious flaws in what we believe, we can easily suffer a shipwreck of our faith. Sadly many die spiritually at this point. If they fail to gain life everlasting because of this then those who stumble them in the organisation will have a reckoning with Jesus. He talked about those who stumble his little ones would be better off with a millstone around their neck and thrown into the sea.
Many who are shipwrecked are badly injured. It can take some time to recover from these injuries. Fortunately you, our dear one, like myself, have recovered to some extent and for that we are grateful. I personally know of a number, all of whom have been badly injured and not all have recovered sufficiently to rekindle their love for God and Christ. That is why it is good to associate together even if only through commenting like this. May our God and Father, and also our King and mediator Jesus both continue to bless you and help you (and all others in our position) to heal.Reply by wild olive on 2017-11-17 04:03:44
Thank you Anazitisi for that blessing and encouragement, likewise I send the same to you .
In all honesty ,I didn't expect to survive spiritually, I was stuck on the "where do we go" and couldn't find anything to replace the org, that of course has all changed , and thanks to Jehovah not throwing me away. The brothers and sisters who visit this site are the ones who I feel connected to despite not knowing any of them , we are bound literally by Holy Spirit, I can't imagine satan leaving such a good thing alone for much longer, so we have to make spiritual hay while the sun shines.
Thanks so much again and I pray that our Mediator and our Father keep us all in their hearts .
As for those who have caused the stumbling, the millstone is getting bigger, we live in such exiting times, if someone wants to be ignorant it really is a matter of choice ,there's is so much that used to be secret that now is yelled from the rooftops .
Comment by Filius90 on 2017-11-17 09:26:10
Tadua, I appreciated the many points you covered in your Nov 13, 2017 | CLAM Review article. What caught my eye was the information provided in the Kingdom Rules portion. After Tuesday nights “Bible Study” I was having a difficult time sorting through many of the non-scriptural based comments referring to the great tribulation. Congregation Elders snuck in many organization directed theories about what to expect from the “impending end”.
It’s always “threat directed”, most comments were almost mystically based, meaning they were based with a “blindly follow and listen to us as never before or you die because we know something that you don’t”. Some commented that the final message of warning or doom pertains to us now that if we currently aren’t at our best out in the door to door work today we won’t be later and we’re the real life version of Kevin the guy who didn’t make it into the basement in the video. Another is “or if direction contrary to human soundness is given we must follow not matter what”.
There was no scriptural backing whatsoever in these comments that were given. They want us to believe as if the world is going to let JWs worldwide just walk around the neighborhoods distributing tract’s threatening their lives like it’s the good ole days during the great tribulation.
I wanted to raise my hand and say if it really comes down to still physically preaching a public message of doom and gloom, especially at that time it won’t be door to door which seems to be the tell all, do all litmus tests in their minds.
Thanks for your article.
Comment by Stay Faithful Through the “Great Tribulation” - Beroean Pickets - JW.org Reviewer on 2019-12-08 11:19:41
[…] A brief review of the latest teaching on Gog of Magog by the Organization can be found here. […]