At least, that is what the anti-Witness crowd now want you to believe. Take a look at this genuine masterpiece of word-butchery that was just recently cobbled together:
Elders should Slaughter Apostates (but we never said that!)Nov 15, 2011 WT - "The prophet Elisha sent one of the sons of the prophets to anoint Jehu as king and to instruct him to kill every male of the apostate house of Ahab.—2 Ki. 8:28; 9:1-10." "Though the thought of violence is unpleasant, we should realize that in those days, Jehovah used his servants to carry out his judgments.... Today, no servant of Jehovah uses physical force against opponents of pure worship. “Vengeance is mine,” God says. (Heb.10:30) But to rid the congregation of potentially corrupting influences, Christian elders may have to act with courage similar to that of Jehu. (1 Cor. 5:9-13) And all members of the congregation need to be determined to avoid the company of disfellowshipped individuals.— 2 John 9-11." "Jehu announced that he intended to hold “a great sacrifice” for Baal. (2 Ki. 10:18, 19) “This is a clever play on words on the part of Jehu,” says one scholar. While the term employed here “generally means ‘sacrifice,’ it is also used of the ‘slaughter’ of apostates.” "It is true that Jehu spilled much blood. Yet, the Scriptures present him as a courageous man...
As the words preceding the quote imply, the anti-Witness poster here wanted to convey the idea that "Elders should slaughter apostates." But let’s track down that hodgepodge of quotes in the original article shall we? (click the pictures for a full view):
There are five independent quotes within that jumble spread out literally all throughout the article. Let’s break them down individually.
"The prophet Elisha sent one of the sons of the prophets to anoint Jehu as king and to instruct him to kill every male of the apostate house of Ahab.—2 Ki. 8:28; 9:1-10."
Quite true and appropriate, considering that the article is, after all, a historical account of Jehu’s life and actions.
"Though the thought of violence is unpleasant, we should realize that in those days, Jehovah used his servants to carry out his judgments.”
Again, true and spoken in a purely historical context (as is indicated by the rest of that paragraph).
“Today, no servant of Jehovah uses physical force against opponents of pure worship. ‘Vengeance is mine,’ God says. (Heb.10:30) But to rid the congregation of potentially corrupting influences, Christian elders may have to act with courage similar to that of Jehu. (1 Cor. 5:9-13) And all members of the congregation need to be determined to avoid the company of disfellowshipped individuals.— 2 John 9-11."
While completely disavowing any kind of physical violence, the Witnesses here encourage Christians to imitate Jehu’s courage in standing up for true worship. And in dealing with apostate Christians, the Witnesses do not say ‘go and slaughter them like Jehu did,’ but rather say ‘just stay away from them.’
“This is a clever play on words on the part of Jehu,” says one scholar. While the term employed here “generally means ‘sacrifice,’ it is also used of the ‘slaughter’ of apostates.”
Again (referring to the pictures of the whole article above) we are back in a purely historical context here.
“It is true that Jehu spilled much blood. Yet, the Scriptures present him as a courageous man...[ who freed Israel from the oppressive domination of Jezebel and her family. If any leader of Israel was to succeed in doing this, he had to be a man of courage, determination, and zeal. “It was rough work and was executed with relentless thoroughness,” comments one Bible dictionary. ‘Gentler measures probably would have failed to eradicate Baal worship from Israel.’”
Again, the article is still talking about the historical Jehu.
So what exactly are the parts of the article that are not purely historical, and that are applied to our modern lives instead? As a final activity, let’s now separate the personal application portions of the article from the historical portions, and see what we come up with:
“Today, no servant of Jehovah uses physical force against opponents of pure worship. “Vengeance is mine,” God says. (Heb.10:30) But to rid the congregation of potentially corrupting influences, Christian elders may have to act with courage similar to that of Jehu. (1 Cor. 5:9-13) And all members of the congregation need to be determined to avoid the company of disfellowshipped individuals.— 2 John 9-11…No doubt you can see that circumstances faced by Christians today require that they manifest certain qualities possessed by Jehu. For instance, how should we react if tempted to engage in any activity that Jehovah condemns? We should be prompt, courageous, and dynamic in rejecting it. When it comes to our godly devotion, we cannot tolerate any rivalry toward Jehovah… We can never take our relationship with Jehovah for granted. Every day, we need to cultivate loyalty to God through study of his Word, meditation on it, and heartfelt prayer to our heavenly Father. Let us, therefore, exercise utmost care to keep on walking in Jehovah’s law with all our heart.—1 Cor.10:12.”
Reads a bit differently than the original group of quotes doesn’t it? How does the Witness opposer interpret the article?
- Christian elders should imitate Jehu's courage in slaughtering and killing apostates.
But what does the article really instruct modern Christians to do?
- Never use physical violence against opponents of pure worship.
- Imitate Jehu’s qualities of courage, promptness, and dynamicism in defending the pure worship of God and in rejecting things that God disapproves of.
- Simply "avoid" disfellowshipped individuals and apostates rather than attacking them or picking fights with them.
- Show loyalty to God through Bible study, meditation and prayer.
I think the headline "Elders should slaughter apostates" was meant to be tongue in cheek by mocking how much fear and hatred the organization puts in witnesses regarding apostates.
ReplyDeleteI think you merely highlighted the fact that the governing body uses clever wordplay to indicate how Jehovah's Witnesses should feel about apostates even though they are instructed to act non violently. They don't want witnesses to act out, but they want them to feel a burning hatred for them so they never listen to what they have to say.
It's classic subliminal messaging and manipulation at it's best.
No, actually I highlighted the fact that the anti-Witness poster who cobbled together the original Frankenstein of a quote is the one who uses clever wordplay, manipulation and outright deception to make an article appear to convey a message that it doesn't actually convey, by mixing the purely historical sections with the modern day application sections. But you never quite seemed to catch that point. Did you even read the post?
Delete