JehovahsWitness wrote:
Justin108 wrote:
JehovahsWitness wrote:the organization and implementation of a stupendous international preaching and teaching program (Mat 24:14), and much more...
Again, why attribute this to Jesus? Why not just attribute this to the various religious institutions? Do you think that had Jesus not been ruling since 1914 that it would be impossible for religious institutions to preach internationally? Muslims preach all the time, yet I doubt you believe that this is due to Muhammad's rule. So if Muslims can preach without Muhammad being in power, why do Jehovah's Witnesses need Jesus ruling in heaven in order to preach?
Because no other organization on earth, religious or not, has even come CLOSE to achieving what Jehovah's Witnesses have done in our modern age.
PREACHING: Not just a "clergy" class, not just islamic "imam" every member
To have 8 million people, men women and children, go from door to door free of charge bible in hand to speak to people at their own home year after year, is not something any human can achieve . No other organization whether religious, commercial, political or social has the incentives can move every single member of a community to such action, not for a campaign of a few months or even years but every single month for as long as they live.
The Church of Scientology convinces its members to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to advance their OT levels. People go bankrupt over this. There have been cults where followers are so dedicated, they commit ritualistic suicide. Ever heard of the Jonestown massacre? Not to mention radical Muslims who blow themselves up in the name of Allah. People give everything they have, including their lives, to their religion all the time and you think that it's amazing that Jehovah's Witnesses go door to door...?
What have you done for your faith lately?
Scientologist: I gave my entire life savings to my church
Radical Muslim: I'm going to blow myself up next week
Jehovah's Witness: I'm... going to knock on someone's door and talk to them a bit...
JehovahsWitness wrote:
PREACHING: A lifelong calling rather than a time bound "campaign"
Mormon men (I think men only) have missionary service for only two years, and in many muslim communities Muslim women are not even allowed out of their homes let alone to go to strangers homes and speak to them about their faith. If the Pope asked all Catholics to go from door to door or no longer be considered Catholic, their numbers would I think plummet to single figures and if they or Coca Cola asked its employees to do this out of love of the product without pay, I wonder how long that would last.
So basically what you're saying is that so many other Christians preach, but because you preach the most, it must logically follow that Jesus must be behind it?
JehovahsWitness wrote:if they or Coca Cola asked its employees to do this out of love of the product without pay, I wonder how long that would last.
All you're proving is that Jehovah's Witnesses are dedicated. Well good for you guys. But being dedicated to an ideal does not make that ideal true. It is possible for people to be dedicated to a false religion. It is possible for Jehovah's Witnesses to spend their every waking moment preaching the Gospel and
still be wrong about it. None of this proves Jesus' rule. All it proves is that Jehovah's Witnesses are dedicated.
JehovahsWitness wrote:
PREACHING: Without pay, without charging
Apostate Christianity (and Islam) was spread with the sword, but that hundreds of thousands of people a year voluntarily join in this work (despite opposition, ridicule and in some countries at the risk of their lives) is testimony in my opinion to a higher power.
No, it's testimony that these people
think there is a higher power. Again, it is possible to be dedicated to a false ideal.
JehovahsWitness wrote:They have neither been paid nor do they charge for their time, what human organization has been able to increase without advertising...
Going door to door isn't advertising?
JehovahsWitness wrote:
PREACHING: Despite opposition
Further, some of the most powerful regimes in the world vowing to wipe Jehovah's Witnesses out and put an end to their preaching work, but rather than that their numbers increase, how can this be explained?
Dedication... If a Muslim claimed "we won the Crusades because of Allah's glory", how would you respond? How can it be explained that the "enemy" won a Holy War against the One True God? Does it suggest divine intervention? Or simply the dedication of the Muslims?
JehovahsWitness wrote:Sheer determination, personal conviction and enthusiasm is simply not enough to compell an entire commuityy in this way.
Yes it is.
JehovahsWitness wrote:Yes an entire community will fight to the death for their own survival, but Jehovah's Witnesses are at the very least suffering financial
As are Scientologists. FAR more than Jehovah's Witnesses.
http://www.xenu.net/archive/prices.html
JehovahsWitness wrote:loss and inconvenience and at the most paying with their lives what they believe to be the survival of others, this is extraordinary.
Radical Muslims and cultists literally pay with their lives. Or do you think that going door to door is a bigger sacrifice than killing yourself?
JehovahsWitness wrote:
PREACHING The same message, the same standards in every country
As organizations grow they tend to break apart into regional groups with their own cultural or regional particularities.
Kind of like how Christianity broke up into various groups to finally form Jehovah's Witnesses? You are not the core of Christianity. Christianity is not as unified as you try to make it sound. You are one little sect of a largely broken-up religion.
JehovahsWitness wrote:
CONCLUSION The work of Jehovah's Witnesses is unequaled in human history, it is a modern day miracle and I believe clear evidence they have been as a group protected, guided and enabled to prosper spiritual due to their king and leader Jesus Christ.
Odd that you would use these precise criteria to show off how "unequal" your religion is. Why didn't you mention that you are the fastest growing religion? Wait, that's Islam. Why not mention that you're the largest Christian sect? Oh because that's Catholicism. The oldest religion? That's Hinduism. Of course, if you cherry pick the criteria for "most amazing religion ever", then you can force yours to win the race. What if a Catholic argued that Catholicism is true because it has the most numbers? Or because it's the oldest? Or because it was started by Peter? Essentially, your entire argument amounts to "because we preach more than the others do".