Featured Posts:

• Jargon and “Theocratic Language”

  Jargon is often used to obfuscate the intended meaning of something to those outside of a particular club or group. This is the stock-in-trade of lawyers, politicians, and orators. They manipulate the words and symbols of speech to persuade and to convince. It is their hammer and their wrench, and they use these tools with aplomb. Likewise, the auto mechanic and the computer repairman has been known to use the jargon of their trade to exert their influence and superior knowledge over the average person.
  And this brings us to the “theocratic language”, a term coined and employed by Jehovah’s Witnesses. The scripture in Zephaniah 3:9 is used as the origin of the term. It contains the expression “pure language” and reads this way in the New World Translation:

  “Then I shall give to peoples the change to a pure language, in order for them all to call upon the name of Jehovah, in order to serve him shoulder to shoulder.” (Zeph. 3:9)
• Was Jesus Ever Disfellowshipped?

  “The majority judged that [Jesus] was bad because he did not conform to their ideas of how the Sabbath should be kept. But the real reason was that Jesus ignored these ecclesiastics [the Scribes and Pharisees]; and this was a cause of deep anger. They excommunicated both Jesus and the man who was the recipient of his goodness.” (Watchtower 1926, February 15, page 60 paragraphs 11-12)

  The logic of this article is sound, and it is well-written despite it being a very old quote. So have you ever thought of this notion before? And what does the fact that he was cast out say to us today as modern-day followers of Christ? That Jesus was “excommunicated” or “disfellowshipped” by the religious leaders of his day is not that shocking- we know that is one of the things the Pharisees did to maintain power and control over their fellow brothers and sisters. For anyone that opposed them, it was their ultimate weapon. But why was he disfellowshipped by these ones?