To what extent does the Watchtower consider Biblical Theology in their understanding of the Bible?

Question

is the Bible read as a set of sayings, principles and instructions, one-liners, proverbs ? I find most of the Bible study from the Watchtower appears as systematic theology i.e. they ask one lined questions such as "What does God say about xyz" or "What is acceptable worship?" without considering the overall story of the bible, which is what Biblical Theology seeks to do, which places the text in it's proper historical context and then poses the reader relative to that context and then extracts the meaning. Do you get what I'm saying? Here's the definition of Biblical Theology from wiki:

Biblical theology is a discipline within Christian theology which studies the Bible from the perspective of understanding the progressive history of God revealing Himself to humanity following the Fall and throughout the Old Testament and New Testament. It particularly focuses on the epochs of the Old Testament in order to understand how each part of it ultimately points forward to fulfillment in the life mission of Jesus Christ. Because scholars have tended to use the term in different ways, biblical theology has been notoriously difficult to define.[1]

Biblical theology seeks to understand a certain passage in the Bible in light of all of the biblical history leading up to it and later biblical references to that passage. It asks questions of the text such as:

How much does this person or group know about the attributes of God?
To what extent are God's plans revealed, such as future plans of sending Jesus as the messiah?
How has Israel responded to God's interactions with them up to this point?
How is a given theme or subject progressively developed throughout redemption history?
Biblical theology seeks to put individual texts in their historical context since what came before them is the foundation on which they are laid and what comes after is what they anticipate. Biblical theology is sometimes called the "history of special revelation" since it deals with the unfolding and expanding nature of revelation as history progresses through the Bible.

and this bit:

The motivation for this branch of theology comes from such passages as Luke 24.27: "And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, [Jesus] explained to [the disciples] what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself." The assumption of this text seems to be that the Old Testament anticipated the messiah and that Jesus fulfilled those prophecies. Thus, Biblical theologians suggest that, in order to understand the intended meaning of a Biblical text, one must understand what the text points toward or back to. For instance, when reading about the sacrificial system in the Old Testament, Biblical theologians follow the trajectory the Bible lays out for that system (namely, pointing to Jesus as the true sacrifice), and likewise, when a New Testament text refers back to the Old Testament (for example, Jesus being the son of David and heir of his covenant), they try to understand that text against its proper, specified background.

Answer 1

I'm impressed with wiki's definition, not bad at all.



If you've ever read the paragraphs and studies that the questions are related to you will find that the watchtower combines the Bible's message, historical context, what it reveals about Jehovah's plans, his attributes etc. etc. It is not a case of the watchtower study conductor standing on the platform and throwing out a question off the top of his head lol.



Come to one of our meetings and find out.

Answer 2

I see the aim & objective of the Watchtower is to give hindsight, and insight into biblical knowledge along with alittle foresight;-. Biblical theologians on the other hand tend to address the meaning of texts found in the Bible so as to a word by word understanding of just what God is saying in the language of the times and what it was addressing

as far as can be seen at the time of it's writing.



Thus I feel ideas and opinions become a matter & issue of study by which doctrines are established and debated becoming & leading to

many controversies of religious beliefs, out of which faith is a part.



The best of which the Witnesses & Watchtower have contrived.

Answer 3

is that this a humorous tale? the place's the digital camera's? putting Watchtower and stable interior the same sentence is easy nonsense. they have made maximum of fake predictions and maximum of fake doctrines. they are no longer able to study the Bible and help their doctrine, they could use their magazines to assist their perspectives. basically as they tutor from their Magazines and carry their bibles each Sunday of their fake Church's they call Kingdom Halls and tell every person they tutor from the Bible. Their history is a shameful one, a one among fake predictions and deceptions based on fake recommendations. i think of the GB completely understand the Bible yet they chosen to overlook relating to the certainty and save deception by using fact the certainty as a manner to maintain the enterprise in tact. The enterprise is the God of them, that regulations their very being. no longer the observe of God however the observe of the Almighty Watchtower!

Answer 4

Your question is interesting.

I wasn't sure how to answer it. I looked up what I could.

The term "theology" literally means the study of God, From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Webster’s dictionary defines theology as “The science of God or of religion;

We don't look at the Bible as the science of God or religion.

These are some schools we have to train us in are study of the Bible. We have what we call the Theocratic Ministry School in our local congregations. Pioneers are privileged to attend the Pioneer Service School. A number of experienced pioneers have had the pleasure of attending the school a second time. Elders and ministerial servants have attended the Kingdom Ministry School to enhance their teaching ability and the service they render to fellow believers. Numerous single elders and ministerial servants have gone through the Ministerial Training School, which equips them to help others in the preaching work. And many of the brothers and sisters who have received foreign missionary assignments have been trained at the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead.

Facilities at the Watchtower Educational Center in Patterson, New York, are being used to house three special schools, which provide advanced theocratic training. The five-month course of the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead prepares ministers for missionary work in foreign fields. Branch Committee members from around the world attend a two-month course on branch organization. In May 1999 a new two-month course for traveling overseers began with a class of 48 students from the United States and Canada. All of Jehovah’s servants ultimately receive fine benefits from the training Jehovah is providing through these various schools.



We also have an international educational program which now operates in 233 lands.



Many seminaries of Christendom teach worldly philosophies and downgrade the Bible, these Witness schools inculcate deep faith in God’s Word. They show its practical application as to clean, moral living and dedicated service to God. We feel as 2 Timothy 3:16 says



16 All Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial for teaching, for reproving, for setting things straight, for disciplining in righteousness, 17 that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.



I hope this helped. If not I'm sorry.

Answer 5

WE Ask direct Question ......and will give you a direct answer



Example....When Satan led Adam and Eve into sinning against God, he was really leading a rebellion. He was challenging Jehovah’s way of ruling. In effect, Satan was saying: ‘God is a bad ruler. He tells lies and holds back good things from his subjects. Humans do not need to have God ruling over them. They can decide for themselves what is good and what is bad. And they will be better off under my rulership.’ How would God handle such an insulting challenge? Some think that God should simply have put the rebels to death. But would that have answered Satan’s challenge? Would it have proved that God’s way of ruling is right?



9 Jehovah’s perfect sense of justice would not allow him to put the rebels to death right away. He decided that time was needed to answer Satan’s challenge in a satisfying way and to prove that the Devil is a liar. So God determined that he would permit humans to rule themselves for some time under Satan’s influence. Why Jehovah did that and why he has allowed so much time to pass before settling these issues will be discussed in Chapter 11 of this book. Now, though, it is good to think about this: Were Adam and Eve right to believe Satan, who had never done anything good for them? Was it right for them to believe that Jehovah, who had given them everything they had, is a cruel liar? What would you have done?





What challenge did Satan evidently make?



(b) Why did God not destroy the rebels immediately?



What would you answer??