Hey folks,
For those of you who dont know, I sent my JW friend a letter " http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/121182/1.ashx " After about 3 weeks, I got his reply in my inbox. I was pretty excited to read it, but only was I disappointed with some of the things he said, and Ill explain that after you read it, so here it is:
"Sorry it took so long to get back , I have been very busy lately.
But to answer the question about friendship, do you suppose your friendship should mean more to me than my friendship with God? And can we stop with the whole line about "I'm just asking questions" first of all their not even your questions, I find it hard to belive you were one day reading a yearbook of ours and had a question about it. All the questions about 1975 and so forth was stuff you got off the Internet.
And if you were truly asking me questions to learn you would not have been asking me question in order to trap me.(and don't say "what do you mean by trap?" please it insults me when you play stupid) Plus with the whole "if I show you in the bible will you BELIVE," is not an attitude of a person trying to learn, It is of a person trying to teach.And what are you trying to teach Matt? You said yourself you don't have anything as of yet.
It is the same with Satan and apostates, all they offer is doubt. Satan started that with Eve, Gen 3:1 ..............."Is it really so that God said YOU must not eat from every tree of the garden? " using questions to add doubt. Jesus made this statement at Matt 11:18-19 "18 Correspondingly, John came neither eating nor drinking, yet people say, 'He has a demon'; 19 the Son of man did come eating and drinking, still people say, 'Look! A man gluttonous and given to drinking wine, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.' All the same, wisdom is proved righteous by its works." There is no pleasing those type of people Matt. Satan even quotes scripture when he was tempting Jesus, Matt 4: 6 and said to him: "If you are a son of God, hurl yourself down; for it is written, 'He will give his angels a charge concerning you, and they will carry you on their hands, that you may at no time strike your foot against a stone.' Job was a blameless man yet Satan accused him of serving God not out of love but for selfish reasons. Job 2:1-4
If Satan and his followers can find fault with Jehovah, Jesus and faithful men of old, do you not think he and those with him can find fault with his imperfect followers today? Yes we are to test whether we are in the faith, by may ways, but not by unhealthful reasoning.
Romans 16:17 Now I exhort YOU, brothers, to keep your eye on those who cause divisions and occasions for stumbling contrary to the teaching that YOU have learned, and avoid them. 18 For men of that sort are slaves, not of our Lord Christ, but of their own bellies; and by smooth talk and complimentary speech they seduce the hearts of guileless ones.
James 1:5-8 So, if any one of YOU is lacking in wisdom, let him keep on asking God, for he gives generously to all and without reproaching; and it will be given him. 6 But let him keep on asking in faith, not doubting at all, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven by the wind and blown about. 7 In fact, let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from Jehovah; 8 he is an indecisive man, unsteady in all his ways.
The reason I have been avoiding you is because I don't know what to say to you anymore, I was very sad and I still am, to realize that you are never really going to change your way of living to one that God approves. People read the bible all the time but don't live there life according to it, they just make excuses so they can keep doing what they want. But the facts are in the bible:
1 Cor 6:9 What! Do YOU not know that unrighteous persons will not inherit God's kingdom? Do not be misled. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men kept for unnatural purposes, nor men who lie with men, 10 nor thieves, nor greedy persons, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit God's kingdom.
If you truly are looking for the right path Matt I'll tell you what to do, stop reading crap off the internet sit down and ernestly pray for God to direct your heart and mind, open up you bible and read (thats how he can talk to us by directing us to certan scriptures to answer questions). The thing is are you really ready to accept what changes you will have to make in your life when he answers you? Or do you just want to win an agument, prove a point or something else? Because if your not sincer or not willing to make changes what good will your prayer be?"
Ok, so first of all, I guess he totally forgot what he had told me before about trying to research the history of a religion to see if its the truth, and thats all I did. I read watchtower literature about the dates they have set for armageddon, but I guess I got it off of the internet so its not true. As for him saying I was trying to teach him, thats not correct because I am not a teacher by any means, but I did have a question about Jesus in the bible, and he didnt believe it was there, so I asked him, "if its there, will you believe the bible" not ME. I thought you might all enjoy his letter back to me, and I will be writing him another one, so if you would all like to comment, that would be great because you all give me lots more info to put in. Thanks all!
Matt