yes, that's it!
yknot, you are deserving of my thanks! :)
Thank you.
July 15 Study Edition
by StAnn 36 Replies latest watchtower bible
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abbagail
"...they don't have the authority, knowledge, or skill to interpret a menu, let alone the Bible."
Heehee StAnn. -
abbagail
Hey WT Wizard;
You gave an excellent description of WT DOCTRINE, not the Biblical one.
Babies are saved. After Christ's shed blood to cover the sins of the world, babies are saved.
And as far as "if he thinks you could have done a bit better, he will have no problem destroying you" -- I've got great news for you: Salvation does NOT depend on "PERFORMANCE." Salvation is by FAITH in the shed blood of Christ to cover our inherited adamic sin nature. It also covers all of our day-to-day sins (losing temper, or whatever). Salvation cannot be lost due to "lack of performance" or "works" as WT wants you to believe.
Various "rewards" can be lost, but your heavenly hope/eternal salvation can never be lost.
Hard to believe, I know, but that's why it is called the GOSPEL of GRACE, something you will never read about in a WT mag, nor hear preached at any KH on the planet.
Watchtower = WORKS, PERFORMANCE BASED.
GRACE = You are COVERED by the blood of Jesus. No "performance" required, only FAITH in the provision of salvation through what Jesus did for us so we wouldn't have to pay our own penalty.
As a matter of fact, you can sit on the couch and eat popcorn forever more after you are saved, and never lift a finger for God, and you will still be saved.
That's why God calls it GRACE.
That's how much HE VALUES what Jesus did, enough to cover couch potatoes! ;-)
(not saying you are a couch potato, just using an example). -
abbagail
[...]
BUT they fail to acknowledge that they don’t preach the good news about Jesus.
They preach the good news of the Kingdom.
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Exactly! Good catch, yesidid! -
abbagail
[...]
"...pass through the midst of the city" and "PUT A MARK on the foreheads of the men that are sighing and groaning over all the detestable things that are being done in the midst of it." Following that marking work, the six men with the slaughtering weapons are commanded to EXECUTE ALL those who do NOT have the mark.--Read Ezekiel 9:1-6.
[...]
WT continues: "We understand that in the fulfillment of this prophecy..." blah blah blah. Well, guess what? They understand it WRONG. Prophecies to Israel APPLIED TO Israel. The Ezekiel 9:1-6 has NOTHING to do with the preaching of the current "church age" Gospel of Grace.
However, if WT keeps pressing this issue (not a new one either, as I remember the Ezekiel inkhorn articles in the 1980s), but if they continue to push it now, me thinks it may just cause "confusion" for the JWs re: End Times events because, as you know, in Revelation 13-14-15-16-19-20, the exact OPPOSITE scenario takes place, ie, those who GET MARKED are the "BAD guys" and those who REFUSE the mark are the "GOOD guys."
It would be just like the WT to want to purposefully "confuse" the JWs and the householders to keep them in bondage and lead them along to accepting the Mark of the Beast unwittingly, like so:
WT teaches the Mark of the Beast is "allegorical," ie, not literal.
So when the real Mark of the Beast IS LITERALLY fulfilled (as ALL prophecy is LITERALLY fulfilled, always has been and always will be), then I can hear the WT zapping out a new study article saying, "This is the Ezekiel Marking taking place! So by all means, take the Mark!" - etc. etc.)
See what I mean? A long shot maybe, but you never know what goes on in that crazy Ivory Tower... :-/ -
abbagail
StAnn wrote:
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Imagine how "householders" would feel if they knew that they were included in the "incorrigibly wicked" class. This is intentionally deceitful writing. Not that I'm surprised, just don't know how to combat it.
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This may sound overly simple, but all I could think is: Combat lies with truth.
WT focuses mostly on "Armageddon" and, true, those taking part in that battle will already have proven themselves to be "incorrigibly wicked." But many others are merely "lost" -- not necessarily "wicked" as we would think of wickeness (ax murderers, pedophiles, etc.) -- but merely "lost" in that if they reject the redemption/salvation offer for their "adamic nature" (sin) by means of the shed blood of Christ, then by default, they are making the choice to "pay for their own sin," so to speak. People can deny the reality of that, but it's true nonetheless.
But the Gospel of Grace soooo overflows, it is so beautiful really. All we have to do is acknowledge we are unable to save ourselves (from our adamic nature, born in sin), accept Christ's redeeming shed blood to cover over our sins, then we are eternally saved and cannot be lost (we can lose rewards, but not our salvation). And God from that instant when we are saved and going forward looks at us, not as we really are (still in flesh, prone to daily type sins), but he sees us from that point forward THROUGH what JESUS did, and in that way we are "declared righteous."
IN CHRIST we are:
* Crucified with him (he paid the price so we don't have to)
* Buried with him (to our Adamic sin nature)
* Raised with him (to a newness of life, ie, our "righteous standing" before God)
* Ascended with him (to our heavenly calling)
* Seated with him (at the right hand of God)
All of that is our "POSITION IN CHRIST" the moment we are saved. We don't even "have to" get baptized (which is "works" and was for Israel anyway), because we are "baptized into his death" and "raised up" with him when he was resurrected.
We will experience our "position in Christ" in a LITERAL way when Christ comes for his "Body" when we will "be caught away to meet the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord" and at that same time we "will be changed, in an instant, in the twinkling of an eye" from "corruptible to incorruptible." We will have a body just like his, and so we shall see him "just as he is."
This is the Gospel of Grace, the Blessed hope, open to EVERYONE (no class distinctions) during the current "church age" (a/k/a Grace age) which sadly, JWs themselves don't even understand since WT doesn't teach Grace. It is a message of love and forgiveness and eternal security, vs. Armageddon fear tactics and "do more do more, never good enough, never can do enough" fear of losing one's salvation -- all those being WT's' favorite subjects.
Everyone may not agree, but that's the "truth" that I use to "combat" the WT lies.
HTH! -
abbagail
One more... I don't get here too often anymore, and kinda on a roll here...
TopHat wrote:
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How can any of us know these people are "anointed" by Jehovah? So many other so called Christian religions are preaching the "good News."
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Excellent question with an Easy answer: Scriptures, understanding them correctly without WT interference. (and it's not as hard as it sounds. WT doctrine is way more confusing, a mixture of Kingdom Dominionism, Legalism, Catholicism [yeah, believe it nor not, RCC, and other "mainstream religions" and WT teach same "Replacement Theology" and "allegorizing" of literal Scriptures] etc.
WT's "anointed" racket is all wrong, for starters. The 144,000 will be a literal fulfillment re: Israel, just as the Bible says (Rev. 7 and 14). (All prophecy is fulfilled literally, always was, and always will be in the future).
The "little flock" also applies to literal and "little" Israel. (How to know for sure? Ask: Who was Jesus speaking to when he said it? And there's your answer. ;-)
The "other sheep" are Gentiles, or everyone who is not of the House of Israel. (Again, who was Jesus speaking to when he said "other sheep"? He was speaking to Israel, and if Israel was the "little flock," then the "other sheep," by simple reason of deduction, has to refer to those NOT of Israel, ie, the Gentiles that the Lord would bring in later).
During the current "age of Grace" (the Gospel of Grace, post-crucifixion/salvation message -- vs. pre-crucifixion Kingdom message) is open and available to ALL humans everywhere with no "class distinction" (as in the WT's heirarchal system). EVERYONE who puts faith in the shed blood of Christ for forgiveness of their sins comes under this Grace, and have the SAME hope, the HEAVENLY HOPE, the BLESSED hope (being changed in an instant in the twinkling of an eye, with our bodies transformed from mortal to immortality, from corruptible to incorruptible, and in that state we will be able to see the Lord in all his glory face to face).
If a JW comes to understand this and gets saved, then they would become part of the Body of Christ, which the WT loves to call the "anointed class" (ie, not the WT's 144,000, but the true "anointed" are members of "Christ's body" - read Paul's epistles, he was commissioned as the apostle to the Gentiles (to the "nations"/NWT). His sole gospel is that of GRACE, not "works" and not "laws" (WT laws).
The "Gospel of the Kingdom" and all OT prophecies re: the earthly Kingdom were preached only to the House of Israel...(Matt. 15:24; 10:5,6). As a nation, they rejected the message and their Messiah, so the veil was put over their eyes TEMPORARILY -- UNTIL "the full number of the Gentiles is brought in" - Romans 11:25. THEN the "Kingdom Gospel" will be preached once again to the House of Israel via the 144,000 Jewish virgins, and the "two witnesses," etc.
The unbelieving world who rejected the Grace salvation message, when the "church age/age of Grace" ends and the Tribulation begins, these will also witness this Kingdom preaching work, and they can come to salvation during that time (the Tribulation), but they will NOT receive the HEAVENLY hope nor an immortal body, as the time-span for that will have ended with the church age/age of Grace/Body of Christ, but they will have opportunity to live under the Kingdom on earth in their mortal bodies, along with the saved-remnant (1/3) of literal Israel.
Don't let WT convince you that you would not be interested in a heavenly calling, or that the earthly paradise is the only thing God has for you. It's not true. Check it out! They convinced me I "wasn't good enough" for heaven for 11 years. But that's the whole point of Grace, WE in ourselves WILL NEVER BE "good enough" because no human can live without sinning. Only the 100% God/100% Man, Jesus Christ, was able to do that because he did not have a human father (did not inherit adamic sin). But you probably know all that already. But I hope the distinction was at least made re: your Q re: the JW "anointed" class vs. other Christians preaching the good news, and indeed they are! And it's a GLORIOUS GOOD NEWS of GRACE! To the Jew First, and also to the Greek, all have opportunity NOW to be of the anointed heavenly Body of Christ, adopted as sons/daughters, heirs of God, joint heirs with Christ!
Hope this makes sense! ;-) I'm kinda rushing.