by garyneal 51 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
I realize that if I am to reject the Watchtower doctrine as having the truth and not become one of the Jehovah's Witnesses then I need to be able to offer an alternative.
The need to offer an alternative is black and white thinking of a type promoted by a high control groups like the Watchtower.
"I don't know and I accept that I may never know" is a valid option.
Don't let them suck you into that 'where else would I go' mentality.
besty,
Good point. I guess I have been studying with them for too long that I have started to 'think' like them in some ways. God has been working on me to correct that I know because the church I am attending now does things so differently in regards to their worship service than the witnesses do that when I first entered the church I kept thinking about all the things that seemed unorthodoxed about them. Truth is, I never thought this way before I started studying with them. Never-the-less, finding a good Bible believing church is still very important.
Never-the-less, finding a good Bible believing church is still very important.
Yes it is Gary. I accepted the Lord through a business friend and started attending a Methodist Church, then a seeker friendly type church, out grew that and found a nice Independent Baptist church not affiliated with any organization what-so-ever. I found the sweetest people I ever met in my life there. They are not protestant. Extremely well educated in the bible.
It was not the first Independent Baptist church we checked out. But, even the ones we passed over were preaching the word like we'd never heard before. I could never go back to a demonational church again....but that just me.
I think you'll find www.wayoflife.org to be a fair representation of an Independent Baptist Church and doctrine.
Find a good bible teaching, KJV preaching church is my advice to anyone. Keep in mind though that the Lord is saving individuals, not organizations.
Pensacola Christian College is one of the main bible schools for Independent Baptists as well as THE SOURCE for the acclaimed A BEKA school curriculum for home schoolers.
Good Luck!
Hi garyneal,
I haven't read all of your postss but I think I know what you are trying to get at. Your faith and determination to get right to the nub of the situation by personal Bible study is to me inspirational.
It is true that even Evangelicals who attend solid Bible churches don't know their theology and Bible these days. To my way of thinking, this is why the WT is so sucessful because they have elevated the sledgehammer approach to Bible "proof texts" to a fine art, which seems to prove that they have it right. And then once you start believing their doctrine, human nature makes it very difficult for a person to admit or allow that they may be in error. In my church, which is very conservative, there are people that are just not interested in doctrine. I know it's very frustrating for our pastor but you just cannot make people study doctrine if they don't want to. But over all, most people in my church do in fact know their Bible and doctrine.
I think the way you are going about this is good in that you are studying the Bible and comparing it to WT writings and seeing that the two don't agree. I want to say though that there are many protestant churches that are very liberal and don't hold the Bible in high regard. So use caution when visiting them. Just because a church is Baptist or Presbyterian doesn't mean that you can count on hearing the Gospel. A church, if it is serious, will have a "Statement of Faith" or "Doctrinal Statement" which should spell out exactly what they believe. I would ask someone at any of these churches for a copy and if they scratch their heads and look at you like you are some kind of nut, take that to mean that they have no statement of faith and look somewhere else.
Of course, the most important thing (which you are already doing) is prayer. Every day, ask the lord Jesus to guide you and direct you as you present the Gospel to your wife. I say present the gospel to your wife, rather than point out the errors in the WT. It is better in my opinion to present a positive rather than disprove a negative. God in Christ can and will do a big work in you, so shine the gospel light, it will cut through the thickest fog.
take care,
Tom
Thanks Thomas,
I think in our household, there is a combination of sharing the gospel and pointing out the errors, depends on my mood. I went with her to the Kingdom Hall one Wednesday night recently and upon our return, we talked about the need for salvation. I asked her why she felt like she needed salvation. She gave me a smattering of answers, ranging from why she felt like she deserved it to why she wants to live in the new system of things, etc.. I asked her again, "Why do you need salvation?" More answers about wanting everlasting life and having the Earthly hope. I asked here again, "So why do you need salvation?"
"What do you mean?" she asked. I told her that perhaps I can tell her why I feel that we need salvation. First off, there is nothing we can ever do to earn it. If we were to get what we deserve, we would get everlasting death. We cannot possibly hope to obtain salvation for ourselves. We need someone to 'give' it to us. Most importantly, we do not deserve it. We were born sinners and we cannot possibly ever make ourselves look perfect in God's eyes. But because Jesus bore our sins and took them with Him to the grave, He took away our sins and made us look perfect in God's eyes. All we have to do is ask God for this free gift and He will give it to us. Repent of our sincs and ask for the Lord Jesus Christ to come into our hearts and make Him Lord of our life. We need not add anything else to it for Jesus said, "It is finished."
"Why do you say we deserve death?" she asked, "and how could He make us look perfect in God's eyes." "We can never be perfect in God's eyes." I said, not by ourselves no, but by Jesus Christ.
"Why do you need salvation?"
Good question. I think most people 'need' it so they can 'get' everlasting life. Whatever that means.
I've always wondered why people needed religion.
Perry said, re: an Independant Baptist Church:
"They are not protestant."
Ya lost me Perry. What does that mean?
om
Hello Gary,
I guess I have been studying with them for too long that I have started to 'think' like them in some ways. God has been working on me to correct that I know because the church I am attending now does things so differently in regards to their worship service than the witnesses do that when I first entered the church I kept thinking about all the things that seemed unorthodoxed about them. Truth is, I never thought this way before I started studying with them.
I never studied with the JWs, only studied what they believed (I have a friend who is a JW). In one sense that was good for my own beliefs.
That said the Lord told me in a dream to give the NWT reference bible back to my JW friend as it was "corrupting the bread", which indeed it was.
If I recall the words of John 1:1 I occasionally get confused as to the real rendering of the verse, such is its importance for JWs.
Anyhow, these passages are worth bearing in mind
9 Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, 11 for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works.
8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. 9 As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed.
"They are not protestant."Ya lost me Perry. What does that mean?
Over 70 popes in a row ordered the massacre of indigenous Christians (conservatively 50 million) throughout Europe primarily because they believed in separation of church and state. This was possibly the greatest massacre of human history, certainly it was the most inhumane, and it is barely mentioned today. From these groups, we get the preserved word of God in the majority text which has about a 99% agreement among those thousands of manuscripts.
These people, known by many names were aligned with the Reformers for about a decade or so, in hopes of relief from persecution. But then tragically the reformers' religions became aligned with the various states of their local. So, that by the end of the sixteenth century there were not one, but five state religions...Eastern Catholic, Western Catholic, Church of England, Luthern or Church of Germany, and the Church of Scotland now known as Presbyterian. Like their state run predecessors, they too began to torture, maim and kill indigenous Christians as well.
That there was always a great body of Christians not aligned with state run religions is perhaps the best kept secret today.
There is a history of these Christians that runs from Antioch (where the term Christian was first used ) up to today. A few of the names by which they were known in order of chronology are as follows:
Montanists, Donatists, Paterins Cathari, Paulicians, Arnoldists, Henricans, Albigenses, Waldenses, Anabaptists etc. There were many other derogatory names attributed as well.
These people and their like-minded descendants are not Pro-testants, simply because they never "protested". They just wanted to be left alone in their belief that Christ alone was the head of the local congregation. Since these groups had the scriptures in their own native tongues, they didn't need some state supported "scholar" to tell them what God said. They could simply read it for themselves. This of course flies in the face of those who would prefer to control rather than to intellectually engage.
A tremendous debt is owed to these peoples by all Christians today.
Thanks for the explanation Perry.
I was going by one of several Webster's definitions:
"A Christian not of a Catholic or Eastern Church."
Now I understand the context in which you used the term.
Thanks,
om
