This brother who is new to the local hall has NO CLUE I am an apostate in the WT's eyes. He was with a sister who also did not know me. We had a great conversation for 30 minutes about Jesus the 144,000 and the heavenly calling. I had been accepting mags for months from this brother.
this is a synopsis of the visit;
He gives me the invitation but I ask him If I attend this memorial and am a Christian, can I partake of the bread and the wine? He says No because unlike other churches teach they believe that not all christians should partake only those going to heaven which he didn't think was all of them. I told him I disagree and I KNOW I am going to heaven.
Since you don't partake, let me ask you this "If you die tomarrow, will you be resurrected?" he says yes he will. So then,I had him read scriptures in John 6: saying "unless you eat my body and drink my blood you have no life in you", If you do, "I will raise you on the last day". I asked him how he would be resurrected if he did not partake, when Jesus said "you have no life in you". He says that "life" means everlasting life and that is only for those going to heaven. He then mentions it is limited to only the 144,000. And that only they are in the new convenant with Jesus.
Right away I say "that number is not literal, it is taken from Rev. the most symbolic book of the bible." If you take it literal than they are all Jewish men who are virgins". Then he says "well, how come you are not taking John 6 as symbolic but literal and not Rev?" I am like thats a good Q, I am saying that because John wrote both books and he himself said Revelation was a vision given him by Christ "in signs and symbols". But he makes no such statement in John. That book is his gospel account of Jesus' teachings.
So now he throws out a red herring to distract from Revelation being symbolic and asks "well, what will people be doing in heaven?". I said they will reign with Christ. He is like well don't they have to reign over subjects on the earth? So I say, well we are not discussing that right now, we are discussing the fact that Christians go to heaven to be with Christ. He says again, well I don't believe I am going to heaven.
I say "thats fine then you are telling me you are fleshly and not spiritual because your mind is focused on earthly desires? He says yes I guess so. I am like, well I am not judgeing you for that but you know that means you will go through the trubulation and the judgement of the earth when Christ returns, then right?"
He says he will but so will I go through it. I then tell him "no I will not for you see, my hope is heavenly and I have already been covered by the blood of Christ, he has blotted out my sins, I have already been judged and the bible says there is no condemnation left for me. I have been saved and am "in Christ". I already have God's spirit testifying to this fact that I am a child of God.
He tells me "my sins are also blotted out", So I ask him "by what?", you just told me its not by the blood of the lamb because you do not partake at the memorial and are not in the new convenant. So you are in fact still in your sins. I ask him "whose sins are covered by the blood then, only 144,000?" He said no the whole worlds but only the 144,000 right now. And then he changes the subject again and asks me this:
So you are saying "once saved always saved", I tell him " I never said that, nor do I believe that, obviously if I became an Apostate ( I almost laughed when I used this word), after being a Christian and rejected Christ, since I have already been covered by the blood, I will not be saved. That is sinning against the holy spirit.
He then does not know where to go with it, the sister with him is quiet and just shaking her head. He looks confused because he just said he was not in the new convenant and is trying to explain further but really cannot. I said to him you are either in the new convenant or under the old one by law, which is it? He says he will be under the new covenant but not yet in the future.
By now my nieghbors (who are jewish) are looking over and wondering what is going on. And the brother and sister are getting nervous. So I wrap it up with this, I ask him to please research the "little flock" and "144,000" and the new convenant and come back so we can talk some more about it. Get all the scriptures you can together and I will invite you in to share them with me, to show me why you believe what you do". I tell him I will do this in love and not to argue. I am really trying to understand his beliefs.
Then I let him and the sister know that I accept them as brothers and sisters in the faith because they believe in Christ, although I am sure they don't feel the same. But they assurred me they are not to judge anyone's heart.
So it left off good, and they both promised to come back in a few weeks. I will keep everyone up to date on this. I hope they are ready for I will be also, Peace Lilly