To the Household of God, Israel, and those who go with... may you all have peace!
This topic began on another thread of an unrelated topic (see http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/beliefs/242671/7/Believers-vs-Atheists-Why-this-formulation. In order to try and keep that thread from redirecting further, I am continuing some new thoughts brought up there here. After commenting on posts regarding what a christian is, dear Chariklo commented:
He is absolutely alive and here with us now, rejoicing when we rejoice, weeping when we weep, suffering with those who suffer.
She then posted:
this is something I somehow knew as a small child and I never lost. He comforted me then when things in my, say, five-year-old mind were hard...and I say five because I am thinking of one time when I was so aware of him, and I was five and had just started school...that may sound very trite but actually it was a reality that I just knew.
It is NOT trite, at all, dear Char (peace to you, dear one!). In fact, I've commented here many times that I first time I remember having heard our Lord speak to me when I was 3 years old. Briefly, he told me that a playmate was going to harm me. And she did - she snatch a broken orange juice bottle from my hand, slicing my palm (pretty deep, too!). The WTBTS' position that the "anointed" are old people (well, their former position, apparently, given their new stance on GB members, at least one or two of whom are younger than me!)... was false from the start. JAH and Christ have ALWAYS spoken to, called, and used children. I offer the following, just to name a few:
- Jacob (Israel), chosen before he was born
- Moses, hidden when a baby, so as to be preserved alive for a future work
- Samuel, dedicated to the temple when he was 3 and called when he was 5
- Josiah, anointed as king when he was 8
- Saul and David, anointed as kings when young men
- Jeremiah, chosen before he was born, called as JAH's prophet at about age 17
- Daniel, Hananiah, Azaraih, and Mischa'El (Shadrach, Meschach, and Abedniggo)... all protected and used by JAH as young boys
- Cyrus, chosen before he was born
- The young girl who told Naaman about Elijah
- John the Baptizer, chosen before he was born, sent out at age 26-27
- Christ himself, chosen before he was born, teaching at the temple at age 12, sent out at age 27
- Several of the apostles, called before age 30
Christ even told his disciples to NOT stop the young children from coming to him! And as Peter reiterated, the promise is for us... AND OUR CHILDREN (Acts 2:39). Noah wasn't saved alone - his three sons... and their wives... were also saved. Lot's daughters were saved with him. Everyone in Rahab's house was saved... even the children. Where in the WORLD the WTBTS got that whole serving for many years FIRST thing... is beyond me! Well, the world, okay... But NO ONE served many years before being called/used, not even Moses. Sure, Moses spent many years in the wilderness... so as to get to know the terrain... but he wasn't serving while he was out there!
The big puzzle to me is just how I got caught up with those awful JW's; well, I do know, and it wasn't promises of life with pandas! LOL!
The same as for all of us who did, dear one: we are children of [the] Light... attracted to truth and light... and they call themselves "the truth"... and say they have "[new] light." It was almost a given... because we were yet babes. And as long as their heirs are babes, they can be under men in charge (pedagogues)... until the time the Father appointed beforehand... for them to come under and be taught by Him, by means of the One He appointed TO teach us. Some of us had to stay under those men longer than others. Some of us were spared and dodged the entire experience (wink at dear tec!).
That light is also deadly, however. I don't know if you've ever read the analogy our Lord gave us, but it's taken from the movie, "A Bug's Life." In that movie, two bugs are flying, travelling, and they come across a patio in the desert that has a pretty large bug light. It's on... and its "glow" mesmerizing. One bug become hypnotized and starts drifting toward the light. The other shouts, "Louie, Louie! DON'T LOOK AT THE LIGHT!" To which "Louie" sleepily responds, "I can't HELP it - it's so beautiful!" Well, his friend rescues him just as he was about to get zapped! The WTBTS... indeed religion... is just like that bug light, dear one: false lights, masquerading as THE Light (of which there is only One - Christ)... in an effort to draw... and "kill"... the children OF Light. They LOOK like the true light... especially from afar. But up close... they are deadly to us!
Anyway, yes, he is alive and with us. Reach out, and he is there, so much more than an idea, yes, Tec, though an idea too.
YES!!
Wonderful, when you think of it, the Word of God, alive and active in that sense, through whom all things were created, Love in action, and alive and here now.
YES!!! He is alive... and speaks... and exerts power! He is not dead, not just sitting at the Father's right hand, but alive, acting... and working: he is subduing (teaching those who belong to him to pursue love, joy, PEACE, etc...!) while his enemies (Babylon the Great, her lovers - the kings of the earth, the false prophet, Gog, Magog... and death) still exist. Subduing... in the MIDST of his enemies! Until the time as GOD, the MOST Holy One of Israel... places them under his (Christ's) feet (Psalm 110:1, 2; 1 Corinthians 15:25, 26).
How cool is that?
Way cool, girl! WAY cool!
Do not marvel that you heard/knew of our Lord as a very young child. We all did, all of mankind. It's when the "world" talks us out of it, convinces us that such "friend" is imaginary, that some of us lose this reality. Then... we forget. To listen to him, talk to him... and ultimately, all about him. Which is why Christ said we must "turn AROUND"... and become "AS YOUNG CHILDREN." Because the kingdom of the heavens belongs to suchlike ones.
I hope this helps and, again, peace to you!
YOUR servant, sister, and fellow slave of Christ,
SA