by wizzstick 79 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Thanks AnnOMaly - really appreciate all your support with this.
Concerning:
An earthly class did appear before then but they weren't identified with the 'great crowd' which was, back in the Russellite era, another spirit-begotten, heavenly class
Was that known as the Jonadab class?
In 2007, the WT was forced to do away with 1935 when the last 3 Governing Body members (who were born before 1935) passed away.
The current Governing Body has no members who were born before 1935.
But when they erased 1935, they never provided a NEW start date for the Great Crowd.
Ann yes, Jesus is reported to have coined the expression "Other Sheep" but it was in the context of the "Fold" of ISRAEL, the 12 tribe holding pen of all Gods worshippers.
the OS he mentioned are the yet to come OS of the Corneilius kind, not the ones WT fabricted in 1935, and then retroactively imputed from Abel on if necessary.
In 2007, the WT was forced to do away with 1935 when the last 3 Governing Body members (who were born before 1935) passed away. The current Governing Body has no members who were born before 1935. But when they erased 1935, they never provided a NEW start date for the Great Crowd.
I was going to say 'but that was about erasing 1935 as the date for the sealing of the annointed...not for identifying the Great Crowd'...but thinking about it one followed the other right?
Caleb, they never provided a starting date, because the starting date is Pentecost or the Baptism of Cornelius, or the death of Stephen at the latest. and it will finish when the winds of destructions are let loose.
In the meantime think of yourself as an spititual Israelite not a whooly OS wt sheep. to be shorn.
Let the Caleb airplane get some take off speed and rotate. become airborne. rise up.
The eagle is the symbol of wisdom. just dont become a nose-up wt overseer.
However great crowd is a misnomer as they are the ones that come out of the GT, and if, for example, the GT is 100 years away then actually all who are alive today are actually other sheep without realising it.
On any kind of scale at all, this possibility is a nightmare. Christians don't serve God specifically for a reward, but without a reward, they would be "...most to be pitied.."
What would be the point of even being a JW if all that happens after a lifetime of faithfulness is you grow old and die just like everyone else? Why not go to college? Why not enjoy life? Instead of meetings and door knocking, why not hang gliding and mountain climbing?
Or take the sad case of Max Leibster, who passed away in 2008. A number of JW's suffered right along side him. What, in retrospect was the point in facing the horrors of a concentration camp? What is the point in being faithful if you simply grow old and die and await a resurrection right along with your captors?
Please, permit me to add to the JW confusion:
Recently, Jesus had comforted his followers, saying: “Have no fear, little flock, because your Father has approved of giving you the kingdom.” This little flock, which eventually numbers 144,000, comes into this new, or second, sheepfold. But Jesus goes on to observe: “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; those also I must bring, and they will listen to my voice, and they will become one flock, one shepherd.”
Since the “other sheep” are “not of this fold,” they must be of another fold, a third one. These last two folds, or pens of sheep, have different destinies. The “little flock” in one fold will rule with Christ in heaven, and the “other sheep” in the other fold will live on the Paradise earth. Yet, despite being in two folds, the sheep have no jealousy, nor do they feel segregated, for as Jesus says, they “become one flock” under “one shepherd.”
The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived, chap. 80 - The Sheepfolds and the Shepherd
So wt in their confusion realise that the 12 tribes are earthly.
LOL. (Also check out w.2010, 3/15, p. 25, par. 6.) The 'other sheep' are part of 'Israel' in certain contexts, i.e. when it suits the GB, BUT they are not the 'Israel of God.'
think about this: even Jesus started out humanly as an Iraelite, with feet firmly planted on the earth.
He sacrificed his right to live forever on this earth (if he continued to be faithful), he was the second man, "second, last adam" who had that right, and gave that up.
Christians that will join Jesus also will have to be martyred like him, giving up, sacrificing their everlasting life that they have by virtue of the new covenant, to gain immortality like Christ.
Ann,
All christians make up the ISRAEL OF GOD, of course it has 12 tribes.
There are not 24 tribes of Israel, no, only in
wt fantasia. 12 tribes of Rev.7:-------- earthly, -- as they have said
12 tribes of the so-called anointed. -- as they have said, but
if you cut through that fog,
there is only one Israel of God, 12 spiritual tribes of Christians, Israelites all, in the New Covenant all, but:
144 000 sealed to be close to Christ, to be immortal too.
The Great Crowd started to appear when they heard someone was handing out free bread and fish.
