Even in the anniversary year were they claim Jesus being enthroned for a hundred years they talk and say Jehovah is king, its still all about Jehovah, I don't get it?
why does the Wt hate Jesus so much?
by Crazyguy 14 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Satanus
Jesus = left wing, socialist, lack of control, freedom, life.
Jehovah/yhwh = right wing, control, guilt, survillance, suppression, kill.
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designs
Its all about being anti-christendom. The JW brand requires being different.
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villagegirl
I think I remember reading in Crisis of Conscience, where Ray
Franz commented on the fact that JW's are not spiritual people.
An interesting comment, since they all claim to belong to the one
'true religion'. I think its a very material religion, always looking
to a "visible" earthly organization with a material reward and a
visible group of men leading them.
The ideas of Christianity as expressed by Jesus are things
like an inward dwelling of the Christ in you,
a mysterious oneness in the Body of Christ, which is
unseen to the human eye.
Eph 2:22 And in him you too are being built together
to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit.
Can you imagine a JW even saying something like that ?
Or Romans 8:11 ?
And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you,he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your
mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
Ever here that at a meeting ?
JW's have no idea at all what this is and have never heard it from the magazines
or the books they study or at any assembly they went to.
The JW's are terrified or embarrassed by John 3:3 Jesus answered him,
“Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born againhe cannot see the kingdom of God.” They all think anyone speaking
of being born again has gone mad and should be shunned or laughed at.
Yet these things are the main messages of the Gospels, the good news
of the Christ. And amazingly enough, some do find their way out
and awaken and Christ shines upon them.
Ephesians 5:14
New English Translation (NET)
14 For everything made evident is light,
and for this reason it says:
“Awake, O sleeper!
Rise from the dead,
and Christ will shine on you!”The irony is the Awake magazine was named after the above scripture.
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AlphaMan
Because if the Jehovah religion leaders talk about Jesus alot the members my remember there is someone in power between the Governing Body and God.
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JeffT
Jehovah's Witnesses are basically an old testament religion.
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villagegirl
AlphaMan There is no man or men or special group who we need to "go through"
or be attached to, or who are the ones representing God on earth, or are a "sole channel"
John 14:6
New International Version (NIV)
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
If a "slave class" or a governing bdy or an organization were required
Jesus never spoke of it, and neither did any Apostle or Disciple, it was
always one on one, direct access, one intermediary, no in betweens ;
1 Timothy 2:5
New English Translation (NET)
5 For there is one God and one intermediary between God and humanity,
Christ Jesus, himself human.
JeffT Old Testament ? Except the Priesthood was done away with and Jesus
replaced the Priesthood and became the sacrifice, and freed all mankind with
no exceptions and told us to take care of one another and use our talents and
feed the hungry and clothe the naked and change the world. Not condemn it.
John 12:44-50
English Standard Version (ESV)
Jesus Came to Save the World
44 And Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me but in him who sent me.
45 And whoever sees me sees him who sent me.
46 I have come into the world as light, so that whoever believes in me may not remain in darkness.
47 If anyone hears my words and does not keep them, I do not judge him;
for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world.
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blondie
God
Jesus
Anointed
Other Sheep
In the first century Christians understood their destinay was to live a faithful life as Christ's followers and they they would rule with him in heaven. It was late in the current bible writings (Revelation) that any mention of a specific number (144,000) occurred. Did they think these had to be literal jews, I don't think so considering Gentile Christians were accepted in the same way as those of Jewish heritage.
In the beginning of the WTS (1879), they understood God was gathering the anointed, so they had the same status in the congregation, the same hope that early Christians seemed to have. Jesus was their older brother and God was their father and the angels were also their brothers. The NT speaks often of this familial relationship that starts with their baptism and the holy spirit bearing witness with the individual's spirit.
But the great crowd/other sheep are not given that hope and that their being part of the family as adoption does not take for another 1,000 years. Doesn't breed closeness with Christ nor God. And even after this QFR below, it is circular and let's the other sheep know that they are not SPECIAL.
(1 Corinthians 2:16) 16 For “who has come to know the mind of Jehovah, that he may instruct him?” But we do have the mind of Christ.
*** w96 6/15 p. 31 Questions From Readers ***
Can we say that God’s servants today who have the earthly hope have as much of God’s spirit as do spirit-anointed Christians?
This question is not a new one. This same matter was addressed in “Questions From Readers” in The Watchtower of April 15, 1952. Many have become Witnesses since then, so we can consider the question and in the process review what that earlier material said.
Fundamentally, the answer is, yes, faithful brothers and sisters of the other sheep class can share equally with anointed ones in receiving God’s holy spirit.—John 10:16.
This, of course, does not mean that the spirit operates in the same way on all individuals. Think back to faithful servants in pre-Christian times, who certainly received God’s spirit. With power from the spirit, some of them slew ferocious beasts, cured the sick, even raised the dead. And they needed the spirit to write inspired books of the Bible. (Judges 13:24, 25; 14:5, 6; 1 Kings 17:17-24; 2 Kings 4:17-37; 5:1-14) The Watchtower said: “Though not of the anointed class, they were filled with holy spirit.”
From another angle, consider men and women in the first century who were anointed with holy spirit, becoming spiritual sons of God with the heavenly hope. All had been anointed, but that does not mean that the spirit thereafter operated in the same way on all of them. That is clear from 1 Corinthians chapter 12. There the apostle Paul discussed gifts of the spirit. We read in verses 8, 9, and 11: “To one there is given through the spirit speech of wisdom, to another speech of knowledge according to the same spirit, to another faith by the same spirit, to another gifts of healings by that one spirit. . . . But all these operations the one and the same spirit performs, making a distribution to each one respectively just as it wills.”
Significantly, not all anointed ones back then had miraculous gifts of the spirit. In 1 Corinthians chapter 14, Paul mentioned a congregation meeting in which one had the gift of tongues, but no one present had the gift of translation. Nonetheless, at some earlier point, each one of them had experienced anointing with spirit. Would it be reasonable to say that the brother having the gift of tongues had more of the spirit than others present? No. Those other anointed ones were not disadvantaged, as if unable to understand the Bible as well as that one or unable to face trials as well. The spirit operated in a special way on the brother who could speak in tongues. Still, he and they needed to stay close to Jehovah and to “keep getting filled with spirit,” as Paul wrote.—Ephesians 5:18. (B: of course none of the jw anointed have any of these "gifts")
Regarding those of the remnant today, they certainly have received God’s spirit. At one point it operated on them in a special way—at the time when they were anointed and adopted as spiritual sons. Thereafter they “keep getting filled with spirit,” having its help when they seek to understand the Bible more clearly, take the lead in the preaching work, or face tests—personal or organizational.
Members of the “other sheep,” though not having had the experience of being anointed, in other respects do receive holy spirit. The Watchtower of April 15, 1952, observed:
“The ‘other sheep’ today perform the same preaching work as the remnant, under the same trying conditions, and manifest the same faithfulness and integrity. They feed at the same spiritual table, eating the same food, absorbing the same truths. Being of the earthly class, with earthly hopes and a keen interest in earthly things, they might interest themselves more in scriptures relating to earthly conditions in the new world; whereas the anointed remnant, with heavenly hopes and strong personal interest in the things of the spirit, might study more diligently those things in God’s Word.. . . Yet the fact remains that the same truths and the same understanding are available to both classes, and it is just how the individuals apply themselves in study that determines the comprehension of heavenly and earthly things they acquire. The Lord’s spirit is available in equal portions to both classes, and knowledge and understanding are offered equally to both, with equal opportunities for absorbing it.”
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Listener
Once they started calling themselves Jehovah's Witnesses their focus had to be on Jehovah, not Jesus.
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Cold Steel
Seeing that the early Christians associated Jesus as the Old Testament Yahweh, it still hasn't dawned on them. They still think he was an angel and have even depicted him with wings.