Formerbrother: Sorry about that. Here is the source: ws11 7/15 pp. 10-16 - The Watchtower (Simplified)—2011
What is the alternative to JW?
by Formerbrother 475 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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RocketQueen
magic sky man is far more believable than scientific research...
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Formerbrother
That video is a joke, its quite funny actually. If this is the best evolutionists can do then I do truly feel sorry for them.
The more you study the more you realise just how little we know, just human wisdom can not compare with the wisdom of Jehovah the loving creator.
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Formerbrother
TheLiberator17 hours ago
Formerbrother: Sorry about that. Here is the source: ws11 7/15 pp. 10-16 - The Watchtower (Simplified)—2011-Very faith strengthening article, thanks for the link. Its well worth reading those scriptures about Paul and timothy, then really thinking about everything with an open unbiased mind.
http://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/402011524
DO NOT FOLLOW “FALSE TEACHERS”
3, 4. (a) Why are false teachers like wells with no water? (b) Where do false teachers come from, and what do they want to do?
3 Imagine that on your journey, you go through a desert and you get thirsty. In the distance, you see a well. You think that you will find water in it, so you walk toward it. But when you get to the well, there is no water. You are very disappointed! We can say that the truth is like water and that false teachers are like wells with no water. People who think that these teachers have the truth will be disappointed. Through the apostles Paul and Peter, Jehovah warns us about false teachers. (Read Acts 20:29, 30; 2 Peter 2:1-3.) Who are these false teachers? The words of Paul and Peter tell us where false teachers come from and how they fool people.
4 Paul said to the elders of the congregation in Ephesus: “From among you yourselves men will rise and speak twisted things.” And Peter wrote in a letter to several congregations: “There will also be false teachers among you.” So false teachers may come from inside the congregation. These false teachers are apostates.* (See footnote.) What do they want? Paul said that when they leave Jehovah’s organization, they want “to draw away the disciples after themselves.” The disciples Paul is talking about are the disciples of Jesus Christ. These false teachers do not go outside the congregation to make disciples. They try to take, or steal, disciples from inside the congregation. Jesus said that apostates are like wolves that eat the sheep. Apostates want to destroy the faith of the members of the congregation and want them to leave the truth.—Matthew 7:15;2 Timothy 2:18.
5. How do false teachers fool people?
5 How do false teachers fool people? They do this in a very clever way. Apostates “quietly” bring their ideas into the congregation, like criminals who secretly bring things into a country. Apostates use “counterfeit words.” This means that they say things that make their false ideas sound true, like criminals who make false documents look real. They try to get as many people as possible to believe their “deceptive teachings.” Peter also said that they like twisting the Scriptures. They explain Bible verses in the wrong way to make others believe their ideas. (2 Peter 2:1, 3, 13; 3:16) Apostates do not care about us. If we follow them, we will leave the road to everlasting life.
6. What clear warning does the Bible give us about false teachers?
6 How can we protect ourselves against false teachers? The Bible tells us exactly what to do. (Read Romans 16:17; 2 John 9-11.) The clear instruction in the Bible is: “Avoid them.” That means that we have to stay away from them. The warning from the Bible is like a warning from a doctor who tells you to avoid a person who has a disease that may spread to others. The doctor knows that if you get this disease, you will die. His warning is clear, and you will do what he says. The Bible says that apostates are mentally diseased and that they use their teachings to make others think like them. (1 Timothy 6:3, 4) Jehovah is like that good doctor. He clearly tells us to stay away from false teachers. We must always be determined to follow his warning.
7, 8. (a) What must we do to avoid false teachers? (b) Why are you determined to avoid false teachers?
7 What must we do to avoid false teachers? We do not speak to them or invite them into our houses. We also do not read their books, watch them on television, read what they write on the Internet, or add our own comments about what they write on the Internet. Why are we so determined to avoid them? First of all, it is because we love “the God of truth.” So we do not want to listen to false teachings that go against the truth in God’s Word. (Psalm 31:5; John 17:17) We also love the organization that Jehovah uses to teach us wonderful truths. It was Jehovah’s organization that taught us about Jehovah’s name and what it means, his purpose for the earth, what happens to us when we die, and the hope of the resurrection. Do you remember how happy you were when you first learned these and other truths? Then do not allow the lies from false teachers to turn you against the organization that taught you these truths.—John 6:66-69.
8 No matter what false teachers say, we will not follow them! We have no reason to listen to people who are like wells with no water. Those who listen to them will be disappointed. We are determined to be loyal to Jehovah and to his organization. This organization has never disappointed us and always gives us an abundance of pure waters of truth from God’s Word.—Isaiah 55:1-3; Matthew 24:45-47.
DO NOT “PAY ATTENTION TO FALSE STORIES”
9, 10. What warning about false stories did Paul give to Timothy? What false stories was Paul thinking about? (See also footnote.)
9 A sign on the road that someone has turned to point the wrong way can fool us. Sometimes it is easy to see that the sign is pointing the wrong way, but at other times it is not easy. The same is true with the lies that come from Satan. If we are not careful, some of his lies can easily fool us. The apostle Paul warns us about these lies. He calls them “false stories.” (Read 1 Timothy 1:3, 4.) What are these false stories, and how can we avoid paying attention to them? We need the answers to these questions so that we can stay on the road to everlasting life.
10 Paul’s warning about false stories is in the first letter he wrote to Timothy, a Christian elder. Paul told Timothy to keep the congregation clean and to help his brothers and sisters to stay loyal to Jehovah. (1 Timothy 1:18, 19) The Greek word that Paul used for “false stories” means “a lie” or “a made-up story.” One book says that a false story is a religious story that has no connection with what is real. (The International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia) Perhaps Paul was thinking about the religious lies that came from old stories that people made up and that made others curious.* (See footnote.) Paul said that these stories were dangerous because they “furnish questions for research.” This means that people who pay attention to these stories start having questions about things that are not true and then use their time trying to find the answers. Satan uses these made-up stories and religious lies to make people forget the most important things. Paul’s words are clear: Do not pay attention to false stories!
11. How does Satan use false religion to fool people? What warning should we pay attention to?
11 What are some false stories that could fool us if we are not careful? We can say that a false story is any religious teaching that turns our ears “away from the truth,” that is, that makes us stop listening to the truth. (2 Timothy 4:3, 4) Satan is smart. He uses false religion to fool people. That is why the Bible says that he makes himself into “an angel of light.” (2 Corinthians 11:14) For example, the religions of Christendom say that they follow Christ, but they teach lies like the Trinity and hellfire. They also teach that some part of humans lives on after the death of the body. Many think that Christmas and Easter please God, but the things that people do during these celebrations really come from false worship. False stories will not fool us if we pay attention to God’s warning to separate ourselves from false religion and “quit touching the unclean thing.”—2 Corinthians 6:14-17.
12, 13. (a) What are three lies that come from Satan? What is the truth about each of these lies? (b) What must we do if we do not want Satan to fool us with false stories?
12 There are other lies from Satan that can fool us if we are not careful. Let us talk about three of these lies. The first lie is: You can do whatever you want; you decide what is right and what is wrong. We often hear this on television, in movies, in magazines, in newspapers, and on the Internet. Because we hear this lie all the time, it is easy for us to start to think that way and follow the immoral ideas of the world. But the truth is that we need God to tell us what is right and what is wrong. (Jeremiah 10:23) The second lie is:God will never change anything on the earth. This idea makes people think only about today. They do not care about the future or about pleasing God. We might start to think like them and then become “inactive or unfruitful” in our service to God. (2 Peter 1:8) The truth is that Jehovah will soon change things on the earth, and we must show by the way we live that we really believe this. (Matthew 24:44) The third lie is: God does not care about you. Satan wants us to believe that we are not good enough for God to love us. If Satan makes us believe this lie, we might stop serving Jehovah. The truth is that Jehovah loves each one of his servants, and each one is very important to him.—Matthew 10:29-31.
13 We must always be careful not to think like people in Satan’s world. Sometimes it seems that what they say and think is really true. But remember that Satan wants to fool us, and no one knows better how to fool people than he does. We must pay attention to the warnings in the Bible if we do not want Satan to fool us with false stories.—2 Peter 1:16.
DO NOT “FOLLOW SATAN”
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Anders Andersen
Formerbrother...
How do you know the difference between the wisdom of Jehovah, and the wisdom of Bronze Age humans who wrote about Jehovah?
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Fernando
"What is the alternative to JW?"
As a believer I find the answer "simple".
All religion is indeed a snare and a racket as the Watchtower taught up to 1950.
Then they too became a religion.
The alternative and antithesis to (any and all) religion is the liberating gospel of grace (aka the "good news").
According to this message a right and clean standing with God is imputed and not earned, not deserved, nor paid for.
To check this for oneself one can search for and mark every occurrence of the words righteous and righteousness by Paul in the Bible.
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