To Whom It May Concern:
I am writing this letter in the hope of reconnecting with two Jehovah’s Witness elders whom I met at a literature display in downtown New Braunfels, across the street from Krause’s. I explained to them that my daughter is a Jehovah’s Witness and, therefore, I am somewhat familiar with their beliefs. I had received in the mail a letter from the Kingdom Hall, and I asked the two men to clarify the letter’s claim that only 144,000 Christians would go to heaven to reign with Christ.
I had my daughter’s copy of the book, Insight On the Scriptures, Vol. 2, as well as a copy of the Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures. I first turned to the subject of ‘sanctuary’ in the first book, pointing out the definition, “a divine habitation.”
Next, I turned to Luke 1: 9, 21 in the Interlinear, concerning the Levite priest, Zechariah, offering a sacrifice in the temple sanctuary. I directed their attention to the literal meaning of the Greek word rendered there as ‘sanctuary,’ that being “divine habitation.”
Next, I turned to Revelation 7:15 in the Interlinear, which discusses the symbolic great crowd worshiping God day and night, but Watchtower renders the same Greek word there as ‘temple.’ I directed their attention to the literal meaning of the same Greek word that is used in Luke 1: 9, 21, that being “divine habitation.” Clearly, the great crowd is in the temple sanctuary.
At that point, I asked the two men, “What is signified by serving in the divine habitation, or the sanctuary?” They asked me what I believed, but I referred them to Watchtower’s answer in the Insight book under the subject of ‘temple,’ the third paragraph under the subheading “Jehovah’s Great Spiritual Temple.” There it states: “The Holy (divine habitation) represents their condition as spirit-begotten sons of God, with heavenly life in view, and they will attain to that heavenly reward when their fleshly bodies are laid aside in death.”
I summed up my point by saying, “So according to the Bible, and to Watchtower publications, the symbolic great crowd is made up of Christians who are spirit anointed with heavenly life in view.” I told them that, prior to 1935, Watchtower taught that all Christians were spirit anointed with heavenly life in view. I asked them who introduced the concept of two classes of Christians having separate hopes, when Ephesians 4:4 says that all Christians are called to “one hope?”
They said they would have to do some research, and they promised to call at my home. They took note of my address, but I have never heard back from them.