Who is your mediator ?

by Tyre 10 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Tyre

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/10/77215/1.ashx

  reading that topic above makes me to copy and paste from this link http://www.towertotruth.net/who_is_your_mediator.htm

  Who is Your Mediator?

  How often have you prayed to Jehovah God in the Name of Jesus Christ? Most Witnesses would say hundreds of times. Certainly, this is biblical since Jesus Himself told His disciples to pray to the Father in His Name. But what if you were told that Jesus is not your Savior, that you cannot approach God through Him, or, that, unlike Christians, someday you must stand before Jehovah without Jesus interceding on your behalf? Unless you are one of the 144,000 listening to this message, this is exactly your spiritual predicament according to Watchtower teachings. What do I mean by this?

  Hidden from many Jehovah?s Witnesses is the Society?s teaching that Jesus is the mediator for only a select few, those the Organization regards as Spiritual Israel, that is, the 144,000 anointed ones. The Watchtower, April 1, 1979, p.31, states, ?Christ....is the ?mediator of a new covenant? between Jehovah and spiritual Israel, the ?Israel of God? that will serve as kings and priests in heaven with Jesus....So in this strict Biblical sense Jesus is the ?mediator? only for anointed Christians....The ?great crowd? of ?other sheep? that is forming today is not in that new covenant.? (See also: The Watchtower, February 15, 1991, p. 18)

  There you have it. According to the Watchtower, Jesus is the mediator only for the 144,000! By the stroke of a pen, the Society has stripped away Jesus? unique role as mediator from over 6 million faithful followers worldwide. However, the Watchtower hasn?t left millions of people out in the cold, but has created a substitute mediator in place of Jesus. This substitute is not one person, but a Christ class, an anointed remnant still alive on the earth. These men and women, mostly in their 80s by now, make up an elite group that now act as the go-between, on behalf of God and man. Similar to the Catholic Church, the Watchtower has created a class of popes to intercede for the rank and file members. They have been given special power by the Watchtower to act not only as the mediator, but as a secondary Savior for mankind. The Watchtower, November 15, 1979, p.27, says,

  ?To keep in relationship with ?our Savior, God,? the ?great crowd? needs to remain united with the remnant of spiritual Israelites?. Did you hear that? Your relationship with Jehovah is dependent upon your continued attachment to the anointed brethren. So important is this union with the anointed, that The Watchtower, August 1, 1981, p.26, says, ?Your attitude toward the wheatlike anointed ?brothers? of Christ and the treatment you accord them will be the determining factor as to whether you go into ?everlasting cutting-off? or receive ?everlasting life?. Wow! Just your attitude alone toward the 144,000 has the power to either save you or damn you for all eternity!

  Jesus, Our Only Mediator

  What does the bible have to say about all this. 1 Timothy 2:5 says, ?For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, a man, Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a corresponding ransom for all?. The Word of God is very clear. The mediator between God and all humanity is one person, Jesus Christ. Not a class, not a privileged group, but the man Jesus Christ. Jesus is available as the mediator for all mankind- not just a select group. He is willing and able to intercede on behalf of all men and women who ever lived. The Society disagrees with this. It has even gone as far as adding words to 1 Timothy 2:5, citing it as,

  ?There is one God, and one mediator between God and men [not, all men]....?. The Watchtower, November 15, 1979, p.22.

  Again, the bible is clear. We don?t have to be affiliated or in unity with any earthly man or slave class to have a relationship with God. 1 John 5:1 says that whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born from God. Jesus warned us that in the end, ?Many will come on the basis of my name, saying, ?I am the Christ?, and will mislead many? (Matthew 24:5). Jesus knew 2000 years ago that conniving men would rise up in the last days claiming to be the way to God. He knew that these men would try to steal away your allegiance to Him, rob you of a relationship with God and deprive you of eternal salvation. Isn?t this exactly what the Watchtower has done- setting itself up as the messiah whereby all men must come to gain access to God?
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  Leolaia

  Ummm.....You miss the point. There is no biblical basis for the Society's teaching that makes the vast majority of Witnesses depend on itself for salvation. There is also no biblical basis for believing that the New Covenant since 1935 is no longer open to all. Indeed, any young Witness who professes a heavenly hope is looked on with skepticism by others, and most would be pressured to refrain from partaking of the emblems. The whole focus on JW evangelism is on increasing the "great crowd," not the 144,000 which, by virtue of the theology, is a fixed number. Where are the books describing how wonderful it would be to reign in heaven with Christ Jesus? Everything is focused on desiring a paradise earth! If even 3% of Witnesses suddenly decided they had a heavenly hope after all and decided to partake of the emblems, the whole JW teaching on the "great crowd" and "little flock" would be disproven. The teaching is also the basis of control over the vast laity by a very small number of "anointed," who teach that they must depend on them for salvation. This is a manufactured doctrine, a teaching of men that exalts their own authority and control, yet the vast majority of Witnesses believe that it is true, and taught in the Bible. The article exposes the unbiblical nature of the doctrine by pointing to scripture. Yes, you are right that they are not Christians (though they call themselves that) and they could partake of the emblems if wanted to, but most do not want to because they were taught to believe that it is a hope restricted to a select few who were all mostly chosen before 1935. It is not a "bad argument" to show how they have been deceived by showing from the Bible it is not a hope restricted to a select few but open to all mankind.

  The point is to get people realize that their "hope" is a doctrine manufactured by a cult that demands exclusive devotion and dependence to them, while the real Christian "hope" of the Bible is being arbitrarily denied to them by the same cult. As a Witness, I knew that it was generally believed that you had to have a mystical experience of being "called" in order to have a heavenly hope. I didn't think it was possible to just embrace a heavenly hope yourself and voluntarily declare yourself as under the New Covenant.
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  truthseeker1

  The last time I prayed, It was to the porcelin god, toiliticlese. I didn't use a mediator, I just opened up and whatever came out, went directly to my god.
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  FreePeace

  Here is another view...

  Edited to correct format. FP
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  UnDisfellowshipped

  I want to comment a little on that "Truth Quest" website:

  Since this war was not between man and God, but between Satan and God, humankind is an innocent bystander in this supernatural war.

  That is not what the Bible says at all. Adam and Eve were created with freedom to choose, and they chose to break the Law, God's Law. They became thieves and rebels.

  Did anyone "force" Adam and Eve to choose to become thieves and rebels? Did Satan "force" them to sin? Did God "force" them to sin? No. They chose to sin and die.

  It was morally wrong for God to make Adam choose between his wife who he could see, touch, and hold, and God who he could not see. How would you like to make a choice between somebody you dearly loved and God? Doesn't it make you angry with God for even forcing someone to make such an impossible choice? Would a loving God actually put someone in such a position?

  Therefore, humankind has no need of having sins redeemed. It wasn't they that caused it nor participated in the initial rebellion. Satan is the one who turned against God. Why weren't Satan and all the angels that sinned subjected to sin and death? Why is that humans are the only ones who pay for the crimes of a supernatural being, whose actions were/are beyond their control? Why did not the angels need someone to redeem them from slavery to sin and death? If anyone, they are the ones who should need it.

  Satan and his demons willfully and with complete knowledge rebelled against God, and they committed UNFORGIVABLE SIN by doing so. Adam and Eve did not have a complete knowledge of everything and Eve was deceived.

  Satan and his demons have no chance of being redeemed.

  This is what the Bible says about Satan and his demons:

  2nd Peter 2:4 (NKJV): For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;

  Jude 1:6 (NKJV): And the angels who did not keep their proper domain, but left their own abode, He has reserved in everlasting chains under darkness for the judgment of the great day;

  Matthew 25: 41 (NKJV): "Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels:

  Revelation 20:10: And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet [are], and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

  Satan and his demons are very much being punished for their sins and will be more so in the future.
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  XQsThaiPoes

  As a Witness, I knew that it was generally believed that you had to have a mystical experience of being "called" in order to have a heavenly hope. I didn't think it was possible to just embrace a heavenly hope yourself and voluntarily declare yourself as under the New Covenant.

  I think you are missing the point. That is what christianity is. If you dont have that "calling" then you are not christian and you are not different than an average JW who just says the are christian. People forget this.

  I know you know alot about christianity, but what you have in JWs is a symbiosis of a small group of born again christians catering to materially to a non christian laity. The watchtower has basically outline in tha last few years that anyone that thinks they are supposed to partake should. THey shade this in a lot of words but that is the priciple. You will be supprised how many people go to bethel great crowd and leave anointed. Right now at least it is a don't ask dont tell policy probally because the GB is old and they need younger people. The msytical experience in JWs is simple thinking you are born again. If you don't think that there is no reason to take the eucharist any way.

  I truely think the problem is one of perception. In a normal BA church everyone is taught to look for this "calling" and pray for it what ever. THis causes many false revalation anything from depression to panic attacks can be describe as some calling to God. In JWs they dont even talk about that except once a year. There is an annointed tabboo but it only really applies to crazies that in my experience make up a larger percentage of the anointed propulation of JWs than you would find in a church, but they are the same class of people namely born again christians.

  And what happend to my first post here it vanished.
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  UnDisfellowshipped

  XQsThaiPoes,

  I would appreciate it if you would please not make such big generalizations about "born again Christians".

  Born again Christians in a Baptist church are completely different than so-called "born again" anointed JW's, and "born again" Catholics are completely different from either Baptists or JW's.

  Just about the only things they have in common are the title "born again" and they claim to follow Christ.

  The only thing that really matters when doing research into being "born again" is what the Scriptures say about being born again.

  John 1:12-13: But as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on His Name: Who were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

  1st John 4:7-8: Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God, and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God is love.

  1st John 5:1: Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God
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  czarofmischief

  I accept no mediator. I do not believe in sin. I believe in right and wrong choices. I believe in mercy where possible, death where not possible.

  I believe in chastisement, in the mortification that is the flesh...

  CZAR
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  UnDisfellowshipped

  CZAR said:

  I accept no mediator. I do not believe in sin. I believe in right and wrong choices. I believe in mercy where possible, death where not possible.

  Why is a certain decision wrong, and another one right? Who or what determines this, and for what reasons?

  Whose standards of right and wrong should be followed?
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  UnDisfellowshipped

  What does the Watchtower Society teach about Jesus being the Mediator? Here it is in a nutshell:

  1: God created Michael the Archangel (aka "The Word" and "The Master Worker" and "Wisdom") before anything else, then through Michael, God created all other things.

  2: God ended Michael's life in Heaven, and transferred Michael's "spirit" or "life-force" into a perfect human body inside of Mary, a virgin Jew.

  3: When this baby was born, he was named "JESUS". He did not have any of his memories from Heaven until he was baptized. He did not become "The Christ" or "The Messiah" or "The Lord" until he was baptized.

  4: This Jesus died only as a "corresponding ranson" for Adam -- perfect human for perfect human -- and this enables all imperfect descendents of Adam to have their inherited non-intentional sins forgiven on the basis of Christ's ransom, as long as they remain in "good standing" with Jehovah by being active in field service and attending meetings.

  5: Jesus died for all "redeemable mankind".

  6: However, Jesus only extends Heavenly life, and the New Covenant, and the Kingdom of God to 144,000 select followers (from 33 C.E. through 1935 C.E.).

  7: Only the 144,000 are born again -- the Great Crowd of Other Sheep are not born again.

  8: Jesus is the Mediator only for the 144,000 and not for the Great Crowd of Other Sheep.

  9: Jesus is the "High Priest" for the Great Crowd of Other Sheep and the 144,000.

  10: In order to be saved, the Great Crowd must be closely associated and obeying the direction of the "spirit-directed Organization" of the Watchtower Society and the Governing Body of the Faithful and Discreet Slave Class.