GB claims divinity for anointed

by hallelujah 13 Replies latest watchtower beliefs

• 

  hallelujah

  In the "Insight on the Scriptures" book at page 474 and 639 the WTBTS states that the anointed are divine in nature. Divine in Strong's Hebrew lexiconography is defined as sovereign, and in Greek Lexiconography as Theos, or Godhead or divinity (see Strong's lexicon excerpts below the excerpts from Insight Book).

  Divine

  Nature. Also, there is a different nature belonging to those in heaven, spirit creatures of God. The apostle Peter speaks to his fellow Christians, spiritual brothers of Jesus Christ, of "the precious and very grand promises, that through these you may become sharers in divine nature [phy´se·os]." (2Pe 1:4) That this is a sharing with Christ in his glory as spirit persons, Peter shows in his first letter: "God . . . gave us a new birth [a·na·gen·ne´sas he·mas´, "having generated us again"] to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an incorruptible and undefiled and unfading inheritance. It is reserved in the heavens for you." (1Pe 1:3, 4) "Divine nature" requires a change in nature through death and resurrection, as made plain by the apostle Paul at First Corinthians chapter 15. He explains that the Christian must die and must be resurrected in a different body, a spiritual one, which requires a change.—1Co 15:36, 38, 44, 49, 51.

  And at page 639 they also say;

  Finally, at 2 Peter 1:3, 4 the apostle shows that by virtue of "the precious and very grand promises" extended to faithful anointed Christians, they "may become sharers in divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world through lust." Elsewhere in the Scriptures, Christians are referred to as ‘sharing’ with Christ in his sufferings, in a death like his, and in a resurrection like his to immortality as spirit creatures, becoming joint heirs with him in the heavenly Kingdom. (1Co 15:50-54; Php 3:10, 11; 1Pe 5:1; 2Pe 1:2-4; Re 20:6) Thus it is evident that the sharing of Christians in "divine nature" is a sharing with Christ in his glory.

  http://www.eliyah.com/cgi-bin/strongs.cgi?file=hebrewlexicon&isindex=divine

  Strong's Hebrew Lexicon defines "divine" as soverign;

  Result of search for "divine":

  113 'adown aw-done' or (shortened) adon {aw-done'}; from an unused root (meaning to rule); sovereign, i.e. controller (human or divine):-- lord, master, owner. Compare also names beginning with "Adoni-".

  http://bible.crosswalk.com/Lexicons/Greek/grk.cgi?number=2304&version=kjv

  The KJV New Testament Greek Lexicon

  Strong's Number: 2304 Browse Lexicon

  Original Word	Word Origin
  qei'oß	from (2316)
  Transliterated Word	TDNT Entry
  Theios	3:122,322
  Phonetic Spelling	Parts of Speech
  thi'-os	Adjective

  Definition

  1. a general name of deities or divinities as used by the Greeks
  2. spoken of the only and true God, trinity
  3. of Christ
  4. Holy Spirit
  5. the Father

  King James Word Usage - Total: 3

  divine 2, Godhead 1

  Strong's Hebrew Lexicon defines "divine" as soverign;

  Result of search for "divine":

  113 'adown aw-done' or (shortened) adon {aw-done'}; from an unused root (meaning to rule); sovereign, i.e. controller (human or divine):-- lord, master, owner. Compare also names beginning with "Adoni-".

  http://www.eliyah.com/cgi-bin/strongs.cgi?file=hebrewlexicon&isindex=divine
• 

  Star Moore

  Hey, very interesting subject. I've felt I was born-again..for 5 or 6 years now..26 years as a witness.

  No, I've never felt God-like..still do stupid mistakes and hurt people and myself..don't have perfect control of my eating..

  There is a scripture I like though.

  John 14:23 "Jesus replied, "if anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him."

  So I do think that 'anyone' can reach a point of 'love' for God so that they want to 'obey' him and God will make his home with us. That's what I think the 'born again' experience is. But that's not divinity , but it's having God's spirit with us for the most part.
• 

  hallelujah

  The interesting thing about the claim of the anointed is that it is an exclusive doctrine. For the anointed to be elect, everyone else must be unelect. So it's not so much about what the GB claims for the anointed as for what they say about the other sheep.
• 

  Star Moore

  The interesting thing about the claim of the anointed is that it is an exclusive doctrine. For the anointed to be elect, everyone else must be unelect. So it's not so much about what the GB claims for the anointed as for what they say about the other sheep.

  Hi Hallelujah..You must be a christian? Your name. I'm thinking it sounds elite for people to call themselves, anointed.. I'd rather say, I've had a born-again experience..but then i sound like a born-again.. I've been thinking the other sheep, might be the people who Jesus saves at the great tribulation who are not true christians..but people of every religion, nation, even atheist but have a good heart... and want peace and justice and take a stand for the Christ without them even realizing it. What do you think?
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  Star Moore

  opps, I meant to say the great crowd...The other sheep are probably the gentiles..as he was talking to the jews...
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  hallelujah

  Hi Hallelujah..You must be a christian? ; Your name. ; I'm thinking it sounds elite for people to call themselves, anointed.. ; I'd rather say, I've had a born-again experience..but then i sound like a born-again.. ; ; ; ; I've been thinking the other sheep, might be the people who Jesus saves at the great tribulation who are not true christians..but people of every religion, nation, even atheist but have a good heart... and want peace and justice and take a stand for the Christ without them even realizing it. ; ; What do you think? ; ;

  Hi Star Moore

  Yes I'm the same. I'm a believer that Christ lived and that he taught and that we should take notice of what he actually taught, things like turn the other cheek, love thy enemies, forgive them for they know not what they do. This I believe shines through the adulteration of the scriptures, the insertion of magic, numerology, prophecy, divination, deification. I believe Jesus teaching saves - not the legends of Mary's virginity, walking on water, turning water into wine, the loaves and the fishes, the raising the dead etcetera etcetera for how are we to know who wrote it, when, and with what motivation. Jesus teaching saves because it tells us that he, a man, son of mankind _ho'adam, loved me, a sinner, and so I can love and forgive me. I'm trying to take in what I just wrote.

  PS what do all the nbsp, lol (lot's of love???) & all the other abbreviations which I have no idea of mean???

  Dan
• 

  hallelujah

  There is a scripture I like though.

  John 14:23 "Jesus replied, "if anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and ;we will come to him and ;make our home with him."

  that's beautiful, Star Moore. I was amazed by Nathaniel Merritt's book which salvaged the idea that Jesus father is not the satanic and murderous Yahweh elohim (Jehovah).
• 

  Narkissos

  As a side note, much of the NT depends on the early Gnostic notion of an inclusive divine or supra-divine (vs. the "orthodox" Jewish and later Christian teaching of the absolute separation between God as creator, and creature). In this notion "divinity" is not granted as a reward or gift, but it is the actual, original, yet hidden nature of the believers, which the Redeemer comes to reveal. Knowing what they actually are is the keyword of salvation. This perspective (which is also Nathaniel Merritt's as far as I've gathered) shows through a lot of texts, especially in the Johannine and Pauline traditions, in spite of the later "orthodox" revisions. For instance, look to John 17 from this perspective:

  I have made your name known to those whom you gave me from the world. They were yours, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. Now they know that everything you have given me is from you; for the words that you gave to me I have given to them, and they have received them and know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. I am asking on their behalf; I am not asking on behalf of the world, but on behalf of those whom you gave me, because they are yours. All mine are yours, and yours are mine; and I have been glorified in them. And now I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, protect them in your name that you have given me, so that they may be one, as we are one. While I was with them, I protected them in your name that you have given me. I guarded them, and not one of them was lost except the one destined to be lost, so that the scripture might be fulfilled. But now I am coming to you, and I speak these things in the world so that they may have my joy made complete in themselves. I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. I am not asking you to take them out of the world, but I ask you to protect them from the evil one. They do not belong to the world, just as I do not belong to the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. As you have sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. And for their sakes I sanctify myself, so that they also may be sanctified in truth.
  "I ask not only on behalf of these, but also on behalf of those who will believe in me through their word, that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
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  ozziepost

  Nature. Also, there is a different nature belonging to those in heaven, spirit creatures of God. The apostle Peter speaks to his fellow Christians, spiritual brothers of Jesus Christ, of "the precious and very grand promises, that through these you may become sharers in divine nature [phy´se·os]." (2Pe 1:4) That this is a sharing with Christ in his glory as spirit persons, Peter shows in his first letter: "God . . . gave us a new birth [a·na·gen·ne´sas he·mas´, "having generated us again"] to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead to an incorruptible and undefiled and unfading inheritance. It is reserved in the heavens for you." (1Pe 1:3, 4) "Divine nature" requires a change in nature through death and resurrection, as made plain by the apostle Paul at First Corinthians chapter 15. He explains that the Christian must die and must be resurrected in a different body, a spiritual one, which requires a change.—1Co 15:36, 38, 44, 49, 51.

  And at page 639 they also say;

  Finally, at 2 Peter 1:3, 4 the apostle shows that by virtue of "the precious and very grand promises" extended to faithful anointed Christians, they "may become sharers in divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world through lust." Elsewhere in the Scriptures, Christians are referred to as ‘sharing’ with Christ in his sufferings, in a death like his, and in a resurrection like his to immortality as spirit creatures, becoming joint heirs with him in the heavenly Kingdom. (1Co 15:50-54; Php 3:10, 11; 1Pe 5:1; 2Pe 1:2-4; Re 20:6) Thus it is evident that the sharing of Christians in "divine nature" is a sharing with Christ in his glory.

  I can't see anything here that says the GB claims to be divine?
• 

  hallelujah

  faithful anointed Christians, they "may become sharers in divine nature,

  the GB as author of the WT claims the hope of divinity for 'anointed Christians'.

  Thus it is evident that the sharing of Christians in "divine nature" is a sharing with Christ in his glory. ;

  Here the WTBTS (or GB) is referring to Christians as meaning anointed Christians. The term "Christian" in this context as used by the WTBTS does not include 'other sheep'

  this is a sharing with Christ in his glory as spirit persons,

  It is quite evident this is not referring to 'other sheep'

  I do not really care whether the authors of the WT in Brooklyn believe 'the anointed' will be reincarnated on some higher plane. It is when they teach a distinction between mankind, the anointed and the other sheep, that I am really appalled.