I have never been a JW, but my parents-in-law are. I try to keep some kind of topical equilibrium in my dialogue with them, so I thought I'd ask here before I raise the subject:
A JW would say that only the 144,000 are God's children. But who can call God 'Father'? Can all JWs call God 'Father', or can only the 144,000 do so?
If, according to a JW, God is everyone's Father, how would the JW relate to what Rom 8:14 and Gal 4:6 say about the reason one calls God 'Father'?
whose Father?
by dust 4 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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dust
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carla
bttt
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Wasanelder Once
I tried to post but it wouldn't work. Check your inbox, you have a pm... assuming that worked.
W.Once
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Wasanelder Once
whose father Here's the PM I sent you. For some reason it posted my last reply. Here's goes nothing.
• Who may properly address God as “Father”?—U.S.A.
Because Jehovah God is the Creator and Source of life, all humans are really his “progeny,” his children, as the inspired apostle states at Acts 17:28, 29. Hence, all who sincerely acknowledge that fact can rightly address him as “Father.”
The Scriptures clearly show that using the expression “Father” with reference to God is not limited to spirit-anointed Christians. It was before God’s spirit was poured out on the day of Pentecost in 33 C.E. that Jesus, in his Sermon on the Mount, taught a crowd of Jews to address God in prayer as “our Father.” (Matt. 6:9) Centuries earlier the prophet Isaiah stated: “O Jehovah, you are our Father. We are the clay, and you are our Potter; and all of us are the work of your hand.”—Isa. 64:8.
However, while all humans acknowledging the Fatherhood of God and living accordingly may properly address him as “Father,” they do not all enjoy the same intimacy with him. Of the special intimacy enjoyed by spirit-begotten Christians, the apostle Paul wrote: “You received a spirit of adoption as sons, by which spirit we cry out: ‘Abba, Father!’” (Rom. 8:15) The term “Abba” is an endearing form of address. It is the intimate expression that children used for their fathers. Such intimacy is even now enjoyed by those of humankind who have been begotten by God’s spirit with a view to becoming spirit sons in the holy heavens, where they will enjoy personal association with the Creator.
Presently a “great crowd” is being gathered from all nations for survival of the “great tribulation,” with the prospect of gaining everlasting life on earth in God’s new order of righteousness. (Rev. 7:9-17) Appropriately, they, too, address Jehovah in prayer as their “Father” or Life-Giver, as he has made provision for them to have everlasting life through his Son, Jesus Christ, the “Eternal Father.” (Isa. 9:6) In God’s new order, these will be joined by the millions who will be resurrected from the dead. Later, all who pass the final test described at Revelation 20:7-10 will have their names permanently written in the “book of life” and enjoy the special relationship of being perfect earthly sons of Jehovah, the heavenly Father.—Rom. 8:20, 21; Rev. 20:15.
Here's something they probably don't know unless they're good JW's who really read thier books:
Worldwide Security Under the Prince of Peace chap. 20 p. 169 A Happy Human Family Under a New Fatherhood
18 The first Adam bequeathed a condemnation to death to all his offspring. Did Adam become the forefather of the man Jesus Christ? No, Jesus did not have a human father but was born from a virgin made pregnant with his life-force that God transferred from the spirit realm. So the sinner Adam did not become a forefather of that earthly Son of God. The second Adam, however, has become a life-giving spirit. In this capacity he can fulfill Isaiah’s prophecy and become the “Eternal Father” to the first Adam’s offspring, whom he repurchases and adopts for the purpose of bestowing perfect human life on a paradise earth.
19 In such a way the heavenly Father of Jesus Christ will become the heavenly Grandfather of the restored human family. For this reason the human family will enter into a new relationship with the Creator of heaven and earth. Never was there the least possibility that Jehovah would fail in his original purpose. Thus Jehovah will have foiled the vicious, ungodly scheme of Satan the Devil. All the repurchased human family will be brought to the knowledge of this fact. What a wonderful day it will be when Jesus Christ takes over the fatherhood of the human family in order to rear mankind in Paradise restored to earth!
W.Once -
dust
Thank you. So according to the Watchtower all may call God 'Father', but only God's 144,000 children may call him 'Dad'. However, in this perspective Romans 8:11 is rather interesting: Those who have the Spirit (the children), will have their mortal bodies made alive. This sounds more like the bodily 'great crowd on Earth' than the spiritual life of the 144,000 in Heaven, doesn't it?