Help: biblical person raised by non-believers, became man of God?

by Awakened07 13 Replies latest jw friends

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  Awakened07

  OK - this is something that is waaaay back there in my post-JW mind: I seem to remember that Enoch lived among non-believers, and was alone in believing. But when I do a search, there's nothing of that sort in the Bible.

  Then of course there's Job, and for that matter Moses, who were both men of God in spite of growing up (and/or at least living) among non-believers.

  But I know I'm not thinking of those two. I was so sure it was Enoch! But since it's not him(?), and not the above two, who else is a candidate here? In the OT. This person was as far as I remember very active in the preaching work, possibly a prophet.

  Thanks.

  PS: there is a point to this request.
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  journey-on

  Noah?
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  Awakened07

  Well, yes actually, Noah would fit quite nicely, but he's kinda "too famous" for me not to remember it if it was him.

  But I think perhaps "he will do" for my "purpose".

  Thanks (other suggestions welcome though).
• 

  oompa

  Gen 5:24

  And E´noch kept walking with the [true] God. Then he was no more, for God took him.

  God took him because there were no other worshipers of God at the time, or so I was thought. I immediately thought of Enoch.

  what's it for.....oompa
• 

  Awakened07

  Oh - the point - I know, there should be one.

  - It's just some random thought I'm toying with:

  It's said in 2. Peter 3:9 (and Witnesses love to quote it), that God is not slow at fulfilling His promise, but He wants everyone to repent. In other words, He's waiting for all those who can possibly repent to do so, and then He can let loose.

  The thought I'm toying with then, is that if that is the case, Armageddon can never come, because there will always be babies born that can potentially be good people. Good examples here are Noah (only righteous in his time, along with his family), Moses (grew up among Egyptians), and Job (as far as I remember, alone in his neighborhood as being a believer in the true God). In other words; even among only non-believers, a child may be born that can become a man (or woman) of God.

  Therefore - if God is waiting until everyone who can possibly repent has done so before he starts Armageddon, then there won't ever be an Armageddon, 'cause He'll have to wait indefinitely - or forever.
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  journey-on

  Awakened07...that's too logical. You're not supposed to think that much! You're supposed to just recognize that God doesn't really WANT to destroy anybody, so he's giving them a chance, and another chance, and yet another chance. This way, the Wacktower Society can just keep saying, "evidently, friends, there's still more work to be done. No one knows the day nor the hour, so endure to the end and KEEP PLACING THOSE MAGS! NOW GET OUT THERE IN THE FIELD AND LET'S SEE SOME ENTHUSIASM!" LOL
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  Leolaia

  Were you raised in the "trooth"? What you describe sounds like the story of Enoch in My Book of Bible Stories, which portrays him as comissioned by God to preach to the wicked people of the earth:

  *** my story 7 A Brave Man ***

  One day Jehovah God had E´noch tell the people something they did not want to hear. It was this: "God is someday going to destroy all the bad people." The people were probably very angry to hear this. They may even have tried to kill E´noch. So E´noch needed to be very brave to tell the people about what God was going to do.

  It should however be pointed out that nothing like this is found per se in the Bible. It does not specify to whom Enoch was supposed to preach and it does not say that people tried to kill Enoch out of anger. These details probably came from interpreting statements about the wickedness and violence of the earth (Genesis 5:23-24, 6:5-6, 11-13), and connecting it with Enoch's prophetic proclamation in Jude 14-15. That makes the story about Enoch in the Bible Stories book similar to midrash in some ways. However if we look at the source that Jude used, we can see that Enoch was comissioned not to preach to the people of the earth but to deliver warnings and judgment to the fallen angels who had married women. He was in fact hidden from the people (1 Enoch 12:1), such that "no one of the children of the people knew by what he was hidden and where he was", and then Enoch was instruced: "Enoch, scribe of righteousness, go and make known to the Watchers of heaven who have abandoned the high heaven (cf. "the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own abode" in Jude 5), the holy eternal place, and have defiled themselves with women" (v. 4). And so indeed Enoch is described in ch. 13 as intercessing for the fallen angels. He declares to Asael: "There will not be peace upon you, a grave judgment has come upon you" (13:1). And he later spoke to all of them together "and they were frightened and fear and trembling seized them" (v. 3). Did they try to kill Enoch? No, they asked God for forgiveness and repented from their deeds and Enoch wrote down their prayers to deliver to God (13:4-6). Quite a different story than the one in the JW publication.

  The Society's midrash on Enoch continues by claiming that God silently took Enoch's life. Nothing like this occurs in the Bible or in 1 Enoch....the latter instead claims that Enoch was taken up into heaven so that he would write the deeds of humanity down in the books of life that would later be opened on Judgment Day (cf. Revelation 20:12).
• 

  lfcviking

  for God took him.

  Yes what a reward for being a man of faith, true to his God. God goes and kills him.

  I don't get it!?!?!
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  Awakened07

  Leolaia, I was hoping you would come along!

  Yes, I was raised in it. And from what you've found, it seems I remembered correctly all along, and it was Enoch.

  Thanks a lot.
• 

  badboy

  WHAT ABOUT METHUSALAH(SP?)