by lavendar 5 Replies latest jw friends
As one of my friends pointed out:
1 Cor. 11:26 " For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes". Since JWs believe Jesus ALREADY returned in 1914, why do they have Memorials w/ bread & drink?? Lavendar
They need to have the Memorial because it's a tradition, and you know how hard it is to get rid of traditions.
To answer your question, Jesus has multiple "comings". What a guy! He "came" to earth 2000 years ago, so we're told, and the JW's tell us he came again in 1914. Addtionally, there's a "coming" to destroy the wicked, at least in JW terminology, so they arbritrarily say that 3rd coming is the one mentioned in the verse you quoted from Paul.
Here was my comment on one of my threads:
(Main source for the following is
http://e-jehovahs-witnesses-mail.blogspot.com/2006/03/how-many-times-does-jesus-arrive_21.html)
SHOULD JW's DISCONTINUE THE MEMORIAL?:Since Jehovah's Witnesses believe that Jesus Christ has come into his Kingdom, how can that be compatible with celebrating the memorial in view of 1st Corinthians 11:26: "For as often as you eat this loaf and drink this cup, you keep proclaiming the death of the Lord, until he arrives.”
The Watchtower explains that by saying that Christ has numerous “arrivals.” The Watchtower teaches that Jesus arrived in 1914 and that he will also arrive again at Armageddon. However, their teaching does not stand up to scrutiny.
For example, consider the Watchtower’s teaching regarding the faithful slave. Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that shortly after Christ arrived in 1914 he came to God’s spiritual house for judgment. It is believed that Jesus initiated the foretold judgment upon the house of God sometime in 1918 and that he thereafter appointed an approved slave class “over all of his belongings.”
But according to Jesus, the slaves who are ultimately judged to have been faithful to their original appointment to feed their fellow slaves are not appointed over all of their master’s belongings until the master arrives. Jesus spoke of the faithful slave on two separate occasions. The most frequently quoted is in the context of the sign of the conclusion in the 24th chapter of Matthew. However, Jesus also spoke of the faithful slave in the 12th chapter of Luke. He did so in explanation to Peter’s question in response to another parable Jesus had just uttered.
At Luke 12:37-40 Jesus urged his disciples to stay awake in anticipation of his unannounced arrival, saying: “Happy are those slaves whom the master on arriving finds watching! Truly I say to you, He will gird himself and make them recline at the table and will come alongside and minister to them. And if he arrives in the second watch, even if in the third, and finds them thus, happy are they! But know this, that if the householder had known at what hour the thief would come, he would have kept watching and not have let his house be broken into. You also, keep ready, because at an hour that you do not think likely the Son of man is coming.”
The Watchtower applies the parable above to the future arrival of Jesus, which is obviously correct. However, Jesus went on to explain who the illustration applied to, saying: “Who really is the faithful steward, the discreet one, whom his master will appoint over his body of attendants to keep giving them their measure of food supplies at the proper time? Happy is that slave, if his master on arriving finds him doing so! I tell you truthfully, He will appoint him over all his belongings. But if ever that slave should say in his heart, ‘My master delays coming,’ and should start to beat the menservants and the maidservants, and to eat and drink and get drunk, the master of that slave will come on a day that he is not expecting him and in an hour that he does not know, and he will punish him with the greatest severity and assign him a part with the unfaithful ones.”Please notice that Jesus again referred to his surprise arrival. Only in the enlarged explanation Jesus indicated that some of his slaves would not be expecting his sudden arrival and would consequently be adversely judged for their negligence. The Watchtower, though, insists that Jesus has already arrived to judge his slaves – way back in 1918. But how can that be? How reasonable is it that Jesus intended to teach his disciples to anticipate two separate arrivals? It is not reasonable at all! The fact that the master will arrive at a time the unfaithful slave is not expecting harmonizes with the previous illustration regarding Christ’s coming “at and hour you do not think likely.”
The truth is there are not two arrivals. There is only one. The fact that the Watchtower teaches that Christ has already arrived is surely the reason Christ will come at an hour his disciples do not think likely and at an hour the evil slave is not expecting.The arrival that is unexpected would be the one prior to the appointing the slaves over all the Master's belongings.
Either Christ arrived in 1914 or arrived again in 1918 to inspect and surprise the slaves. But that would mean
the Memorial should have ceased by 1919 when the slaves were appointed over the belongings.
If Christ has not arrived in the sense meant at 1Cor. 11:26, then perhaps he hasn't appointed the FDS over his
belongings yet, and perhaps the Governing Body is not accurately representing Christ and Jehovah.
Please clarify this for me:
Didn't Jesus, according to WTS, turn back into Michael the Archangel after he was crucified?
Thanks for your help....
Lavendar
Didn't Jesus, according to WTS, turn back into Michael the Archangel after he was crucified?
Yes. Referenced from the INSIGHT book, volume 2:
***
it-2 p.393 Michael***Scriptural evidence indicates that the name Michael applied to God’s Son before he left heaven to become Jesus Christ and also after his return.
***
it-2 p.394 Michael***In his prehuman existence Jesus was called "the Word." (Joh 1:1) He also had the personal name Michael. By retaining the name Jesus after his resurrection (Ac 9:5), "the Word" shows that he is identical with the Son of God on earth. His resuming his heavenly name Michael and his title (or name) "The Word of God" (Re 19:13) ties him in with his prehuman existence. The very name Michael, asking as it does, "Who Is Like God?" points to the fact that Jehovah God is without like, or equal, and that Michael his archangel is his great Champion or Vindicator.
This has no bearing on WTS doctrines. They throw around MICHAEL or JESUS or THE WORD or LORD
or whatever fits their doctrine in any way. Sometimes they do translation gymnastics to make something that
clearly referred to Jesus to change to referring to Jehovah. What else is new?
So.....Michael the Archangel - turned - Jesus - turned - Michael the Archangel is going to turn once again into Jesus when He returns to earth. Makes your head spin!
