Perhaps I have missed the point here. When I prayed on behalf of the Bethel Family, I addressed Jehovah has heavenly Father and with both Jehovah and Jesus is mind requested Jesus guidance as head of the Christian congregation for his direction and help. In obeisance to Jesus I would bow my head as a sign of humility and make my request in his name and through the merit of his blood, shed on my behalf.
I was never corrected, it was never disputed. The worship was to Jehovah using the mediation of Jesus. I am not aware of any change in the past 25 years. My Father continues to inform me of "new light", which seems to flicker all the time. Perhaps I have missed this one.
In JW theology, I always thought they followed the tack of Quartodecimanism.. with a yearly celebration. The Anointed being the symbolic Jews and the Egyptian sympathizers joining with them to form the House of Israel. The only technicality here was that those Spiritual Jews received an anointing to serve in heaven with Christ.. and the greater crowd of sympathetic "Egyptians" that joined them would inherit the Earth under the rule of Christ and his Kingdom government. And thus, from this, the JW's had an intriguing interpretation of Jesus words to the Evildoer "Thou shallt be with me in Paradise".. I have heard many diffuse interpretations of this from the clerics of Christendom. The JW understanding is the clearest I have heard.
For me the question always begged: It is the same hope of Salvation but a different destiny... do the Scriptures not say that all should partake of his flesh and blood? What has the destiny or inheritence have to do with it. What of the kids? Is there a kindergarten with toddlers and spotty teens learning all about the temptations and pleasures of human "sin" in order to correctly judge the rest of us? Will the philosophies of Christendom about life after death prove true.. with an eternity of death and disease and bungey jumping across the universe. 1 Corinthians 15 for me makes it all clear and flies in the face of most "mainstream" doctrine.
The only instruction I can find... is that he that is unworthy should not partake.. including me (because I am now so far removed from grace I hold no set faith, but remain spiritual in my outlook)!
For me, which ever way you spin the wheel of our destiny, Christ is our Saviour and Mediator. I have always understood it that way, never explained it any other way in the 20 years I spent in full time service.
If it is different, things have indeed moved on and I really am scratching my head on this one.
