As always I enjoy your dissection of their 'articles' and am eagerly awaiting next week's effort!
Thank you for your time and effort it is greatly appreciated.
studier
Blondie's Comments You Will Not Hear at the 03-21-10 WT Study (REAL CHRISTIANS)
by blondie 87 Replies latest jw friends
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mythreesons
Thank you blondie...I always look forward to these posts. I really appreciate all your references to past publications too.
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cameo-d
"DO NOT BE LOVING...THE WORLD"
But isn't religion a major player in world events? Doesn't the world mostly revolve around religion---it's dictates, it's holidays and observances? Doesn't religion cause most of the world's problems? "the WORLD and RELIGION appears to be inseparable."
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Mary
[1913, Vol. VIII, p. 329]"Not everyone saying to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter into the kingdom of the heavens," said Jesus, "but the one doing the will of my Father who is in the heavens will." (Matt. 7:21) Yes, it is not the professing of Christianity that pleases Jehovah but the practicing of it. For Christ's true followers, that involves their whole way of life, including their attitude toward money, secular work, entertainment, worldly customs and celebrations and marriage and other relationships with fellow humans.
Of course, there's never any mention of James 1:27 that describes in plain English, what being a Christian is supposed to be all about, because Witnesses do not practice it:
"...The form of worship that is clean and undefiled from the standpoint of our God and Father is this: to look after orphans and widows in their tribulation, and to keep oneself without spot from the world."
Instead, they have a laundry list of man-made rules that you're expected to follow in order to get into the "kingdom of heaven". Which is still a joke, because they teach that Christians will not get into the "kingdom of heaven", except for a very, very small minority.
Hence, he commanded his followers to proclaim that Kingdom until the end of the present system of things. (Matt. 24:14) People who merely profess to be followers of Christ do not engage in this work--in fact, they cannot. Why? For at least three reasons: First, they cannot preach what they do not understand. Second, most of them lack the humility and courage needed to face the ridicule and opposition that may result from sharing the Kingdom message with their neighbors. (Matt. 24:9; 1 Pet. 2:23) And third, false Christians do not have God's spirit.--
Just google "God's Kingdom" or "Kingdom of God" and it is quite clear that the above statement is baseless crap. God's Kingdom is spoken of in Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It is not something privy that only JW's are aware of. Where do they come up with this crap?
'You are my Witnesses,' is the utterance of Jehovah, 'and I am God.'" (Isa. 43:12) Jehovah's pre-eminent Witness, Jesus Christ, considered it an honor to bear God's name and to make it known. (Read Exodus 3: 15; John 17:6; Hebrews 2:12.) In fact, because Jesus proclaimed his Father's name, he was called "the Faithful Witness." In contrast, many who claim to represent God and his Son have displayed a shameful attitude toward the divine name, even removing it from their versions of the Bible. Reflecting a similar spirit, a recent directive to Catholic bishops said that "the name of God in the form of the tetragrammaton YHWH is neither to be used nor pronounced" during worship.* How reprehensible such thinking is!
There's a reason why the Jews did not call God by His first name: Because He specifically stated not to use His name "in vain":
(Exodus 20:7) 7 "You must not take up the name of Jehovah your God in a worthless way, for Jehovah will not leave the one unpunished who takes up his name in a worthless way.
(Deuteronomy 5:11) . . ."‘You must not take up the name of Jehovah your God in a worthless way, for Jehovah will not leave anyone unpunished who takes up his name in a worthless way. . .
(Leviticus 24:16) . . .So the abuser of Jehovah's name should be put to death without fail. The entire assembly should without fail pelt him with stones. The alien resident the same as the native should be put to death for his abusing the Name. . .
While Witnesses strongly argue that it is absolutely essential to your eternal salvation to use the name "Jehovah", I would ask them: Who here addresses their father by his first name? Wouldn't that be showing a great deal of disrespect if you called your father "Bill" or "Dave" or whatever their name was instead of addressing him as "dad" or "father"? I'm trying to think of a scripture where Jesus addressed his father as "Jehovah" instead of "Father" and I can't think of one. When he was dying, he didn't say "Jehovah, forgive them, for they know not what they do", he addressed him as "Father". And when he died he didn't say "Jehovah, into your hands I entrust my spirit", he once again used the phrase "Father". To me, it shows a great deal of disrespect to address God on a first name basis as though you were pals at the local Pub. Jesus was a Jew and as such, there would have been no need for him to "made known" God's name to his fellow Jews-----they would have already been aware of what His name was.
So rather than criticize every other religion for not using the name "Jehovah" every time they mention God, maybe the WTS should re-think their insistence on uttering the name so often that it becomes no more 'holy' that all the other everyday names we have. Besides, the name "Jehovah" is not even the correct name for God. It's a pseudo-Hebrew form which was erroneously used when Christian scholars during the Dark Ages misunderstood the common Qere perpetuum of the partial vowel points of Adonai written together with the consonants of the Tetragrammaton YHWH in order so that YHWH was pronounced as "Adonai" which was the Jewish practice during the time of the Masoretes.
Down the road, European Christians had no clue about the Q're perpetuum custom and took these spellings at face value which of course resulted in the formation of the word "Jehovah". Had they known about the Q're perpetuum, the phrase "Jehovah" may have never been heard of.
when such individuals observe that our faith is firmly rooted in the Scriptures and involves our whole way of life, they may respond by, in effect, saying to the anointed: "We will go with you people, for we have heard that God is with you people." --Zech. 8:23.
Typical bait and switch tactic. Zecheriah 8:23 specifically states that it is referring to Jews, not Jehovah's Witnesses:
"And many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the LORD Almighty and to entreat him. This is what the LORD Almighty says: "In those days ten men from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, 'Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you."
Another truly nauseating study article. The smug, self-righteous attitude displayed by the Governing Body members is reflected perfectly in this article: 'We are right, and everyone else is wrong. Even when we're wrong, we're right and even when everyone else is right, they're still wrong. Join us or die!'
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shopaholic
Par. 12: In imitation of both Christ and the great "cloud of witnesses" who preceded him, true Christians proudly use God's name. (Heb. 12:1) In fact, in the year 1931, God's servants became even more closely identified with Jehovah by accepting the name Jehovah's Witnesses. (Read Isaiah 43:10-12.) Thus, in a very special sense, Christ's true followers became a ‘people who are called by [God's] name.”
So what about these folks, they've accepted the name Jehovah too:
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agonus
"'the name of God in the form of the tetragrammaton YHWH is neither to be used nor pronounced" during worship.* How reprehensible such thinking is!'"
You calling centuries of Jewish tradition practiced out of REVERENCE for the Ineffable Name "reprehensible?"
What's reprehensible is using a form of the Divine Name you KNOW is not the true pronunciation and attaching an entire theology of Truth, Righteousness and Salvation to it when there's ZERO Scriptural basis for doing so.
The name "Jehovah" is used by the Witnesses as a talisman - a golden calf, a graven image - to make them feel like they have a relationship with God that nobody else can. Reprehensible!
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Bonnie_Clyde
Killing and eating babies, and then downplaying the perpetrators' standing in the congregation after it gets in the newspapers, is not righteous.
WTWizard - will you tell me the story on this? I've never heard of it.
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Mickey mouse
This WT really pissed me off. How dare they label everyone else "false Christians".
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theMadJW
OOOOOOOOOOOOOO! From Dumb to Dumber to even Dummier!
You had to REALLY exert your tiny, little mind to condemn such a Cool Article; too bad you didn't hear the new song- now THAT deserves it, it was so pathetic!
Here is a point-by-point review of this Encouraging (to those with real faith) article:
1- Jesus told all how to identify those truly following him ( "fruitage"}
2- Jesus said we MUST worship with Spirit & Truth
3- Jesus said there would be many pretend christians ( Not everyone saing "Lord, Lord!...)
4- Remain firm to Bible principles
5- Pray, study the Bible, work togther
6- The KINGDOM- the theme of Jesus' teachings
7- Christ's command, and the spirit's help to Preach!
8- The most important thing to use in service- the Bible
9- Honor (hallow) God's Name
10- Apostle John: Do not be loving the World (it's spirit)
11- Do not give in to Temptations
12- Faith- a way of LIFE
13- Jesus; Love God with all mind & heart
14- Jesus to pretenders: "Get AWAY from me! I NEVER knew you!"
My, my- what an evil, insideous lesson! I certainly know which group all of YOU fit into!
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theMadJW
PS- in case you didn't catch it, it was CHRIST who " labels everyone else "false Christians"!