looky what they make the latest watchtower (public) say

by therevealer 48 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • jonathan dough
    jonathan dough

    There are practical reasons why the JWs limit the New Covenant to the 144,000. It would undermine their multiple salvation plans during the millennium.

    The New Covenant is the quintessential arrangment between the Almighty and all Christian believers, not merely a select 144,000.

    33 “For this is the covenant that I shall conclude with the house of Israel after those days,” is the utterance of Jehovah. “I will put my law within them, and in their heart I shall write it. And I will become their God, and they themselves will become my people.”

    34 “And they will no more teach each one his companion and each one his brother, saying, ‘KNOW Jehovah!’ for they will all of them know me, from the least one of them even to the greatest one of them,” is the utterance of Jehovah. “For I shall forgive their error, and their sin I shall remember no more.” (Jer. 31:33, 34)

    It is the Great Crowd of Jehovah’s Witnesses’ stated purpose to teach the resurrected during the thousand years how to know God and Jesus based on written decrees, but this is at direct odds with the New Covenant where the Almighty is changing hearts from the inside out through the power of the Holy Spirit, not through the imposition of more externally imposed Mosaic-like laws and decrees. Through the sacrificed blood of his son, Jesus, God forgives sin and redeems man by virtue of grace through their faith in Christ and his sacrifice. He does not teach man to be sinless or perfect, nor does he forgive sins in the Christian era based on their successfully passing tests in another life. Forgiveness through Christ’s sacrifice under the everlasting New Covenant supplants the Jehovah's Witnesses' “educational” route and renders it useless with respect to their stated purpose.

  • Aussie Oz
    Aussie Oz

    marked

    Oz

  • therevealer
    therevealer

    Just to address Blondie's last comment. Yes the context is to do with the memorial issue. BUT there is no way that they are not using this opportunity to distort and bring undue and unwarranted attention to themselves. What does ("Through the new covenant, Jehovah makes blessings available to many by means of a few. Those in the covenant are few, a mere 144,000. Through them, millions from all nations will be blessed with everlasting life in an earthly paradise.") have to do with an explanation of who should partake.

    I know that the intention is not to "let them off the hook" so to speak, but this part simply has nothing to do with the memorial partaking issue.

  • Listener
    Listener

    Their boldness is astounding.

    This follows on from the Jan 15th 2012 W article about the Royal Priesthood. On another thread I made this comment -

    It is not new that they consider the anointed here on earth to currently be part of the royal priesthood but by their article they are identifying exactly what this means.

    Firstly, they explain exactly what the role of a priest is

    ..."8. A king, of course, rules. But what

    does a priest do? Hebrews 5:1 explains:

    “Every high priest taken from among

    men is appointed in behalf of men over

    the things pertaining to God, that he

    may offer gifts and sacrifices for sins.”

    So a priest appointed by Jehovah represents

    sinful people before God by

    means of prescribed offerings, pleading

    with Him on their behalf. Conversely,

    a priest also represents Jehovah before

    people, instructing them in divine law.

    (Lev. 10:8-11; Mal. 2:7) In these ways, a

    divinely appointed priest works to reconcile

    people to God...."

    So the suggestion would be that without these anointed here on earth we cannot be reconciled to God and they offer sacrifices and plead for us before God. Later on in the article they confirm that the anointed on earth are serving as priests and state their duties as follows

    ..."Where would those in the new covenant

    serve? On earth, where, as a

    group, they would serve as a priesthood,

    representing Jehovah to people

    by ‘declaring abroad his excellencies’

    and providing spiritual food. (Matt. 24:

    45; 1 Pet. 2:4, 5)..."

    So they represent Jehovah and also provide spiritual food. If that is their duties then the other sheep are excluded from this.

    The point here is that they make it clear that they (which includes the remnant on earth) are now reconciling people to God and I don't think they have been so specific on this point in the past.

  • therevealer
    therevealer

    My point exactly listener - they are getting more brash and dishonest all the time. If they had any honesty in them they would be apologizing for being so wrong and by that literally bringing hurt and harm. But no, they are going the other way.

  • baltar447
    baltar447

    They have effectively placed themselves as Intercessors between the rank and file and Jehovah.

  • Paralipomenon
    Paralipomenon

    I see this as trying to reintroduce the 144,000 as the Faithful and Discrete Slave to avoid embarassment in the Australia court case.

  • Vanderhoven7
    Vanderhoven7

    Jonathan Dough: Well said.

    Paralipomenon: You probably hit the nail squarely with that insight.

  • irondork
    irondork

    tagged

  • No Apologies
    No Apologies

    I don't see anything new or out of the ordinary here. This is standard JW doctrine from the last 60 years or so. It may not always be laid out as clearly. For instance, most JWs do not realize that as part of the "great crowd", Jesus is not their mediator. Yet according to the Watchtower, he is not, and they have stated as much consistently over the years.

    No Apologies

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