by N.drew 16 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
2 Timothy 2:16-18 please?
16 But avoid worldly and empty chatter, for it will lead to further ungodliness, 17 and their talk will spread like gangrene. Among them are Hymenaeus and Philetus, 18 men who have gone astray from the truth saying that the resurrection has already taken place, and they upset the faith of some.
How were they saying the resurrection had taken place?
I don't think we can know exactly, nothing of their teaching exists apart from what you have quoted, as far as I know. Perhaps it was an early instance of saying that since Christs death, all who die "in christ" go straight to Heaven.
Of course the WT teaches that the "resurrection has already taken place" does it not ? Are they not then, the modern "Hymenaeus and Philetus" Class ?
I think they were saying the resurrection to Earth in the future was a done deal. And if the resurrection was acomplished, what good would anyone's works of faith accomplish?
So yes, the Watchtower teaches that way of Hymenaeus and Philetus but for a different reason. In other words they were encouraging the people to put too much expectation in God's will on Earth accomplished. So when we pray "You're will be done" it is empty if God's will is done. We are God's fellow workers to get it accomplished. Does anyone else see the difference? Please say yes.
Don't want to mess with your thread, but does anyone remember the articles written in about 1964-67 explaining all about the resurrection? Are you saying that Hymenaeus and Philetus were saying that because
Jesus had died and gone to heaven all who put faith in him were assued a resurrection so His will was a done deal?
Back when I was a witness I noticed that some scriptures just don't get discussed much in the publications. So I started to read them- very enlightening.
Jesus had died and gone to heaven all who put faith in him were assued a resurrection so His will was a done deal?
Right! We are talking about Earth. Earth needs to sustain many more people than it does. And everyone who lives under God's rule must want to live under God's rule. I think most people don't want to. That is a problem. It seems like Hymenaeus and Philetus and the Watchtower have overlooked that. :(
Just for the discussion, do you not want to live under God's rule and if not, why not? Whose rule doyou prefer?
It is my opinion that conditions must be right for a resurrection. If the conditions are never right there will never be a resurrection.
I had an interesting conversation with an uber dub that got quite heated. I said to her "you will teach Daniel the ways of the Watchtower? What if he disagrees with you?"
Back to the resurrection taking place - the 1920s Watchtower leaders certainly were teaching that it had (or was about to).
They thought at the time that the old testament bible characters were coming back to earth in the flesh and supposedly built the Rutherford mansion for them to live in. Witnesses from that era told me that they would look around at assemblies and try to spot some old man with a beard - they were thinking that this could be Daniel, Ezekiel, or King David.
I don't know if the Rutherford leadership really believed this themselves, but they certainly taught it for a time in the 20s and 30s.
