You are well rid of this bitch. I can see how it could turn your day sour.
Conversation i had with a witness girl on Facebook recently
by MsGrowingGirl20 31 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
-
-
Cold Steel
Most Christian churches have their own way of dealing with the inherent polytheism involved in their dogma. The Jehovah's Witnesses see Jesus Christ as one of God’s mighty angels. Evangelicals and other Trinitarians see the Father, Son and Holy Ghost as being ONE substance, but three distinct identities. The biblical scriptures, however, explain it as an analogy. Jesus prayed to the Father, asking him to bless them that “they might be ONE, even as WE are ONE.” The reader has only to determine the way, and in which condition, the Twelve were ONE.
Did it mean they were one in substance, but distinct individuals? Or did it mean that the Twelve had one presiding officer and all the others were subservient?
The Jehovah's Witnesses believe there can be only one God, so the Messiah must be a subservient being, as Adam was subservient to Jehovah. Yet Jesus said after his resurrection, “All power is given me both in heaven and in Earth.” The question then becomes, are the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit ONE God or Three? In Genesis, it appears that there are distinct beings speaking to one another. The text states that “Elohim,” the great head of the gods, is speaking to other divine beings, not angels. Besides being the plural form of “God,” Elohim declares, “Behold, MAN has become as ONE of US, knowing good and evil.” The notion of a divine council is one that is very old and predates the Hebrew concept of strict monotheism.
According to biblical scholar Michael S. Heiseri, “[The divine council is] the heavenly host, the pantheon of divine beings who administer the affairs of the cosmos. All ancient Mediterranean cultures had some conception of a divine council. The divine council of Israelite religion, known primarily through the psalms, was distinct in important ways.”
(Dictionary of the Old Testament: Wisdom, Poetry, & Writings; ed. Tremper Longman and Peter Enns; InterVarsity Press, 2008)
This “pantheon of divine beings,” while not entirely consistent with traditional Judaism, is consistent with traditional Christianity, which promises that the righteous will be “co-heirs with Christ,” meaning that “everything the Father has shall be his.” Thus, in Psalm 8 we read: “When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the [gods], and hast crowned him with glory and honour.” The word for “gods” again is Elohim; however, the translators couldn’t bring themselves to translate it correctly because of the obvious ramifications involved.
We see, then, that God did not first make the angels, and then men; but that he first created men, whom he then used as angels until their time on Earth was prepared and ready. And afterwards, he placed a veil of forgetfulness over their minds so that they could be tested as all the other children of God are tested.
But that’s how I see it, anyhoo!