by humbled 15 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Could Jesus have shown us the way to healing, preservation, wholeness but we turned ministry his into a theological nightmare?
Just wondering if punkofnice and my family will be bonding in hell together 'cause they aren't "saved".
And wondering if I really AM an apostate.
When Christ came up out of the Jordan, who did God say to listen to? Just sayin'.
Well, Jesus said HE was the way to healing, preservation and wholeness (John 14:6) I think he kept it simple.
Right, so we listen to him when we hear him.
What if what some hear is not what Jesus says--but what others TELL them he meant/said.
What if the reason some are deaf is because they really ARE NOT HEARING WHAT JESUS SAID.
What then?
maybe it's cos they are not listening, cos they don't care .. just as in the days of Noah ?
then i guess they are in trouble.
sorry, folks, I'm not able to express myself well. I mean to say--Is it possible that people don't hear Jesus for more than one reason?
The gospels gave one reason--some just rejected his teaching because they liked the status quo.
But there are now dogmas and ideas not part of what was in the gospel that people heard sitting at his feet. These days, perhaps people do not "get saved" because they are not able to hear that gospel. We know we didn't hear it or preach it as JWs. If that easy,light burden has been made heavy with doctrines foreign to his good news then who can blame them?
Some people I know will say they like Jesus--and they have no use for Christianity.
Yes, Laika, I think we should keep it simple too.
Are you saying you think that the JW ministry may have been intended to be one thing, but that it was morphed into somthing else? That the Lord's work failed because of the foibles of men?
I don't see the Lord working in that manner because failure isn't his forte. The big mistake is in assuming that the WBTS has any involvement with God whatsoever. It always floors me when someone realizes the WT Society isn't of God, but then tries to make it so.
Salvation is a journey, not a destination, and we must gain it through fear and trembling.
CS,
It may be that I agree with what you have written: I know that the JWs are not doing God's work.But if you are a member of an organized religion that has prophets who can tell you today that your belief of yesterday must change today--then perhaps we are not understanding one another.
You wrote: "Salvation is a journey" And I might say "Jesus tells us that salvation involves being "born again".
But what is that?
The man named Nicodemus asked that question too. I like that Jesus answered with what might be called poetry. Some might say, that may be the problem here. Jesus doesn't naail it down for us.
"But fools walk in where angels fear to tread."
"born again" gets nailed down in many churches. But as far as we know from the scriptures, Jesus never nailed it down for Nicodemus--So salvation becomes a journey and being born again is that man's own undertaking, and salvation is as personal a process as birth--Some are slow and some are long and difficult.
I do not believe that Jesus wanted anyone to interfere with that "birth" beyond minor interventions.He warned of that at Matthew 23:10--not one of his followers were to call themselves an "official guide or an authoritative leader".
What do you think of having someone else mediate the process other than Jesus?
Jesus wrote nothing down. The Bible is a book authored by a bunch of people who weren't even there. Maybe you could ask a Jewish rabbi why the Jews didn't accept Jesus as the Messiah. I figure it's because he was just another in a long line of Messiahs that weren't saying or doing anything that hadn't already been said or done. They probably thought he was a nut, just like today anyone claiming to be Jesus is considered insane.
