Deceptions That Do Not Lead To Everlasting Life

by Defender 3 Replies latest jw friends

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  Defender

  Satan deceived the first woman in Eden by questioning the integrity and truthfulness of God with words like: Is it really so that God said you must not eat from every tree of the garden? and when Eve responded in the negative and the warning of death if she eats from or touches the tree in the middle of garden, Satan replied: You positively will not die. For God knows that in the very day of your eating from it your eyes are bound to be opened and you are bound to be like God, knowing good and bad. (Gen 3:1-5)

  Satan lured Eve and Adam into thinking that they can become Godlike and escape death by willfully ignoring Gods explicit command.

  Today, Satan is using deception to lure people away from Gods plan of salvation and eternal life through Jesus Christ. He is achieving that in a number of ways. Among Jehovahs Witnesses, the deception used is kind of reverse argument of what was used in Eden but with deadly consequences nonetheless.

  The societys teachings go something like this;

  Is it really so that God said that to obtain eternal life one must put faith in Him and his Son Jesus?

  The Society will rspond: You will positively die. For even after putting faith in God and his Son Jesus, to earn salvation, you must associate with us and do what we tell you to do. You must attend the five weekly meetings, and you must submit your monthly service record and you must attend the assemblies and must distribute our publications and disseminate our teachings

  Or

  Is it really so that Jesus said that if you put faith in him and follow him you will inherit the heavenly kingdom and pass over from judgment to everlasting life?

  The Society will respond;
  You will positively die, for even after putting faith in Jesus, you will still not earn everlasting life and you will still have to undergo Judgment. For you will have to obey our directives and teachings and remain faithful through Armageddon and the 1000 years Judgment day and the final test when Satan is released."

  Or

  Is it really so that God said if you put faith in Jesus Christ and follow him, He will resurrect you with a spiritual immortal body the same body as the risen Jesus and that you will be with Christ in heaven?

  The Society will add;
  You will positively not inherit a spiritual immortal body like the risen Jesus. Jesus only promised this for a select 144,000 of which only about 8000 are alive today. Obviously, you are not one of them. To be eligible, if any, one of the 144,000 must have had committed an unforgivable sin and thus a space is opened up to replace him. Only those that have put in many years of service for us and have been loyal to us may be eligible for selection.

  The Societys doctrines and teachings put to question the truthfulness and integrity of Gods and Christs promises to those that put faith in them. It is seriously obscuring the spiritual relationship that one will have with the Father and His Son Jesus and it is seriously jeopardizing ones chances of eternal life.
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  Gig

  Excellent analogy, and I agree with you. The WTS deviates from the most basic teachings of the Word, not the least of which is unconditional love. To place themselves on the same level as Jesus, above the Spirit, and practically equal to the Father as "mother", and to agressively promote the idea that not only do they speak for Him, but ONLY they have authority to speak, is pure evil. To follow that logic, if the whole world were "faithfully" following the WTS as God's chosen, then when the WTS was in error, the whole world is wrong...plainly not what God would EVER plan or allow.

  Hebrews describes a mature christian as one "who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil."
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  Parousia

  Excellent analogy! May I save it for future reference? I would love to use it in discussions with my JW family or anyone who has the fortune to knock on my door!

  Last week I had the opportunity to talk to my JW Dad about such things. (Only the second time in twenty years. The first time he hung up the phone on me. This time he actually let me talk. Im still amazed!) Anyway, he loves to put down the Catholics. I know he is just parroting the Society teachings, but, after we talked I thought of this.

  The Society is actually the same as those it accuses. For example, they use the Catholic Church as a sort of favorite whipping boy to divert attention from themselves. Yet there are many similarities. It is the age-old tick; If I point the finger at someone bigger and worse than myself no one will look at me. However when one examines the hand pointing the finger, they may see the three fingers that are pointing back!

  Doesnt the Watchtower Society elevate the governing bodys authority, under the auspices "faithful and discreet slave," much like it accuses the Catholics of doing with the Pope? Doesnt it criticize their devotion to the Mother and yet has the audacity to call itself Mother and expect the same type of devotion? How many more similarities can you think of?!

  Anyway, I often think of the scene in the movie The Wizard of Oz when the curtain is pulled back and the Great and Powerful Oz is nothing more than a little old man blowing smoke!

  The Governing Body has nine of them.

  Parousia
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  AGuest

  Dearest Parousia... much peace to you... and...

  Has your Dad had a chance to review the Society's description of the Catholic clergy, as set forth on page 64-64 of the Proclaimer's Book... which says they are:

  "A bigoted group of men who systematically throttle all Bible teaching... unless it comes through them."

  Please ask your dear father if he can spell "h-y-p-o-c-r-i-t-e"...

  Your servant and a slave of Christ,

  SJ