There are no believers in heaven.
Encouraging scriptures for the day
by Kosonen 543 Replies latest jw friends
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EasyPrompt
True, because they don't need to just "believe" - they already "know".
(FYI, the faithful angels who have been alive from ancient times and Jesus are the ones who reside in heaven. They've never questioned their own existence or the truth of the Bible. They know they are alive and that the Bible is Jehovah God's Word. There is nothing any atheist can say to them or about them that will convince them otherwise.😁)
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Kosonen
The objective is for us to come to Jesus Christ
2 Corinthians 11:2 For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy, for I personally promised you in marriage to one husband that I might present you as a chaste virgin to the Christ. 3 But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent seduced Eve by its cunning, your minds might be corrupted away from the sincerity and the chastity that are due the Christ. 4 For as it is, if someone comes and preaches a Jesus other than the one we preached, or you receive a spirit other than what you received, or good news other than what you accepted, you easily put up with him.
John 6:37 All those whom the Father gives me will come to me, and I will never drive away the one who comes to me;
44 No man can come to me unless the Father, who sent me, draws him, and I will resurrect him on the last day.
Ephesians 1:9….It is according to his good pleasure that he himself purposed 10 for an administration at the full limit of the appointed times, to gather all things together in the Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth. Yes, in him 11 with whom we are in union…
No, the goal is not to lead people to an organization or congregation, but to Jesus Christ. So we should not think too much about an organization or a congregation.
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Queequeg
To know, is to know that you know nothing. That is the meaning of true knowledge.
- Socrates
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Kosonen
What status does Israel have today in God's sight?
Romans 11:1 I ask, then, God did not reject his people, did he? By no means! For I too am an Israelite, of the offspring of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God did not reject his people, whom he first recognized.
25 For I do not want you to be unaware of this sacred secret, brothers, so that you do not become wise in your own eyes: A partial dulling of senses has come upon Israel until the full number of people of the nations has come in, 26 and in this manner all Israel will be saved. Just as it is written: “The deliverer will come out of Zion and turn away ungodly practices from Jacob. 27 And this is my covenant with them, when I take their sins away.” 28 True, with respect to the good news, they are enemies for your sakes; but with respect to God’s choosing, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers.
Zechariah 14:2 I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem for the war; and the city will be captured and the houses plundered and the women raped. And half of the city will go into exile, but the remaining ones of the people will not be cut off from the city.
Zechariah 13:8 “And in all the land,” declares Jehovah, “Two parts in it will be cut off and perish; And the third part will be left remaining in it. 9 And I will bring the third part through the fire; And I will refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will call on my name, And I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people,’ And they will say, ‘Jehovah is our God.’”
Zechariah 12:10 “I will pour out on the house of David and on the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of favor and supplication, and they will look to the one whom they pierced (Jesus Christ), and they will wail over him as they would wail over an only son; and they will grieve bitterly over him as they would grieve over a firstborn son.
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Queequeg
"All we are is dust in the wind dude."
Theodore Logan, Esq.
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Kosonen
Jehovah God's loyal love
Genesis 17:7 “And I will keep my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. 8 And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land in which you lived as a foreigner—the entire land of Caʹnaan—for a lasting possession, and I will be their God.”
Jeremiah 31:3 From far away Jehovah appeared to me and said: “I have loved you with an everlasting love. That is why I have drawn you to me with loyal love. 4 Yet again I will rebuild you and you will be rebuilt.O virgin of Israel, you will again take up your tambourines And go forth dancing joyfully.
20 “Is Eʹphra·im not a precious son to me, a beloved child? For as often as I speak against him, I do remember him still. That is why my emotions are stirred for him. And I will surely have pity on him,” declares Jehovah.
35 This is what Jehovah says, Who gives the sun for light by day, The laws of the moon and the stars for light by night, Who stirs up the sea and makes its waves boisterous, Whose name is Jehovah of armies: 36 “‘If these regulations should ever fail,’ declares Jehovah, ‘Only then would the offspring of Israel cease as a nation before me always.’” 37 This is what Jehovah says: “‘If the heavens above could be measured and the foundations of the earth below could be explored, only then could I reject all the offspring of Israel for all they have done,’ declares Jehovah.”
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Kosonen
https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/1101993012
Would God Restore the Jews to Palestine?
The Bible Students were well aware of the many prophecies of restoration that were delivered to ancient Israel by God’s prophets. (Jer. 30:18; 31:8-10; Amos 9:14, 15; Rom. 11:25, 26) Down till 1932, they understood these to apply specifically to the natural Jews. Thus, they believed that God would show Israel favor again, gradually restoring the Jews to Palestine, opening their eyes to the truth regarding Jesus as Ransomer and Messianic King, and using them as an agency for extending blessings to all nations. With this understanding, Brother Russell spoke to large Jewish audiences in New York as well as in Europe on the subject “Zionism in Prophecy,” and Brother Rutherford, in 1925, wrote the book Comfort for the Jews.
End of quote.
But then persecution of Jews began in Germany and Brother Rutherford lost his faith in prophecies that Jews would get a homeland in Palestine. He could have waited to dismiss this because just a few years later the Jewish homeland was established.
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Queequeg
“Everybody believes in something and everybody, by virtue of the fact that they believe in something, uses that something to support their own existence.”
- Frank Zappa
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Kosonen
Who is a Jew according to the Bible?
Romans 2:28 For he is not a Jew who is one on the outside, nor is circumcision something on the outside, on the flesh. 29 But he is a Jew who is one on the inside, and his circumcision is that of the heart by spirit and not by a written code. That person’s praise comes from God, not from people.
How is this possible?
The answer:
Romans 4:11 And he (Abraham) received a sign—namely, circumcision—as a seal of the righteousness by the faith he had while in his uncircumcised state, so that he might be the father of all those having faith while uncircumcised, in order for righteousness to be counted to them; 12 and so that he might be a father to circumcised offspring, not only to those who adhere to circumcision but also to those who walk orderly in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had while in the uncircumcised state.
16 That is why it is through faith, so that it might be according to undeserved kindness, in order for the promise to be sure to all his offspring, not only to those who adhere to the Law but also to those who adhere to the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. 17 (This is just as it is written: “I have appointed you a father of many nations.”) This was in the sight of God, in whom he had faith, who makes the dead alive and calls the things that are not as though they are.
Romans 11:17 However, if some of the branches were broken off and you, although being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became a sharer of the richness of the olive’s root, 18 do not be arrogant toward the branches. If, though, you are arrogant toward them, remember that you do not bear the root, but the root bears you.
So if you have been grafted in as an adoptive son to the father Abraham, "the father of all those having faith", then you are a Jew and an Israelite.
In fact you can regard yourself Jewish.
Isn't it nice when you meet Jewish people to feel that your father is also Abraham, while they are biologically Abraham's descendants?
Food for thought:
Ezekiel 37:28 And the nations will have to know that I, Jehovah, am sanctifying Israel when my sanctuary is in their midst forever.”’”