How To Talk About Interpretation With Jehovah's Witnesses.

by Vanderhoven7 17 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Vanderhoven7

  @ Scholar

  "Eisegesis is not common and usually not favoured by scholars but is practised to a great extent in WT publications and I have no issue with this fact...."

  I'm sure you don’t. Witnesses can't have an issue because their religion depends entirely on adding to the word of God. The LDS elders in the OP didn't object to interpretive abuse either. After all their leader was given the divine mandate and ability to add to the word of God.
  
  

  The fact is that your religion is not biblical. By that I mean that every doctrine which is unique to Jehovah's Witnesses is not in the Bible. You can justify that fact to yourself, but not to those who believe the Bible can not legitimately be made to say whatever a person or group wants it to say.
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  GodBeliever

  "Over 20 Questions posed by the illustrious VDH on ONE post. That's why I refuse to discuss anything with him. Things never get anywhere because he seldom gets the answer he wants and then accuses others of NOT answering questions".

  "For the Lord has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has shut your eyes (the prophets) and covered your heads (the seers). For you the vision of all this has become like the words of a sealed scroll. When it is handed to one who can read, with the request, “Read this,” the reply is, “I cannot, because it is sealed.” When the scroll is handed to one who cannot read, with the request, “Read this,” the reply is, “I cannot read.” The Lord said: Since this people draws near with words only and honors me with their lips alone, though their hearts are far from me, And fear of me has become mere precept of human teaching, Therefore I will again deal with this people in surprising and wondrous fashion: The wisdom of the wise shall perish, the prudence of the prudent shall vanish. Ah! You who would hide a plan too deep for the Lord! Who work in the dark, saying, “Who sees us, who knows us?”
  Isaiah 29:10‭-‬15
  
  "Yet we do speak a wisdom to those who are mature, but not a wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away. Rather, we speak God’s wisdom, mysterious, hidden, which God predetermined before the ages for our glory, But as it is written: “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him,” this God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God. We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the things freely given us by God. And we speak about them not with words taught by human wisdom, but with words taught by the Spirit, describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms.
  1 Corinthians 2:6‭-‬7‭, ‬9‭-‬10‭, ‬12‭-‬13
  
  "I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’”
  Matthew 23:39

  
  Nobody can see Jesus again if they do not accept his newly established kingdom in heaven.
  
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  Vanderhoven7

  @Godbeliever,

  "Nobody can see Jesus again if they do not accept his newly established kingdom in heaven."

  Nobody can see or enter Christ's Kingdom unless they are born again.

  3¶Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God....6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.

  
  

  So are you born again? If you do not have Christ's indwelling Holy Spirit you do not belong to Him. Romans 8:9
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  GodBeliever

  Agree
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  Ding

  JWs are trained to think in sound bites which become thought stoppers.

  For example, to the WT James 2:26 ("...faith without works is dead") justifies its entire works salvation system.

  No matter what else you show them, they always recite those five words and refuse to think any further.
  
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  Vanderhoven7

  @Ding

  Excellent point!

  They often cite their door-to-door fieldwork ministry as "good works" when in fact they are spreading an extra-biblical gospel which is foreign to scripture. There are no rewards for that.
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  Vanderhoven7

  Comparing James with Paul on justification

  James writes: Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? James 2:21

  
  

  Paul writes: What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? 2. For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. 3. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness. Rom. 4:1-3

  
  

  How can we harmonize James and Paul on the subject of justification?

  It is critical to note that Abraham was justified by faith before God not only prior to the giving of the law but also prior to offering Isaac on the alter, and actually even before Isaac was conceived. Genesis. 14:6

  
  

  The solution then is that Paul was talking about justification before God, while James was talking about justification before men. “Show me thy faith by thy works,” says James, “let thy faith be justified in the eyes of those that behold thee by thy works;” but Paul speaks of justification in the sight of God, who justifies those that believe in Jesus, purely on account of the redemption that is in him.” Thus we see that persons are justified before God by faith, but faith is justified before men by works.

  
  CONCLUSION: Genuine faith is invisible to all but God. Visible works alone can demonstrate to others that a person is truly justified. Works alone can attest to whether faith is genuine i.e., saving or justifying faith. However works are not the basis of salvation but rather the product of salvation.
  
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  waton

  They often cite their door-to-dor fieldwork ministry as "good works" when in fact they are spreading an extra-biblical gospel which is foreign to scripture. There are no rewards for that. VDHo

  wt cites the sheep and goat judgment , as deeds done to "Christ brothers" but that was to the least, of anonymous ones, and true humanitarian tasks only, not for the adored bigwigs in Brooklyn / Warwick, in their sales campaigns.