Who Are the "Other Sheep" and Jesus "Brothers" ?

by Sea Breeze 40 Replies latest watchtower bible

  • Sea Breeze
    Sea Breeze

    Watchtower plays lots of games with definitions. Once they change a definition then they have a false assumption to build their deception on. Then they repeat the new definition and use its new meaning thousands of times to reinforce it. We all went through this indoctrination.

    So, how do we untangle Watchtower deception? It's not that hard. Mostly common sense.

    First of all, Jesus said that He was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel (Matthew 15:24)

    In Jeremiah 50:6, God calls Israel His people and also calls them “lost sheep.” The Messiah, spoken of throughout the Old Testament, was seen as the one who would gather these “lost sheep” (Ezekiel 34:23-24; Micah 5:4-5).


    So, when Jesus presented Himself as a shepherd to Israel, He was claiming to be the fulfillment of Messianic prophecy. This means that the sheep are Israelites. So, when Jesus said that he had "other sheep" not of this fold, he is saying that he is going to one-day shepherd non-Israelites as well.


    The apostle Paul and others started gathering the other sheep (Gentile Believers) and made this announcement to them in Ephesians 2:14

    But now in Christ Jesus, ye who once were far off have been brought nigh by the blood of Christ. For He is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us, having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, that He might make in Himself one new man out of the two, so making peace, and that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby.
    17 He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were nigh; for through Him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now therefore, ye are strangers and foreigners no more, but fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God.

    Similarly, Jesus' brothers would mean first - his natural brothers. After that, the next meaning would be his countrymen - fellow Israelites. Thirdly, it would mean all his followers - Christians.

    Now let's look at Mt. 25: 40

    And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

    The setting, when Jesus will say these words, is immediately after the great tribulation at the judgment of the existing nations. So who did Jesus refer to as his brothers?

    1. His natural brothers is not an option. Because of the context, Jesus is referring to a larger group than his three brothers of his adoptive father Joseph

    2. He could not be referring to Christians (believing jews and gentiles - "one new man") because the church has already been removed from earth and been raptured to heaven.

    3. Jesus is referring to the rebellious Israelites who most of the nations had just tried to wipe off the face of the earth during the battle of Armageddon.

    Remember that Jesus had just previously showed up with the Church from heaven (saints) and destroys the world's military attacking Israel with one word at Armageddon. Not much of a battle.

    As a military mop up operation, Jesus now has a judgment to determine which ones of the survivors of the GT will be allowed to enter his Millennium Reign on earth. Each person will be judged on whether of not they supported the anniliation of Israelites (Christ's brothers). If a person supported the armies that he had just wiped out, they are not allowed in, and are sent straight to hell. If they did not support the anniliation of Jesus' brothers (his countrymen) - the Israelites, they are welcomed to enter the kingdom on earth.

    This is the dominant evangelical view and is the simplest explantion.

    Hope this helps.


  • FragrantAddendum
    FragrantAddendum

    "the dominant evangelical view?"

    oo, look! more pharisees! wanna follow them!

    https://youtu.be/K398Q4DYCW8

    no thanks

    more lies from more fakes who wanna be lords

  • Sea Breeze
    Sea Breeze

    FA,

    I don't know if you were ever a JW, but most JW's have never considered a plain reading and traditional explanation of terms. I know it was very helpful to me.

    Challenging WT assumptions can be very productive. Otherwise, JW's have one meaning in mind and Christians have another even though they are conversing using the same words.

    This is the PRIMARY grift that the WT uses to deceive.

    Here's another phrase that JW's accept as truth but is not only NOT in the bible, but totally confuses people:

    The term: Great Crowd of other sheep conflates two totally different groups into one. GT martyrs are not church-age gentile believers, which is what that phrase means using correct definitions.

    It's all about the definitioins / assumptions. This is where WT is most vulnerable at. Unfortunately, most JWs (including myself for 8 years) want nothing to do theology after a stint in the borg.

    Here's another totally unbiblical WT phrase: resurrected to spirit life. I personally believe it is fun identifying WT deception. It is quite a tangled mess.

  • BoogerMan
    BoogerMan

    Who Are Jesus' "Brothers"?

    (Matthew 12:50; Mark 3:35; Luke 8:21; John 1:12,13; Rom. 8:14; 1 John 5:1 (RSV)

    How were all of Jesus' disciples to address God? (Matt. 6:9)

    Jesus promised that he would have one flock of sheep, not two different "classes". (John 10:16)

    The Scrptures above clearly identify to whom they apply - all Christians in the one flock.

    (Matthew 12:50) For whoever does the will of my Father who is in heaven, that one is my brother and sister and mother.”

    (Mark 3:35) Whoever does the will of God, this one is my brother and sister and mother.”

    (Luke 8:21) In reply he said to them: “My mother and my brothers are these who hear the word of God and do it.”

    (John 1:12, 13) However, to all who did receive him, he gave authority to become God’s children, because they were exercising faith in his name. (becoming Christians!) And they were born, not from blood or from a fleshly will or from man’s will, but from God.

    (Romans 8:14) For all who are led by God’s spirit are indeed God’s sons.

    (1 John 5:1) Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born from God, (a son) and everyone who loves the one who caused to be born loves him who has been born from that one.

    Seems pretty clear from a Christian's perspective - despite what the self-appointed "slave" says.

  • Sea Breeze
    Sea Breeze

    @Boogerman

    Certainly ALL believers are Christ's brothers. But when Jesus makes how they are treated the determination of whether of not they are let in to the Kingdom or sent to hell, it makes more sense to mean his literal countrymen because of the events that has just transpired.

    During the GT, not all Israel are unbelievers. The real 144K (male jewish virgins) will certainly be messanic Christians and certainly there will not be any Israeli ubelievers after the GT when they are facing Jesus in the flesh.

  • TonusOH
    TonusOH

    The WTS uses the 'second prophetic fulfillment' concept to build new doctrines. That way, even if you read the original text and see the obvious conclusion (for example, that the 'other sheep' referred to non-Israelites), they can add an additional interpretation that applies to the present day (that the 'other sheep' refer to a non-heavenly hope). If we point out that this is not the original meaning, they will say that they are not challenging that interpretation; they have received divine guidance towards a second, modern fulfillment.

    They did this with the "generation" teaching. It's nonsense on stilts, once you step back and see it without the cult blinders. But it is effective on those who are still in, because it doesn't mess with the original (and often clear) explanation. It adds a completely new one.

  • Ding
    Ding

    Walter Martin used to say, "The sheep's clothing of the cults is vocabulary -- same words, totally different meanings..."

  • FragrantAddendum
    FragrantAddendum

    @ding - you nailed it!

    cults be crafty

    they take their plays from the same playbook

    building up religious empires one brick at a time


  • peacefulpete
    peacefulpete

    Certainly, the expression of 'brothers' of Christ had a cultic meaning, and was the objective of all Christians.

    The tradition of Jeus also having literal brothers was arrived at an early stage in the second century proto-orthodoxy as a means to oppose Docetism (the early/original assertion that the Christ was not actually human but had taken the appearance). This development was enabled by the "too-many-Marys" conflation/confusion problems and two brief usages in Pauline material in reference to certain Christian men, perhaps in a special usage reflecting rank.

    Mark preserves an older reference to a Mary, who was a disciple in 15:

    40 Some women were watching from a distance. Among them were Mary Magdalene, Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joseph,[d] and Salome. 41 In Galilee these women had followed him and cared for his needs. Many other women who had come up with him to Jerusalem were also there.

    Contrast that with 6:

    3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph,[a] Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

    The bold lines almost certainly were added, perhaps as a harmonization with the Matthean (13:55) expansion/redaction of this passage.

    Anyway, this adjustment to the euhemerization process served a purpose early on but later, once the proto-orthodoxy became thoroughly dominant, it was an embarrassment, requiring another layer of tradition that gave a widowed Joseph children from a previous marriage.

  • FragrantAddendum
    FragrantAddendum

    the word "brother" means different things in different contexts

    (the bible wasn't originally written in english)

    all who are god's kids are "brothers"

    even angels are brothers of humans

    the specific context of the 144,000 "brothers" thing is different

    it just means a different assignment in the house

    https://qr.ae/psDBhF

    it is a literal number

    anyone who says otherwise is full of 💩💩💩 and making up stuff

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