A single Bible verse that explains everything—hope even to the disfellowshipped

by Abraham1 18 Replies latest watchtower bible

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  Abraham1

  "Through love and faithfulness sin is atoned for;

  through the fear of the LORD evil is avoided.” (Proverb 16:6, NIV)

  Sin can be cancelled [yə·ḵup·par] by acts of goodness such as kindness [bə·ḥe·seḏ] and faithfulness, and sin can be avoided in loving remembrance [ū·ḇə·yir·’aṯ] of God. Any individual [whether inside or outside of any organization] can do this! If a disfellowshipped person doesn’t harm anybody, but performs acts of goodness he stands “reinstated” in the heart of God. (Mathew 5:3; 25:31-40; 1 Peter 4:8; James 1:27)

  Fear of God means “hatred of evil and delight in doing His will.” (proverbs/8/13) (psalm/112/1) It is also called wisdom (proverbs/9-10.htm) and righteousness. (Psalm 37:30) “To be wise [sakal]” means “to circumspect” or to act only if it would benefit self and others—showing no partiality to self or others. (daniel/12-10.htm). Root meaning of the word righteous (tsedeq, H; dikaios, G) is all about being impartial in dealing with self and others as all are same in make-up—being made in “the image of God.” Righteousness is described through life-style of righteous people. (Genesis 15:5, 6; Mathew 1:19) Abraham learned to be righteous by looking at stars, one of which is sun which sustains living beings on earth and all life-support systems such as variety of fruits and Flowers, biogeochemical cycle etc. Such loving provisions tell us to be of help to others.

  It is true that certain Old Testament description about God may raise doubt about His goodness. But real prophets have removed all the untruths heaped upon God by human writers. For example, Jesus says God has only loved His enemies [which means HE has never asked anyone to kill enemies]. (matthew/5/43-48); (LUK.6.35.NIV); (exodus/21/22-23) (IIsaiah-66-3/) Jesus’ half-brother James termed many other narratives about God as untrue when he wrote ‘God has not tested anybody.’ (james/1-13.htm) Thus we are left with accounts that speak only good about God. JWs have acted unfaithfully even in their Bible translation. (https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5915507227099136/new-world-translation-much-different-other-translations) How can such ones disfellowship another? If one starts doing good, he is good to God. Hence Proverb 16:6 says the above.
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  Abraham1

  One glaring mistake in New World Translation of JWs is Mathew 25:46 which all Translations render: ““Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” (https://biblehub.com/matthew/25-46.htm)

  Only NW Translation puts their own thought into it and distorts the whole meaning: “These will depart into everlasting cutting-off.” (https://www.jw.org/en/library/bible/study-bible/books/matthew/25/)

  The Greek word used is kolasis. “The word was originally a gardening word, and its original meaning was pruning trees. In Greek there are two words for punishment, timoria and kolasis, and there is a quite definite distinction between them. Aristotle defines the difference; kolasis is for the sake of the one who suffers it; timoria is for the sake of the one who inflicts it. Plato says that no one punishes (kolazei) simply because he has done wrong - that would be to take unreasonable vengeance (timoreitai). We punish (kolazei) a wrong-doer in order that he may not do wrong again (Protagoras 323 E). Clement of Alexandria (Stromateis 4.24; 7.16) defines kolasis as pure discipline, and timoria as the return of evil for evil. Aulus Gellius says that kolasis is given that a man may be corrected; timoria is given that dignity and authority may be vindicated (The Attic Nights7.14). The difference is quite clear in Greek and it is always observed. Timoria is retributive punishment. Kolasis is always given to amend and to cure. (From The Apostles’ Creed by William Barclay.) (https://forum.)

  Jesus is the one who used the word kolasis in Mathew 25:46. He never meant eternal cutting off because he had already made it clear what would happen to the unrighteous: “When Jesus heard this, he was amazed and said to those following him, “Truly I tell you, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Mathew 8:10-13) Also compare Mathew 19:28-30 which speaks of two contrasting groups of people---one group receives "100 times as much" whereas others receive something less about which they "will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” To do this means they exist, not were cut off.
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  Beth Sarim

  Ephesians 2:8,9

  ''For it is by grace you are saved...not for which you can boast'',
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  asp59

  We sin every day. So understand if you forgive others and treat other well you get forgivnes for daily sins.
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  Abraham1

  Beth Sarim,

  When Jesus is contradicted by a letter (in the name of Paul) to the Ephesians, you have a choice--either to believe Jesus or someone else. Jesus never taught Grace. (Mathew 5:28-30; Mark 4:24; Revelation 22:11, 12)

  Serpent-style tactics is not a one-time event. It is still going on: "Has God told you disobedience to Him would result in death? But I tell you "if you disobey Him only you will live forever, you will positively not die." Has Jesus told you that you should greet everyone regardless others are your friends or enemies? (Mathew 5:43-48) But we tell you “don’t greet your former associate because he is now our enemy."

  Apostle Paul was "holy, righteous and blameless.” (1 Thessalonians 2:10; 5:19-23) Hence Paul cannot contradict Jesus. Hence someone in the name of Paul wrote such contradicting statements later, after Paul left the world stage. Paul himself knew this would happen after his departure when he wrote: ‘even from his own number men will arise and distort the truth.’ (Acts 20:29-30)
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  Simon

  Great, another bible-vomiter.
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  mickbobcat

  You can twist the bible to say almost anything, not to mention its full of bat shit crazy stories. I can not prove god does not exist, but its positive that the bible is not the inerrant word of god. If god is that stupid its game over, if he exists and claims the bible or Koran.
  
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  Abraham1

  "I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” (Michael Angelo)

  Try the same attitude with the Bible, all confusions will be cleared. Bible is like a marble piece which contains both—words of ordinary characters and words of real prophets who were linked with God, and these two groups are often opposed to each other (Mathew 23:37; Jeremiah 20:3) as the ordinary characters are often pleasure-oriented and prophets are truth-oriented. Prophets are true even when they speak about future. (missed-opportunity-jehovahs-witnesses). Hence if you take only sayings of the real prophets (1-thessalonians/5/19-23), then you have the truth.

  For example,

  1) According to matthew/5/43-48; Isaiah-66-3 all killings supposedly ordered by God belong to human writers, not to God.

  2) According to james/1-13 all accounts in which God supposedly “tested” people are from human writers, not from God.

  3) According to God’s own testimony, King David never erred in any matter (1KI.14.8). That means all derogatory accounts about David such as his adultery, murder etc belong to envious human writers, not to God. So is the case with apostle Paul who was “holy, righteous and blameless” (1-thessalonians/2/4-10) and had freeness of speech to tell others to be “blameless” like him (1 Thessalonians 5:19-23; Ephesians 5:24). That means verses such as Romans 7:19 do not belong to Paul, but to someone envious of Paul. Similarly, verses such as Galatians 6:5, 7; 2 Corinthians 9:6 reflect the mind of Christ (Mark 4:24; Mathew 12:32) Hence all verses contradictory to such absolute statements cannot be from Paul, but from someone envious of Paul.

  4) The verses that show Apostle Peter disowned Jesus belong to human writers, not to God. Because, if apostle Peter had really disowned Jesus, his contemporaries would have interrupted him when he rebuked Jews, saying: “You disowned the Holy and Righteous One and asked that a murderer be released to you.“ (Acts 3:14) His listeners would have asked him “What right do you have to reprove us for ‘DISOWNING Jesus” when you yourself have done it first?” All such verses or accounts were later adoptions. (2 Timothy 4:3)

  Now you know which verses in the Bible belong to human writers and which verses belong to God and His prophets. No confusion at all. (Daniel 12:10) Also see https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5915507227099136/new-world-translation-much-different-other-translations

  
  
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  punkofnice

  Simon - Great, another bible-vomiter.

  Conversations are like pulling teeth with these type of threads. It's a huge spew of copy paste. Waste of time trying to have a conversation. I really couldn't be bothered now.

  I hope I wasn't like that when I was religious or a JW. Hiding behind a screen of copy paste doesn't get to the authentic person.
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  Abraham1

  Punkofnice,

  My focus is not people like you who already left JWs, but those who are doubtful, and not yet left JWs. It would be a help to such ones. You people are already free, and do not need anything of this sort.