Jesus didn't come to set up an organization. There was already one in place, and His followers were considered apostates from that organization. He came to give each and every one the ability to have a one on one relationship with God....through Him.
It's not about religion, but a relationship. When you stand before your maker you will stand as an individual, not a group. No hiding behind the skirts of any organization. If you have Christ, He stands with you, and you are not alone. It is His sacrifice that covers you. It is through Him that you have salvation. No organization can give that to you, and no organization can take that away from you.
Following men gets you nowhere. They don't have all the answers, and even if they did it wouldn't matter. God isn't going to give you a pop quiz to determine if you have salvation. He isn't impressed by what we know or think we know.
The WTS admits that they will be unable to visit everybody in the world to give them a witness . Instead they say that by peaching in all major countries of the world they are fulfilling the 'comission' . They also say :
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7/85p.1BoldlyPreachingtheGoodNews***
The Kingdom is the touchstone by which all mankind are to be judged. Thus, Jesus showed that our fearlessly preaching the good news was more important than even our present lives.?Mark 8:34, 35.
If judgement is to be by the persons response to the J W preaching, then the day of judgement would never come because they would never be able to give everybody the opportunity to be judged. I never could understand that
Jesus didn't come to set up an organization. There was already one in place, and His followers were considered apostates from that organization. He came to give each and every one the ability to have a one on one relationship with God....through Him.
It's not about religion, but a relationship. When you stand before your maker you will stand as an individual, not a group. No hiding behind the skirts of any organization. If you have Christ, He stands with you, and you are not alone. It is His sacrifice that covers you. It is through Him that you have salvation. No organization can give that to you, and no organization can take that away from you.
Following men gets you nowhere. They don't have all the answers, and even if they did it wouldn't matter. God isn't going to give you a pop quiz to determine if you have salvation. He isn't impressed by what we know or think we know.
You said: If judgement is to be by the persons response to the J W preaching, then the day of judgement would never come because they would never be able to give everybody the opportunity to be judged. I never could understand that.
Forget about their not being able to speak to all the people because of time constraints, the JW's are loath to enter into the preaching work to the extent that Jesus did because they would have to step in the "poop", so to speak. This shouldn't bother anyone though, the JW message is not the message that Jesus spoke of. And there are plenty of slaves that are honoured to roll up their pants and pick up their skirts to pass through any amount of garbage, to speak to the people, the complete message of the Kingdom. Thank you brothers and sisters.
Its human nature to view and classify things from within the confines of what we've experienced. This is one reason why a well rounded education can be so liberating in so many ways. It's apparent, Holly, that you are painting all people who label themselves as "born again" with the same brush. Perhaps a longtime churchgoer in one of the 7 churches in the province of Asia toward the end of the 1st century would have taken a similar dissillusioned stance. I believe that we will be judged not by what we label ourselves but by what is in our heart.
Then again, our love for God will be reflected in who we are. I have heard a pastor mention that aside from the Bible, the most uplifting reading he has done was to read biographies of dedicated Christians through the centuries. Most notably, there are countless stories of missionaries who struggled through tremendous adversity and against tremendous odds out of their love for God in their heart. Incredible stories. Out of the church I attend alone there are dozens of families who have foregone a comfortable career and dedicated their lives to the missions field. Needless to say, I personally know so many individuals who are not hypocritical in the least in their faith.
In short, I think you are expecting to find truth in "a people". But the best people can do is to define policy and put on a good show. The forerunner to the "Knowledge" book you've been studying, "You Can Live Forever in a Paradise Earth", conveys the idea that association with the organization is the primary means of transforming a person into God's image. This concept is closer to "Dianetics" than to the overwhelming message of the Bible.
The activities of the Witnesses in no way uniquely identify them with the class mentioned in the bible.
The Assembly of God, Scientology, Islam, are just a few of the groups who enjoyed rapid global expansion - in many cases greater than that of Jehovah's Witnesses.
While traditional orthodox religions have decline over the last several decades, fundamentalism of all forms has skyrocketed.
