Re. Hamsterbait- "Well You are partaking not on the basis of WHERE you believe you will be, but partaking on the basis of your complete faith that Christ is your personal savior."
Unfortunately HB in their fantastic work off of the 80's " Treasoning from the Scriptures" they have that base covered, check this out. page 309
*** rs p. 309 par. 2 Ransom ***
John 10:16: “I have other sheep, which are not of this fold; those also I must bring, and they will listen to my voice, and they will become one flock, one shepherd.” (These “other sheep” come under the loving care of Jesus Christ while the remnant of the “little flock” of Kingdom heirs is still on earth; thus the “other sheep” can be associated with the Kingdom heirs as part of the “one flock.” They all enjoy many of the same benefits from Jesus’ sacrifice, but not identically so, because they have different destinies.)
It seems incredible to me that the fds devote SEVEN whole pages to their discussion of the ransom in this book WITHOUT mentioning the Last supper or ANY of the relevant scriptures that speak of partaking of the flesh and blood of Jesus, and absolutely NO MENTION of 1 Tim 2;5 which says that Jesus is our mediator (i. e. all mankind who accept the sacrafice). Also NO MENTION of the NEW COVENANT. They have reduced the whole subject to a discussion of the origins of sin, and why we need the Ransom , and crucially leave THE ONE PAGE OF THE INSTUCTIONS that you need to finish the project.
Right at the end however is the rub.
page 310
What is required of us in order to benefit lastingly from Jesus perfect sacrafice?
John 3;36 "he that excercises faith in the son has everlasting life"
so far so good......biblically accurate and simple.....
Next question on page 311 "treasoning from the scriptures"
What effect should this provision have on how we use our lives?
titus 2; 13,14 " Christ Jesus ......gave himself for us that he might deliver us from every sort of lawlessness and cleanse for himself a people peculiarly his own , zealous for fine works" (Appreciation for this marvelous provision should move us to have a zealous share in those works that Christ assigned to his true followers)
VERY, VERY clever. A scripture that speaks of the ransom AND works in the same context! Almost like u need to show the works to benefit.
Wow , so that verse is really telling us that if we really apppreciate what Jesus did then we will do the works that he assigned us to? Sounds suspiciously like the parable of the faithful slave that he also "assigned".
The verse says that the people for himself (not Jehovah, strange..) would already BE zealous for fine works. But what they want you to take from the verse is that it's those works which are really the key.... Yes the Wts works program. And "Jesus true followers"?....Jehovah's Witnesses.They are the ones who have the knowledge and the appreciation and the works to go with it.
Surely the most appreciative act a person could do would be to accept the Ransom or new covenant which the wts seem to think are two separate
things.
Pray to God,
put faith in and believe in Jesus,
ask for your sins to be forgiven,
and show you want to be his brother by sharing the Lord's meal when you get the chance.
Na, too simple , and not enough works for my liking. And you can keep your bread and wine.....
