what would be the most important things you think someone should be aware about jws if they are planning on getting baptised as a jw?
imagine you are on a plane and get talking to the person next to you.
you find out they are considering becoming a jw but they are not sure.
Enquire from him/her their motivation for such a commitment. I would then share my experiences of the org. and plant a seed of the simplicity of the gospel in accepting the free gift of life that God made available in a person, the risen Messiah, NOW, NOT a church or an any organisation or some time in the far future, like in the case of the Ethiopian eunuch.
Shalom
why does the bible portray satan as this big liar, and that he is the father of the lie when he didn't lie?.
genesis 3:4-5.
4 then the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die.
Mrbunnyrabit***** 1. Men DID become like God..- 2. Men DID get to know good and evil- 3. Their eyes DID open- 4 They could have eaten from the tree of life and live forever***
1. A lie.....God is a consuming fire, inherently immortal......Adam and Eve are dust.
2. True....humanity got TO CHOOSE what THEY considered good and bad....and look at the consequences !!
3. True.....To a loss of innocence.
4. False..God gives eternal life as a reward, you don't give your car keys to a baby. The tree of Life symbolized Christ that faithful mankind was predestined to recieve in the garden or later. Adam, was a pattern of the one to come. Romans 5:14...
1 Corinthians 15: 46 The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. 47 The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. 48 As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. 49 And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we [g] bear the image of the heavenly man.
Satan can be an angel of LIGHT OR NEW LIGHT....Caveat emptor
Shalom
how can any of us test the witchtowers teachings when we're forbidden to do so,is that not signs of a mind controlling cult?yes it is my fellow free minders!.
Based on 1 John 4, the WBTS are anti-Christ
2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God.
Which means 1 John 1 ... 1 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched—this we proclaim concerning the Word of life. 2 The life appeared; we have seen it and testify to it, and we proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and has appeared to us.
They deny Jesus is the ETERNAL LIFE OF GOD IN THE FLESH,,,,.
Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.
Shalom
the present gb/fds claim a kind of apostolic succession going back to the now claimed first appearance of the fds in 1919.. i don't think anywhere is it made clear who made up the fds then, but let us go along with the fiction, (in reality we know only rutherford really ruled the roost) and assume there was a group of guys who were the fds, how did they know they were chosen as such ?.
there obviously is nothing in the wt writings of the time as all this is noo lite, so, if they did not know their heaven appointed role, why would they carry it out, except by accident?
and if so, how could they possibly produce "food at the proper time "?.
They are grasping at straws right now as their errored premillennium type eschatology borrowed from the SDA has failed. They are at best just another denomination doing the best they can, or at worse a unrepentant false prophet. Take your pick !
it is probable that if the domestics include the great crowd (other sheep) and the belief is that no fds can be proven to have existed from the death of the last apostle until the reestablished fds in 1918, that most believers from the death of the last apostle or the "dawn" of the 2nd century as the article puts it, will soon be considered other sheep.
the wheat and the weeds articles makes it a point to use a particular expression.
it uses "overgrown" where the parable uses oversown.
The JW teaching on the "other sheep" as earthly subjects is contingent on the separation of the wheat and weeds (the so called real annointed Christians aka the annointed JWs) and them being appointed to rule over ALL Christ's belongings. In this new understanding, consistant with scripture no such authority is given until they are "glorified" after proven faithful during their life course. However, this new understanding disqualifies them from ruling as kings now, by their own understanding of rewards. .
..1 Corinthians 4: 6 Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us you may learn not to exceed what is written, so that no one of you will become arrogant in behalf of one against the other. 7 For who regards you as superior? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you did receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? 8 You are already filled, you have already become rich, you have become kings without us; and indeed, I wish that you had become kings so that we also might reign with you. 9 For, I think, God has exhibited us apostles last of all, as men condemned to death; because we have become a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men.
mine is rutherford.
the bible student movement of russell was badly splintered after the usurpation and was destined to fade away like the other russellite movements.
then judge joe decides to rebrand with 'jehovah's witnesses' and concieves of many different schemes designed to put his people into danger and gaining publicity for a sect that no one really thought about any more.
Eden Good concise factual summary, thank you.
not trying to sound like a conpiracy nut...but just read this article:.
http://www.moneynews.com/archives/trump-aftershock-american-economy/2012/11/06/id/462985?promo_code=103fc-1.
is this just a lot of talk?
The crash in 2008 is beyond a financial disaster. It has revealed the total corruption in all areas of our beloved capitalist system. The dollar as we all know is not based on a unit of gold anymore, and "we" just print money. Countries in Europe that were scammed and bankrupt by purchasing Wal Street's "AAA" derivatives, aka hidden toxic investments can NOT print their way out as they are controlled by the EU.
The USA is already bankrupt, bluffing is the new standard and nobody wants to see them fall as the results would be catastrophic. IMHO
revelation is the most misunderstood and misused book of the bible.
the branch davidians and other cults used revelation with deadly results.
fundamentalists have used it to prognosticate a future where the antichrist and his one world government mark people with microchips or barcodes during a seven year tribulation.
@Lost "so, so much. Crikey, all these different groups/divisions, is nothing in life simple anymore."
Let's not get like the Watchtower were Truth is confused with Knowledge...knowing stuff means diddly, just a good exercise for the brain. As is said at the famous quote in 1 Corinthians 13: If I speak in the tongues [a] of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, [b] but do not have love, I gain nothing.
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
AND
Philippians
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law,but that which is through faith in [a] Christ—the righteousnessthat comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to knowChrist—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, 11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
Lets look to the one Jehovah gave us as the Way, Truth and Life ... fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow wearyand lose heart.
In him,we have our new birth that he died to give us and we are NOT left on our own like the first Adam, notice he also continues to perfect and sustains us, this is a great salvation working in us, let us trust Him to Work in us to COMPLETION. .... 3 I thank my God every time I remember you. 4 In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, 6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
Shalom partner
revelation is the most misunderstood and misused book of the bible.
the branch davidians and other cults used revelation with deadly results.
fundamentalists have used it to prognosticate a future where the antichrist and his one world government mark people with microchips or barcodes during a seven year tribulation.
@Lost "We are clearly told the earth will not be destroyed, remember the rainbow"
Just a comment on the above. We are told that the earth will NOT be destroyed in judgement. It is generally accepted that the universe and subsequently our solar system is entropic and will die someday. This death is based on the mortality of our entropic environment, NOT a judgement by God. Romans 8:18-26, shows that the creation was subject to death and compares it to our mortality. The workings of the Spirit in believers is seen as a microcosm of what the whole creation that travails in birth pangs can achieve in a rebirth from death.
1 Corinthians 15:46 "But it is not the spiritual that is first but the natural, and then the spiritual. ... The spiritual does not come first, but the physical does, and then comes the spiritual." this occurs in the life of Christian believers, and subsequently in the whole creation.
The goal of creation was to partake of the tree of life. Mortality was anticipated, either by design or consequence. Either way the creation is said to be set free from corruption which includes "entrophy" and the new heavens and new earth have to be TRANSFORMED to immortality. Revelation 21:1 Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” [a] for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea...2 3 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of Godgives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24 The nations will walk by its light. This discription in Revelation show a New Enviornment that needs neither sun, moon or sea.....just sayin
Shalom friend
revelation is the most misunderstood and misused book of the bible.
the branch davidians and other cults used revelation with deadly results.
fundamentalists have used it to prognosticate a future where the antichrist and his one world government mark people with microchips or barcodes during a seven year tribulation.
@Lost " nah P - sorry to disagree bud."
No problem, we have the freedom to agree or disagree, as eschatology understanding is not a basis for salvation. We are justifed by Christ blood, sanctified as we are led by Spirit (his resurrected power) to overcome our Adamic nature NOW, and will be glorified in a resurrection like his if we overcome in our own personal eschatology aka our life span regardless of historic eschatology.
FYI, Don Koenig is from the school of Futurist Premillenialism, which as you know is one of many views. The view here on this thread is preterism or partial preterism and in my case Partial Preterism/ Amillennialism. All views have strong points and weaknesses. I'm not saying I'm right in this regard, just that it makes more sence to me. :)
Shalom friend.
