Jehovah's Witnesses have been the focus of the vast majority and my studies in recent times, if you couldn't tell already ;-)
And my last post received some insightful comments that brought up some things that need to be considered. For example, are Jehovah's Witnesses Christians? If not, why not? Does one need to believe in the Trinity to be saved? Where do we draw the line?
But more so, many people don't know who Jehovah's Witnesses are. Where did they get their name? Why do they believe that only 144,000 go to heaven? Why don't they believe in hell?
So i'm asking all my readers; is this something that you are interested in? If so, why? Or does it even matter? Am I wasting my time with them? Should I move on to more important things? Should I write more blogs explaining how to answer their arguments? I need your opinions! Leave comments, write me messages; just let me know what you think!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
3 comments:
I think that you are enabling Christians to know more about how to defend their faith when someone appears at their door and attempts to get them to believe otherwise. Many probably don't argue because they just don't know how. I think the topic is worthy of attention.
Jehovah's Witnesses DO NOT believe that Jesus Christ is the "only begotten Son of GOD", as that statement of belief is understood by Christians in mainstream denominations.
JWs believe that the "Logos" (John 1:1) was actually the "created" arch-angel named Michael, who supposedly was GOD's first and only "creation".
JWs believe that all angels are "sons of GOD" --given that the Bible does on occasion refer to angels and even humans as "sons of GOD".
First, when JWs state that they believe that Jesus Christ is the "only begotten son of GOD", they are really saying that Jesus Christ is a "son of GOD" in the exact same sense that every ANGEL is a "son of GOD". [JWs fail to understand that angels and humans are occasionally spoken of as "sons of God" in an "adoptive" sense. Jesus Christ was NOT "adopted" by GOD. Jesus is the one and only actual "Son of GOD".]
Second, when JWs state that they believe that Jesus Christ is the "only begotten" son of GOD, they are really saying that Jesus Christ was GOD's first and only "creation". [JWs are correct that the Logos did the "creating" of the universe, but they fail to understand that Jesus himself was "begotten" by GOD -- not "created". Humans "begat" other humans. Humans "creat" art, machinery, houses, etc.]
In fact, JWs believe that Jesus of Nazareth was a 100% created human when he walked the earth. The only difference between the nature of Jesus and his disciples was that Jesus was a "perfect" man.
Since JWs do not believe humans possess a separate soul, JWs believe that Jesus of Nazareth was a human created by God, who at his baptism was given the "memory", personality, etc. of the Logos (Michael the ArchAngel). [The WatchTower Society has never explained this absurdity, but either Jesus and the Logos (Michael the ArchAngel) existed at the same time (for 30 years), or the Logos ceased to exist for the 30 years from the birth of Jesus until his baptism.]
Since JWs do not believe humans possess a separate soul, JWs believe that when Jesus died that God "re-created" Michael the ArchAngel, and that Michael's memory, personality, etc. (now enhanced by the human Jesus's earthly experience) were re-installed. This "re-created" ArchAngel was then for the first time granted "divinity", which JWs define simply to mean "immortality".
Thus, JWs believe that the human named Jesus totally ceased to exist at his death -- except for his memories, etc. that were re-installed into the newer, better version of Michael the ArchAngel. [That WatchTower belief kinda makes one wonder why the Bible continued to refer to Michael as "Jesus" in the books of ACTS through REVELATION.]
People who want to comment on the beliefs of JWs and the WatchTower Society need to bear in mind that using the English language as presented in the Webster's Dictionary is useless. You actually need a WatchTower Dictionary, because JWs place a significantly different definition on nearly every theological term -- if not common language:
-- "son of GOD" actually means every angel and every human, in an "adoptive" sense.
-- "only begotten" actually means "only created".
-- "resurrected" actually means "re-created" with some other dead creature's memory, personality, etc.
This same semantical malarky occurs in nearly every theological topic. That is why:
JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES ARE NOT CHRISTIANS!!!
Post a Comment