Its all up to you...good luck!

It never ceases to surprise and amaze me how the religions of men can pervert the gospel message. Page 16 of the August 15, 2010 Watchtower Study Edition does just that:

18 The theme text of this article, John 3:36, shows that exercising faith in the Lord Jesus Christ includes being obedient to him. Appreciation for the ransom should move us to live in harmony with Jesus’ teachings, including what he taught about morals. (Mark 7:21-23) “The wrath of God is coming” upon all who unrepentantly engage in such practices as fornication, obscene jesting, and “uncleanness of every sort,” which would encompass the persistent viewing of pornography.—Eph. 5:3-6.

19 Our appreciation for the ransom should keep us busy with “deeds of godly devotion.” (2 Pet. 3:11) Let us set aside ample time for regular and earnest prayer, personal Bible study, meeting attendance, family worship, and zealous Kingdom-preaching activity. And may we “not forget the doing of good and the sharing of things with others, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.” —Heb. 13:15, 16.

20 When Jehovah’s wrath breaks out upon this wicked system of things, how happy we will be that we have exercised faith in the ransom and have shown an ongoing appreciation for it! And in God’s promised new world, we will be eternally grateful for this wonderful provision that saved us from God’s wrath.—Read John 3:16; Revelation 7: 9, 10, 13, 14.

Yes, its all about you and what you did, isn't it? Upon judgment day, you will stand before an infinitely holy and righteous God, telling Him what you did? Sure, you will mention the "ransom." But that's not enough. Apparently, the Watchtower's doctrine of the atonement isn't powerful enough to save. Instead, it requires your obedience. And you better be obedient. Why? Because the moment your salvation depends on you, the Bible has this to say:

"But to the one who works, his wage is not credited as a favor, but as what is due." (Romans 4:4)

If you want to add works to the equation, then I wish you the best of luck. Pile up your good deeds as high as you possibly can. But I assure you the bar is set higher than you could ever imagine. However, this is the standard by which you are going to have to follow if you believe what the Watchtower tells you. Your good works will only give you exactly what you deserve; that is, what is due.

But why go for "what is due" when you can do the following:

"But the text collector, standing some distance away, was even unwilling to lift up his eyes to heaven, but was beating his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, the sinner!'" (Luke 18:13)

Can you imagine how this parable would have turned out if the tax collector were boasting of his accomplishments and good works? Our boast should be in one thing and one thing only: Christ and what He has done for us.

A short word study of "World"

Its easy to get caught up in words, especially in our day when words change meaning over time. The tendency is to take our 21st century linguistics and import them into the Scriptures. Take for example, a common phrase:

"All" means all and that's all "all" means!

Not a few educated men have used such a careless standard of exegesis. And the same goes with the word "World," or Kosmos as used in the Greek:

"World" always means everybody!

Its unfortunate that our traditions sometimes get in the way, by which we sacrifice context and the author's intent to establish a reading of a verse or passage. Fortunately, those who engage in such eisegesis don't use this standard when approaching, let's say, the resurrection or the nature of God (I'm speaking primarily of mainstream Christianity).

With that said, let's pick up our word study. The first verse in question is 1 John 2:1-2,

"My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate/Intercessor with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world."

This verse is often use to substantiate universal atonement, the idea that Christ's atonement was made for every single individual who has ever lived. Its also used to substantiate universalism, the idea that every single individual who has ever lived will be saved.

The emphasis is on the phrase "whole world." Sure, most people are aware of the fact that "world" or Kosmos has a wide range of meanings in John's writings (at least a dozen). But the qualifier "whole" seems to imply, if not fully establish, that John is trying to communicate the idea that Jesus' propitiatory atonement was made on behalf of every single individual that has ever lived. What else could "whole world" mean?

Next, let's skip forward a few chapters, where we will see a familiar phrase,

"We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one." (1 John 5:19)

"Whole world" means "every single individual who has ever lived," right? Does this mean that you, a Christian who has been justified by God and sealed with the Spirit, is under the power of the devil? Not if the previous verse is true!

"We know that no one who is born of God sins; but He who is born of God keeps him, and the evil one does not touch him." (v. 18)

You can't be "under the power of the evil one," and at the same time, the "evil one does not touch him." Does "whole world" always mean "every single individual who has ever lived?" If you want to establish universal atonement from 1 John 2:1-2, then do so with words and context.

Question for Jehovah's Witnesses: Who pays for your sins? You, Christ, or both?

I’d like to talk a little bit about sin and debt. And to illustrate what I’m going to discuss, I’d like to read a few verses from Colossians 2:13-14 in the New World Tranlsation,

“Furthermore, though YOU were dead in YOUR trespasses and in the uncircumcised state of YOUR flesh, [God] made YOU alive together with him. He kindly forgave us all our trespasses and blotted out the handwritten document against us, which consisted of decrees and which was in opposition to us; and He has taken it out of the way by nailing it to the torture stake.”

In these verses, it is clear in stating that we have a debt that we owe God because of our sins against Him. And its also clear that Christ has paid the debt for us by dying in our place. I think we’d all agree with this.

Next, I’d like to quote from a Watchtower article which talks specifically about our debt and how we as sinners are to pay for it:

*** w85 12/1 p. 9 par. 4 Declared Righteous “for Life” ***

In the Scriptures, sins are likened to debts. (See Matthew 6:12, 14; 18:21-35; Luke 11:4.) All men are sinners and are, therefore, heavily in debt before God. “The wages sin pays is death.” (Romans 6:23) Since they had been “sold under sin” by their forefather Adam, his descendants could do nothing to relieve themselves of this crushing debt. (Romans 7:14) Death of the debtor alone could wipe it out, “for he who has died has been acquitted from his sin.” (Romans 6:7) No good works done during a sinner’s lifetime could buy back what Adam lost, nor even give him a righteous standing before God.

In light of what is said in this article and the verses in Colossians, there are only two options:

1) You can pay for your debt

Or

2) Christ can pay for your debt

But let’s say you want to go with option one and you want to pay God back for the debt that you owe Him. How would you do that? Well, according to the Watchtower article, good works aren’t going to do that. So what are we left with? The answer is, physical death. That is, going to the grave. This is why the article says that the, “death of the debtor alone could wipe it out.” So again, physical death wipes away your debt.

So, this is what happens when you choose option 1. But what if you choose option 2? In this case, Christ pays for your debt with His own death. And if this happens, your debt is erased and you no longer have to pay it.

However, there’s one little problem, and that is, people die. So, whether you like it or not, if you die as a Christian who’s debt Christ paid for, then you are inevitably choosing both options. And this is why I call this, Double Jeopardy. Christ is canceling your debt, but you are having to pay it too with your own death. But how can this be? Well, here’s an illustration that I hope will make this clear.

Let’s say you go and vandalize your neighbor’s house. And after you get caught, you are given a sentence of a year of community service. That is the debt that you must pay for your crimes. But there’s a catch; your neighbor, who’s house you just vandalized, has agreed to pay your debt for you, which inevitably, wipes your slate clean; you’re a free man with no more debt! So, you have 2 options:

1) You can pay your debt by doing 1 year of community service

Or

2) Your neighbor can pay your debt for you by doing community service on your behalf.

Next, let’s apply the Watchtower’s reasoning to this example. Let’s say you choose option 2, where your neighbor graciously agrees to pay your debt by doing the community service for you. Thus, you are a free man. You have no further obligation to pay your debt. Its all done. Your slate is clean. But then, several years later, a policeman breaks down your door, handcuffs you, and drags you out to the highway where you will pick up trash for a full year.

Now, how would you react to this? Would you not be outraged? Well, I think you certainly would, and rightfully so! I mean, your neighbor already paid your debt, so why are you now being forced to do the same thing?

And similarly, if Christ paid your debt for you by dying on your behalf, then what happens when you die? Won’t you be a bit outraged?