August 30, 2006

• You Pushed a Button...

  Thanks to THEVOICE_1 for stopping by.  I cannot address your issues on your site so I will address some my various thoughts regarding Jehovah's Witness teachings here.

  Thanks for stopping by.  I also visited your site, but I see that you do not allow comments.  If you are going to visit web pages and leave comments, it would be polite if you could return the favor by allowing comments and dialogue on your own page.  I have studied with Japanese Jehovah's Witnesses and read the literature.  The studies stopped because I began to cry in one session and could not stop.  I was shocked, angry and extremely sorrowful over all of the holes that had opened up in the Bible during my study sessions.  None of the precious promises were for me any longer, only for the selected 144,000!!  Hey, why should I take such a downgraded version of God's promises?

  If God sets up a hierarchy of 144,000, then our salvation is no longer by grace but by works!  The 144,000 earn their way into Heaven by their own efforts?  And how do you know on this earth who is a member of this elite group?  I could not even partake of communion according to the Watchtower.  This elitism closes the door on God's grace and opens the door to dangerous pride and competition.  This is certainly not what the Bible teaches.

  What happens to errant JWs?  Are they excommunicated forever?  If I know I am overweight and eat two boxes of Mister Donuts (a sin against my body which is the temple of the Lord) does this mean I go to Hell?  Oh yeah, I remember that you don't have a Hell, just destruction.  So I get destroyed for this knowingly committed sin?

  What happened to Jesus' body?  It was not spirited away by a trick of God.  God is true to himself and does not resort to convenient tricks, and it is insulting to attribute trickery to God.  Jesus did not rise as a mere spirit.  He rose in a fleshly body, recreated anew for heavenly life.  It is the same kind of body that we are promised when we are resurrected from the dead at the time determined by God.  Are we not allowed to celebrate the fact that Jesus rose from the dead?  I am perfectly fine with Easter with no bunnies, as much as I love the little creatures.  They are probably distracting at best and heathen at worst when connected with Easter.

  I am not a fan of Santa Claus either, as the character in the Coca-Cola red suit shifts the focus of the Christmas celebration  from Jesus to revelry.  Admittedly Christmas celebrated on December 25 may have been arbitrarily decided to coincide with and distract from pagan Saturnalia celebrations.  But is it wrong to want to provide an alternate more wholesome and blessed celebration that directs attention to the birth of the Savior?  The original intentions were good, and done within a specific cultural context.  

  Simply because that cultural context no longer exists does not mean that the intentions of the originators of the December 25 celebration were evil and to be totally rejected as heathen.  They wanted an alternate because they were not heathen and wanted to draw attention to Christ and away from pagan revelry.  Is it ever a mistake to draw attention to Christ on any occasion?  I think not.  

  We cannot ignore the fact that Jesus was born and deny that this event is to be celebrated.  If one prefers a more historically accurate summer date to celebrate the event, then I have no problem with that.  When a cultural context changes it is always necessary to re-examine our beliefs for error and make revisions.  The Bible is not bound by any cultural context except the one in which it was written, and we must take care that we are not mistakenly binding the Bible with our own current traditions and culture.   The miraculous birth of Jesus is certainly an event that deserves the most joyous celebration, no matter what the season.

  I think that is may be far more dangerous to celebrate nothing.  Is the lack of celebration of events regarding Jesus birth and resurrection not more insulting to God?  Under the guise of avoiding the wrong kind of celebration, one may commit much greater damage in no celebration at all.  Jesus is ignored and we forget.  There is no attention lavished, no praise or worship given and no joy at all that God has done so much for us!

  I also noticed that your page has no joy whatsoever.  Why should it?  According to Jehovah's Witness doctrine, none of God's promises are for you.  Thank you for reminding me that the joy of the Lord is my strength.  I think loving people as Christ loved them is much better than threatening them. 

  The idea of not having any more birthdays is not a bad one, though!  I have had enough for sure!  But then again, I am not allowed to celebrate my own birthday because I supposedly elevate myself rather than Christ.  But I am also not allowed to celebrated Christ's birthday, either because the holiday has pagan origins.  Is there anything that I am allowed to celebrate?  Where is the joy?

  Re:  The Name Jehovah

  "The supposed divine name - Jehovah is not found in any of the Hebrew or Greek manuscripts from which the Bible is translated into English.  In the Old Testament, the word Yahweh is found.  The more correct spelling of Yahweh is YHWH for the original Hebrew had no vowels, only consonants.  The ancient Jews had a superstition of the name YHWH and they were afraid to even say it or pronounce it lest they break the commandment of Exodus 20:7, which is taking the Lord's name in vain.  Therefore they substituted YHWH with the name Adonai, which means Lord.  When the Hebrew language incorporated vowels the scribes placed the vowel points of Adonai under YHWH so that readers would see that Adonai was supposed to be used.  Eventually Hebrew scribes decided to insert the vowels a-o-a from Adonai within YHWH, which resulted in Yahowah, or the English term Jehovah.  Basically Jehovah is a combination of the consonants from YHWH and the vowels from Adonai.  Therefore Jehovah has a man-made origin.  The Jehovah Witness might argue that Jehovah is used in Bible Translations like the King James Version (Exodus 6:3; Psalm 83:18; Isaiah 12:2; 26:4), the American Standard Version, or the New English Bible (Exodus 3:15 and 6:3).  The way to counter this is to explain that scholars are not precisely clear as to the correct way to pronounce YHWH even though most of them agree that Yahweh is the correct way.  There is also nothing wrong in inserting Jehovah where YHWH is in the Old Testament."  quoted from:

   http://www.geocities.com/stat23mj/cultsreligions/jehovah_witnesses.html

  There is nothing wrong with using this artificial man-made (YHWH + vowels of ADONAI)name for God, but we must realize that it is indeed artificial.  I find much more meaning in the tenseless "I AM."  God was, is and will be, existing unchallenged by anyone and unbound by time! 

  Re:  Doctrine of the Trinity

  Why did the Jews want to stone Jesus in John 8:58?  What was he claiming when he said "Before Abraham was, I AM?"  What did Thomas mean when he fell at the feet of the resurrected Christ and worshipped him, saying, "My Lord and my God!"  Jesus accepted the worship and did not direct it to "Jehovah."

  John 14 teaches that the Holy Spirit is not a mere power, but a person, referred to as "he" and not "it."  No Jehovah's Witness has ever been able to answer this question for me.

  I do not claim to understand everything about how God presents himself.  He is beyond our understanding, and it would be foolish to claim to understand one who is eternal, outside of time and endowed with many more dimensions than we could ever hope to experience.  We cannot, however, twist what God says about himself and the way that He expresses himself in the Bible or we will find ourselves in serious error, and will commit sin by teaching the error to others.

  It would be truly absurd and insane for a created human to claim to be three people in one.  But it is also a mistake of ultimate hubris to impose our four dimensional limitations on God.  Does it not even border on idolatry?  We are in danger of making God in our own image based on our finite, limited observations and reasonings, assuming that He is like us when He most certainly is not.

  I can only accept what God says about himself in the Bible.  He is big enough to provide whatever we need in whatever form we need it, be it as Creator (Father), Savior (Son) or Comforter (Holy Spirit).  If we needed something else, God would provide it in whatever manifestation necessary.

  I could go on and on.  I am thankful that I had a chance to study with those dear ladies back in Chofu so many years ago.  It opened my eyes to what I know is true and what is not.  No, it would be the height of foolishness to accept a twisted, amputated version of the Bible when God makes ALL of His promises to ALL believers.

  Of course it is better not to sin, let alone commit a sin knowingly.  That is only common sense.  However, I am going to allow God to define his mercy to whomever he wishes to extend it.  He is the final judge and not me.  I cannot condemn a person, and have no right to take God's place as judge.  People condemn themselves when they reject God's truth.  If we deliberately keep on sinning in light of the truth, then we never really understood it in the first place.  God is not willing that any should perish.  He would will that errant ones turn from their error, and rejoices when they do.  He would also will that I pray for and attempt to bring a fallen brother or sister to their senses in repentance.   Before we talk or condemn, we have to spend much time praying, listening and loving.  Repentance, redemption and restoration are what God wills, not condescension and condemnation.

  • 21:39
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