Revelation 22:12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay everyone for what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
Most Christians will tell you that Yahushua is speaking here.I will be honest from the get go.I have no idea.The speakers change in Revelation constantly.Reasoning why I think it's very possible that he is NOT speaking here:
In verse 16 Yahushua says "“I, Jesus," and there are only two other times this occurs in Revelation.It is with John and BOTH times John is BEGINNING to speak,not continuing to speak.(one example is verse 8 in the same chapter.The other instance of this construct is in Rev. 1:9)So if we are to follow that precedent then it would mean Yahushua is beginning to speak in verse 16,not before.I have seen some commentaries and reasoning from Christians who think it's the angel speaking,following from verse 9 on.This would make sense because in Revelation 1 :1 it says this:
"The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place. He made it known by sending his angel to his servant John."
So ultimately,God GAVE this entire revelation to Yahushua who gave it to an angel who gave it to John.It is God speaking ultimately through the agency of others.I guess this would mean that even if Yahushua is speaking in verse 12 that it could be God speaking through him,as he has done through angels and prophets in the past.Again,Yahuwah had to *give* the revelation to Yahushua!In no way can an omniscient Almighty God be GIVEN something and he be either Almighty OR omniscient.Though Yahushua has been *given* all power,looks like it's still being upheld consistently by his own God.It would also be the case for the angel as well(*if* it is the angel speaking in verse 12,following from verse 9) that it is ultimately Yahuwah speaking though Yahushua through the angel to John because we all know the angel isn't the Alpha and the Omega,which means the beginning and the end.
What I'm going to do here regardless is present a case as to why Yahushua could very well be called the Beginning and the End in a separate application to him as to that of his father.It could be the same reason we *know* without a doubt that he is called the First and the Last.Not because he's Yahuwah,but,*in context*(which needs obviously to be what we heed determinedly when interpreting)always has to do with his death and resurrection as opposed to his never having a beginning and never dying at all!
Revelation 2:8:These are the words of him who is the First and the Last, who *died and came to life again.*
Trust me when I say that a God who cannot die cannot be brought back to life again either.Yahushua did not say that only a portion of him died or that he was awake (or alive)while he was dead.
Revelation 1:17:I am the First and the Last. 18 I am the Living One; *I was dead, and now look, I am alive for ever and ever!* And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
Notice in BOTH instances the context is his death and resurrection.God cannot die,obviously.So Yahushua is the FIRSTBORN(the first) from the **dead** and is now gifted an immortal life and one who can GIVE immortal lives to others like his father can.This is why he is so termed a life giving spirit..it has to do with the spirit in his glorified body being one which gives life to the world by the power,allowance,and decree of God.(1 Cor. 15:45,Romans 6:23)The *last* has to do with both his inability to ever perish again and all things now being upheld by and in and through him.He's the last directly raised by Yah as all others will be by & through him.Also,he is one of a kind like his father is.As the uniquely begotten heir and savior of the world.The First and Last of his kind.But to stay safely strictly within context,it has to do with his death and resurrection.And we must,again,heed the qualification of the context and not just throw it away so that we won't have to recognize the qualification for the threat it is to our own ideas.
from http://www.nazarene-friends.org/magazines/1999/1999-01.htm#OMEGA:
"A check of the context shows this “First and Last” was with definite limitations, was relative to just the matter of Christ Jesus’ death and resurrection, as verse 18 shows. Christ was the first one raised in the first resurrection, and the last one that will be raised directly by Jehovah God. Others who follow in that resurrection will be raised by God through Christ. (John 6:40; 1 Cor. 6:14) In fact, this limitation is also shown by the footnote on “First” in Revelation 1:17 in the New World Translation, where “First” is shown to mean “Firstborn” by one ancient manuscript. Christ was the firstfruits of those asleep in death. (1 Cor. 15:20) When “First and Last” is again applied to Christ Jesus, at Revelation 2:8, note that again it is with respect to death and resurrection. But when it speaks thus of Jehovah *no limitation is set on the meaning.*"
from http://godandson.reslight.net/alphaomega.html:
"We have no reason to restrict the term in application to God Almighty, except to satisfy the whims of those who wish to use it thus to prove that Jesus is Yahweh, which, in effect, would make the whole argument circular, that is, 'we believe that Jesus is Yahweh, thus we believe that the expression first and last must be used in application to God Almighty only, and thus this proves that Jesus is Yahweh."
Basically,in summary,Yahushua's being the first and last,in context,is in reference to the ceaseless life he received after being the FIRST one resurrected.
*If*(again that's an IF) Yahushua is called the beginning and the end,it's possible,based upon my own conjecture,that the reasons *may* go beyond why he's the first and the last in their contexts provided.Quite possibly,there's a more profound meaning behind it without him having to be the Most High God.After all, the Most High is *his* God,the God of Yahushua.Let's think upon some things.Keep in mind the whole time that this is all based on just a *possibility* that Yahushua is speaking about himself in Rev 22:12.
Yahushua is the fulfillment of all God's plans for mankind and kingdom plans for the world from the beginning to the end of time.Now THAT'S an extraordinary truth.
Yahuwah says:
Isaiah 46:9 I am God, and there is none like me,
10 declaring the end from the beginning
and from ancient times things not yet done,
saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
and I will accomplish all my purpose,’
In Yahushua it was all accomplished & finished and shall be held together and perfected,by fulfilling God's word and plans.God said:
Isaiah 55:11 so shall my *word* be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
John 1:14 And the *Word* became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
When this miraculously conceived and specially anointed servant of Yahuwah's grew up & had to die for the life of the world,when he was at the brink of death said:
John 19:30 “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.(he breathed his last..his spirit ,or breath & force of life, went to God who restored it to him on the 3rd day.)
Of course,he was raised as a life giving spirit.In that he can give life to the world now that God gave him the ability to do so..filled to the tip top fully with Yahuwah's holy spirit corporeally,bodily..(Col. 2:9)
When he was raised from death to glory,he was the *beginning* of a new creation.
Revelation 3:14 “And to the angel of the church in Laodicea write: ‘The words of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the *beginning* of God's creation.
Colossians 1:18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the *beginning*, the *firstborn* from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.
God cannot be the firstborn from death for he simply cannot die.So we know this is about a SON who had the capacity to die at that time.No indication anywhere whatsoever that only a nature perished to save mankind.This is a scripturally baseless position.Yahushua's position was that *he* did.He said "I was dead.""I" in Greek demands a mind and an ego.No,it simply wasn't good enough for a body with no Yahushua in it to "perish" as if this can even be done.How the traditions of men have nullified God's word!
And since Christ's body is that in which we are given life he is the *end* of God's creation and kingdom decrees as well.Because in him we consist.
Colossians 1:17 he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
He's also the "last" and the "end" because he was given a ceaseless immortal life by the One who raised him from a genuine death,the One to whom he cried out profusely to save him from death by resurrecting him to the glory he was to inherit.He was heard for his reverent submission TO God,not because he IS (that same) God.(Heb 5:7)
2 Corinthians 13:4 For he(Yahushua) was *crucified*(this means he was really killed) in weakness(that's how he humbled himself even though he was a mighty king..Phil 2:4-11), but *lives by the power of God.* (see also John 5:26)For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.
From Genesis 3:15 where it was prophesied that Yahushua would crush the head of the serpent all the way to John 19:30 where he says "It is finished" ,fulfilling also 2 Cor. 1:20 where by means of him what God declared from the beginning to the end was fulfilled to perfection,we find good reason logically for Yahushua to be able to call himself the Beginning and the End in a beautiful but separate application from that of his father.Here's a text that sums up why beautifully for those with discernment:
2 Corinthians 1:20:For no matter how many promises God has made, they are "Yes" in Christ. And so through him the "Amen" is spoken by us to the glory of God.
Unlike his father,Yahushua had to be *given* life and also the power to give us life.
Revelation 1:17,18: “Fear not, I am the first and the last, 18 and the living one. **I died**,and behold **I am alive forevermore**, and I have the keys of Death and Hades.
So he is the *beginning* of God's new creation and plans for a kingdom & the *end* and *last* having been granted an unending immortality and the power to give life to mankind by his own lifegiver and sustainer on the 3rd day.When his body was raised (he was *always* in it of course!)literally,his "other" body(we the Christians..1 Cor. 12:27)was also raised figuratively,metaphorically.
Power to give life wasn't (yet) inherent in his being(for he had to die before he was raised in glory or our faith is in vain.)God *gave* him the gifts he now has.
The God that will be "all in all" from 1 Cor. 15:27-28 is not a triune One and is the God of Yahushua.Yahuwah lets everyone know there who the only supreme God is in the end,though he gladly and lovingly,exceedingly even,gives remarkable gifts to his beloved children,especially Yahushua!(James 1:17,Matt 7:11)Because GOD IS LOVE.(1 John 4:8)
The Beginning and the End that Yahuwah is is completely wrapped up in the Beginning and the End that Yahushua *might be* in Revelation.Why?Simply because Yahushua perfectly and completely fulfilled God's declarations and prophecies to and for mankind from the beginning to the end,satisfying this principle by his miraculous birth,obedient inspiring life,heartwrenching death,and profound extolling.Deeming possible the gifts God desires to shower upon the earth and mankind in Christ,our forerunner to an unfathomable glory.Yes,God declared the end from the beginning and Yahushua fulfilled it by the word,decree,will and spirit of his father.
This "beginning and end" phenomenon is also wrapped up in what their names mean,entangled with one another because Yahushua is the Lamb by which Yahuwah gives life.:)Revelation 13:8 signifies that Yahushua was slain before the world was even founded & this may indicate exactly how it was God created all things in Christ.He foresaw and thoughtfully decreed the reconciliation of fallen mankind as new creatures in Yahushua before Yahushua even took a breath.(1 Peter 1:20,Romans 4:17)Before Adam even fell.
Yahuwah means "he causes to become" or "self existing one" and Yahushua means "Yahuwah is salvation."Yahuwah caused all His kingdom plans and His decrees to give life to a faithful righteous world to be fulfilled in his word of life,Yahushua, who epitomized his saving power and executed its brilliance,gloriously.Obediently & faithfully bringing God's plans from the beginning to the end of time to unstoppable life!(1 Cor. 1:18,1 John 1:1-4)
Yes,God's decrees from the beginning to the end of time..those which he declared and typified and prophecied throughout the OT with his promised dear Messiah at the heart of it all(as the foreordained *word of life* in his heart & plans to be manifest at the right time..Job 10:13,23:13,14,Gal. 4:4)became AMEN in his servant/Lamb/image/heir/agent/beloved/Son/king of the world/High Priest/Messiah.Yahuwah decrees.Yahushua fulfills that which his father decreed from the beginning to the end in his father's benevolent and perfect counsel.Working as one in the unity of God's holy spirit.
The crucial,faithful,and true tale here is the good news that we can be like and in Yahushua and inherit a kingdom along with him in glory *because* he is the beginning of God's new creatures and been granted an immortality without end!We can receive Christ's resurrection to the same glorious image as his!We shall see him then as he is,which we cannot possibly fully fathom currently in our fallen state of affairs.
2 Corinthians 4:6:For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Yes,first God shined through Yahushua so that he could also shine through us by means of Christ's accomplishments and salvation.Yahushua was his greatest gift to the world,a manifestation of his own personality and plans for a kingdom!His own saving power and his own peerless love.Christ was the first..and the last in that,as mediator,we have this privilege given us in him as his body.
2 Corinthians 3:18:And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
We can have a taste of that glory now,being born again,but not fully and exceptionally encompassing its majesty till it's perfected in a resurrection at the last day.
Trinitarians often say that if Yahushua reflects and is the image of God's glory that it means he's God,inexplicably.This argument,if consistent,would mean that we're Christ and God.Impossible,of course.
1 John 3:2-3:Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure
This is the whole beautiful reality of God's word of life manifest to the world!It means our ultimate glorification and exaltation along with Yahushua's if we're faithful!We will never compare to Yahushua in that he has inherited a name and inimitable stance far above what anyone else's could ever be,but we are promised his resurrection and to be kings and priests with him.And eternal life in & through him.:)..Again,precisely because in him we say "AMEN!" to all God's promises and plans for mankind from the beginning to the end of time.
Yahushua so prays poignantly something we'd be blessed to comprehend :
John 17:22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.
That my friends is one of the most beautiful things I have ever heard.Yahushua,our big brother as the foreordained firstfruits of God's soon to be immortalized creatures pleading for our glory to be like his and his father's love to be as extraordinary for us as it was for him.We have MUCH to be thankful for!To Yahuwah and his firstborn immortalized glorified exalted Son.Yes,we are immortalized,glorified,and exalted along with him in God's kingdom decrees, in his faithful and true salvation plans.
May Yahuwah bless you all!
Sunday, December 26, 2010
Sunday, December 19, 2010
The Watchtower cripples Jehovah's Witnesses spiritually
The whole warped and depressing reality in the WT society is its denial that Christians can be in the body of Christ!Which renders most of the NT moot for almost every one of them and also renders the rank and file unavoidably and tragically beholden to those who CAN be in Christ's body because of some special mysterious privilege denied to their less gifted selves.This makes the rank and file feel crippled and like infants spiritually,constantly depending on a supposedly nourishing mother organization and her uniquely privileged ones to feed them what they need instead of relying on who SHOULD be their brother and sustainer,Yahushua,to do so.As we all know,men are imperfect and when possessing power over others,sometimes even corrupt.Whether that corruption be intended or not.Sometimes it simply flourishes in the wake of power trips.Whether even those be intended or not.To place yourself in a position over others as audaciously as the governing body does over the JW's would inevitably lead to a spirit of haughtiness and loftiness because of how unscriptural a reality the whole notion actually is!Especially considering so many of the invitations and words of Yahushua that they deny you,inexplicably and unjustifiably.
Let's examine some of the key texts the governing body uses to make JW's feel helpless without them:
Acts 8:26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?”
The governing body frequently uses these texts to make the rank and file Jehovah's Witnesses think they cannot understand anything in the scriptures without their imposition and "spiritual food at the proper time" via WT publications pounded out relentlessly.And regardless of how tainted that food has consistently been, the JW's actually believe the governing body due to strong and unyielding indoctrination that this false notion is true.Let's see what the Watchtower has to say about these scriptures in Acts about Philip and the eunuch:
"Study is hard work. We can therefore be grateful that Jehovah’s organization grants us much assistance. In recent years some have claimed that individuals should be allowed to interpret the Bible themselves. The Ethiopian eunuch, however, openly acknowledged his need for spiritual guidance.
Skipping ahead..
When asked if he(the Ethiopian) understood what he was reading, he admitted: “Really, how could I ever do so, unless someone guided me?”—Acts 8:26-33.
Jehovah’s people today similarly need spiritual guidance. Desiring to “speak in agreement” when it comes to spiritual matters, they welcome the help offered by Jehovah’s organization—and what a grand help that is! (1 Corinthians 1:10) We have a constant flow of information through the Watchtower and Awake! magazines. We have numerous books and brochures covering a wide range of Bible topics.
Skipping ahead some..
So resist any tendency to slack off in personal study. Use it as a means of deepening your love for God and your trust in him; it is also a way to heighten your appreciation for the organization he is using to assist us. Yes, ‘apply your heart’ to God’s Word, diligently, regularly. “It is no valueless word for you, but it means your life.” WT 8/15/88
The Watchtower slyly and extremely repetitiously ties the Watchtower publications and their organization in with Jehovah himself and the actual bible so thoroughly that the JW's,indoctrinated and deceived,think they're somehow inextricably linked,inseparable.They are led to believe constantly that to leave the organization or to sacrifice the WT publications would be to leave Jehovah himself and to sacrifice his Word.My friends,this is tragic deception,glaring and insidious.When I was an inactive JW,I was constantly being told to return to Jehovah as if being outside the organization means being outside his very love and favor.At one time,I believed this strongly.I felt such guilt and shame because I love God and felt crippled without his organization because this was pounded into my mind for years!I thought without his supposed "channel of communication"(as they term themselves) I was lost.Thought I couldn't understand his word without governing body imposition.Felt like an infant without a mother.Yes,the WT is very successful at making the rank and file feel these emotions by coercive manipulation via a steady diet of unremitting indoctrination.A couple other assertions they make in relation to this Ethiopian eunuch story:
"Even the right heart attitude and study are not enough for us to acquire faith. We must understand what we study if we would have faith, and to understand the Bible we need help; even as the Ethiopian eunuch indicated to Philip when he asked, ‘How can I understand unless someone should guide me?’
skipping ahead a tad..
For this purpose God has provided at the present time a “faithful and discreet slave” organization having a publishing agency, the Watch Tower Society. (Acts 8:30-35; Eph. 4:11, 13; Matt. 24:45, 46, NW) "WT 4/15/54
They even make this bold claim:
"Philip represented the visible organization of God then, having been sent out from Jerusalem to preach."—Acts 8:26-39, WT 2/1/1953
I would simply request the JW's reading this to not just believe all this mindlessly but to assess the information with critical thinking.Where does the BIBLE say that God would provide a publishing corporation/agency called the Watchtower to lead his people?Where does the BIBLE say that Philip represented the Watchtower organization,which no one had till about a little over 100 years ago?Yes,these are BOLD claims without merit.Simply assertions that can be proven wrong because God doesn't inspire publications and organizations with any false prophecy or deceitful indoctrination,that oft times contradict his own Son!These men have proven that they're the kind of men God said NOT to follow.
What does *the bible itself* have to say about all this?
1 John 2:25 And this is the promise that he made to us —eternal life.26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 But the *anointing* that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
These simple and BEAUTIFUL texts communicate that we are born of God(yes,born again) if we only practice righteousness,exercising faith.This means we then abide in Christ(denied you by the WT treacherously enough)and have a poignant and reliable *anointing* that teaches us.As a former JW,it takes a little while and a LOT of faith to believe this because of my strong Watchtower indoctrination.I have to pray for the kind of faith that moves mountains to trust my anointing.And thankfully,now I do!:)
Though some person may have planted a seed that made you think upon spiritual things,even inspiring you in some remarkable way for which you can be thankful..it is the faith you begin to exercise,the knowledge you grow up in,the intimacy you develop with your creator and his Son that guides you into all truth,not any manmade publication,not any men who exalt themselves up into the positions that belong to Christ alone,not ANYTHING or anyone else.The Ethiopian eunuch,once having become anointed with Yah's spirit,would of course no longer have a childlike dependency on Philip or anyone else.He could then trust his own anointing to guide him,make him mature,and grow into all truth and righteousness.He would then need the body of Christ which he would then be a member of for mutual building up in love and fine works,but certainly not to hand him his doctrines and dictate to him policies that go beyond the bounds of God's word,imposing upon his own Christian conscience.
In relation to the goal for individuals in the 1st century congregations,Ray Franz,in his book "In Search of Christian Freedom"(p. 684) has to say:
"The goal was,not for them to remain childlike,needing others to teach and shepherd them,but for them to "*grow up in every way* into him who is the head,into Christ."The passage of time should *lessen* their need of others to render such services and should increase their own ability to act as grown,mature persons who are not constantly dependent on others.In the letter to the Hebrews,the writer reproves those he addresses,saying,"By this time you should be teaching others."
Any religious system that perpetuates the *dependence* of its members on the services of certain men is working against the goal set forth.
Skipping ahead a little..
All should become "adult" Christians,mature in understanding and in the ability to live a Christian life,to make mature decisions that are their own,not those of someone else."
1 Corinthians 3:5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
Don't let any man make you think you cannot grow without them.That you cannot grow to spiritual maturity without them.That you cannot proclaim the kingdom of God without them.That you cannot live without them.Who are they,after all?They SHOULD be fellow members in Christ's body ALONG WITH YOU.But instead the governing body throws you out of that and say you need them to survive and thrive.Trying to turn you into thieves and plunderers,making you think you can enter life some other way(via the supposed ark of a false prophet modern day organization) when outside Christ the bible says that's an impossibility.(John 10:7-10,John 15:4-6)God uses men to plant seeds,but he doesn't use the governing body of JW's to make then grow or to save you along with his own Son.This is not a scriptural notion but rather simply a group of men's baseless assertion.
More texts that SHOULD apply to you as a follower of the Christ
Ephesians 4:11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Notice there's no mention here of a governing body.And plenty of mention here of the body of Christ which is being denied you by the WT.These instructions are for you,and as a Christian,for *you* IN Christ's body.Embrace the body of Christ.Be a member shamelessly if you exercise faith in your Lord!Yes,Christ came so that you might be anointed,not so that you might be lorded over by only a few who can.Christ came to establish a new covenant for all faithful followers of his,not so that most Christians are not allowed in it!Read the bible without the lens of the WT and you will inevitably be compelled to listen to Yahushua and become one of his.:)
Christians in the bible and throughout the centuries were either members in Christ's body & in the new covenant or they weren't Christians.It is simple as that.As members of the body of Christ,every Christian should be beholden to the true body.EVERY MEMBER.That means if an elder or a pastor contradicts Yahushua,members of the church should be able to correct him in a spirit of mildness every bit as much as a mature "spiritual guide" could a church member if that member were in error or sin.That means JW's,discerning some false assertion or unwarranted policy or questionable doctrine within the organization,SHOULD be able to speak up without fear.They can't do that.They are simply rendered speechless and told to "trust that Jehovah will correct all things in time."Yes,the WT leaders and elders etc.,when they detect YOU'RE in error or sin,have zero mercy.Yet have the nerve to tell you that if you detect the same in them to leave it all in Jehovah's hands.You're supposed to know less than them because they have an anointing that you're denied!There are no instructions for a governing body in the scriptures because there simply wasn't one prevalent then dictating and lording it over the Christians.Yes, where is this governing body in the daily affairs of the congregations in the bible?There were older men,yes.But they didn't have any stance with Christ any greater than the younger ones.
About ALL Christians(there is no privileged class!)the bible says:
1 Cor. 12:11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he(or *it*) wills.12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
You aren't allowed to drink of that Spirit as a rank and file Jehovah's Witness..But it is that Spirit that gives life,not an organization!So why embrace an organization that denies you life in the spirit as if *it*(the organization) can give you life!It is not your savior.
Galatians 6:1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
We all equally have the right to restore one another when in need,when in error,when Christian.We don't need a special class of superior Christians who *supposedly*ALONE have a sealing of the spirit to do this.We should not be swept along with doctrinal revisions(new light and shifting beliefs) and false prophecies by some special class.We do not need a special class to save us unless we don't believe in the sufficiency of Yahuwah through Yahushua,the REAL saviors.
And what does Acts 8 go on to say about the Ethiopian?
Acts 8:35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 36 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.
This biblical baptism account is in stark contrast to the JW method of a long process of strong Watchtower indoctrination before a baptism can occur at all.At least think about this,JW's,and follow God's word,always.Even if it means defying the instructions of fallible men.Yes,“We must obey God rather than men."(Acts 5:29)The Watchtower can make a million claims that they're just like the 1st century Christians,even slanting and manipulating the bible to make you think so,but the evidence is overwhelming that this simply isn't the case.Those in the 1st century fellowshipped in humble homes,relied on *their own* anointing and not some governing body's anointing in their daily affairs to establish their doctrines(the bible and your own personal anointing do that!),and didn't rely on extrabiblical policies concocted in secret chambers to dictate their own consciences.They didn't follow after men who said Christ already returned(1914 anyone?),that a resurrection already occurred(1918 anyone?..2 Tim. 2:18)who had false prophecied repeatedly and made claims that only Yahushua should be allowed to make..the list just goes on!
I think it's great when you find spiritually mature and wise older men to listen to them(and even submit to them) if they teach what is in line with that which Christ taught(and have his character) in all reasonableness and humility.You could certainly learn something from them and their experiences,insight and wisdom.You should always of course test all things and believe only in that which Christ also taught,based on principles and succint revelations scripture articulates itself.Always heeding your conscience and reason.However,to trust men explicitly in blind faith when conscientiously you might have a legitimate objection because what they offer seems to contradict rather boldly something Yahushua said would be inexcusable and irresponsible.Proof that you're beholden to men who have boldly established strict authority over you and your mind instead of Yahuwah.
Hypocrisy and injustice naturally is what is bred from the type of system that the WT is.Instead of Christ being that which the whole system is built upon,the organization identifies *itself* as the ark and your rock.Sometimes *in addition* to Christ.Sometimes forgetting Christ altogether as it claims and pilfers his mediatorship and roles in your life that Yahushua ALONE should have if you call yourself a Christian.A religious society with a governing body composed of men whom God did not appoint no matter how many claims they may make otherwise instead of Christ at the center will naturally fall into apostasy and corruption.Trust no earthling man.Nor group of any earthling men.(Ps. 146:3)Especially of they build a system of worship that denies you life in Yahushua.For that is the ONLY life.That was Yahuwah's means of giving you life.His Son is your ark.His Son is your salvation.To leave an organization who denies you this life,that Yahushua offers in abundance,is not to leave Yahuwah himself,my friends.But if you stay where His spirit is denied its sealing of you as His son or daughter with life in Christ, when you have to discard Yahushua's words from his father in application to you when they were written for you..when you interpret the bible through a particular lens handed to you from fallible men unquestioningly and blindly..when you think anything at all but Yahuwah through Yahushua is needed to save you(like perhaps a mother organization or a group of men)no matter how much God wants to help you and be your father,He can't.You won't let him in your stubbornness.You're believing men who tell you you can't even be God's child even though that's why Christ came!Above all else,of course,Yahuwah wants you to listen to his word,His Son.Though you may not realize it in your deception,Yahushua's voice is drowned for you unjustifiably and tragically by the men you're allowing to do it!Don't allow it anymore.Take control.In Christ's body,you allow HIM to take control.And what pitiable fools we are without life and direction in and from our only mediator!All is vanity without it.Taking in knowledge isn't sufficient.We have to KNOW Yahushua as personally as we know his father.You can't do that without an anointing.
Let's examine a little of Ephesians chapter 2:
Ephesians 2:14 For he himself is our peace, who has *made us both one* and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
The *both one* here are the Jews and Gentiles,yes,the little flock and the other sheep.(Luke 12:32,John 10:16)
2:15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself *one new man in place of the two*, so making peace,
The one new man would be the joining of the Jews and the Gentiles,or the little flock and the other sheep, into one fold.
2:16 and might reconcile us both(again,the Jews and Gentiles) to God in *one body* through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we *both have access in one Spirit* to the Father.
So the little flock and other sheep both can be anointed with the same spirit in the same body as children of God.
2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Yes,for the Jews and Gentiles(the little flock and the other sheep ,again),there will be one flock,one shepherd.One spirit,one anointing,one body,same hope.:)No separation,no special class.One mediator.All children.
May Yahuwah bless you all.
Let's examine some of the key texts the governing body uses to make JW's feel helpless without them:
Acts 8:26 Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” This is a desert place. 27 And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship 28 and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. 29 And the Spirit said to Philip, “Go over and join this chariot.” 30 So Philip ran to him and heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and asked, “Do you understand what you are reading?” 31 And he said, “How can I, unless someone guides me?”
The governing body frequently uses these texts to make the rank and file Jehovah's Witnesses think they cannot understand anything in the scriptures without their imposition and "spiritual food at the proper time" via WT publications pounded out relentlessly.And regardless of how tainted that food has consistently been, the JW's actually believe the governing body due to strong and unyielding indoctrination that this false notion is true.Let's see what the Watchtower has to say about these scriptures in Acts about Philip and the eunuch:
"Study is hard work. We can therefore be grateful that Jehovah’s organization grants us much assistance. In recent years some have claimed that individuals should be allowed to interpret the Bible themselves. The Ethiopian eunuch, however, openly acknowledged his need for spiritual guidance.
Skipping ahead..
When asked if he(the Ethiopian) understood what he was reading, he admitted: “Really, how could I ever do so, unless someone guided me?”—Acts 8:26-33.
Jehovah’s people today similarly need spiritual guidance. Desiring to “speak in agreement” when it comes to spiritual matters, they welcome the help offered by Jehovah’s organization—and what a grand help that is! (1 Corinthians 1:10) We have a constant flow of information through the Watchtower and Awake! magazines. We have numerous books and brochures covering a wide range of Bible topics.
Skipping ahead some..
So resist any tendency to slack off in personal study. Use it as a means of deepening your love for God and your trust in him; it is also a way to heighten your appreciation for the organization he is using to assist us. Yes, ‘apply your heart’ to God’s Word, diligently, regularly. “It is no valueless word for you, but it means your life.” WT 8/15/88
The Watchtower slyly and extremely repetitiously ties the Watchtower publications and their organization in with Jehovah himself and the actual bible so thoroughly that the JW's,indoctrinated and deceived,think they're somehow inextricably linked,inseparable.They are led to believe constantly that to leave the organization or to sacrifice the WT publications would be to leave Jehovah himself and to sacrifice his Word.My friends,this is tragic deception,glaring and insidious.When I was an inactive JW,I was constantly being told to return to Jehovah as if being outside the organization means being outside his very love and favor.At one time,I believed this strongly.I felt such guilt and shame because I love God and felt crippled without his organization because this was pounded into my mind for years!I thought without his supposed "channel of communication"(as they term themselves) I was lost.Thought I couldn't understand his word without governing body imposition.Felt like an infant without a mother.Yes,the WT is very successful at making the rank and file feel these emotions by coercive manipulation via a steady diet of unremitting indoctrination.A couple other assertions they make in relation to this Ethiopian eunuch story:
"Even the right heart attitude and study are not enough for us to acquire faith. We must understand what we study if we would have faith, and to understand the Bible we need help; even as the Ethiopian eunuch indicated to Philip when he asked, ‘How can I understand unless someone should guide me?’
skipping ahead a tad..
For this purpose God has provided at the present time a “faithful and discreet slave” organization having a publishing agency, the Watch Tower Society. (Acts 8:30-35; Eph. 4:11, 13; Matt. 24:45, 46, NW) "WT 4/15/54
They even make this bold claim:
"Philip represented the visible organization of God then, having been sent out from Jerusalem to preach."—Acts 8:26-39, WT 2/1/1953
I would simply request the JW's reading this to not just believe all this mindlessly but to assess the information with critical thinking.Where does the BIBLE say that God would provide a publishing corporation/agency called the Watchtower to lead his people?Where does the BIBLE say that Philip represented the Watchtower organization,which no one had till about a little over 100 years ago?Yes,these are BOLD claims without merit.Simply assertions that can be proven wrong because God doesn't inspire publications and organizations with any false prophecy or deceitful indoctrination,that oft times contradict his own Son!These men have proven that they're the kind of men God said NOT to follow.
What does *the bible itself* have to say about all this?
1 John 2:25 And this is the promise that he made to us —eternal life.26 I write these things to you about those who are trying to deceive you. 27 But the *anointing* that you received from him abides in you, and you have no need that anyone should teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about everything, and is true, and is no lie—just as it has taught you, abide in him.28 And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming. 29 If you know that he is righteous, you may be sure that everyone who practices righteousness has been born of him.
These simple and BEAUTIFUL texts communicate that we are born of God(yes,born again) if we only practice righteousness,exercising faith.This means we then abide in Christ(denied you by the WT treacherously enough)and have a poignant and reliable *anointing* that teaches us.As a former JW,it takes a little while and a LOT of faith to believe this because of my strong Watchtower indoctrination.I have to pray for the kind of faith that moves mountains to trust my anointing.And thankfully,now I do!:)
Though some person may have planted a seed that made you think upon spiritual things,even inspiring you in some remarkable way for which you can be thankful..it is the faith you begin to exercise,the knowledge you grow up in,the intimacy you develop with your creator and his Son that guides you into all truth,not any manmade publication,not any men who exalt themselves up into the positions that belong to Christ alone,not ANYTHING or anyone else.The Ethiopian eunuch,once having become anointed with Yah's spirit,would of course no longer have a childlike dependency on Philip or anyone else.He could then trust his own anointing to guide him,make him mature,and grow into all truth and righteousness.He would then need the body of Christ which he would then be a member of for mutual building up in love and fine works,but certainly not to hand him his doctrines and dictate to him policies that go beyond the bounds of God's word,imposing upon his own Christian conscience.
In relation to the goal for individuals in the 1st century congregations,Ray Franz,in his book "In Search of Christian Freedom"(p. 684) has to say:
"The goal was,not for them to remain childlike,needing others to teach and shepherd them,but for them to "*grow up in every way* into him who is the head,into Christ."The passage of time should *lessen* their need of others to render such services and should increase their own ability to act as grown,mature persons who are not constantly dependent on others.In the letter to the Hebrews,the writer reproves those he addresses,saying,"By this time you should be teaching others."
Any religious system that perpetuates the *dependence* of its members on the services of certain men is working against the goal set forth.
Skipping ahead a little..
All should become "adult" Christians,mature in understanding and in the ability to live a Christian life,to make mature decisions that are their own,not those of someone else."
1 Corinthians 3:5 What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. 6 I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. 7 So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.
Don't let any man make you think you cannot grow without them.That you cannot grow to spiritual maturity without them.That you cannot proclaim the kingdom of God without them.That you cannot live without them.Who are they,after all?They SHOULD be fellow members in Christ's body ALONG WITH YOU.But instead the governing body throws you out of that and say you need them to survive and thrive.Trying to turn you into thieves and plunderers,making you think you can enter life some other way(via the supposed ark of a false prophet modern day organization) when outside Christ the bible says that's an impossibility.(John 10:7-10,John 15:4-6)God uses men to plant seeds,but he doesn't use the governing body of JW's to make then grow or to save you along with his own Son.This is not a scriptural notion but rather simply a group of men's baseless assertion.
More texts that SHOULD apply to you as a follower of the Christ
Ephesians 4:11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
Notice there's no mention here of a governing body.And plenty of mention here of the body of Christ which is being denied you by the WT.These instructions are for you,and as a Christian,for *you* IN Christ's body.Embrace the body of Christ.Be a member shamelessly if you exercise faith in your Lord!Yes,Christ came so that you might be anointed,not so that you might be lorded over by only a few who can.Christ came to establish a new covenant for all faithful followers of his,not so that most Christians are not allowed in it!Read the bible without the lens of the WT and you will inevitably be compelled to listen to Yahushua and become one of his.:)
Christians in the bible and throughout the centuries were either members in Christ's body & in the new covenant or they weren't Christians.It is simple as that.As members of the body of Christ,every Christian should be beholden to the true body.EVERY MEMBER.That means if an elder or a pastor contradicts Yahushua,members of the church should be able to correct him in a spirit of mildness every bit as much as a mature "spiritual guide" could a church member if that member were in error or sin.That means JW's,discerning some false assertion or unwarranted policy or questionable doctrine within the organization,SHOULD be able to speak up without fear.They can't do that.They are simply rendered speechless and told to "trust that Jehovah will correct all things in time."Yes,the WT leaders and elders etc.,when they detect YOU'RE in error or sin,have zero mercy.Yet have the nerve to tell you that if you detect the same in them to leave it all in Jehovah's hands.You're supposed to know less than them because they have an anointing that you're denied!There are no instructions for a governing body in the scriptures because there simply wasn't one prevalent then dictating and lording it over the Christians.Yes, where is this governing body in the daily affairs of the congregations in the bible?There were older men,yes.But they didn't have any stance with Christ any greater than the younger ones.
About ALL Christians(there is no privileged class!)the bible says:
1 Cor. 12:11 All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he(or *it*) wills.12 For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. 13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.
You aren't allowed to drink of that Spirit as a rank and file Jehovah's Witness..But it is that Spirit that gives life,not an organization!So why embrace an organization that denies you life in the spirit as if *it*(the organization) can give you life!It is not your savior.
Galatians 6:1 Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness. Keep watch on yourself, lest you too be tempted. 2 Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. 3 For if anyone thinks he is something, when he is nothing, he deceives himself.
We all equally have the right to restore one another when in need,when in error,when Christian.We don't need a special class of superior Christians who *supposedly*ALONE have a sealing of the spirit to do this.We should not be swept along with doctrinal revisions(new light and shifting beliefs) and false prophecies by some special class.We do not need a special class to save us unless we don't believe in the sufficiency of Yahuwah through Yahushua,the REAL saviors.
And what does Acts 8 go on to say about the Ethiopian?
Acts 8:35 Then Philip opened his mouth, and beginning with this Scripture he told him the good news about Jesus. 36 And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, “See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?” 38 And he commanded the chariot to stop, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.
This biblical baptism account is in stark contrast to the JW method of a long process of strong Watchtower indoctrination before a baptism can occur at all.At least think about this,JW's,and follow God's word,always.Even if it means defying the instructions of fallible men.Yes,“We must obey God rather than men."(Acts 5:29)The Watchtower can make a million claims that they're just like the 1st century Christians,even slanting and manipulating the bible to make you think so,but the evidence is overwhelming that this simply isn't the case.Those in the 1st century fellowshipped in humble homes,relied on *their own* anointing and not some governing body's anointing in their daily affairs to establish their doctrines(the bible and your own personal anointing do that!),and didn't rely on extrabiblical policies concocted in secret chambers to dictate their own consciences.They didn't follow after men who said Christ already returned(1914 anyone?),that a resurrection already occurred(1918 anyone?..2 Tim. 2:18)who had false prophecied repeatedly and made claims that only Yahushua should be allowed to make..the list just goes on!
I think it's great when you find spiritually mature and wise older men to listen to them(and even submit to them) if they teach what is in line with that which Christ taught(and have his character) in all reasonableness and humility.You could certainly learn something from them and their experiences,insight and wisdom.You should always of course test all things and believe only in that which Christ also taught,based on principles and succint revelations scripture articulates itself.Always heeding your conscience and reason.However,to trust men explicitly in blind faith when conscientiously you might have a legitimate objection because what they offer seems to contradict rather boldly something Yahushua said would be inexcusable and irresponsible.Proof that you're beholden to men who have boldly established strict authority over you and your mind instead of Yahuwah.
Hypocrisy and injustice naturally is what is bred from the type of system that the WT is.Instead of Christ being that which the whole system is built upon,the organization identifies *itself* as the ark and your rock.Sometimes *in addition* to Christ.Sometimes forgetting Christ altogether as it claims and pilfers his mediatorship and roles in your life that Yahushua ALONE should have if you call yourself a Christian.A religious society with a governing body composed of men whom God did not appoint no matter how many claims they may make otherwise instead of Christ at the center will naturally fall into apostasy and corruption.Trust no earthling man.Nor group of any earthling men.(Ps. 146:3)Especially of they build a system of worship that denies you life in Yahushua.For that is the ONLY life.That was Yahuwah's means of giving you life.His Son is your ark.His Son is your salvation.To leave an organization who denies you this life,that Yahushua offers in abundance,is not to leave Yahuwah himself,my friends.But if you stay where His spirit is denied its sealing of you as His son or daughter with life in Christ, when you have to discard Yahushua's words from his father in application to you when they were written for you..when you interpret the bible through a particular lens handed to you from fallible men unquestioningly and blindly..when you think anything at all but Yahuwah through Yahushua is needed to save you(like perhaps a mother organization or a group of men)no matter how much God wants to help you and be your father,He can't.You won't let him in your stubbornness.You're believing men who tell you you can't even be God's child even though that's why Christ came!Above all else,of course,Yahuwah wants you to listen to his word,His Son.Though you may not realize it in your deception,Yahushua's voice is drowned for you unjustifiably and tragically by the men you're allowing to do it!Don't allow it anymore.Take control.In Christ's body,you allow HIM to take control.And what pitiable fools we are without life and direction in and from our only mediator!All is vanity without it.Taking in knowledge isn't sufficient.We have to KNOW Yahushua as personally as we know his father.You can't do that without an anointing.
Let's examine a little of Ephesians chapter 2:
Ephesians 2:14 For he himself is our peace, who has *made us both one* and has broken down in his flesh the dividing wall of hostility
The *both one* here are the Jews and Gentiles,yes,the little flock and the other sheep.(Luke 12:32,John 10:16)
2:15 by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances, that he might create in himself *one new man in place of the two*, so making peace,
The one new man would be the joining of the Jews and the Gentiles,or the little flock and the other sheep, into one fold.
2:16 and might reconcile us both(again,the Jews and Gentiles) to God in *one body* through the cross, thereby killing the hostility.
17 And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near. 18 For through him we *both have access in one Spirit* to the Father.
So the little flock and other sheep both can be anointed with the same spirit in the same body as children of God.
2:19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens,but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.
Yes,for the Jews and Gentiles(the little flock and the other sheep ,again),there will be one flock,one shepherd.One spirit,one anointing,one body,same hope.:)No separation,no special class.One mediator.All children.
May Yahuwah bless you all.
Monday, December 6, 2010
A Few Questions for Trinitarians
Question # 1:
Deuteronomy 32:6 Do you thus repay the *LORD,*
you foolish and senseless people?
Is not he your *father,* who created you,
who made you and established you?
Now I want you to ask yourself who Yahuwah is here?The father,son and holy spirit?OR the father?Moving on to verse 39 in the SAME CHAPTER
39 “‘See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
So WHO,*in context*, is saying "there is no god beside *me*?"..the Father(verse 6,again) or the father,son and holy spirit triune essence?Think about it.
Malachi 2:10: Have we not all *one Father?* Has not *one God* created us?
So according to Malachi here,who is the One God who created us?The father?Or a triune essence composed of three persons?
Question # 2:
2 Timothy 1:9:*This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time*
Could you then properly pray "Father give me the grace I had with you in Christ Jesus before time began?"
Ephesians 1:4: *he(Yahuwah) chose us in him(Yahushua) before the foundation of the world*
Could you then properly pray this way:"Father bless me in Christ with the blessings I had in him with you before the foundation of the world?"..
If so,why must Yahushua's prayer in John 17:5 where he asks for the glory he had with God entail a literal preexistence if it didn't for us?Especially considering that we too figuratively already have that glory seated and glorified in Yahushua and have had it since before time began in God's extraordinary decree!!Yahushua in John chapter 17 speaks as if we already have it because this is how the Hebrew mind worked.(verse 22..etc.)
Question # 3
In texts like 1 Corinthians 8:6 and Colossians 1:16 the preposition dia is translated as "by" or "through" and most gather from this that Yahushua created for his father in Genesis.Considering Yahushua only ever gave his father credit for creating(saying things like "HE created them male and female" Matt. 19:4) and resting in Genesis(Yahuwah rested,not Yahushua),is it possible that dia should be translated more properly as "in"?(just as legitimate an interpretation as "by" or "through"..another possibility is "because of" or "for the sake of")After all the bible says we were seated in Christ before time began(2 Tim. 1:9,Eph. 1:3-11) in heaven in God's foreordained salvation plans.Since the bible says this,and the father said he created alone(Is. 44:24),is it possible his creating everything in Christ meant he created everything knowing all would be fulfilled in Yahushua when the full limit of time had at last arrived?(Gal. 4:4,Eph. 1:10,11,Isaiah 55:11)That our survival would be wrapped up in his word of life(or salvation plans) that became flesh in Yahushua when he was born,when he died,and when he was raised in glory to plead for us and make us new?(1 John 1:1,2,1 Cor. 15:45,Rom. 8:34,2 Cor. 5:17,Gal. 6:15)
Question # 4:
Luke 1:35:"The *Holy Spirit* will come upon you, and the *power of the Most High* will overshadow you; *therefore* the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God."
Let's take this one piece at a time.The *Holy Spirit* will come upon you, and the *power of the Most High* will overshadow you.The holy spirit is here defined for you,so what is the holy spirit?One of God's three people OR power from on high?If the holy spirit is a person,why doesn't Yahushua call HIM father considering the fact that "he" caused Yahushua's birth?
Then it says: *therefore* the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God."
So is Yahushua the unique Son of God because God is his father by spirit OR because he's somehow the same God?If you say the latter,then how come this text communicates something quite different from that?
According also to Luke 1:35,when did Messiah Yahushua come into existence literally?Is a transmigration or hypostatic union communicated here?Lets look at it again.
Luke 1:35:"The *Holy Spirit* will come upon you, and the *power of the Most High* will overshadow you; *therefore* the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God."
I can't find within the text itself anything(and this also goes with any of the birth narratives) about a preexistent person finding his way into a womb,or falling from the sky and being out of commission for 30 some years because now he's suddenly the man Yahushua.This also proves Christ actually had a begettal and communicates his origin.God has no begettal or origin.
Question # 5:
In Mark and Matthew,Yahushua converses with a scribe and Peter.In both instances it is made clear who his father is and who he is.Trinitarians expect people like me to go far beyond these easy explicit texts and to rather confess an uninspired creed.
Let's see what we must really confess for our Lord to approve of us and of our insight from reason and scripture.
Matthew 16:13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
What is the blessed confession here from Simon Peter?That Yahushua is the second person of the same God his own father is or that he is that One's Christ and Son?What right do you have to believe something removed from this when Yahushua praised this revelation?Or to judge those who believe it and understand it doesn't communicate a triune Hellenistic essence,the stuff of uninspired creeds?
Let's examine:
Mark 12:28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that *he*(someone OTHER than Yahushua) is one, and there is no other besides *him.*(Yahushua's father) 33 And to love *him*(the scribe and Yahushua's God) with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.
As clear as day here the scribe who Yahushua said answered wisely and to whom he said "You are not far from the kingdom of God” identified The Messiah's FATHER as the God of the Shema(Deut. 6:4)Yahushua,rather than correcting him and telling him who *also* might be the God of the Shema along with his father,Yahushua rather praised him and let him go on believing that his father alone was the One God of Israel,also HIS own God mind you.Don't you think these conversations with genuine believers like Peter and this scribe would have been a grand time for Messiah to tell the truth that God was 3 or 3 in one and that he was also the God of the Shema?Why doesn't he ever correct anyone who doesn't seem to understand that he's a person of the God of the Shema?He rather praises the scribe for understanding his father *alone* is and never rebukes Peter for not confessing that he's the same God whose Christ and Son he is!It would have been quite the revelation for Yahushua to claim deity within the same God of the Shema who was his own God!He simply never corrected the scribe and Peter but rather praised them for what trinitarians today would haughtily deceptively call incomplete confessions!How deceptive would Yahushua had to have been to let these guys go on believing incomplete truth as the whole truth?My guess would be that Yahushua expects us to heed these texts and discard what we've been taught by men who would lambast us for not going beyond these BIBLICAL creeds.
Yes,folks,the approved men who confessed bible creeds were commended by Yahushua so we need not confess anything different at all.
Btw,I'm not a sacred name movementer(if you might have been wondering)..I just like using more accurate pronunciations of the 2 most important names in the world ..that's all.I still slip and say Jehovah and Jesus A LOT.
Question number 1 and question number 5 contain points that explicitly reveal who the God of the Shema is.Let's all pay attention to scripture.As a former Jehovah's Witness,I can honestly say that if you can't empty yourself of all you've ever believed(suspecting conscientiously something is wrong somewhere)God CANNOT fill you with spirit and truth and will allow you to remain in error.He appreciates humility and that involves emptying yourself of you and your traditions just to make sure what he reveals to you is congruent with your cherished beliefs(that should be questioned).It disheartens me to say the least to see so many ex JW's embrace another belief system handed to them from more deceived men for lack of having the milk established and the easy tools to defeat men's sophistry,to overcome the implanting of yet more "theological persuasions" that have no real basis in explicit bible revelations.Insidious and concerning deceptions abound.And it is precisely because I love and care about you that I tell the truth here.Could I really say I love you if I was willing to let you believe lies when the truth is so freeing,important,and simple?Yes,God is beyond our understanding,but we don't have the right to discard what he has revealed for our understanding.And a triune essence isn't a part of that.
Deuteronomy 32:6 Do you thus repay the *LORD,*
you foolish and senseless people?
Is not he your *father,* who created you,
who made you and established you?
Now I want you to ask yourself who Yahuwah is here?The father,son and holy spirit?OR the father?Moving on to verse 39 in the SAME CHAPTER
39 “‘See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
So WHO,*in context*, is saying "there is no god beside *me*?"..the Father(verse 6,again) or the father,son and holy spirit triune essence?Think about it.
Malachi 2:10: Have we not all *one Father?* Has not *one God* created us?
So according to Malachi here,who is the One God who created us?The father?Or a triune essence composed of three persons?
Question # 2:
2 Timothy 1:9:*This grace was given us in Christ Jesus before the beginning of time*
Could you then properly pray "Father give me the grace I had with you in Christ Jesus before time began?"
Ephesians 1:4: *he(Yahuwah) chose us in him(Yahushua) before the foundation of the world*
Could you then properly pray this way:"Father bless me in Christ with the blessings I had in him with you before the foundation of the world?"..
If so,why must Yahushua's prayer in John 17:5 where he asks for the glory he had with God entail a literal preexistence if it didn't for us?Especially considering that we too figuratively already have that glory seated and glorified in Yahushua and have had it since before time began in God's extraordinary decree!!Yahushua in John chapter 17 speaks as if we already have it because this is how the Hebrew mind worked.(verse 22..etc.)
Question # 3
In texts like 1 Corinthians 8:6 and Colossians 1:16 the preposition dia is translated as "by" or "through" and most gather from this that Yahushua created for his father in Genesis.Considering Yahushua only ever gave his father credit for creating(saying things like "HE created them male and female" Matt. 19:4) and resting in Genesis(Yahuwah rested,not Yahushua),is it possible that dia should be translated more properly as "in"?(just as legitimate an interpretation as "by" or "through"..another possibility is "because of" or "for the sake of")After all the bible says we were seated in Christ before time began(2 Tim. 1:9,Eph. 1:3-11) in heaven in God's foreordained salvation plans.Since the bible says this,and the father said he created alone(Is. 44:24),is it possible his creating everything in Christ meant he created everything knowing all would be fulfilled in Yahushua when the full limit of time had at last arrived?(Gal. 4:4,Eph. 1:10,11,Isaiah 55:11)That our survival would be wrapped up in his word of life(or salvation plans) that became flesh in Yahushua when he was born,when he died,and when he was raised in glory to plead for us and make us new?(1 John 1:1,2,1 Cor. 15:45,Rom. 8:34,2 Cor. 5:17,Gal. 6:15)
Question # 4:
Luke 1:35:"The *Holy Spirit* will come upon you, and the *power of the Most High* will overshadow you; *therefore* the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God."
Let's take this one piece at a time.The *Holy Spirit* will come upon you, and the *power of the Most High* will overshadow you.The holy spirit is here defined for you,so what is the holy spirit?One of God's three people OR power from on high?If the holy spirit is a person,why doesn't Yahushua call HIM father considering the fact that "he" caused Yahushua's birth?
Then it says: *therefore* the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God."
So is Yahushua the unique Son of God because God is his father by spirit OR because he's somehow the same God?If you say the latter,then how come this text communicates something quite different from that?
According also to Luke 1:35,when did Messiah Yahushua come into existence literally?Is a transmigration or hypostatic union communicated here?Lets look at it again.
Luke 1:35:"The *Holy Spirit* will come upon you, and the *power of the Most High* will overshadow you; *therefore* the child to be born will be called holy—the Son of God."
I can't find within the text itself anything(and this also goes with any of the birth narratives) about a preexistent person finding his way into a womb,or falling from the sky and being out of commission for 30 some years because now he's suddenly the man Yahushua.This also proves Christ actually had a begettal and communicates his origin.God has no begettal or origin.
Question # 5:
In Mark and Matthew,Yahushua converses with a scribe and Peter.In both instances it is made clear who his father is and who he is.Trinitarians expect people like me to go far beyond these easy explicit texts and to rather confess an uninspired creed.
Let's see what we must really confess for our Lord to approve of us and of our insight from reason and scripture.
Matthew 16:13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” 14 And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” 15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16 Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” 17 And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.
What is the blessed confession here from Simon Peter?That Yahushua is the second person of the same God his own father is or that he is that One's Christ and Son?What right do you have to believe something removed from this when Yahushua praised this revelation?Or to judge those who believe it and understand it doesn't communicate a triune Hellenistic essence,the stuff of uninspired creeds?
Let's examine:
Mark 12:28 And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” 29 Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 30 And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’32 And the scribe said to him, “You are right, Teacher. You have truly said that *he*(someone OTHER than Yahushua) is one, and there is no other besides *him.*(Yahushua's father) 33 And to love *him*(the scribe and Yahushua's God) with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is much more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” 34 And when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, he said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God” And after that no one dared to ask him any more questions.
As clear as day here the scribe who Yahushua said answered wisely and to whom he said "You are not far from the kingdom of God” identified The Messiah's FATHER as the God of the Shema(Deut. 6:4)Yahushua,rather than correcting him and telling him who *also* might be the God of the Shema along with his father,Yahushua rather praised him and let him go on believing that his father alone was the One God of Israel,also HIS own God mind you.Don't you think these conversations with genuine believers like Peter and this scribe would have been a grand time for Messiah to tell the truth that God was 3 or 3 in one and that he was also the God of the Shema?Why doesn't he ever correct anyone who doesn't seem to understand that he's a person of the God of the Shema?He rather praises the scribe for understanding his father *alone* is and never rebukes Peter for not confessing that he's the same God whose Christ and Son he is!It would have been quite the revelation for Yahushua to claim deity within the same God of the Shema who was his own God!He simply never corrected the scribe and Peter but rather praised them for what trinitarians today would haughtily deceptively call incomplete confessions!How deceptive would Yahushua had to have been to let these guys go on believing incomplete truth as the whole truth?My guess would be that Yahushua expects us to heed these texts and discard what we've been taught by men who would lambast us for not going beyond these BIBLICAL creeds.
Yes,folks,the approved men who confessed bible creeds were commended by Yahushua so we need not confess anything different at all.
Btw,I'm not a sacred name movementer(if you might have been wondering)..I just like using more accurate pronunciations of the 2 most important names in the world ..that's all.I still slip and say Jehovah and Jesus A LOT.
Question number 1 and question number 5 contain points that explicitly reveal who the God of the Shema is.Let's all pay attention to scripture.As a former Jehovah's Witness,I can honestly say that if you can't empty yourself of all you've ever believed(suspecting conscientiously something is wrong somewhere)God CANNOT fill you with spirit and truth and will allow you to remain in error.He appreciates humility and that involves emptying yourself of you and your traditions just to make sure what he reveals to you is congruent with your cherished beliefs(that should be questioned).It disheartens me to say the least to see so many ex JW's embrace another belief system handed to them from more deceived men for lack of having the milk established and the easy tools to defeat men's sophistry,to overcome the implanting of yet more "theological persuasions" that have no real basis in explicit bible revelations.Insidious and concerning deceptions abound.And it is precisely because I love and care about you that I tell the truth here.Could I really say I love you if I was willing to let you believe lies when the truth is so freeing,important,and simple?Yes,God is beyond our understanding,but we don't have the right to discard what he has revealed for our understanding.And a triune essence isn't a part of that.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Alternative view of Hebrews 1:10
Hebrews 1:10 And,“You, Lord, laid the foundation of the earth in the beginning,and the heavens are the work of your hands;11 they will perish, but you remain;
they will all wear out like a garment,12 like a robe you will roll them up,like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same,and your years will have no end.”
found here: http://www.biblicalunitarian.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=139#null:
"Now the God last mentioned was Christ’s God, who had anointed him; and the author [of the book of Hebrews], addressing himself to this God, breaks out into the celebration of his power, and especially his unchangeable duration; which he dwells upon in order to prove the stability of the Son’s kingdom…i.e., thou [God] who hast promised him such a throne, art he who laid the foundation of the earth. So it seems to be a declaration of God’s immutability made here, to ascertain the durableness of Christ’s kingdom, before mentioned; and the rather so, because this passage had been used originally for the same purpose in the 102nd Psalm, viz. [Author uses KJV] To infer thence this conclusion, “The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed be established before Thee. In like manner, it here proves the Son’s throne should be established forever and ever, by the same argument, viz., by God’s immutability.” ~Norton, Reasons, pp. 214 and 215.
"Theologians such as Norton say that as it is used in the Old Testament, the verse shows that the unchanging God can indeed fulfill His promises, and they see it used in exactly the same way in Hebrews: since God created the heavens and the earth, and since He will not pass away, He is fit to promise an everlasting kingdom to His Son.
Theologians such as Norton say that as it is used in the Old Testament, the verse shows that the unchanging God can indeed fulfill His promises, and they see it used in exactly the same way in Hebrews: since God created the heavens and the earth, and since He will not pass away, He is fit to promise an everlasting kingdom to His Son."
I would also like to personally add that in surrounding scriptures like Hebrews 1:5-7 and 2:5-8 there are OT passages about the FATHER reapplied to the father again in Hebrews here.So it wouldn't be far fetched in the least in this context to see Hebrews 1:10-12 the same way.It's very possible.Since the writer switches back and forth from talking about the Son and the Father so much.
And finally here's a youtube with this other view presented pretty well!He doesn't start talking about verse 10 till about 6 and a half minutes in.He disabled embedding so go to the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuv5-OVN0k4
I already had two blogs about this with a different perspective.I can't be dogmatically certain of how to view it.Both the view in this blog or the view in the linked others here from Anthony Buzzard seems possible,to be honest.A good case could be made for either without any compromise of monotheism,without demanding a preexistent agent in the old creation,much less a trinity.
http://putawaythatmeat.blogspot.com/2010/09/anthony-buzzard-on-hebrews-110-and-john.html
http://putawaythatmeat.blogspot.com/2010/09/hebrews-110-addendum-little-reasoning.html
they will all wear out like a garment,12 like a robe you will roll them up,like a garment they will be changed. But you are the same,and your years will have no end.”
found here: http://www.biblicalunitarian.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=139#null:
"Now the God last mentioned was Christ’s God, who had anointed him; and the author [of the book of Hebrews], addressing himself to this God, breaks out into the celebration of his power, and especially his unchangeable duration; which he dwells upon in order to prove the stability of the Son’s kingdom…i.e., thou [God] who hast promised him such a throne, art he who laid the foundation of the earth. So it seems to be a declaration of God’s immutability made here, to ascertain the durableness of Christ’s kingdom, before mentioned; and the rather so, because this passage had been used originally for the same purpose in the 102nd Psalm, viz. [Author uses KJV] To infer thence this conclusion, “The children of thy servants shall continue, and their seed be established before Thee. In like manner, it here proves the Son’s throne should be established forever and ever, by the same argument, viz., by God’s immutability.” ~Norton, Reasons, pp. 214 and 215.
"Theologians such as Norton say that as it is used in the Old Testament, the verse shows that the unchanging God can indeed fulfill His promises, and they see it used in exactly the same way in Hebrews: since God created the heavens and the earth, and since He will not pass away, He is fit to promise an everlasting kingdom to His Son.
Theologians such as Norton say that as it is used in the Old Testament, the verse shows that the unchanging God can indeed fulfill His promises, and they see it used in exactly the same way in Hebrews: since God created the heavens and the earth, and since He will not pass away, He is fit to promise an everlasting kingdom to His Son."
I would also like to personally add that in surrounding scriptures like Hebrews 1:5-7 and 2:5-8 there are OT passages about the FATHER reapplied to the father again in Hebrews here.So it wouldn't be far fetched in the least in this context to see Hebrews 1:10-12 the same way.It's very possible.Since the writer switches back and forth from talking about the Son and the Father so much.
And finally here's a youtube with this other view presented pretty well!He doesn't start talking about verse 10 till about 6 and a half minutes in.He disabled embedding so go to the link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuv5-OVN0k4
I already had two blogs about this with a different perspective.I can't be dogmatically certain of how to view it.Both the view in this blog or the view in the linked others here from Anthony Buzzard seems possible,to be honest.A good case could be made for either without any compromise of monotheism,without demanding a preexistent agent in the old creation,much less a trinity.
http://putawaythatmeat.blogspot.com/2010/09/anthony-buzzard-on-hebrews-110-and-john.html
http://putawaythatmeat.blogspot.com/2010/09/hebrews-110-addendum-little-reasoning.html
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Christians,the Watchtower,the trinity,and hypocrisy
This is an addendum to my last blog.
What Christians must ask themselves is if when they see the truth spilled from Jesus's mouth do they accept it or read a theological inference into it while modifying it?If they can't hear his unadulterated voice without the noise of men then the truth is squelched.It was squelched for me for a long time because I had a belief system handed to me that I justified with empty sophistry as I gathered and misused a few texts here and there that I proceeded to use to modify the words of Jesus to fit that belief system.I justified this because I accepted the authority of men's supposed sound interpretations that I was scared to question because of what that might mean for my pride and popularity,my salvation even,as I was hounded with the lie that to believe differently from my peers would equal my loss of favor with God and ultimate destruction,my being labelled and considered dead.I really cannot find a whole heap of difference between my experience as a JW and the experience of those who dare question creeds and traditions of men within Christian churches.The truth can stand up to any scrutiny and that should be our quest.When challenged by logic and (biblical)reasoning and Jesus's own words without philosophical sophistry/imposition,do we feel threatened?Do we run everywhere we can to find justification for our belief when it seems to be refuted by plain texts from bible cover to cover?Do we use ambiguous texts or arguments replete with nothing beyond inference to establish a dear tradition?I think the trinity is every bit as stable as 1914 and the JW separation of Christians into 2 classes.It is a preconception garnered from a serious & egregious misuse of a literal few scriptures that leads to a fairy tale "hypostatic union."The misinterpretation of which is read back INTO and imposed upon Yahweh and Jesus's simple words all over scripture,essentially butchering their beautiful true intent.
I've noticed trinitarians feel especially threatened when they are told a body with no Jesus in it wasn't a good enough sacrifice.Jesus *himself* (the person of Christ)had to die,which God defines as a lack of breath and thoughts,as being asleep and silent in a grave.Wonder why that thought in particular might make them get hostile enough to name call,block people online,or boot them from message boards?Perhaps because God can't die(however they falsely define what death means,God still can't die regardless!Jesus STILL wasn't two people so no person actually ever died for them.This is SERIOUSLY unbiblical.)I can only imagine what might happen in an orthodox church if someone kept trying to assert this basic truth,this simple "milk of the word."Yes,Jesus the individual actually perished for 3 whole days.God forbid!Truth seeking voices are silenced with threats to their stance with God.With threats to their salvation.From people they love who seem like sheep,who have a lot of truth and love.But are there lies and hypocrisy in the mix is the question?
Just like JW's,Christians feel safe in their little community,love bombed so to speak,and certainly don't want to lose that.And if they start believing something integral and important that Jesus said that might contradict the cherished traditions of their peers,possibly even their own family,what would this mean for them?Even if they spoke up,left their church(accepting Jesus's unadulterated claims with no philosophical mysterious imposition,again) and were able to keep a few friends and their family despite,wouldn't the judgments,though perhaps more silent and less severe(in a way)than the WT's would be,be almost unbearable?After all,your peers and family have been bombarded with the propaganda and deception that anyone who thinks Jesus is a *made* Lord who has a God who's a separate being are cultist unsaved abominable heretics.We know what happened to those in the past!And that kind of indoctrination(that kind of manipulation of the mind) is powerful,treacherous,unjustified,and pathetic.In my opinion,equalling something similar to the WT's mind control because of how pervasive and insistent it is.Then when we add eternal conscious torment to the mix for not believing manmade dogmas,(which is yet ANOTHER twisting of scripture),we have serious injustice happening to those who dare question popular opinions or blind traditions,much like the WT,again.
My propagating truth and exposing injustice here is in no way a judgment of any individual's salvation.The REAL truth could attract the "cults" and others to a biblically restored true Christianity as opposed to a Hellenized one that perverts truth,that offers no attraction at all to many truth seekers because of its fairy tales,like the trinity,the wrong idea about hell,disembodied souls,and eternal heaven-dwelling.Every Christian needs to fellowship after all,and so those with unorthodox scripturally based beliefs sometimes get lost in cults for lack of fellowshipping options.These people can't in good conscience regularly attend a church where God died and grandma is burning in hell anymore than a Christian could be a JW knowing they can't be born again.Some of the most BASIC MILK OF THE WORD is being squelched in Hellenized Christianity,which causes some people to seek fellowship elsewhere,sometimes even in cults, that DO understand certain biblical basics that the mainstream doesn't.They are then prone to be deceived with lies that are mixed in with some basic truths because that is how Satan operates and entraps those who love God.Orthodoxy,so replete and saturated with a Hellenistic infiltration(ultimately equalling an unwarranted modification of basic biblical truths)has repulsed,even offended,those who ardently desire to keep some of the most basic bible truths,again,the milk of the word,intact.Some of what Hellenized Christianity doesn't propagate that *certain* "cults" might,hence people's attraction to them and being stumbled by Christendom:
1.*Biblical creeds* about God and Christ.
2.The righteous inheriting the earth and living forever upon it.
3.Souls don't live apart from bodies.We are glorified at the *last day* and not before.Death is sleep.Bodies with no people don't sleep.Souls can die.
4.Jesus slept for 3 days before he woke up.A nature is no savior.
5.The wicked perish eternally.Gehenna(hell) clearly consumes.
If a belief is *plainly* stated in scripture as something we must believe,then no councils or killing or threats or torture is needed to enforce it on sincere Christians.Keep this always in mind.I also believe that when Christians tell others who believe Jesus is Messiah and Lord that they will burn alive forever,judging their salvation and stance with God,that what they're doing is not only unwarranted,but also dangerous and boldly arrogant.Unless of course you can find something Jesus or Yahweh said clearly that would condemn people without your added stretch and inference.For goodness sake,educate yourself about gehenna as well.
Hellenized Christianity either repulses some(like JW's and Jews who want to preserve biblical monotheism) or keeps those that embrace it in the throes of a comfortable but insidious deception.Truth is important.And to fellowship TOO closely with those who deny some of Jesus's most basic truths could be dangerous,an entrapment.Remember the Jews in the OT who would cavort with those with false beliefs would oft be corrupted themselves,even as I'm sure they never intended to rebel against truth.The subtle influence of deception is serious.I completely believe that God knows the heart,is ultra merciful and loving and that love can cover a multitude of sin.In other words,I don't know who He will save and who is "saved."That will not stop my propagating of the basic milk of the word though.Nor my trying to wake people up to what constitutes a beautifully restored BIBLICAL Christianity.Love involves advancing truth(Jesus's words)and if I am rejected or labelled or thought of as "dead" because of doing so,then I cannot closely congregate with those so brazen no matter how much I love them.I do not wish to share with them in their deceit even AS I share Jesus's words with them and the danger of false belief systems.I expose Hellenized Christianity for the same reasons they(and I) expose the WT org.Because I love them and want to see them come to the truth.To question their traditions fearlessly and listen to the Lord they love.
Make sure your system of worship isn't a stumbling block as big as the WT's.Read about the history of your beliefs every bit as voraciously as you would like to see a JW read Ray Franz's books.Our goal should be the faith of Abraham,Isaac,Jacob,Jesus,and the apostles,not of *platonically philosophically schooled* Early Church Fathers and councils of men who were egregiously unable to take one single bible verse anywhere to call their creed.And this uninspired man-scripted bloodguilty dogma(the trinity) should not be what,much like the WT literature for the JW,you use to butcher &/or modify Jesus's plain words throughout the NT.Even as you admit Abraham,Isaac,Jacob and the like didn't share your faith in your dogma that you call the most essential to your salvation.Newsflash:Jesus was a Jew and neither did he.Fact is,there are many home churches and humble churches across the US and the world who share my faith who might be called cults by your pulpit propagandist preachers,but assertions are often meritless.Many ex- trinitarians,ex-Modalists and also ex JW's like myself can recognize your propaganda and lies as readily as you do the WT's!And it is my hope that you might come to as well,even as you fearlessly truth seek and heed your conscience qualms over the blind spots in your Pharisaic dogmas and traditions that stumble truth seekers every bit as readily as certain WT beliefs and practices...
Questions worthy of contemplation for those intent on exposing cults for THEIR Pharisaic dogmas:
If you had questions about certain orthodox "essential* doctrines that you found to be,well,questionable,and you let your pastor know,would his reaction(and the ultimate reaction of your "worldwide community of brothers and sisters") belittle your quest for truth in any way or make your stance with God feel threatened by labels and condemnation?Especially if you were to actually heed your "crisis of conscience" while embracing the whole of scripture as a truthful testimony of reality.As opposed to reading something man has written and called a creed *back into* everything you read.If so,how is that any different from what a JW goes through when they have questions about the "mysterious" Watchtower assertions?
Let's *pretend* my brothers and sisters who thought God was,oh,say,*5 people* due to a misunderstanding of scripture in the past proceeded to murder and torture anyone who held a different view of God.Either that,or silence them with banishment and threats and intimidation.Would you be suspicious at all of my belief?If not,why not?Would you at least QUESTION the spirit behind a doctrine that might inspire this kind of rage and insanity?If not,why not?If so,what would this mean if you were to heed your conscience ridden objections about *your* doctrine that inspired the same on a massive scale?How then would the manner in which you'd be treated for listening to your conscience be any less objectionable to how a JW would be treated for heeding theirs?
Next time you criticize the WT society for what it is that your religious system also practices,extract the rafter FIRST.Then perhaps the conscientious JW's might take your objections more seriously.3 individual persons called Yahweh,each 100% God,does not equal one Yahweh.It is WILLFUL self deceit and a denial of basic kindergarten math to say otherwise.It would be like,with a straight face and closed mind,asserting dogmatically and ardently that 1+1+1=1.Then condemning people to a hell that consciously torments ceaselessly unto eternity(Jesus rather preached Gehenna,a fire that CONSUMED so epic fail here for Christians) for not buying it.Ask a child about this.Listen to their honest answer.Then remember Jesus said the kingdom belongs to suchlike ones.Take this math to your pastor and see if he reacts any differently from how an elder would at a kingdom hall if a JW told them Jesus was their mediator,that it's basic bible language and logic that shouldn't be fought.Might be patient at first,but labelling,possibly even shunning,and definitely condemning to some fate much worse than that of the "apostates" from the WT fate awaits supposed "heretics" who know Jesus has a God and adopts John 17:3 and Deut. 6:4 as good enough creeds.Ahh,the irony!(and the hypocrisy.)
God bless everyone and thank you for taking the time to read.
What Christians must ask themselves is if when they see the truth spilled from Jesus's mouth do they accept it or read a theological inference into it while modifying it?If they can't hear his unadulterated voice without the noise of men then the truth is squelched.It was squelched for me for a long time because I had a belief system handed to me that I justified with empty sophistry as I gathered and misused a few texts here and there that I proceeded to use to modify the words of Jesus to fit that belief system.I justified this because I accepted the authority of men's supposed sound interpretations that I was scared to question because of what that might mean for my pride and popularity,my salvation even,as I was hounded with the lie that to believe differently from my peers would equal my loss of favor with God and ultimate destruction,my being labelled and considered dead.I really cannot find a whole heap of difference between my experience as a JW and the experience of those who dare question creeds and traditions of men within Christian churches.The truth can stand up to any scrutiny and that should be our quest.When challenged by logic and (biblical)reasoning and Jesus's own words without philosophical sophistry/imposition,do we feel threatened?Do we run everywhere we can to find justification for our belief when it seems to be refuted by plain texts from bible cover to cover?Do we use ambiguous texts or arguments replete with nothing beyond inference to establish a dear tradition?I think the trinity is every bit as stable as 1914 and the JW separation of Christians into 2 classes.It is a preconception garnered from a serious & egregious misuse of a literal few scriptures that leads to a fairy tale "hypostatic union."The misinterpretation of which is read back INTO and imposed upon Yahweh and Jesus's simple words all over scripture,essentially butchering their beautiful true intent.
I've noticed trinitarians feel especially threatened when they are told a body with no Jesus in it wasn't a good enough sacrifice.Jesus *himself* (the person of Christ)had to die,which God defines as a lack of breath and thoughts,as being asleep and silent in a grave.Wonder why that thought in particular might make them get hostile enough to name call,block people online,or boot them from message boards?Perhaps because God can't die(however they falsely define what death means,God still can't die regardless!Jesus STILL wasn't two people so no person actually ever died for them.This is SERIOUSLY unbiblical.)I can only imagine what might happen in an orthodox church if someone kept trying to assert this basic truth,this simple "milk of the word."Yes,Jesus the individual actually perished for 3 whole days.God forbid!Truth seeking voices are silenced with threats to their stance with God.With threats to their salvation.From people they love who seem like sheep,who have a lot of truth and love.But are there lies and hypocrisy in the mix is the question?
Just like JW's,Christians feel safe in their little community,love bombed so to speak,and certainly don't want to lose that.And if they start believing something integral and important that Jesus said that might contradict the cherished traditions of their peers,possibly even their own family,what would this mean for them?Even if they spoke up,left their church(accepting Jesus's unadulterated claims with no philosophical mysterious imposition,again) and were able to keep a few friends and their family despite,wouldn't the judgments,though perhaps more silent and less severe(in a way)than the WT's would be,be almost unbearable?After all,your peers and family have been bombarded with the propaganda and deception that anyone who thinks Jesus is a *made* Lord who has a God who's a separate being are cultist unsaved abominable heretics.We know what happened to those in the past!And that kind of indoctrination(that kind of manipulation of the mind) is powerful,treacherous,unjustified,and pathetic.In my opinion,equalling something similar to the WT's mind control because of how pervasive and insistent it is.Then when we add eternal conscious torment to the mix for not believing manmade dogmas,(which is yet ANOTHER twisting of scripture),we have serious injustice happening to those who dare question popular opinions or blind traditions,much like the WT,again.
My propagating truth and exposing injustice here is in no way a judgment of any individual's salvation.The REAL truth could attract the "cults" and others to a biblically restored true Christianity as opposed to a Hellenized one that perverts truth,that offers no attraction at all to many truth seekers because of its fairy tales,like the trinity,the wrong idea about hell,disembodied souls,and eternal heaven-dwelling.Every Christian needs to fellowship after all,and so those with unorthodox scripturally based beliefs sometimes get lost in cults for lack of fellowshipping options.These people can't in good conscience regularly attend a church where God died and grandma is burning in hell anymore than a Christian could be a JW knowing they can't be born again.Some of the most BASIC MILK OF THE WORD is being squelched in Hellenized Christianity,which causes some people to seek fellowship elsewhere,sometimes even in cults, that DO understand certain biblical basics that the mainstream doesn't.They are then prone to be deceived with lies that are mixed in with some basic truths because that is how Satan operates and entraps those who love God.Orthodoxy,so replete and saturated with a Hellenistic infiltration(ultimately equalling an unwarranted modification of basic biblical truths)has repulsed,even offended,those who ardently desire to keep some of the most basic bible truths,again,the milk of the word,intact.Some of what Hellenized Christianity doesn't propagate that *certain* "cults" might,hence people's attraction to them and being stumbled by Christendom:
1.*Biblical creeds* about God and Christ.
2.The righteous inheriting the earth and living forever upon it.
3.Souls don't live apart from bodies.We are glorified at the *last day* and not before.Death is sleep.Bodies with no people don't sleep.Souls can die.
4.Jesus slept for 3 days before he woke up.A nature is no savior.
5.The wicked perish eternally.Gehenna(hell) clearly consumes.
If a belief is *plainly* stated in scripture as something we must believe,then no councils or killing or threats or torture is needed to enforce it on sincere Christians.Keep this always in mind.I also believe that when Christians tell others who believe Jesus is Messiah and Lord that they will burn alive forever,judging their salvation and stance with God,that what they're doing is not only unwarranted,but also dangerous and boldly arrogant.Unless of course you can find something Jesus or Yahweh said clearly that would condemn people without your added stretch and inference.For goodness sake,educate yourself about gehenna as well.
Hellenized Christianity either repulses some(like JW's and Jews who want to preserve biblical monotheism) or keeps those that embrace it in the throes of a comfortable but insidious deception.Truth is important.And to fellowship TOO closely with those who deny some of Jesus's most basic truths could be dangerous,an entrapment.Remember the Jews in the OT who would cavort with those with false beliefs would oft be corrupted themselves,even as I'm sure they never intended to rebel against truth.The subtle influence of deception is serious.I completely believe that God knows the heart,is ultra merciful and loving and that love can cover a multitude of sin.In other words,I don't know who He will save and who is "saved."That will not stop my propagating of the basic milk of the word though.Nor my trying to wake people up to what constitutes a beautifully restored BIBLICAL Christianity.Love involves advancing truth(Jesus's words)and if I am rejected or labelled or thought of as "dead" because of doing so,then I cannot closely congregate with those so brazen no matter how much I love them.I do not wish to share with them in their deceit even AS I share Jesus's words with them and the danger of false belief systems.I expose Hellenized Christianity for the same reasons they(and I) expose the WT org.Because I love them and want to see them come to the truth.To question their traditions fearlessly and listen to the Lord they love.
Make sure your system of worship isn't a stumbling block as big as the WT's.Read about the history of your beliefs every bit as voraciously as you would like to see a JW read Ray Franz's books.Our goal should be the faith of Abraham,Isaac,Jacob,Jesus,and the apostles,not of *platonically philosophically schooled* Early Church Fathers and councils of men who were egregiously unable to take one single bible verse anywhere to call their creed.And this uninspired man-scripted bloodguilty dogma(the trinity) should not be what,much like the WT literature for the JW,you use to butcher &/or modify Jesus's plain words throughout the NT.Even as you admit Abraham,Isaac,Jacob and the like didn't share your faith in your dogma that you call the most essential to your salvation.Newsflash:Jesus was a Jew and neither did he.Fact is,there are many home churches and humble churches across the US and the world who share my faith who might be called cults by your pulpit propagandist preachers,but assertions are often meritless.Many ex- trinitarians,ex-Modalists and also ex JW's like myself can recognize your propaganda and lies as readily as you do the WT's!And it is my hope that you might come to as well,even as you fearlessly truth seek and heed your conscience qualms over the blind spots in your Pharisaic dogmas and traditions that stumble truth seekers every bit as readily as certain WT beliefs and practices...
Questions worthy of contemplation for those intent on exposing cults for THEIR Pharisaic dogmas:
If you had questions about certain orthodox "essential* doctrines that you found to be,well,questionable,and you let your pastor know,would his reaction(and the ultimate reaction of your "worldwide community of brothers and sisters") belittle your quest for truth in any way or make your stance with God feel threatened by labels and condemnation?Especially if you were to actually heed your "crisis of conscience" while embracing the whole of scripture as a truthful testimony of reality.As opposed to reading something man has written and called a creed *back into* everything you read.If so,how is that any different from what a JW goes through when they have questions about the "mysterious" Watchtower assertions?
Let's *pretend* my brothers and sisters who thought God was,oh,say,*5 people* due to a misunderstanding of scripture in the past proceeded to murder and torture anyone who held a different view of God.Either that,or silence them with banishment and threats and intimidation.Would you be suspicious at all of my belief?If not,why not?Would you at least QUESTION the spirit behind a doctrine that might inspire this kind of rage and insanity?If not,why not?If so,what would this mean if you were to heed your conscience ridden objections about *your* doctrine that inspired the same on a massive scale?How then would the manner in which you'd be treated for listening to your conscience be any less objectionable to how a JW would be treated for heeding theirs?
Next time you criticize the WT society for what it is that your religious system also practices,extract the rafter FIRST.Then perhaps the conscientious JW's might take your objections more seriously.3 individual persons called Yahweh,each 100% God,does not equal one Yahweh.It is WILLFUL self deceit and a denial of basic kindergarten math to say otherwise.It would be like,with a straight face and closed mind,asserting dogmatically and ardently that 1+1+1=1.Then condemning people to a hell that consciously torments ceaselessly unto eternity(Jesus rather preached Gehenna,a fire that CONSUMED so epic fail here for Christians) for not buying it.Ask a child about this.Listen to their honest answer.Then remember Jesus said the kingdom belongs to suchlike ones.Take this math to your pastor and see if he reacts any differently from how an elder would at a kingdom hall if a JW told them Jesus was their mediator,that it's basic bible language and logic that shouldn't be fought.Might be patient at first,but labelling,possibly even shunning,and definitely condemning to some fate much worse than that of the "apostates" from the WT fate awaits supposed "heretics" who know Jesus has a God and adopts John 17:3 and Deut. 6:4 as good enough creeds.Ahh,the irony!(and the hypocrisy.)
God bless everyone and thank you for taking the time to read.
Monday, November 22, 2010
Dear Christians against the Watchtower
I agree with you.The WT is a tragic false Pharisaic system that hopefully God will bring down even as he wakes up the humble people inside it and brings them to him in Christ.That's my hope,anyway.There are some great humble people in there who love God with everything they have.But my question to Christians is:are you as willing to question your traditions and your books of men and your creeds of men and your bloodguilty history as readily as you demand the Jehovah's Witnesses do theirs?Did you gather your belief system from the bible and the spirit alone or from what you've always been told,your preachers,your tradition,and the books you buy to sell you your doctrines?Calvinists,did you become a Calvinist before you read books with sophistry which gave you a new lens by which you began reading an elaborate theology system INTO the simple and clear words of scripture?
I'm being sincere when I say that even as a child I knew God's son could not be God because he was his son.That may sound simplistic to you and frankly I don't care.Jesus pretty simply told the truth that I was able to gather even then!There's no proof anywhere that Jesus is the same God he worships in the bible except through an elaborate system of man concocted inference similar to that which the WT uses to establish some of their doctrines like a separation of Christians.I harp on the trinity so much because it leads to more deceptions and violates the first commandment.We must all confess Jesus came as a human being as opposed to God with the body and nature of a man but not the person of one.Any other confession frankly scares me since this is the one scripture says must be made.
Since I came out of the WT,I have been somewhat overwhelmed by the hypocrisy within it as well as within Christendom.They both only hypocritically recognize the OTHER'S hypocrisy.It really is discouraging to discern so much deception.It breaks my heart.I spy Christians labelling and shunning and, in the past especially,torturing and killing one another for having a different interpretation of an ancient text.It is these Christians who condemn and label the Watchtower for labelling and shunning and having bloodguilt.In other words,the hypocrisy is palpable,severe.I have been called everything from "Watchtower mind controlled puppet" for recognizing Easter is a pagan goddess to "a poor waif whose home is hell" for believing a man can die according to God's definition of the word.I'm called a "heretic" much more frequently by proud blind Christians than I am "apostate" by proud blind Jehovah's Witnesses.I'm not a born again Christian according to Christians because I don't believe in a creedal triune substance just like I'm not an approved association to Jehovah's Witnesses for not believing the governing body are the faithful and discreet slave whom I must obey.The difference is minute.Christians,you aren't fooling people like me.You may be able to bring other ex Jehovah's Witnesses to your blind belief system after they just escaped another one,but God has prepared me to recognize your deceit even as he led me to recognize the WT's.As someone who has been willing to sacrifice everything I've believed and held onto as my reason for living for over 15 years,I can readily acknowledge that at any time I could be deceived.What I am willing to do is change when I think I am and embrace what I believe to be true no matter what,at any cost!It is more rare than not to find this same willingness to humble ourselves for the sake of Christ.To say "I could be,I may be wrong" instead of "I'm right and that's that,you wicked heretic!"You can show deceived Christians 100 bible creeds about Jesus and God and they still believe one man made up that makes moot of the biblical ones.If that's not deception,then I have no idea what is.
Basically,my purpose for this blog is to ask the orthodox Christians if they understand that their history is more replete with bloodguilt than the WT's?If they know that their creeds and doctrines are as wildly falsely concocted as some of the WT's?If they know that their labelling and shunning and condemning of those who think differently is as treacherous as the WT's?If they understand that their blind traditions and pulpit propaganda and ability to be deceived is every bit as scary as the WT's?If they are as willing to humble themselves and truth seek and leave bloodguilty creeds behind as they demand the Jehovah's Witnesses do?
Keep in mind that when you call people like me HERETICS and WOLVES even though I believe Jesus is the Christ,the Son of the Living God that now images of torture and murder of the worst kind imaginable springs to mind.If that's the kind of witness you want to give,by all means continue.I'm simply encouraging you to be thoughtful and reasonable.And to consider for a moment that perhaps Jesus may not think of me the same way you do.What would that mean for you?And I ask myself the same questions.That's why you don't find me calling individuals heretics and wolves and the like,even though admittedly on occasion I have called doctrines like eternal conscious torment that are frightfully blasphemous "heresies."I have heard testimonies of people like me being booted from Christian message boards for explaining how Jesus died for mankind,instead of just a flesh capsule,a body,with no Jesus in it.This is probably what a pro-JW message board would do to those who dare question their belief system.No difference.Sad,huh?So all of you can tread about pretending there's no hypocrisy in your born again bones as you herald that of others,but you're not fooling some people.As long as you hold with clenched fists and stubborn hearts onto severely bloodguilty creeds and also certain doctrines that blaspheme the very character of God,he can't open your eyes any more than he could a Jehovah's Witnesess's who holds with clenched fists and stubborn hearts onto the belief system they've been handed from others.And because I know there are some humble people in Christendom who love God with everything they have,I have faith he will bring down the churches of men that spread lies like gangrene and save all humble people inside them in Christ.Soon.I have faith He can make that happen.For if you love God,he can work with that.But not if you're Pharisaic in being a little too clingy to your arbitrary condemnations,demands,and dogmas,and perfectly accepting of the bloodguilt your beliefs harbor,demonstrating the spirit behind them.Don't close your eyes.Don't tighten your fists.Don't harden your heart.Don't be a hypocrite.At the very least,next time you witness JW propaganda,unwarranted dogmatisms,evidence of bloodguilt,and blind hypocrisy,remember that your system of worship is super similar.That your condemnation,labelling,shunning,hypocrisy,and bloodguilt is just as off putting and potentially stumbling.
I know someone could easily use the reasoning point that Christianity has produced some terrible fruits but that we can't judge Christianity by that!What I can do though is reason that the KIND or BRAND of Christianity that produced those fruits is rotten and not my Lord's kind and brand.
Oh yes,I've noticed the Christians who condemn Jehovah's Witnesses for being unwilling to question the men they follow are also often unwilling to question the men they follow.Once deception has kicked in it's almost like it's an unstoppable train.Do you know how EASY it is to believe the lies of men who can manipulate words and ideas that are impossible and make them sound plausible? The Watchtower organization does not have the monopoly on corrupt false teachers,deceptive rhetoric and bloodguilt.God never singled out a specific little false prophet organization as being susceptible to deception alone on an island.Do you know how difficult it is to actually understand when you're a slave to tradition that contradicts truth and deceived?If not,ask someone raised a Jehovah's Witness or Muslim who are still a part of it if they have the truth.Don't think it's possible for them to be blinded but not for you.After all,why would you?
Have you ever had a crisis of conscience about your belief?Have you ever recognized that deception is rampant,tenable,and genuinely fierce and hence gotten on your knees and asked God to send measures of his spirit to guide you into all truth about who he really is and who his son really is?Does the thought of questioning your traditions scare you?How about the thought of being labelled a heretic or a cultist or being shunned or treated horrifically by those you love most just because you don't think like they do?Have you ever thought to yourself that your doctrine is replete with sophistry and inference and a lack of any unambiguous declaration of itself in all of scripture?Of how theologians and preachers shamelessly use corrupted or ambiguous texts to support it?Or of how a thought is gathered here and a thought gathered there to shabbily and dishonestly conconct a doctrine explicitly refuted by the Lord and his God?About how men readily think texts applied to Yahweh then to Jesus who was given all power by Yahweh don't have to prove a trinity even when tell you they do?Have you been willing and able to think to yourself that this is the case for many texts applied to many people then applied to Jesus in different separate applications?Are you ready to think for yourself?Are you scared?Does your conscience ever prod you and demand an answer?!Have you thought of the massive history of disgusting bloodguilt associated with your doctrine?You shall know them by their fruits!Somehow Christians make an exception with the fruits of the trinity doctrine though.How dare anyone question the empty statements of well known highly educated book writing scholarly Christians,right?They can make anything in the world they want to sound plausible whether it is or not.And gain supporters.The blind leading the blind..What will your identity become if you lose your status as an orthodox believer and heed your conscience?You aren't fooling me.You've had doubts.You've dismissed them.I'm not saying this to those who've no question the trinity is viable and true blue,who just can't see why it should be questioned on a biblical basis.But to those who have had crises of conscience over it's philosophical concoctions and sophistry.To those who recognize the vacuousness of supposed proofs and heed the leading of the spirit and the calling of Yahweh and Jesus's own creeds.To those who care more about truth than tradition.Jesus than family.Yahweh than creeds.The bible than councils.The scriptures than theologians.The apostles than preachers.Hebrew monotheism than Hellenistic infiltration of it.To those who aren't scared.To those brave like Jesus who would expose the truth in the face of lies as was his duty to do ,heeding his conscience and his God's own spirit that anointed him.You can't fool me.I ignored my conscience qualms for a long time too.I searched for support for the Watchtower lies I'd known because they were comfortable.But God didn't give up on me,and eventually honesty won.Jesus won.His words won.Yahweh wins every time to those who love him above ALL else.Above dogmas.Above popularity and majority opinion and peer approval.Above man's so called wisdom.
This blog was obviously not for those who think their belief system is perfect,secure,and not to be questioned.Not for those who live to expose others' injustices and lies while they excuse their own.Not for those who don't humbly understand the way deception operates.Not for those who have never had a single conscientious issue with their theology system to be sure.So if you're comfortable and think you're immune to being wrong while the WT and other cults like it are the only problem please do not waste your time watching this video.I am not suggesting here that there aren't aspects to the WT that are more controlling than orthodoxy in terms of policies and absolute demands of adherence to every belief,essential or not.But hopefully you will at least be open minded in what I have to say here.God bless.
I'm being sincere when I say that even as a child I knew God's son could not be God because he was his son.That may sound simplistic to you and frankly I don't care.Jesus pretty simply told the truth that I was able to gather even then!There's no proof anywhere that Jesus is the same God he worships in the bible except through an elaborate system of man concocted inference similar to that which the WT uses to establish some of their doctrines like a separation of Christians.I harp on the trinity so much because it leads to more deceptions and violates the first commandment.We must all confess Jesus came as a human being as opposed to God with the body and nature of a man but not the person of one.Any other confession frankly scares me since this is the one scripture says must be made.
Since I came out of the WT,I have been somewhat overwhelmed by the hypocrisy within it as well as within Christendom.They both only hypocritically recognize the OTHER'S hypocrisy.It really is discouraging to discern so much deception.It breaks my heart.I spy Christians labelling and shunning and, in the past especially,torturing and killing one another for having a different interpretation of an ancient text.It is these Christians who condemn and label the Watchtower for labelling and shunning and having bloodguilt.In other words,the hypocrisy is palpable,severe.I have been called everything from "Watchtower mind controlled puppet" for recognizing Easter is a pagan goddess to "a poor waif whose home is hell" for believing a man can die according to God's definition of the word.I'm called a "heretic" much more frequently by proud blind Christians than I am "apostate" by proud blind Jehovah's Witnesses.I'm not a born again Christian according to Christians because I don't believe in a creedal triune substance just like I'm not an approved association to Jehovah's Witnesses for not believing the governing body are the faithful and discreet slave whom I must obey.The difference is minute.Christians,you aren't fooling people like me.You may be able to bring other ex Jehovah's Witnesses to your blind belief system after they just escaped another one,but God has prepared me to recognize your deceit even as he led me to recognize the WT's.As someone who has been willing to sacrifice everything I've believed and held onto as my reason for living for over 15 years,I can readily acknowledge that at any time I could be deceived.What I am willing to do is change when I think I am and embrace what I believe to be true no matter what,at any cost!It is more rare than not to find this same willingness to humble ourselves for the sake of Christ.To say "I could be,I may be wrong" instead of "I'm right and that's that,you wicked heretic!"You can show deceived Christians 100 bible creeds about Jesus and God and they still believe one man made up that makes moot of the biblical ones.If that's not deception,then I have no idea what is.
Basically,my purpose for this blog is to ask the orthodox Christians if they understand that their history is more replete with bloodguilt than the WT's?If they know that their creeds and doctrines are as wildly falsely concocted as some of the WT's?If they know that their labelling and shunning and condemning of those who think differently is as treacherous as the WT's?If they understand that their blind traditions and pulpit propaganda and ability to be deceived is every bit as scary as the WT's?If they are as willing to humble themselves and truth seek and leave bloodguilty creeds behind as they demand the Jehovah's Witnesses do?
Keep in mind that when you call people like me HERETICS and WOLVES even though I believe Jesus is the Christ,the Son of the Living God that now images of torture and murder of the worst kind imaginable springs to mind.If that's the kind of witness you want to give,by all means continue.I'm simply encouraging you to be thoughtful and reasonable.And to consider for a moment that perhaps Jesus may not think of me the same way you do.What would that mean for you?And I ask myself the same questions.That's why you don't find me calling individuals heretics and wolves and the like,even though admittedly on occasion I have called doctrines like eternal conscious torment that are frightfully blasphemous "heresies."I have heard testimonies of people like me being booted from Christian message boards for explaining how Jesus died for mankind,instead of just a flesh capsule,a body,with no Jesus in it.This is probably what a pro-JW message board would do to those who dare question their belief system.No difference.Sad,huh?So all of you can tread about pretending there's no hypocrisy in your born again bones as you herald that of others,but you're not fooling some people.As long as you hold with clenched fists and stubborn hearts onto severely bloodguilty creeds and also certain doctrines that blaspheme the very character of God,he can't open your eyes any more than he could a Jehovah's Witnesess's who holds with clenched fists and stubborn hearts onto the belief system they've been handed from others.And because I know there are some humble people in Christendom who love God with everything they have,I have faith he will bring down the churches of men that spread lies like gangrene and save all humble people inside them in Christ.Soon.I have faith He can make that happen.For if you love God,he can work with that.But not if you're Pharisaic in being a little too clingy to your arbitrary condemnations,demands,and dogmas,and perfectly accepting of the bloodguilt your beliefs harbor,demonstrating the spirit behind them.Don't close your eyes.Don't tighten your fists.Don't harden your heart.Don't be a hypocrite.At the very least,next time you witness JW propaganda,unwarranted dogmatisms,evidence of bloodguilt,and blind hypocrisy,remember that your system of worship is super similar.That your condemnation,labelling,shunning,hypocrisy,and bloodguilt is just as off putting and potentially stumbling.
I know someone could easily use the reasoning point that Christianity has produced some terrible fruits but that we can't judge Christianity by that!What I can do though is reason that the KIND or BRAND of Christianity that produced those fruits is rotten and not my Lord's kind and brand.
Oh yes,I've noticed the Christians who condemn Jehovah's Witnesses for being unwilling to question the men they follow are also often unwilling to question the men they follow.Once deception has kicked in it's almost like it's an unstoppable train.Do you know how EASY it is to believe the lies of men who can manipulate words and ideas that are impossible and make them sound plausible? The Watchtower organization does not have the monopoly on corrupt false teachers,deceptive rhetoric and bloodguilt.God never singled out a specific little false prophet organization as being susceptible to deception alone on an island.Do you know how difficult it is to actually understand when you're a slave to tradition that contradicts truth and deceived?If not,ask someone raised a Jehovah's Witness or Muslim who are still a part of it if they have the truth.Don't think it's possible for them to be blinded but not for you.After all,why would you?
Have you ever had a crisis of conscience about your belief?Have you ever recognized that deception is rampant,tenable,and genuinely fierce and hence gotten on your knees and asked God to send measures of his spirit to guide you into all truth about who he really is and who his son really is?Does the thought of questioning your traditions scare you?How about the thought of being labelled a heretic or a cultist or being shunned or treated horrifically by those you love most just because you don't think like they do?Have you ever thought to yourself that your doctrine is replete with sophistry and inference and a lack of any unambiguous declaration of itself in all of scripture?Of how theologians and preachers shamelessly use corrupted or ambiguous texts to support it?Or of how a thought is gathered here and a thought gathered there to shabbily and dishonestly conconct a doctrine explicitly refuted by the Lord and his God?About how men readily think texts applied to Yahweh then to Jesus who was given all power by Yahweh don't have to prove a trinity even when tell you they do?Have you been willing and able to think to yourself that this is the case for many texts applied to many people then applied to Jesus in different separate applications?Are you ready to think for yourself?Are you scared?Does your conscience ever prod you and demand an answer?!Have you thought of the massive history of disgusting bloodguilt associated with your doctrine?You shall know them by their fruits!Somehow Christians make an exception with the fruits of the trinity doctrine though.How dare anyone question the empty statements of well known highly educated book writing scholarly Christians,right?They can make anything in the world they want to sound plausible whether it is or not.And gain supporters.The blind leading the blind..What will your identity become if you lose your status as an orthodox believer and heed your conscience?You aren't fooling me.You've had doubts.You've dismissed them.I'm not saying this to those who've no question the trinity is viable and true blue,who just can't see why it should be questioned on a biblical basis.But to those who have had crises of conscience over it's philosophical concoctions and sophistry.To those who recognize the vacuousness of supposed proofs and heed the leading of the spirit and the calling of Yahweh and Jesus's own creeds.To those who care more about truth than tradition.Jesus than family.Yahweh than creeds.The bible than councils.The scriptures than theologians.The apostles than preachers.Hebrew monotheism than Hellenistic infiltration of it.To those who aren't scared.To those brave like Jesus who would expose the truth in the face of lies as was his duty to do ,heeding his conscience and his God's own spirit that anointed him.You can't fool me.I ignored my conscience qualms for a long time too.I searched for support for the Watchtower lies I'd known because they were comfortable.But God didn't give up on me,and eventually honesty won.Jesus won.His words won.Yahweh wins every time to those who love him above ALL else.Above dogmas.Above popularity and majority opinion and peer approval.Above man's so called wisdom.
This blog was obviously not for those who think their belief system is perfect,secure,and not to be questioned.Not for those who live to expose others' injustices and lies while they excuse their own.Not for those who don't humbly understand the way deception operates.Not for those who have never had a single conscientious issue with their theology system to be sure.So if you're comfortable and think you're immune to being wrong while the WT and other cults like it are the only problem please do not waste your time watching this video.I am not suggesting here that there aren't aspects to the WT that are more controlling than orthodoxy in terms of policies and absolute demands of adherence to every belief,essential or not.But hopefully you will at least be open minded in what I have to say here.God bless.
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Free will and Calvinism
This is such a beautiful presentation.The only problem I saw in it was a quote toward the end that calls The God of the Shema a trinity.Other than that,highly recommended.My endorsement of this video in no way is an endorsement of all the beliefs of the channel on youtube from which I found this,RefutingCalvinism.This video is NOT for Calvinists unimpressed by clear bible language,unabashed logic,and God's true character.Not for those intent on clinging to certain men's misuse of a few texts who then proceed to read that misinterpretation into the rest of what the bible plainly says,butchering its beautiful true intent.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
Trinitarian reasoning is dangerous!(5 proofs)
2 Tim. 4:3-4:the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires; and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths
2 Corinthians 10:5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
I DO NOT believe the trinitarian reasoning I use in this video to establish some scary ideas.I'm simply using their OWN reasoning to demonstrate what the result would be were they consistent.If these 5 arguments are so easily refutable,perhaps it would be worth your while to investigate every one of them meticulously so as to make sure you haven't been misled.The "hypostatic union"(which is sadly,for trinitarians, nothing but a bold & empty inference) is read INTO every text and it's basis is every bit as tragically gathered from a misuse of a literal few texts as the Jehovah's Witnesses' establishment of 1914 and their separation of Christians is!If Christians are so willing to use these types of arguments even after being biblically reasoned with,then how can you trust anything they say?If trinitarians can't even be honest about simple reasoning points then there's not much that CAN be said.I will plant seeds that hopefully might make the conscientious reconsider what they've been fed regardless.God bless everyone.:)
For reasoning refuting the hypostatic union,read my Philippians ch. 2 and John 1:1 blogs under "trinity texts" to the right.Thanks everyone.
2 Corinthians 10:5 We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.
I DO NOT believe the trinitarian reasoning I use in this video to establish some scary ideas.I'm simply using their OWN reasoning to demonstrate what the result would be were they consistent.If these 5 arguments are so easily refutable,perhaps it would be worth your while to investigate every one of them meticulously so as to make sure you haven't been misled.The "hypostatic union"(which is sadly,for trinitarians, nothing but a bold & empty inference) is read INTO every text and it's basis is every bit as tragically gathered from a misuse of a literal few texts as the Jehovah's Witnesses' establishment of 1914 and their separation of Christians is!If Christians are so willing to use these types of arguments even after being biblically reasoned with,then how can you trust anything they say?If trinitarians can't even be honest about simple reasoning points then there's not much that CAN be said.I will plant seeds that hopefully might make the conscientious reconsider what they've been fed regardless.God bless everyone.:)
For reasoning refuting the hypostatic union,read my Philippians ch. 2 and John 1:1 blogs under "trinity texts" to the right.Thanks everyone.
Friday, November 5, 2010
The Incarnation(a Christology issue)
1 John 4:12:No one has ever seen God.
When mankind fell,God couldn't be reached directly by them without some sort of cleansing or mediation.He couldn't literally dwell amongst them any longer or even be seen by them without their perishing.The ground was cursed,as was humankind and animals etc. after sin entered the picture because of God's perfect justice.Sin deserves recompense.The wages of sin is ultimately death,understandably.God,however,remains holy,perfectly pure and inherently incorruptible,immortal,and benevolent.He is not to be compared to a man in that he could never die or be tempted or suffer corruption as man can.Make no mistake..the milk of the word makes it clear that God CANNOT be seen by men currently except IN those he inhabits by spirit as he speaks and works through them.Yes people can "see" God in those he inhabits. As they deliver his word and speak in his name.As they fulfill his word and demonstrate his wisdom,like Yeshua did far above all others who ever had.
Let's examine with great care and contemplation,seriously and soberly,precisely what occurs when one of the greatest servants and prophets of Yahweh's ever,Moses,wants to see God face to face:
Exodus 33:17 And Jehovah went on to say to Moses: “This thing, too, of which you have spoken, I shall do, because you have found favor in my eyes and I know you by name.” 18 At this he said: “Cause me to see, please, your glory.” 19 But he said: “I myself shall cause all my goodness to pass before your face, and I will declare the name of Jehovah before you; and I will favor the one whom I may favor, and I will show mercy to the one to whom I may show mercy.” 20 And he added: “You are not able to see my face, because no man may see me and yet live.”21 And Jehovah said further: “Here is a place with me, and you must station yourself upon the rock. 22 And it has to occur that while my glory is passing by I must place you in a hole in the rock, and I must put my palm over you as a screen until I have passed by. 23 After that I must take my palm away, and you will indeed see my back. But my face may not be seen.”
This is a description of someone so remarkable and glorious that Moses didn't even have to see his full glory to have his own face shine from the encounter.(Ex. 34:29)
It is truths such as these and that this same God created the wonders of the universe and mankind that inspires poetic men like the Psalmists and others to ask questions like these:
Psalm 8:3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,4 what is man that you are mindful of him,and the son of man that you care for him?
It is precisely because of God's "otherness" and incomprehensibility( in that we're so fallen while he's indescribably holy and to a great extent unknowable by human peabrains) that impelled thoughtful and conscientious men (who recognize our vast inferiority to our maker ) to ask God for some realistic way to reach him.Job said:
"God is not a mortal like me, so I cannot argue with him or take him to trial.If only there were a mediator between us, someone who could bring us together."(Job 9:32,33)
Yes,we naturally feel unworthy to approach God,even to receive eternal life though we have an innate desire for immortality, because of our corruption and fallen state.Yes,even as we do good,bad is in us somewhere.However,God, in his infinite love,affection,consideration,and awesome mercy provided an escape route and even foreordained a mediator and savior to rescue,cleanse,redeem,and reconcile us to him.These words of Job foreshadowed all that God has done for us in Christ!When the full limit of time (Gal. 4:4)had arrived for God's purposes for man to be fulfilled from the beginning to the end of time,Yah sent forth(commissioned)a perfect man born of his spirit through a virgin womb to fulfill what Job longed for and his prophecies from the first book (Gen. 3:15) to the last!
2 Corinthians 5:19: in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation
Jesus was said to be Immanuel,God with us.Trinitarians will automatically,on autopilot,think he's the preexistent Son of God with us.But no,he's the father with us *in* the Son.And it is this Son who is the "incarnation" of God's *word*..of the father himself in a sense.God revealed himself,manifest his personality,wisdom,word and will in Christ so fully that Christ could say to see him was to see the father!
John 14:8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
Make no mistake.I am not advocating modalism or a trinity but rather the bible's clear communication of God in his Son.God revealed in the Last Adam(a perfect sinless man!) by spirit.So Christ wasn't the "incarnation" of a preexistent Son but rather a revelation of God the Father's own self expression and will for mankind,his own love and works and determination to reach us in the way that Job had so desired! As well as the many of us along with Job who recognize a deep seated profound need to reach God in good conscience.(1 Pet. 3:21,Heb. 9:14)God in Christ provided not only a model of his own personality reflected in his beloved for us to hopefully adopt as well but an imputed righteousness to all who exercise faith and love according to the spirit's proddings.God works so exceptionally and fully THROUGH the agency of his beloved Son that Jesus was definitely God with us in many respects!This doesn't make him either that same God(just because God was in him) OR a person of his own God(because God was with him,again.)Finally what Job had hoped for God to make happen,Yahweh has fulfilled for all of us who crave a worthy mediator and blemishless redeemer!
Said of our Messiah:
Colossians 2:9: For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
because..
Colossians 1:19: For in him all the fullness of God was *pleased to dwell,*
The fullness in Christ was of the father,not the Son.In fact Christ emptied(humbled) himself by fasting and constant prayer,by goodness and faithfulness,so that the father could fill him with that spirit as we're supposed to do.It was the father alone,the God of Abraham,Isaac,Jacob,and Jesus that dwelled in Jesus fully with pleasure BY means of his spirit.And this is why Jesus did and said what God would say and do!Even Moses was "God" to Pharaoh because he represented God to Pharaoh and God worked through him quite exceptionally.(Ex. 4:16,7:1)So how much more the Greater Moses,the Last Adam that Moses prefigured be so termed "God" by the monotheistic 1st century faithful Jews and Christians perhaps on occasion.All it meant at that time in history was that Jesus represented God and had power over others,a God given authority.It is through this historical lens we need to look for accuracy in how to determine what it means when others besides the Most High are so termed "God" and not our modern lens of presuppositions gone askew.He was God's Grand and irreplaceable Amen!His Son who he can dramatically pour out his affections and love upon and then through,by making him mediator and Lord,do the same to us!Because,again,we're too unholy to directly reach God.He provided a way,Jesus, through whom he spoke truth and gave us life!(John 14:6)The incarnation of his self expression,character,and revelation.His Son was not the same God,but rather a true man,the Last Adam,born from above as our forerunner to the same kind of adoption and new birth.We're (Christians are) vessels and stones being built up into a spiritual temple for God to inhabit by spirit.Christ made this possible.:)
Examine Jesus' amazing Messianic claim:
Matthew 11:27: All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
We have the revelation from Jesus himself that we too can have this intimate knowledge and relationship with God similar to what he has with him!Christ,as the way,truth and life opened up the way for us to be anointed sons and daughters of God,to likewise be beloved children and to receive of the "fullness of God."
Ephesians 3:19: and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
It is precisely because of Jesus's true humanity,true temptations,true sufferings,and genuine death that God gave him authority to judge.
John 5:27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment,* because *he is the Son of Man.
This is wonderful because we know we have someone like us(only glorified and exalted beyond what anyone else will ever be) interceeding for us
No one in the presence of Christ thought he was the God of Deut. 6:4.When the crowds saw his miracles they would glorify God for giving such authority to a MAN,the Messiah.It is because Jesus was a man like us that God gave him the authority he has because he can empathize with and understand us like someone who has never been a man ever could.
Why must we go beyond the bible's simple revelations as follows?:
Matthew 9:8:When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had *given* such authority to men.
Matthew 28:18: And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been *given* to me.
No these miracles didn't prove he was the God of the Shema, who he confirmed with the scribe in Mark ch. 12(verses 28-34) was his father ALONE,but rather that God was with and in him working fully through him by spirit.As proclaimed in:
Acts 2:22: “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know
Jesus doesn't accomplish or know anything without God's spirit working through or bearing witness to him.He doesn't judge..doesn't even know the Revelation(1:1) with out God's granting and allowance.
Acts 17:31 because he(Yahweh) has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a *man* whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
So this text proves it is God in Christ judging but it is because of Christ's own sufferings and genuinely being a glorified-beyond-measure true man that he has the gifts he does.:)
Some significant profound texts worthy of serious contemplation and consideration by those inundated in their presuppositions are these that tell us who Christ was.We should take heed and care deeply.
Hebrews 2:16:For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. 17For this reason *he had to be made like his brothers in every way,* in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.
I don't know about you but I would never call someone *fully God*(except in that God indwelled him fully just like he can Christians) just like mortal men in every way.In other words,Jesus was a real man,not just a *nature* of one.I think it's blasphemous to say otherwise.I don't personally know how trinitarians in good conscience can say Jesus was a "man nature" as opposed to a real man.If I told you I was God with an added "woman nature" would you say I was a genuine woman?
Hebrews 5:7: In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.
He wasn't heard because he's God.He was heard because he FEARED GOD.This is a heartfelt declaration of Jesus's own human & poignant reliance upon his creator but also of the fact that reverence in our prayers can equal our own adoption,glorified resurrection,and exaltation.Not equal to Jesus's but nevertheless a gift from above worth seeking with everything we have!Just like Jesus we need to seek,pray,sacrifice,rely,trust,remain faithful and true,earnestly seeking the kingdom prize and God's favor.
More evidence *why* Jesus has been given mediatorship,kingship,and judging privileges:
Hebrews 5:1 For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.
How awesome is it that because of his own weaknesses,sufferings,death and true state of being a man,though sinless due to prayer and faithfulness and goodness,that Jesus can now intercede for us in sheer empathy and heartfelt care?How moving is it that we have a glorified Lord who was a genuinely mortal man,really tempted,seriously obedient to a God he himself worshipped and served in fear?And that now that One has been given a position second only to Yahweh's at his own God's right hand?Ever interceding,ever loving and caring.Just a moment's consideration of his willingness,eagerness even,to feed the hungry,heal the sick,raise the dead,and feed the sheep would make even a heart of stone melt to the floor.When he walked the earth the kingdom was in everyone's midst indeed!
Is there any reason we should doubt that a God who is the very epitome of love and grace and generosity would fervently desire to gift his Own beloved Son the world?Why would Christ have to be the SAME God who gave him everything he has to be worthy to receive it all?God sustains Christ and lets Christ sustain us.Because he can.
John 5:26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.
The father is automatically an immortal life giver.God gave Jesus the same gift,to be an immortal life giver,upon his resurrection from a genuine death.We cannot live outside nor apart from Christ.He was and is our provision to obtain eternal life from the father through Jesus' agency.For it isn't God nor angels who walk the earth as their main habitat but rather Jesus when he returns and all the sons in him,given to him.The Last Adam and all his faithful followers.Our identity is in him.Our lovely and extraordinary mediator.Who loves us deeply and intercedes for us without hesitation.This was the man who forgave sinners and healed them just because they had faith.We can love and trust and thank him..hopefully forever.This wonderful man prayed:
John 17:21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
And how did he love him before the world was founded?As his second person or as an archangel or perhaps some other way?Let's let scriptural authority establish the truth!
1 Peter 1:20: He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you
I know there are many theological *mystery* theories that are read into a plethora of texts.People need to be deprogrammed from the conditioning that God had to become or even wanted to become a man when the easy succint biblical truth is that he foreordained a Son to be the Last Adam.A vessel through whom he could work and make himself,the father, known like never before!This man was an incarnation of God's will,word,self expression,self revelation,person,love,mercy,capacity to redeem and reconcile,care,consideration,you name it.Jesus was and is so full of the father,as opposed to a preexistent son,that we know God because of him more than we ever could have without him.So much like us in every way that God gave him all authority to mediate and judge on behalf of those with whom he could legitimately empathize,having suffered similar ordeals.That,my friends,is the beautiful truth.Jesus was and is the epitome of God working fully through and inhabiting a perfect man,as opposed to the trinitarian definition of a *Godman.*A "nature" nor a "body" with no Jesus the *person* in it could possibly be responsible for our redemption.It's time to throw the trinity philosophies by the wayside and embrace the simple truth.These philosophies lead to more lies and deceptions like the supposed inability to annihilate a soul and even hellfire where these supposedly unkillable souls must have a place to dwell in unimaginable horrors.I honestly believe there could be a truth revolution in regards to these three phenomenally tragic orthodox lies if people would first admit that Jesus *himself* (as opposed to simply a "nature" or "body" with no *Jesus* involved)actually died for the salvation of mankind.Then eyes and minds would light up with revelatory truth and we'd have a Christian movement on our hands.We'd have Muslims,Jehovah's Witnesses,Jews,atheists and others more attracted to the Christian message.One without incomprehensible mysteries that make zero sense.
Purpose statement:
I am not judging anyone's eternal salvation when I expose what I think are their false doctrines.I have no idea who is or isn't genuinely born again and loved (unto salvation)by Yahweh.I am here,simply,to expose the lies,injustices,hypocrisies,and bloodguilt I perceive in the Watchtower organization and much of "Orthodoxy."To bring every thought into captivity to Christ's as I tell what I believe is the truth,promoting justice(and that would include the cessation of gross condemnation of people who think Jesus is Lord and Christ and king without being the same God his own God is,without confessing The Messiah as the second person of a triune Greek substance.MANY have been tortured,banished,killed even, for not being willing to embrace a trinity).I hope everyone will know or come to know that their systems of worship originating from Rome's apostasies(whose origins are ultimately Babylon mysteries) are bloodguilty every bit as badly,if not much more so,than the WT society that they so freely condemn hypocritically.May God free us all from these false religious systems and their unjustified dogmatisms in his Son whose spirit can only guide us into all truth if we love him more than our comfortable heritage and traditions."Christians" shouldn't really be condemning people to a Dante's infinite inferno for confessing 1 Tim. 2:5 ,John 17:3 and Deut. 6:4 as their creeds instead of some Nicene Hellenization of the much less "mysterious" biblical record.Yes,doctrine is important,and that is why I don't *just* preach "Jesus" and "love" but also what Jesus taught while I expose what I think he would've as well.Again:lies,injustice,hypocrisy,and bloodguilt.We all need to repent daily,seek first the kingdom,& above all love God,Jesus,and people.Let's stop trying to kill people with venomous condemnation to a lake of fire that supposedly never consumes just because they don't believe a philosophical Platonic inference you try to bully them into embracing.I'm perfectly willing to call anyone who says they're a Christian my brother or sister(because I refuse to be so presumptuous as to assume who Jesus would or would not call his brothers and sisters) but they will only call me a heretic who's dead.People need to wake up and start caring.Because WHAT IF me and my unitarian brothers and sisters are loved & approved by Jesus while you trash us and condemn us to your twisted version of gehenna?Fact is if I just make ONE person actually think..if I just plant some little seed anywhere at any time that God can make grow..then I am perfectly content to do so.Even if these blogs do little else than encourage my fellow unitarian brothers and sisters to understand they're not alone and other people "get it"..then I'm also perfectly content with that as well.
When mankind fell,God couldn't be reached directly by them without some sort of cleansing or mediation.He couldn't literally dwell amongst them any longer or even be seen by them without their perishing.The ground was cursed,as was humankind and animals etc. after sin entered the picture because of God's perfect justice.Sin deserves recompense.The wages of sin is ultimately death,understandably.God,however,remains holy,perfectly pure and inherently incorruptible,immortal,and benevolent.He is not to be compared to a man in that he could never die or be tempted or suffer corruption as man can.Make no mistake..the milk of the word makes it clear that God CANNOT be seen by men currently except IN those he inhabits by spirit as he speaks and works through them.Yes people can "see" God in those he inhabits. As they deliver his word and speak in his name.As they fulfill his word and demonstrate his wisdom,like Yeshua did far above all others who ever had.
Let's examine with great care and contemplation,seriously and soberly,precisely what occurs when one of the greatest servants and prophets of Yahweh's ever,Moses,wants to see God face to face:
Exodus 33:17 And Jehovah went on to say to Moses: “This thing, too, of which you have spoken, I shall do, because you have found favor in my eyes and I know you by name.” 18 At this he said: “Cause me to see, please, your glory.” 19 But he said: “I myself shall cause all my goodness to pass before your face, and I will declare the name of Jehovah before you; and I will favor the one whom I may favor, and I will show mercy to the one to whom I may show mercy.” 20 And he added: “You are not able to see my face, because no man may see me and yet live.”21 And Jehovah said further: “Here is a place with me, and you must station yourself upon the rock. 22 And it has to occur that while my glory is passing by I must place you in a hole in the rock, and I must put my palm over you as a screen until I have passed by. 23 After that I must take my palm away, and you will indeed see my back. But my face may not be seen.”
This is a description of someone so remarkable and glorious that Moses didn't even have to see his full glory to have his own face shine from the encounter.(Ex. 34:29)
It is truths such as these and that this same God created the wonders of the universe and mankind that inspires poetic men like the Psalmists and others to ask questions like these:
Psalm 8:3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,4 what is man that you are mindful of him,and the son of man that you care for him?
It is precisely because of God's "otherness" and incomprehensibility( in that we're so fallen while he's indescribably holy and to a great extent unknowable by human peabrains) that impelled thoughtful and conscientious men (who recognize our vast inferiority to our maker ) to ask God for some realistic way to reach him.Job said:
"God is not a mortal like me, so I cannot argue with him or take him to trial.If only there were a mediator between us, someone who could bring us together."(Job 9:32,33)
Yes,we naturally feel unworthy to approach God,even to receive eternal life though we have an innate desire for immortality, because of our corruption and fallen state.Yes,even as we do good,bad is in us somewhere.However,God, in his infinite love,affection,consideration,and awesome mercy provided an escape route and even foreordained a mediator and savior to rescue,cleanse,redeem,and reconcile us to him.These words of Job foreshadowed all that God has done for us in Christ!When the full limit of time (Gal. 4:4)had arrived for God's purposes for man to be fulfilled from the beginning to the end of time,Yah sent forth(commissioned)a perfect man born of his spirit through a virgin womb to fulfill what Job longed for and his prophecies from the first book (Gen. 3:15) to the last!
2 Corinthians 5:19: in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation
Jesus was said to be Immanuel,God with us.Trinitarians will automatically,on autopilot,think he's the preexistent Son of God with us.But no,he's the father with us *in* the Son.And it is this Son who is the "incarnation" of God's *word*..of the father himself in a sense.God revealed himself,manifest his personality,wisdom,word and will in Christ so fully that Christ could say to see him was to see the father!
John 14:8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.
Make no mistake.I am not advocating modalism or a trinity but rather the bible's clear communication of God in his Son.God revealed in the Last Adam(a perfect sinless man!) by spirit.So Christ wasn't the "incarnation" of a preexistent Son but rather a revelation of God the Father's own self expression and will for mankind,his own love and works and determination to reach us in the way that Job had so desired! As well as the many of us along with Job who recognize a deep seated profound need to reach God in good conscience.(1 Pet. 3:21,Heb. 9:14)God in Christ provided not only a model of his own personality reflected in his beloved for us to hopefully adopt as well but an imputed righteousness to all who exercise faith and love according to the spirit's proddings.God works so exceptionally and fully THROUGH the agency of his beloved Son that Jesus was definitely God with us in many respects!This doesn't make him either that same God(just because God was in him) OR a person of his own God(because God was with him,again.)Finally what Job had hoped for God to make happen,Yahweh has fulfilled for all of us who crave a worthy mediator and blemishless redeemer!
Said of our Messiah:
Colossians 2:9: For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily,
because..
Colossians 1:19: For in him all the fullness of God was *pleased to dwell,*
The fullness in Christ was of the father,not the Son.In fact Christ emptied(humbled) himself by fasting and constant prayer,by goodness and faithfulness,so that the father could fill him with that spirit as we're supposed to do.It was the father alone,the God of Abraham,Isaac,Jacob,and Jesus that dwelled in Jesus fully with pleasure BY means of his spirit.And this is why Jesus did and said what God would say and do!Even Moses was "God" to Pharaoh because he represented God to Pharaoh and God worked through him quite exceptionally.(Ex. 4:16,7:1)So how much more the Greater Moses,the Last Adam that Moses prefigured be so termed "God" by the monotheistic 1st century faithful Jews and Christians perhaps on occasion.All it meant at that time in history was that Jesus represented God and had power over others,a God given authority.It is through this historical lens we need to look for accuracy in how to determine what it means when others besides the Most High are so termed "God" and not our modern lens of presuppositions gone askew.He was God's Grand and irreplaceable Amen!His Son who he can dramatically pour out his affections and love upon and then through,by making him mediator and Lord,do the same to us!Because,again,we're too unholy to directly reach God.He provided a way,Jesus, through whom he spoke truth and gave us life!(John 14:6)The incarnation of his self expression,character,and revelation.His Son was not the same God,but rather a true man,the Last Adam,born from above as our forerunner to the same kind of adoption and new birth.We're (Christians are) vessels and stones being built up into a spiritual temple for God to inhabit by spirit.Christ made this possible.:)
Examine Jesus' amazing Messianic claim:
Matthew 11:27: All things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
We have the revelation from Jesus himself that we too can have this intimate knowledge and relationship with God similar to what he has with him!Christ,as the way,truth and life opened up the way for us to be anointed sons and daughters of God,to likewise be beloved children and to receive of the "fullness of God."
Ephesians 3:19: and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
It is precisely because of Jesus's true humanity,true temptations,true sufferings,and genuine death that God gave him authority to judge.
John 5:27 And he has given him authority to execute judgment,* because *he is the Son of Man.
This is wonderful because we know we have someone like us(only glorified and exalted beyond what anyone else will ever be) interceeding for us
No one in the presence of Christ thought he was the God of Deut. 6:4.When the crowds saw his miracles they would glorify God for giving such authority to a MAN,the Messiah.It is because Jesus was a man like us that God gave him the authority he has because he can empathize with and understand us like someone who has never been a man ever could.
Why must we go beyond the bible's simple revelations as follows?:
Matthew 9:8:When the crowds saw it, they were afraid, and they glorified God, who had *given* such authority to men.
Matthew 28:18: And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been *given* to me.
No these miracles didn't prove he was the God of the Shema, who he confirmed with the scribe in Mark ch. 12(verses 28-34) was his father ALONE,but rather that God was with and in him working fully through him by spirit.As proclaimed in:
Acts 2:22: “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a man attested to you by God with mighty works and wonders and signs that God did through him in your midst, as you yourselves know
Jesus doesn't accomplish or know anything without God's spirit working through or bearing witness to him.He doesn't judge..doesn't even know the Revelation(1:1) with out God's granting and allowance.
Acts 17:31 because he(Yahweh) has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a *man* whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead.
So this text proves it is God in Christ judging but it is because of Christ's own sufferings and genuinely being a glorified-beyond-measure true man that he has the gifts he does.:)
Some significant profound texts worthy of serious contemplation and consideration by those inundated in their presuppositions are these that tell us who Christ was.We should take heed and care deeply.
Hebrews 2:16:For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. 17For this reason *he had to be made like his brothers in every way,* in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.
I don't know about you but I would never call someone *fully God*(except in that God indwelled him fully just like he can Christians) just like mortal men in every way.In other words,Jesus was a real man,not just a *nature* of one.I think it's blasphemous to say otherwise.I don't personally know how trinitarians in good conscience can say Jesus was a "man nature" as opposed to a real man.If I told you I was God with an added "woman nature" would you say I was a genuine woman?
Hebrews 5:7: In the days of his flesh, Jesus offered up prayers and supplications, with loud cries and tears, to him who was able to save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverence.
He wasn't heard because he's God.He was heard because he FEARED GOD.This is a heartfelt declaration of Jesus's own human & poignant reliance upon his creator but also of the fact that reverence in our prayers can equal our own adoption,glorified resurrection,and exaltation.Not equal to Jesus's but nevertheless a gift from above worth seeking with everything we have!Just like Jesus we need to seek,pray,sacrifice,rely,trust,remain faithful and true,earnestly seeking the kingdom prize and God's favor.
More evidence *why* Jesus has been given mediatorship,kingship,and judging privileges:
Hebrews 5:1 For every high priest chosen from among men is appointed to act on behalf of men in relation to God, to offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. 2 He can deal gently with the ignorant and wayward, since he himself is beset with weakness.
How awesome is it that because of his own weaknesses,sufferings,death and true state of being a man,though sinless due to prayer and faithfulness and goodness,that Jesus can now intercede for us in sheer empathy and heartfelt care?How moving is it that we have a glorified Lord who was a genuinely mortal man,really tempted,seriously obedient to a God he himself worshipped and served in fear?And that now that One has been given a position second only to Yahweh's at his own God's right hand?Ever interceding,ever loving and caring.Just a moment's consideration of his willingness,eagerness even,to feed the hungry,heal the sick,raise the dead,and feed the sheep would make even a heart of stone melt to the floor.When he walked the earth the kingdom was in everyone's midst indeed!
Is there any reason we should doubt that a God who is the very epitome of love and grace and generosity would fervently desire to gift his Own beloved Son the world?Why would Christ have to be the SAME God who gave him everything he has to be worthy to receive it all?God sustains Christ and lets Christ sustain us.Because he can.
John 5:26 For as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted the Son also to have life in himself.
The father is automatically an immortal life giver.God gave Jesus the same gift,to be an immortal life giver,upon his resurrection from a genuine death.We cannot live outside nor apart from Christ.He was and is our provision to obtain eternal life from the father through Jesus' agency.For it isn't God nor angels who walk the earth as their main habitat but rather Jesus when he returns and all the sons in him,given to him.The Last Adam and all his faithful followers.Our identity is in him.Our lovely and extraordinary mediator.Who loves us deeply and intercedes for us without hesitation.This was the man who forgave sinners and healed them just because they had faith.We can love and trust and thank him..hopefully forever.This wonderful man prayed:
John 17:21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.
And how did he love him before the world was founded?As his second person or as an archangel or perhaps some other way?Let's let scriptural authority establish the truth!
1 Peter 1:20: He was foreknown before the foundation of the world but was made manifest in the last times for the sake of you
I know there are many theological *mystery* theories that are read into a plethora of texts.People need to be deprogrammed from the conditioning that God had to become or even wanted to become a man when the easy succint biblical truth is that he foreordained a Son to be the Last Adam.A vessel through whom he could work and make himself,the father, known like never before!This man was an incarnation of God's will,word,self expression,self revelation,person,love,mercy,capacity to redeem and reconcile,care,consideration,you name it.Jesus was and is so full of the father,as opposed to a preexistent son,that we know God because of him more than we ever could have without him.So much like us in every way that God gave him all authority to mediate and judge on behalf of those with whom he could legitimately empathize,having suffered similar ordeals.That,my friends,is the beautiful truth.Jesus was and is the epitome of God working fully through and inhabiting a perfect man,as opposed to the trinitarian definition of a *Godman.*A "nature" nor a "body" with no Jesus the *person* in it could possibly be responsible for our redemption.It's time to throw the trinity philosophies by the wayside and embrace the simple truth.These philosophies lead to more lies and deceptions like the supposed inability to annihilate a soul and even hellfire where these supposedly unkillable souls must have a place to dwell in unimaginable horrors.I honestly believe there could be a truth revolution in regards to these three phenomenally tragic orthodox lies if people would first admit that Jesus *himself* (as opposed to simply a "nature" or "body" with no *Jesus* involved)actually died for the salvation of mankind.Then eyes and minds would light up with revelatory truth and we'd have a Christian movement on our hands.We'd have Muslims,Jehovah's Witnesses,Jews,atheists and others more attracted to the Christian message.One without incomprehensible mysteries that make zero sense.
Purpose statement:
I am not judging anyone's eternal salvation when I expose what I think are their false doctrines.I have no idea who is or isn't genuinely born again and loved (unto salvation)by Yahweh.I am here,simply,to expose the lies,injustices,hypocrisies,and bloodguilt I perceive in the Watchtower organization and much of "Orthodoxy."To bring every thought into captivity to Christ's as I tell what I believe is the truth,promoting justice(and that would include the cessation of gross condemnation of people who think Jesus is Lord and Christ and king without being the same God his own God is,without confessing The Messiah as the second person of a triune Greek substance.MANY have been tortured,banished,killed even, for not being willing to embrace a trinity).I hope everyone will know or come to know that their systems of worship originating from Rome's apostasies(whose origins are ultimately Babylon mysteries) are bloodguilty every bit as badly,if not much more so,than the WT society that they so freely condemn hypocritically.May God free us all from these false religious systems and their unjustified dogmatisms in his Son whose spirit can only guide us into all truth if we love him more than our comfortable heritage and traditions."Christians" shouldn't really be condemning people to a Dante's infinite inferno for confessing 1 Tim. 2:5 ,John 17:3 and Deut. 6:4 as their creeds instead of some Nicene Hellenization of the much less "mysterious" biblical record.Yes,doctrine is important,and that is why I don't *just* preach "Jesus" and "love" but also what Jesus taught while I expose what I think he would've as well.Again:lies,injustice,hypocrisy,and bloodguilt.We all need to repent daily,seek first the kingdom,& above all love God,Jesus,and people.Let's stop trying to kill people with venomous condemnation to a lake of fire that supposedly never consumes just because they don't believe a philosophical Platonic inference you try to bully them into embracing.I'm perfectly willing to call anyone who says they're a Christian my brother or sister(because I refuse to be so presumptuous as to assume who Jesus would or would not call his brothers and sisters) but they will only call me a heretic who's dead.People need to wake up and start caring.Because WHAT IF me and my unitarian brothers and sisters are loved & approved by Jesus while you trash us and condemn us to your twisted version of gehenna?Fact is if I just make ONE person actually think..if I just plant some little seed anywhere at any time that God can make grow..then I am perfectly content to do so.Even if these blogs do little else than encourage my fellow unitarian brothers and sisters to understand they're not alone and other people "get it"..then I'm also perfectly content with that as well.
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