Religion

[MrsSealedEternal]

I just want to share with you a little something I have learned of my own personal experience. My father is a very involved JW and I was introduced to this religion around the age of 8. They teach that Jesus is not God but a god and that only the Father is God. This is important as to why I have come to the conclusion that this teaching is not of God.

JW's are considered by some as 'Christians', but what is their Christ? Is it the Christ revealed through the Word of God?...

Gen 1:26 Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness;

Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Joh 1:14 And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.

Joh 8:58 Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was born, I am."

Exo 3:14 God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

...No, the Christ that the Jw's believe in is not the Christ revealed in His Word. They strip Christ of his rightful position as God through their false representation of Him.

This is the spirit of antichrist, that is to say another Christ or in place of the reality of the fullness of the revelation of who Christ is.

1Jo 2:22 Who is the liar but the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son.

1Jo 2:23 Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also.

1Jo 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.

1Jo 4:2 By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God;

1Jo 4:3 and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, of which you have heard that it is coming, and now it is already in the world.

2Co 6:14 Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?

2Co 6:15 Or what harmony has Christ with Belial, or what has a believer in common with an unbeliever?

2Co 6:16 Or what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For we are the temple of the living God; just as God said, "I WILL DWELL IN THEM AND WALK AMONG THEM; AND I WILL BE THEIR GOD, AND THEY SHALL BE MY PEOPLE.

2Co 6:17 "Therefore, COME OUT FROM THEIR MIDST AND BE SEPARATE," says the Lord. "AND DO NOT TOUCH WHAT IS UNCLEAN; And I will welcome you.

2Co 6:18 "And I will be a father to you, And you shall be sons and daughters to Me," Says the Lord Almighty.

Edited September 1, 2006 by MrsSealedEternal

[Guest Theology_Professor]

Yes. Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe Jesus is God. The Holy Spirit is not God. There is not any more people even making it to heaven because the only ones who do, according to them, are JWs. JW is works... that's why they go door to door. They wrote the bible to say new things.

Muslim will not get you to heaven.

Christianity is the truth. Only through Jesus Christ can one get to heaven.

Jewish religion is true as well, but most have not understood Jesus to be the messiah. Some have.

Buddhist will not get you to heaven.

Mormons will not get you to heaven.

Catholic will not.

For the most part, protestant Christianity is ok... with some exceptions to some doctrines.

Whoever denies Jesus is God come in the flesh, died, risen, and his blood saved us, is a cult.

[Tomi]

My experience with JW is that I was told by one of them that Jesus was the archangel Michael before he was Jesus. He never was the son of God and is not the savior. Your works are all you have and there is no guarantee of Heaven. If you are raising your child with Christian beliefs, your grandmother is not going in the same direction. As it was said earlier, the most credit they give Jesus is that he was a prophet.

First of all Jesus was never the archangel Michael. We worship and believe in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus was born of a virgin, walked the earth preaching and ministering to people, was crucified, died, was buried, rose again and is now seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven. Attending Church will not make you a believer. I believe you want the most for yourself, your child and your grandmother. Worthy Boards has a forum called "Seekers." In it is an excellent explanation of salvation and how to receive it.

Being a Christian is really simple. We are not judging other faiths. Christ said that we must take up our cross daily to follow Him. If we are following Him and also hold hands with a faith that says He is not God, we are not being true faithful followers.

Edited September 1, 2006 by Tomi

[pointer]

Recently my daughter spent the night at her grandmother's house. Her grandmother is a Jehovahs witness. Now my feelings have always been that as long as the next man is a believer in God and does not worship or pray to an object then what is wrong with he or she being a Christian, Jehovahs witness , Muslim, Jew, etc. When my daughter returned she told me her grandma said she can't pray the way that I have taught her to pray while she is at her house. I find this wrong on her behalf because who is another human being to come in between someone elses relationship with God. So my question is #1) Is there a certain way to pray? #2) Is it wrong to be against a certain religion? #3) Is there a right religion? meaning if not Christian, Methodist, Jewish what is right or is there a right or wrong religion?

I hope the following will explain a crucially important and difficult subject. It may need some concentration by the reader, so it may be an idea to print it off for future reference, or at least save it to disc.

There are three sorts of people. One sort is the people whose attitude is to deliberately ignore religion, or to try to. They simply ignore their bad consciences and get on with making money or whatever, without genuine scruple about the way they treat others.

Then there are those who accept that they are thinkers and doers of evil, who have bad consciences that will not go away. For them, the truth must be dealt with honestly. They accept the good news. This is that the sacrifice of Christ on the cross has power to completely clean their consciences, and they thereafter live grateful, useful lives of love for Christ and for all.

However, there are those who know that they are evil-doers, and likewise have a bad conscience, but are not prepared to surrender their lives to Christ, because they want to go on doing evil. They know very well that Christ's death means their own 'death' to sin, that total commitment to Christ is necessary if their consciences are not to condemn them eternally. However, they do not ignore religion. The reason for this is that they are greatly embarrassed by the second group, because they are put to shame by the good lives of those who love Christ for his sacrifice, and because of the message that Christians bring that they find very irritating. For them, the good news of Christ's cross is definitely bad news. So they do all they can to influence the followers of Christ away from him, or more precisely, from his sacrifice on the cross. They want to stop them from acting in an honest way, and from speaking about Christ crucified.

One way they do this is to say that there is no God, or that the Bible cannot be trusted, or something of that nature. They call themselves 'atheists', or sometimes 'agnostics' when they do this.

Another way to try to mislead is practised by some who call themselves believers. They may say they greatly respect and even worship Christ, but they say that Christ did not die on the cross, or they say that he did, but that his death does not wipe the conscience clean. The latter say, in effect, that Jesus' sacrifice was not good enough, and that one has to earn a good conscience. This is actually nonsense, because once a bad deed is committed, it cannot be undone. One bad deed condemns one's conscience forever, unless the saving sacrifice of Christ is accepted, and a new life of commitment to him is made.

Now these religionists come under different banners, but they are all saying basically the same about Christ. Muslims say, without much subtlety, that Christ did not even die. Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons say that he did die, they even say that his death was a perfect sacrifice, but in reality they mean that his death was not good enough, because they also say (absurdly) that one must do good works to be saved. Many people find this idea attractive, despite its stupidity, because it presents less of an insult to their pride. What the Bible calls 'the offence of the cross' is greatly reduced, and human pride is fostered by these people. Some of these people also invent a role in salvation for Jesus' mother, which helps take away the sting of admitting one's own evil before a holy God.

One either believes that in Christ, God reached down to a helpless human race condemned by the evil that all have done, or, one believes that humanity can save itself by being 'good', though one must then, in reality, do the impossible, and be perfect.

Only Christ is divine and thus perfect, and his perfection in God's sight is available to all who genuinely follow him. To do that means opposition, particularly from religious people who often call themselves Christians. Jesus said (Matt 10:38 NIV) "Anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me." By that he meant that those who stand up for the truth will be mocked, misrepresented, slandered on his account, maybe will die for him. That is the choice that human existence presents.

[anitarose]

I have been reading this thread and I feel that one thing regarding the JW's has been left out...I don't know if y'all are aware of it but have you read their "New World Translation"? It's been altered.

Get out a NWT and a New King James Version and compare them side by side. You will find that whole sections in some areas and twisted scripture in others are in the NWT.

My brother in law's dad was a self-styled JW minister and Greg grew up under the most strict tenants of the faith. There were days that my ex and myself argued the Scriptures with him. We managed to agree to disagree. Jim even point out all the discrepencies in Greg's bible compared with the KJV.

Remember the verse in Revelation that says "if anyone adds or takes away one tittle of this Word God will take away his part in the kingdom"? (paraphrased) This is how you tell what a cult is. If anything is added or taken away from the Word of God, it's a cult. Note I didn't say misinterpreted, but added or taken away.

The Book of Mormon is an "added testament".

However.....for the most part, Catholicism isn't really considered a cult. the Apocrypha (other books) are getting less and less recognized by the Catholic church as canon and more and more as historical books. However, their teachings on the Virgin Mary are still prominent and that is why some people consider them a cult.

Hope you consider these words.

Anita

[pointer]

I have been reading this thread and I feel that one thing regarding the JW's has been left out...I don't know if y'all are aware of it but have you read their "New World Translation"? It's been altered.

Get out a NWT and a New King James Version and compare them side by side. You will find that whole sections in some areas and twisted scripture in others are in the NWT.

Any ordinary translation will provide a similar contrast, or better. But that will not be good enough for JWs, as they say that all other translations are corrupted; that is the reason for their own. One must use Greek and indeed Hebrew if one is to refute them. (If anyone wants to know a good method of turning away JWs from your door, just take a Greek NT to them.)

Jim even point out all the discrepencies in Greg's bible compared with the KJV.

Remember the verse in Revelation that says "if anyone adds or takes away one tittle of this Word God will take away his part in the kingdom"? (paraphrased) This is how you tell what a cult is.

The 'KJ'v contains verses that exist in no Greek manuscript, as well as a known forgery, so by that standard, cultists are common enough in the USA, which seems to be a breeding ground for cults anyway. It is no good replacing one cult with another.

In fact, all published translations contain serious errors, and the only way to ensure that all the jots and tittles remain intact is to read the Hebrew Bible.

However.....for the most part, Catholicism isn't really considered a cult.

It isn't considered a cult by the worldly and the ignorant, no. However, there are Christian missions reaching out to Catholics, and both they and those who come to the Lord as a result of those missions are firmly agreed that Roman Catholicism is a cult, and is just as dangerous and deadly as Mormonism or JWism.

the Apocrypha (other books) are getting less and less recognized by the Catholic church as canon and more and more as historical books.

There are many at this moment who are citing apocryphal works in support of Catholic teaching because they cannot justify it by Scripture. All RC Bibles still contain the full apocrypha, often interspersed with Scripture, so many readers will have the Devil's words mixed in with the Word of God. What is more, there are more and more ordinary Bibles that are including apocrypha, and this is very much in line with the apostasy of many Protestant denominations, and the attempt to merge Protestantism and Catholicism into one organisation.

As I wrote earlier, there are those who call themselves Christians who do their best to mislead the saints. 'Be on your guard.'

[MrsSealedEternal]

Concerning the New World Translation that the JW's use.

This following is taken from an NASB:

Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The following is taken from the NWT:

John 1:1. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god."

This is an example of why trying to reason with a JW can be problematic.

Here are two links to more indepth looks at the NWT translation:

The New World Translation and Its Critics

The New World Translation: God's Word?

[cjrose]

I do not believe that God made religion. We are called Christians because we are believers in Christ. It's faith. Not religion. These man made traditions and rules is beyond my understanding. Sorry, but they are lost unless they have accepted Jesus into their lives.

[Guest chatrismoy]

I do not believe that God made religion. We are called Christians because we are believers in Christ. It's faith. Not religion. These man made traditions and rules behoove me to no end. Sorry, but they are lost unless they have accepted Jesus into their lives.

I am understanding this a lot CJ. God just wanted everyone to follow his word, not make their own provisions and insights on what the Bible says and means. As Anita stated the JW have made their own translation and someone else posted that Muslims and Christians can't both be right because they are against one another. All of this has come to you guys with time invested to the LOrd and knowledge and I want to thank you all for your responses.

[Guest chatrismoy]

My experience with JW is that I was told by one of them that Jesus was the archangel Michael before he was Jesus. He never was the son of God and is not the savior. Your works are all you have and there is no guarantee of Heaven. If you are raising your child with Christian beliefs, your grandmother is not going in the same direction. As it was said earlier, the most credit they give Jesus is that he was a prophet.

First of all Jesus was never the archangel Michael. We worship and believe in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Jesus was born of a virgin, walked the earth preaching and ministering to people, was crucified, died, was buried, rose again and is now seated at the right hand of God the Father in heaven. Attending Church will not make you a believer. I believe you want the most for yourself, your child and your grandmother. Worthy Boards has a forum called "Seekers." In it is an excellent explanation of salvation and how to receive it.

Being a Christian is really simple. We are not judging other faiths. Christ said that we must take up our cross daily to follow Him. If we are following Him and also hold hands with a faith that says He is not God, we are not being true faithful followers.

I believe what I believe. I was asking what the differences in religions are and why one can't be just as right as theother. Through this topic and most of the posts I have gained a good insight. I never said that I am believing in several different things. I simply started out thinking it is wrong to say someone else is wrong for praising and believing in God in their own religion. To me that would be judging someone.