Jehovah's Witness (2)

What do the Jehovah's Witnesses Teach? (Doctrines)
1. There is one God in one person, Make Sure of All Things, p 188.
2. There is no Trinity, Let God be True, p. 100-101; Make Sure of All Things, p.386.
3. The Holy Spirit is a force, not alive, Reasoning from the Scriptures, 1985, pp. 406-407.
4. The Holy Spirit is God's impersonal active force, The Watchtower, June 1, 1952, p. 24.
5. Jehovah's first creation was his 'only-begotten Son'. . . was used by Jehovah in creating all other things", Aid to Bible Understanding, pp. 390-391.
6. Jesus was Michael the archangel who became a man, The Watchtower, May 15, 1963, p. 307; The New World, 284.
7. Jesus was only a perfect man, not God in flesh, Reasoning from the Scriptures, 1985, pp. 306.
8. Jesus did not rise from the dead in his physical body, Awake! July 22, 1973, p. 4.
9. Jesus was raised "not a human creature, but a spirit." Let God be True, p. 276.
10. Jesus was born again, The Watchtower, Nov. 15, 1954, p. 682.
11. Jesus did not die on a cross but on a stake, Reasoning from the Scriptures, 1985, pp. 89-90.
12. Jesus began his invisible rule over the earth in 1914, The Truth Shall Make You Free, p. 300.
13. Jesus' ransom sacrifice did not include Adam, Let God be True, p. 119.
14. Their church is the self-proclaimed prophet of God, The Watchtower, April 1, 1972, p. 197.

15. They claim to be the only channel of God's truth, The Watchtower, Feb. 15, 1981, p. 19.
16. Only their church members will be saved, The Watchtower, Feb, 15, 1979, p. 30.
17. Good works are necessary for salvation, Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. 1, pp. 150, 152.
18. The soul ceases to exist after death, Let God be True, p. 59, 60, 67.
19. There is no hell of fire where the wicked are punished, Let God be True, p. 79, 80.
20. Only 144,000 Jehovah's Witness go to heaven, Reasoning from the Scriptures, 1985, pp. 166-167, 361; Let God be True, p. 121.
21. Only the 144,000 Jehovah's Witness are born again. Reasoning from the Scriptures, 1985, p. 76.; Watchtower 11/15/54, p. 681.
22. Only the 144,000 may take communion,
23. Blood transfusions are a sin, Reasoning from the Scriptures, 1985, pp. 72-73.
24. The Cross is a pagan symbol and should not be used, Reasoning from the Scriptures, 1985, pp. 90-92.
25. Salvation is by faith and what you do, Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. 1, pp. 150,152.
26. It is possible to lose your salvation, Reasoning from the Scriptures, 1985, pp. 358-359.
27. The universe is billions of years old, Your will Be Done on Earth, p. 43.
28. Each of the 6 creative days of God in Genesis 1, was 7000 years long. Therefore, Man was created toward the end of 42,000 years of earth's preparation, Let God be True, p. 168.
29. They also refuse to vote, salute the flag, or celebrate Christmas or birthdays. They are not allowed to serve in the armed forces.
30. Satan was entrusted with the obligation and charged with the duty of overseeing the creation of the earth, Children, p 55

Source:
CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS & RESEARCH MINISTRY
www.carm.org

Base on the above doctrines, we can notice several contradiction to the basic Christian doctrines. We shall evaluate it further in the coming post......stay connected.

Jehovah's Witnesses (1)

I thought it will good for me to share some info about the Jehovah's Witnesses. Many of my church members often ask me about the doctrines of the JW. In our recent study of the Book of Galatians, we explored the false teaching that was prominent in the 1st Century A.D. In relation to that, some feel that JW is a false teaching of this age. Some even feel that the JW is a cult. Whatever it is, i feel it is good for us to have a brief overview of their history and doctrine before we make the judgment.

THE HISTORY OF JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES

The Jehovah's Witnesses was begun by Charles Taze Russell in 1872. He was born on February 16, 1852, the son of Joseph L. and Anna Eliza Russell. He had great difficulty in dealing with the doctrine of eternal hell fire and in his studies came to deny not only eternal punishment, but also the Trinity, and the deity of Christ and the Holy Spirit. When Russell was 18, he organized a Bible class in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1879 he sought to popularize his aberrant ideas on doctrine. He co-published The Herald of the Morning magazine with its founder, N. H. Barbour and by 1884 Russell controlled the publication and renamed it The Watchtower Announcing Jehovah's Kingdom, and founded Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society (now known as the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society). The first edition of The Watchtower magazine was only 6,000 copies each month. Today the Witnesses' publishing complex in Brooklyn, New York, churns out 100,000 books and 800,000 copies of its two magazines--daily! Russell claimed that the Bible could be only understood according to his interpretations. A dangerous arrangement since he controlled what was written in the Watchtower magazine. This kind of assertion is typical among leaders of cult religions. After the death of Russell on Oct. 31, 1916, a Missouri lawyer named Joseph Franklin Rutherford took over the presidency of the Watch Tower Society which was known then as the International Bible Students Association. In 1931 he changed the name of the organization to "The Jehovah's Witnesses." After Rutherford's death, Nathan Knorr took over. After Knorr, Frederick William Franz became president. The Society was led by Mr. Henschel who died in 2003. The group has over 4 million members world wide. The Watchtower Society statistics indicate that 740 house calls are required to recruit each of the nearly 200,000 new members who join every year. The Jehovah's Witnesses have several ‘book studies' each week. The members are not required to attend, but there is a level of expectation that gently urges converts to participate. It is during these ‘book studies' that the Jehovah's Witness is constantly exposed to counter Christian teachings. The average Jehovah's Witness, with his constant Watchtower indoctrination, could easily pummel the average Christian when it comes to defending his beliefs. The Jehovah's Witnesses vehemently portray the doctrine of the Trinity as pagan in origin and that Christendom, as a whole, has bought the lie of the devil. Along with denying the Trinity is an equally strong denial of the deity of Christ, the deity of the Holy Spirit, the belief in hell, and eternal conscious punishment in hell.

Source:
CHRISTIAN APOLOGETICS & RESEARCH MINISTRY
www.carm.org

Moving in Faith

Talking about faith, it is always easy said than done. One can preach about faith a million time but when it is truly required of us to make a move of faith, it is at most time a scary experience. Sometimes people move in faith because they have no other choice or rather they are forced to do so. But most of the time, when we are given a choice we tend to think and analyze the situation and the repercussion before we decide in so call ‘faith’. Why is it too difficult to move in faith? Is it because we don’t know our God well? Or are we afraid of failures that may come because of the move of faith?
I was privileged to have a ‘faith discourse’ with a friend last night. We were both struggling in our own ways, in our own peculiar situations to make moves of faith in our respective lives. We both could just sit down and testify the great things that the Lord has done in the past (actually it was up to 1am in the morning). But at present, when we are required to make a move of faith, the both of us tend to struggle to do so. We are asking God for numerous confirmations to do so. God in His grace gives us one after the other confirmation. He spoke through His word, through prophetic voice…but yet we struggle to move in faith.
As I reflect upon the lives of the many Biblical Heroes who moved in faith, I am truly amazed with their faith in God. Hebrews 11 explains to us the true meaning of faith. Without faith no man can ever please God. In reading of Genesis 12:1-4, I noticed that God told Abraham (vs.1) to move in faith to a land that is unknown to him. Verses 2 and 3 are the prophecy that is given to Abraham. Interestingly, in verse 4, the bible record, “So Abraham went, as the Lord had told him….” The Bible does not tell me that Abraham consulted his wife, or even gave a second thought to God’s instruction. All that he did was…obey….and moved in faith. I believe that his move faith was the reason why he was blessed by God. He simply trusted God…obeyed God….and moved in faith.
I am speechless when I see the life of Abraham. I really pray that one day…I will be able to simply move in faith without a second thought.

Prayer: God give me the faith that you have given Abraham, Moses and many other heroes of the Bible. I preach about faith just to realize that I am a total failure in it. Lord help me with my unbelieving, cautious, critical mind that prevents me to trust you with my future, finances and life as a whole. I want to please you Lord in all my ways, and I know it impossible to do so without faith. I am in a desperate need of faith…help me Lord.

The word “obedience” seems to be a verb that curbs ones freedom to do what they wish to do. The world is teaching us about free will and human rights which give human race the ultimate choice do to what they wish to do unless it affects others. To tell a young person to obey to certain rules seems to be curbing him of his individual rights. This phenomenon is vastly seen in many Churches especially when we deal with young people around us.
However, when I ponder about this matter I realized that obedience is a major theme of the Old Testament. All that the Lord demanded of the Israelites was obedience to His percepts. Nevertheless, it was a sad scenario when the Israelites kept on disobeying God’s rules despite His faithfulness to the nation and His repeated admonishing.
Last Sunday, I preached a sermon entitled ‘Obedience better than sacrifice’. I re-examined the life and the downfall of the very first King of Israel, Saul. One obvious reason for Saul’s downfall as a King was disobedience. He disobeyed God on two different situations. First, he did what he was not supposed to do (unlawful sacrifice – 1 Sam 13: 8-9) ; secondly, he failed to do what he was supposed to do (war against the Amalekites – 1 Sam 15:3-22) . In both this circumstances Saul disobeyed God’s command. The repercussion of his disobedience was severe; he lost the Kingdom once and for all.
In today’s context, we too in many circumstances chose to disobey God. Some may even think that obedience can be substituted with offerings and sacrifices. If we think so, let me tell you that we are terribly wrong. 1 Sam 15:22 tells us clearly that God is not interested in our sacrifices when there is no obedience to His Word. Our offerings and sacrifices (though big they may be) can never substitute obedience to God’s Word. We live in this world and are saved solely by God’s grace. We are not required of any task to attain salvation. In another word, we don’t need to work for our salvation. Salvation is a free gift of grace from God to human kind. However, all that is required of us is to trust in this gracious God and obey His commandments. I think the hymn writer has said it correctly, ‘Trust and obey for there is no other way, to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.’