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Friday, February 19, 2010

Initial Knock at the door, November 3...


Initial Knock at the door, November 30, 2009:

I was working from home and had been at home all day while my wife, Tracey, had just gotten home from work.  As per our routine, we settled into the bedroom and closed the door while we watched TV and contemplated the daily question, "What's for dinner?".  Our daughter, Naomi, was still living with us and had not left to go to school in Delaware just yet, so I was kinda hoping that she would get up and cook something (I liked it when she cooked pork chops).  When we heard the doorbell ring, we both looked at each other because we knew that could only be one of two things, since we NEVER invite people over to our house -- either the Mormons who we had been seeing riding around the neighborhood on their mountain bikes or the Jehovah Witnesses, whom I had turned away a few weeks earlier.

I got out the bed and threw on some pants and went to the door and was greeted by a tall dark elderly gentleman with salt and pepper hair, glasses, dressed in a black suit, black tie and white shirt carrying a brief case, and his female companion who was conservatively dressed on wool earth tones with the prerequisite head covering.  I normally would simply listen to what they had to say then insist that I was already saved and knew the bible, so they didn't need to waste their time witnessing to me, since I'm sure I'm going to heaven.  However, this time I felt sorry for them standing out in the cold, (it was much colder this year in Southeast Georgia than it was at the same time the year before), so I asked them to come in and have a seat.  The door to my bedroom, where I'm sure my wife was curiously listening to see what in the world I was doing, and my daughters door, where I'm sure she was oblivious to the fact that the doorbell had even rung since she kept her ear-buds plugged in her ears, were both closed as the witnesses both sat on the sofa facing the front door.  I did a quick scan around the room to see if there was anything I needed to put away or move since I had just had all of my computers and cables all over the floor.

This was the first time I had invited any random stranger, yet alone Jehovah Witnesses into our home.  I knew they wanted to conduct a "bible study", so while I wasn't nervous, I was amazed that I was actually allowing this to happen since I had grown up seeing my family shun the JW's like radiation poison.  As they both sat down and got settled into the couch which is one of those couches that when you sit on it, you sink down into the cushions, he gave me a copy of a book that another Jehovah Witness had left with me just a month or so earlier.  If I recall, there were no formal introductions or even a short prayer during this first visit.  As I do with any book thats placed in my hands, I started looking for and examining the pictures like a kid who hates to read, while they pulled out the rest of their Watchtower materials.  Frank, an gentle, elderly black gentleman with a booming deep voice that could go from a soft deep whisper, to a loud and boisterous laugh and an un-named soft-spoken black female who accompanied him seemed excited that they got a "bite" so to speak, especially a "bite" who seemed to know a little about the Bible.  Of course, we didn't get past the first two pages of their "bible study" book, "What Does the Bible Really Teach?" during this first 3 HOUR meeting.

On the first two pages of this book, I kept reading about what God WILL do and how we WILL live in the future, and I went off on a tangent talking about how we as bible believing Christians could have heaven on earth now.  Of course, at the time, I had no idea that JW's didn't believe in the Holy Spirit dwelling in us or that we as bible believing we as Christians have authority on this earth.

Frank seemed rather surprised that I agreed with some of their beliefs that a lot of other Christians can't get to.  For instance, we both agreed that God is not in control of things on this earth as most people especially deeply religious Christians believe that he is. (2Cor 4:4; Gen 25:34; John 14:30; Eph 2:2)

I kept them over here for about 3 hours just talking about different things but I didn't record this session, neither did I have my computer and projector setup to search and find scriptures.  However, I did have my Mantis Bible Study on my iPhone and that was pretty cool as scriptures popped in my mind, but I didn't remember where they were.  At one point I even deliberately spoke in tongues to prove a point about how limited my English vocabulary is when I know I need to pray about something or someone but don't know how (Romans 8:26), but I was excited, refreshed and energized about studying the bible with them. Thus we set a time for them to return the following Monday and we would designate every Monday evening as our bible study time, however, as you'll see in my later posts, it's not so much as a bible study as it is a WBTS publication study which I later turn into a WBTS history study.

Thoughts on the WBTS and Jehovah's Wi...

Thoughts on the WTBS and Jehovah's Witnesses
by Chris E. Echols

Before I started studying with the Jehovah Witnesses in December 2009, I had never had a desire to even converse with them, because our society, expecially in the modern Christian  church, tends to cause us to shun the Jehovah Witnesses, just like evangelists of the Mormon faith.  However, recently, I worked up the courage to invite them in and allow them to share their faith as I was confident in my faith.  I love to study the bible, so I said, "Why Not?"

The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (WBTS) tend to view the Bible much differently than I do, but I always set out to prove all things and hold on to the good stuff 1Thessalonians 5:21.  I had also felt an nudging from the Holy Spirit to be fruitful and share what I know.  Upon our first meeting, I agreed with my adversary quickly (Matt 5:25) and saw many points that we could agree upon.  However,  before I knew anything about JW's, I had brought up the fact that I admire their willingness to go door to door sharing their faith, and I made an inference to the work of the Holy Spirit in helping them minister.  That's when I found out that they didn't believe that he Spirit could live in us continuously.   I shared how I would not dare to go door to door without confidence that I could yield my words, thoughts and deeds to the Holy Spirit, since I'm not that smart on my own.

In our very first session, they gave me their literature to use as a "guide" to study the Bible.  In the first couple of pages of there publication, "What does the Bible Really Teach", they made allusions to "paradise earth" and they talked about a hopeful escape of this current cruel world.  Just out pure innocence, I told them although I see in the Bible that we can indeed look forward to that paradise here on earth, I didn't have to wait until Jesus came back to have health and provision now, because he accomplished that part of the plan when he came the first time.  I also admitted that I was a little offended that they were going to my neighbors teaching them about "paradise earth", but not telling them the "Good News" that Jesus died so that they could have life NOW.  And that's when I decided to investigate the WBTS and see what else they were teaching, since I was obviously ignorant.

It appears that the WBTS doesn't take the bible literally, except in places where it bolsters the clout of the "organization" in the eyes of its believers or "witnesses".  They tend to always come up with some "spiritual" way to relate the story or parable to their over-riding principles for their existance (i.e. That Jesus appointed them as the "faithful and discreet slave", which has no scriptural support not even a little bit).

Over the next few weeks, I plan to post rough transcripts and commentary of my bible study sessions with a Jehovah Witness.  Hopefully it will help others not only learn how JW's believe and operate, but will also clear up some misunderstandings about both what the Bible actually says, and what many people may believe.  So I hope that you'll subscribe, comment, and email  and engage in the conversation.  All I ask is that if you're going to tell us what you believe, tell us where you get your belief from, (i.e., scripture and verse, mom, grandpa, etc.)

Enjoy...

My thoughts on the "Trinity Doctrine"

My thoughts on the "Trinity Doctrine"

While I see in scripture that there are indeed 3 distinct manifistations of God (YHWH) in the persons of God the spirit, his Son Jesus, and Holy Spirit, the Comforter, I don't agree that Jesus was God OR Divine during his time here on earth. The verse in John 1:14 that Christians quote clearly reads that The Word (Jesus) became flesh.  Jesus was indeed divine before he came to earth, but while on earth he lived and function as a man and came into his knowing of who he was and what his purpose was the same way humans have to today - through the Word of God.
“Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:” —Philippians 2:5–7 KJV

I do acknowledge and understand that the reading 1John 5:7 in the KJV was a translation of greek manuscripts that were altered to support the "Trinity Doctrine", but that does not diminish the fact that Father, Son, and Holy Spirit do agree in purpose, aim, and goals while having differing "job responsibilities" or functions in the Body of Christ. In context, the writer in 1John was referring to Spirit, the water (Jesus' Baptism) and the blood (Jesus' brutal death on the cross) being in agreement in the testimony that, "Yes, Jesus Christ is indeed the Son of God whom God sent to die for the sins of the world.

Text-Critical Note from the New English Translation: Before to\ pneuvma kai« to\ u¢dwr kai« to\ ai–ma (to pneuma kai to hudoœr kai to haima), the Textus Receptus (TR) reads e˙n twˆ◊ oujranwˆ◊, oJ path/r, oJ lo/goß, kai« to\ a‚gion pneuvma, kai« ou∞toi oi˚ trei√ß eºn ei˙si. 5:8 kai« trei√ß ei˙sin oi˚ marturouvnteß e˙n thvØ ghvØ (“in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit, and these three are one. 5:8 And there are three that testify on earth”). This reading, the infamous Comma Johanneum, has been known in the English-speaking world through the King James translation. However, the evidence — both external and internal — is decidedly against its authenticity. For a detailed discussion, see TCGNT 647–49. Our discussion will briefly address the external evidence. This longer reading is found only in nine late MSS, four of which have the words in a marginal note. Most of these MSS (221 2318 [18th century] {2473 [dated 1634]} and [with minor variations] 61 88 429 629 636 918) originate from the 16th century; the earliest ms, codex 221 (10th century) includes the reading in a marginal note, added sometime after the original composition. The oldest ms with the Comma in its text is from the 14th century (629), but the wording here departs from all the other MSS in several places. The next oldest MSS on behalf of the Comma, 88 (12th century) 429 (14th) 636 (15th), also have the reading only as a marginal note (v.l.). The remaining MSS are from the 16th to 18th centuries. Thus, there is no sure evidence of this reading in any Greek ms until the 14th century (629), and that ms deviates from all others in its wording; the wording that matches what is found in the TR was apparently composed after Erasmus’ Greek NT was published in 1516. Indeed, the Comma appears in no Greek witness of any kind (either ms, patristic, or Greek translation of some other version) until A.D. 1215 (in a Greek translation of the Acts of the Lateran Council, a work originally written in Latin). This is all the more significant since many a Greek Father would have loved such a reading, for it so succinctly affirms the doctrine of the Trinity. The reading seems to have arisen in a 4th century Latin homily in which the text was allegorized to refer to members of the Trinity. From there, it made its way into copies of the Latin Vulgate, the text used by the Roman Catholic Church. The Trinitarian formula (known as the Comma Johanneum) made its way into the third edition of Erasmus’ Greek NT (1522) because of pressure from the Catholic Church. After his first edition appeared, there arose such a furor over the absence of the Comma that Erasmus needed to defend himself. He argued that he did not put in the Comma because he found no Greek MSS that included it. Once one was produced (codex 61, written in ca. 1520), Erasmus apparently felt obliged to include the reading. He became aware of this ms sometime between May of 1520 and September of 1521. In his annotations to his third edition he does not protest the rendering now in his text, as though it were made to order; but he does defend himself from the charge of indolence, noting that he had taken care to find whatever MSS he could for the production of his text. In the final analysis, Erasmus probably altered the text because of politico-theologico-economic concerns: He did not want his reputation ruined, nor his Novum Instrumentum to go unsold. Modern advocates of the TR and KJV generally argue for the inclusion of the Comma Johanneum on the basis of heretical motivation by scribes who did not include it. But these same scribes elsewhere include thoroughly orthodox readings — even in places where the TR/Byzantine MSS lack them. Further, these advocates argue theologically from the position of divine preservation: Since this verse is in the TR, it must be original. (Of course, this approach is circular, presupposing as it does that the TR = the original text.) In reality, the issue is history, not heresy: How can one argue that the Comma Johanneum goes back to the original text yet does not appear until the 14th century in any Greek MSS (and that form is significantly different from what is printed in the TR; the wording of the TR is not found in any Greek MSS until the 16th century)? Such a stance does not do justice to the gospel: Faith must be rooted in history. Significantly, the German translation of Luther was based on Erasmus’ second edition (1519) and lacked the Comma. But the KJV translators, basing their work principally on Theodore Beza’s 10th edition of the Greek NT (1598), a work which itself was fundamentally based on Erasmus’ third and later editions (and Stephanus’ editions), popularized the Comma for the English-speaking world. Thus, the Comma Johanneum has been a battleground for English-speaking Christians more than for others.

Additionally, if Jesus was indeed divine, special, or God while he was here on the earth, it would give us Christians today no right to believe that we could even attempt to do the things that Jesus did (and later his followers did in the book of Acts). Thus, I believe that the summarizing conclusion of the Trinity Doctrine is what turns it into a Doctrine of the Devil, because it takes away the power of Jesus' death on the cross and his subsequent resurrection.  It is not complete enough to say that Jesus is God, you have to realize that Jesus, the Word was made flesh and that is how he did what he did - the Word taking residence in the human spirit and operating in the earth with a human body and soul.