The Jehovah's Witnesses had a literature stand set up on the street today. I stopped and talked to them briefly, and they gave me a leaflet with an invitation to one of their services. Some religious groups use Easter as an opportunity to do outreach, because some unchurched people will be thinking about the meaning of Easter. In the Jehovah's Witnesses' case, this is disingenuous, because they don't observe Easter.
Showing posts with label Jehovah's Witnesses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jehovah's Witnesses. Show all posts
Saturday, March 31, 2018
Friday, July 06, 2012
Please explain
Lately, at least partially in reaction to my recent encounter with a Jehovah's Witness, I've been listening to a series of podcasts from the Institute of Biblical Defense on the deity of Jesus Christ. The Institute is an apologetics ministry based in Washington state in the United States. If you're a Christian who wants to learn more about the key doctrines of your faith, then these podcasts are a great resource. If you can get past the bad sound quality, you'll find some meaty teaching there.
The deity of Jesus Christ is one of the essential doctrines of the Christian faith. Believing that God became a man and lived among humanity, ultimately sacrificing his life to break the curse of sin, which made it possible for humanity to reconcile with God, is what makes a Christian a Christian. Without it, Christianity is useless and has nothing to offer anybody.
In theology, you cannot feasibly build a doctrine around a single verse of Scripture. Christ's death and resurrection is an essential part of how he proved that he was God, and there are numerous passages that provide satisfactory proof to the diligent reader that this actually happened, for example, John 20: 24-28.
The section of the gospel of John tells us of how Thomas, one of the disciples, responded when the other disciples came to him with the news that Jesus was alive. Thomas was a broken man. He had spent three years of his life following Jesus, and it had cost him everything. He mourned deeply over the loss of his friend, and wanted to be alone. The other disciples came to him saying, "We have seen the Lord."
Thomas replied, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my fingers where the nails were, and put my hands into his side, I will not believe it."
Imagine his astonishment when Jesus came to Thomas and invited him to touch his wounds. He suddenly realized that it was true. Jesus had risen from the dead, just as he said he would. Overcome with emotion at this awesome miracle, he cried out to Jesus, "My Lord and my God!" You can find similar confessions elsewhere in John's gospel in John 1:34, 1:49, 4:42, 9:33, 35-38, 11:27, and 16:30.
What does Thomas's confession mean? My friends in the Watchtower Society try to explain this away as Thomas expressing astonishment, but this is not consistent with the text, and it is unlikely that as a devout Jew, Thomas would speak like that, taking God's name in vain. Clearly he is making a statement of faith in Jesus as his Lord and God; one of the most powerful affirmations that an apostle made of Jesus as God. Since this gospel was originally written in Greek, John uses the titles Kurios and Theos. These are equivalent to the Hebrew names Yahweh and Elohim, which in the Jewish mindset are understood to be names and titles of God.
>As John explains a few verses later (20:30), he wants all of his readers to confess Jesus as their Lord and God in the same way that Jesus did. As John makes clear in the prologue of his gospel (1:1, 14, 18), his purpose in writing was to show that Jesus is Messiah and God. If you want to deny these facts, you have the formidable task of explaining away reams of Bible passages, and beliefs that Christians have held since the beginnings of the church in the first century AD.
The deity of Jesus Christ is one of the essential doctrines of the Christian faith. Believing that God became a man and lived among humanity, ultimately sacrificing his life to break the curse of sin, which made it possible for humanity to reconcile with God, is what makes a Christian a Christian. Without it, Christianity is useless and has nothing to offer anybody.
In theology, you cannot feasibly build a doctrine around a single verse of Scripture. Christ's death and resurrection is an essential part of how he proved that he was God, and there are numerous passages that provide satisfactory proof to the diligent reader that this actually happened, for example, John 20: 24-28.
The section of the gospel of John tells us of how Thomas, one of the disciples, responded when the other disciples came to him with the news that Jesus was alive. Thomas was a broken man. He had spent three years of his life following Jesus, and it had cost him everything. He mourned deeply over the loss of his friend, and wanted to be alone. The other disciples came to him saying, "We have seen the Lord."
Thomas replied, "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my fingers where the nails were, and put my hands into his side, I will not believe it."
Imagine his astonishment when Jesus came to Thomas and invited him to touch his wounds. He suddenly realized that it was true. Jesus had risen from the dead, just as he said he would. Overcome with emotion at this awesome miracle, he cried out to Jesus, "My Lord and my God!" You can find similar confessions elsewhere in John's gospel in John 1:34, 1:49, 4:42, 9:33, 35-38, 11:27, and 16:30.
What does Thomas's confession mean? My friends in the Watchtower Society try to explain this away as Thomas expressing astonishment, but this is not consistent with the text, and it is unlikely that as a devout Jew, Thomas would speak like that, taking God's name in vain. Clearly he is making a statement of faith in Jesus as his Lord and God; one of the most powerful affirmations that an apostle made of Jesus as God. Since this gospel was originally written in Greek, John uses the titles Kurios and Theos. These are equivalent to the Hebrew names Yahweh and Elohim, which in the Jewish mindset are understood to be names and titles of God.
>As John explains a few verses later (20:30), he wants all of his readers to confess Jesus as their Lord and God in the same way that Jesus did. As John makes clear in the prologue of his gospel (1:1, 14, 18), his purpose in writing was to show that Jesus is Messiah and God. If you want to deny these facts, you have the formidable task of explaining away reams of Bible passages, and beliefs that Christians have held since the beginnings of the church in the first century AD.
Thursday, May 24, 2012
Glorious to behold
I was prompted to write this post by a painful visit (2 Corinthians 2:1) to my home by one of my good friends (sarcasm is difficult to convey in the written word) from the local Jehovah's Witnesses Kingdom Hall. Amongst other things, they believe that they are the only true church and that all other denominations are apostate, that the doctrine of the Trinity is a heresy, and that Jesus was a created being.
Theologians have written thousands of pages on the divinity of Christ, and it doesn't take that much effort to find a theological dictionary that catalogues every verse of the Bible that either directly refers to or alludes to this as well.
Throughout the Old Testament there are numerous instances where the preincarnate Christ appears on earth, or is seen and described in prophetic visions. Here are a couple of examples of these visions.
The prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:24-28) describes a heavenly vision of a man, whose appearance gives off a brilliant light. He responds by falling on his face. The opening verses of Isaiah chapter 6 describe a similar vision. By cross-referencing this passage's description of a glorified king, and chapter 53's description of a suffering servant, the gospel of John (John 12:38-41) draws both of these together to show that Isaiah's vision was of the glorified Christ.
Continuing into the New Testament writings, the gospels of Matthew (17:1-2), Mark (9:2-3), Luke (9:28-29) all give accounts of Christ's transfiguration atop Mount Tabor. Although the description they give is not as detailed as that in the prophetic writings, it is clear that the apostles saw a vision of the future glorified Christ as he would appear in heaven (2 Peter 1:16-18). Furthermore, this is the same vision that the apostle Paul saw when Jesus appeared to him in blinding light on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-5), and by an elderly apostle John in exile on the island of Patmos in Revelation 1:9-17.
The Old Testament prophets, the gospel writers, and the apostles Paul, Peter, and John all saw the same vision. They were left awestruck, and often fell down in reverence.When I read about these visions for the first time, courtesy of a devotional authored by Selwyn Hughes (1928-2006), I was both moved and amazed. It's things like these that deepen your reverence for Jesus, and help you to understand how scripture shows that Jesus is both Messiah and God.
Theologians have written thousands of pages on the divinity of Christ, and it doesn't take that much effort to find a theological dictionary that catalogues every verse of the Bible that either directly refers to or alludes to this as well.
Throughout the Old Testament there are numerous instances where the preincarnate Christ appears on earth, or is seen and described in prophetic visions. Here are a couple of examples of these visions.
The prophet Ezekiel (Ezekiel 1:24-28) describes a heavenly vision of a man, whose appearance gives off a brilliant light. He responds by falling on his face. The opening verses of Isaiah chapter 6 describe a similar vision. By cross-referencing this passage's description of a glorified king, and chapter 53's description of a suffering servant, the gospel of John (John 12:38-41) draws both of these together to show that Isaiah's vision was of the glorified Christ.
Continuing into the New Testament writings, the gospels of Matthew (17:1-2), Mark (9:2-3), Luke (9:28-29) all give accounts of Christ's transfiguration atop Mount Tabor. Although the description they give is not as detailed as that in the prophetic writings, it is clear that the apostles saw a vision of the future glorified Christ as he would appear in heaven (2 Peter 1:16-18). Furthermore, this is the same vision that the apostle Paul saw when Jesus appeared to him in blinding light on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:1-5), and by an elderly apostle John in exile on the island of Patmos in Revelation 1:9-17.
The Old Testament prophets, the gospel writers, and the apostles Paul, Peter, and John all saw the same vision. They were left awestruck, and often fell down in reverence.When I read about these visions for the first time, courtesy of a devotional authored by Selwyn Hughes (1928-2006), I was both moved and amazed. It's things like these that deepen your reverence for Jesus, and help you to understand how scripture shows that Jesus is both Messiah and God.
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