Posted on 04/03/2010 3:12:52 PM PDT by NYer
This is my 16th Easter.
For the first 38 years of my life I did not celebrate Easter because I was one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, a pseudo- Christian group with a very strange economy of salvation. It is not easy to describe life in a cult like Jehovah’s Witnesses. It is very dark. Even their light is darkness.
Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe in the Trinity, so they do not believe in the deity of Christ. They believe that Jesus was Michael the Archangel before he came to earth, and that after he was resurrected, he went back to being Michael the Archangel — but with the name “Jesus.” They do believe Jesus died (but not on a cross) to save mankind from sin and death by atoning for the disobedience of Adam. Jesus had to be a perfect man, to match Adam in every respect, and thus he takes Adam’s place as our father. I know this is weird — not to mention the whole ontological problem of how he is an angel, then a human, and then an angel again — but I’m telling you about it because I want you to know that I had an idea that I could call myself a Christian and believe Jesus died for me, without conceiving of Jesus as God.
Most of you reading this are like my grandchildren who have heard all their lives that Jesus died for you and that Jesus is God the Son –- true God from true God. It has never dawned on you, because it was always the light that you lived in.
But it dawned on me.
In 1993, after a long and harrowing period of life disruption, searching for the peace and transformative power that I read about in the New Testament, I had an encounter with Christ.
Long my imprisoned spirit lay,
Fast bound in sin and nature’s night;
Thine eye diffused a quickening ray—
I woke, the dungeon flamed with light;
My chains fell off, my heart was free,
I rose, went forth, and followed Thee.
I did not know then that he was Deity, but I knew that he was not who the Jehovah’s Witnesses said he was. I knew that I would have to leave the religion that I had grown up in and known all my life. I would have to walk away from every relationship of my adult life. I went to a church.
Now to you, that might seem like the most natural thing in the world for me to do. You want to know about Jesus, you go to a church. But for me it was terrifying. I had always been told that churches housed demons. Jehovah’s Witnesses do not even like to turn their cars around in a 
church parking lot. But that visit to a church set me on the road to learning the truth about Jesus. It became pretty clear, pretty quickly that Christians worshiped Jesus. The fundamental fact of my religious upbringing had been that you only worshiped God (Jehovah), who is Jesus’ father. To worship anything or anyone else was to be guilty of idolatry. But there was a tractor beam on my heart. I had to figure out who Jesus really was.
Having left what I recognized to be a religion of error, I was very leery about falling into error or being misled once again. But I knew that I had to open my mind to the witness and the arguments of Christians around me in order to untwist the distorted way I had learned to read scripture.
A humorous skit put on one time at a meeting of ex-Jehovah’s Witnesses illustrated what I was facing. It featured a “Christian” trying to “help” a recently-exited Witness. When the ex-JW expressed confusion about Christian doctrine, the Christian said, “Oh, it’s easy. Just believe everything the opposite.”
“What are you talking about?” the baffled ex-JW asked.
“Well, you didn’t used to believe in the Trinity, and now you do. You didn’t used to believe in the deity of Christ, and now you do. You didn’t used to believe in the immortal soul, and now you do. You didn’t used to believe in going to heaven, and now you do. You didn’t used to believe in celebrating Christmas, and now you do. See, everything is the opposite. It’s easy.”
The appreciative laughter with which this was greeted gave testament to the fact that it is not easy! And the more you care, really care, about the truth, the harder your struggle is. If you have always lived in the truth, you can’t imagine how hard it is.
For a while I lived in a partial shadow. I was in love with Jesus, but still didn’t know what to make of all the Christian adoration of Him? How could I explain this phenomenon if he were not God?
I found some relief by latching onto the biblical image of the Church as the Bride of Christ. After all, what would be more natural than for a bride to be focused on her bridegroom? Of course Christians sang love songs to Jesus! It was the Jehovah’s Witnesses who were strange — like a bride who ignored her groom and tried to give all her affection to her father-in-law instead.
Meanwhile, I was participating in Christian prayer and worship to the best of my limited understanding. I also asked questions, and I studied… and studied and studied. Finally I was turned on to reading the Early Church Fathers. It started to became clear to me that this teaching — that Jesus was Divine, was God in the flesh — was really Christian teaching from the beginning, was the apostolic witness.
There was just one problem left in my mind: If Jesus was God, then that man on the Cross was God.
It would mean that God had died.
It would mean that God had died… for me.
For all time, there will be no more astounding, no more elevating, no more humbling proposal to a human soul than this.
And can it be that I should gain
an interest in the Savior’s blood!
Died he for me — who caused his pain –
For me who him to death pursued?
Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
He left his Father’s throne above
(so free, so infinite his grace!),
emptied himself of all but love,
and bled for Adam’s helpless race.
’Tis mercy all, immense and free,
for O my God, it found out me!
Amazing love! How can it be
that thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
The sun had come up in my life.
[The lyrics are from the hymn, "And Can it Be (Amazing Love)", by Charles Wesley. Enjoy the lovely rendition here.]
I don’t see were it says to use toilet paper either. So your upset about a word that describes what happened in the Bible. But it is not in the bible. So I guess no words should be used to explain it outside the bible?
Helping Jehovah’s Witnesses Find Freedom in Jesus:
http://www.faithfacts.org/world-religions-and-theology/jehovahs-witness
(Yeah, well you can't find the word "Bible" in the Bible, either...I'm sure that doesn't stop you from reading it, does it?)
Some JW's were walking the street knocking on doors.
They approached me and asked if I wanted to take a Watch Tower magazine. I am very familiar with their "religion" having read Dr. Walter Martin master work "Kingdom of the Cults" several times.
I calmly and in a very friendly manner explained to them if they wish to have a discussion they will at an very large disadvantage as I am well versed in their cult and the error of their doctrinal positions.
Both walked off.
I looked around for my kid and he went inside after I told the guy he belonged to cult, he thought we were going to get in a fight LOL
No answer. She just stood there speechless. I walked away and said “Have a nice day!”
I have a young man in my RCIC class, his father is JW, I get the feeling that might have caused the divorce between his parents because Mom is Catholic.
Excellent response! Truth is powerful indeed!
Interesting
Easter was already celebrated, all they settled at the First Conference of Nicaea (other of course than the matter of the Arian heresy and the Creed) was how to calculate the date of Easter.
And if you read the Venerable Bede's History of the English Church and People (which I highly recommend, by the way) you will find that the word "Easter" is just an Anglo-Saxon happenstance. It was the name of an old British goddess that nobody remembers a thing about, other than that her festival occurred around the time of Easter. Bede's mention of her is the only mention anywhere, by the way, and some people claim he made it up. No reason to question his credibility, I think that the various godlings of a non-literate people tend to fall by the wayside because nobody writes them down.
The English had a second controversy over the calculation of the date of Easter somewhat later, which was resolved in 664 at the Council of Whitby. The Irish didn't get on board until a hundred years later or so.
So it really isn't worth worrying about at all.
You can't get too exercised about the minutiae of translations into your native tongue, if it bothers you go read the Greek Testament and the LXX and the Vulgate.
***There is nothing in the Greek
of the New Testament even to imply two pieces of timber.***
If it is just an upright stake, what do the Greek Orthodox believe it is? A cross!
Bullinger also believed that ONLY the last few letters of Paul are for the “body of Christ” today and that the church began at Acts 28, when Paul journied to Rome.
Well of course you won’t find the term Easter.
What you are looking for is PASCHA. And you find that from the death of Christ onwards.
It makes not one whit of difference what the Greek Orthodox
believe or any one else. It is what the Bible says is
important. The word stauros translated to English as
cross, is a pole, not a cross. Anything not based on
the Scriptures is man-devised, by definition is not
holy or pure or perfect. That’s all.
Anything not based on
the Scriptures is man-devised, by definition is not
holy or pure or perfect. That’s all.***
So, why did the Greek Christians of the first centuries always show a cross! I would imagine that they knew what it meant. All the iconography shows a cross.
Does anyone find it interesting that anytime the JW’s are brought up .. there is a hateful like rhetoric from others, sorta like the crap that is spewed about the tea party folks?
I see the word ‘Cult’ thrown around when referencing these folks .. Not to be un-kind but I could say the same about Most religious beliefs and the Catholic religion would truly stand out.
CULT
(1) A particular system of religious worship, esp. with reference to its rites and ceremonies. (Not lacking among the catholics, for sure)
(2) An instance of great veneration of a person, ideal, or thing, esp. as manifested by a body of admirers (Of course we could include the Pope here, couldn’t we?)
Take the Plank out your own eye people!
TOTALLY AS A MONEY MAKING POWER !!!!CONTROL!!!! SCHEME over other people’s lives.
==================
I helped D. James Kennedy open his very first 'church' .. way back in the late 60's.
It was an old firehouse station on commercial blvd. in Fort Lauderdale.
Some years later, I was invited to a debate by Dr Kennedy and Dr. Martin.
As close as the two of these gentlemen were as friends .. their beliefs were not always in agreement!
My Point?
I could write a book denouncing just about any religion but .. so what?
Money Making and Power?
IF that were such a bad thing then Dr Kennedy would have never been able to build his "Palace" of a church that sits on some pretty expensive real estate now.
(Federal Hwy and Commercial Blvd)
Money? I'm sure Dr Martin made quite a few dollars in his lifetime.
All religious systems or belief systems are not exactly the same, either in foundation or practice.
Are you saying there are no differences between any of them? One thing that always creeps me out is Jehovah’s Witness Kingdom Halls never have any windows (that I’ve ever seen).
Darkness prefers to avoid the light . . . in my experience and observations.
I’d guess that you haven’t been in very many? (halls)
They are built kind of like schools that I went to.
Windows are usually rectangular, running around the top of the walls.
Like schools, they help to avoid distractions.
(I wont bother to comment on that other post, (not yours) .. It wouldn’t be right to do so on Easter, would it!?)
I’ve never been in a Jehovah’s Witness meeting hall. Just seen from the outside.
All religious systems and beliefs are not the same either in practice, beliefs or foundation.
I have never seen one that didn’t have some truth it in; some more, some less. Some a lot more, some a lot less.
The problem that We All find ourselves with is that Christ himself clearly stated that there was, One Way and One Truth.
There is the Broad Road leading to destruction, (eternal death) and the Narrow Path that leads to eternal life.
My belief is that he was talking about God’s word and his commandments.
Satan started the idea of another religion in the Garden of Eden.
I believe that he is the author of confusion and the creation of uncountable and numerous separate beliefs and religions are his tools to lead us all astray.
Wasn’t it Paul .. Talking about the Thessalonians who said .. “truly I bear them witness that the have a True love of God ‘but’, Not knowing the righteousness of God (Truth, way).. They seek to establish their own righteousness and in doing so .. they make themselves an enemy of God”?
I admit, I am paraphrasing here and am not entirely sure if it was the Thessalonians that he was talking about but the premise is correct.
We HAVE to search out the Truth of God’s word, wherever it is.
ALL religious beliefs cannot be correct .. If they are not in accordance with each other and with God’s word.
(compare religions .. Most conflict in their teachings/beliefs with each other)
Saying that you believe that the Christ died for our sins is just not enough .. We Must know WHAT his message was and follow his way or .. His message would have been relativly Short, huh?
Satans two tools: Having us believe that he doesn’t exist and False Religion.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.