Category: New Birth and New Covenant (page 1 of 4)

A New Creation or Just a New Personality?

In last week’s post, I asked the question, “How exactly can a sinner who has never been indwelt by the Holy Spirit through the new birth possibly live the righteous kind of life modeled by Jesus?”

That’s a rhetorical question—it’s impossible.

But the Watchtower’s answer seems to be that by striving non-stop, you can do it—that is, by striving diligently, you can change your personality to make yourself into the righteous person God wants you to be.

We can see the difference by looking at how Christians and Jehovah’s Witnesses deal with two key passages of scripture— Colossians 3:9-10 and Ephesians 2:22-24. Continue reading

Can We Be Christians Without Being Born Again?

When I first became a Christian, someone joked with me about what it must have been like to be one of the younger children of Mary and Joseph, constantly being asked, “Why can’t you be more like your older brother?”

The Watchtower states, “Today, there are more than six million Witnesses of Jehovah who…make every effort to ‘walk worthy of Jehovah to the end of fully pleasing him,’ applying his standards in every aspect of their lives.” (The Watchtower, “Stirred by ‘the Magnificent Things of God’”, 8/1/2002, p. 17)

My question would be, “How are you coming with that?” Continue reading

Vindication or Reconciliation and Transformation?

For the last couple of weeks, we have been discussing this  claim that the Watchtower makes on its website:

“The most important reason why God’s Son came to earth was not to save mankind. Rather, it was to settle the slanderous issues raised by Satan with regard to Jehovah’s sovereignty.”

As a reminder, in Genesis 3:4-5, the serpent (Satan) led Eve to rebel against God, telling her that God had lied to Adam: “You will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” Continue reading

Did Jesus Need to be Born Again?

The Watchtower teaches, “Jesus was the first one to be ‘born again’. This was in harmony with God’s rule concerning his Son: ‘that he might become the one who is first in all things.’ When was Jesus ‘born again’? At the time of his human birth? No, but rather thirty years later, at the time of his baptism A.D. 29.” (The Watchtower, “Who Are Born Again?”, 11/15/54, p. 682)

I discuss the new birth extensively in Chapter 10 of my book, Getting Through to Jehovah’s Witnesses.

There, I offer recommendations as to how to engage Jehovah’s Witnesses on this crucial topic.

In this post, I want to give you a brief overview of the Watchtower’s misconception about Jesus being born again, and to explain what I believe is at stake. Continue reading

The New Birth Is Available to Everyone

Once you have shown the Witnesses that the new birth is an inner transformation and that all Christians are in the new covenant, I recommend that you direct their attention to Scriptures which show that Jesus’ invitation and promises are for everyone who will receive him, not just a select group of 144,000. Continue reading

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