Tag: Romans 8:8-9

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

The New Birth Provides an Inner Transformation

In last week’s post, I made the following points:

  1. If Jesus’ statement to Nicodemus about the need to be born again was a totally new teaching that 144,000 people would receive spirit bodies when they die and go to heaven (which the Watchtower says he meant), he wouldn’t have expected Nicodemus to understand that already.
  2. Yet in John 3:10 Jesus chided Nicodemus because he didn’t understand was Jesus meant by the new birth or his need to have this experience.
  3. Therefore, Jesus must have meant something quite different what the Watchtower says.
  4. Jesus was indicating that all human beings need a spiritual rebirth, an inner transformation by the Holy Spirit, in order to meet Jehovah’s righteous standards.
  5. That’s something he would expect an Old Testament scholar like Nicodemus to understand.

If you make such a claim, most likely Jehovah’s Witnesses will ask you why you think an Old Testament scholar would understand such a thing. Take them to two Old Testament passages that teach this. (p. 131) Continue reading

Dealing with Specific “Commandments”

Bible teach Ch 12

Click image to access this “Bible Teach” chapter on the Watchtower’s website

“Bible Teach,” Chapter 12, paragraph 17 (p. 121) emphasizes the importance of obeying Jehovah’s commandments. Paragraph 18 (p.121) refers you to a box entitled “Shun What Jehovah Hates” (p. 122). The list includes the following:

  • Spiritism
  • Participation in wars or political controversies of this world
  • Misuse of blood
  • Use of tobacco or so-called recreational drugs

Continue reading

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