Tag: John 10:7 |

John 8:56-59 reports the following conversation between Jesus and a group of Jews: “56 ‘Your father Abraham rejoiced that he would see my day. He saw it and was glad.’ 57So the Jews said to him, ‘You are not yet fifty years old, and have you seen Abraham?’ 58Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.’ 59So they picked up stones to throw at him, but Jesus hid himself and went out of the temple.” (ESV)

The vast majority of Bible translations agree that John 8:58 should be rendered substantially like this: “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am. [Greek: ego eimi]’”

In contrast, the Watchtower Bible renders that verse: “Jesus said to them: ‘Most truly I say to you, before Abraham came into existence, I have been.’” Continue reading

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

You may recall that in an earlier post, I wrote, “Watchtower study books repeat a number of points in the various chapters, so you may also have to repeat some points in various contexts or during several different sessions in order to get across your thoughts to the Witnesses. That’s fine, but don’t alienate them by beating a dead horse.”

That advice is especially applicable to this chapter.

Chapter 15—“Worship That God Approves”—doesn’t contain any new doctrinal teachings. Instead, it brings together things the book has already taught in an effort to convince you that the Watchtower religion is the only true religion and that you should join it.

So as you go through the chapter with the Witnesses, you’ll need to consider which points you have adequately challenged in your earlier discussions and which require reinforcement. Continue reading

Term	Christian view	WT explanation
Rich man	A selfish non-Christian	Class of Jewish religious leaders who had special privileges and opportunities before John the Baptist and Jesus
————	—————————————–	————————————————–
Lazarus	A believer named Lazarus	Class of common people who hungered for spiritual nourishment but received next to nothing from those religious leaders
————	—————————————–	————————————————–
Death	Physical death	Both classes dying to previous condition as a result of response to kingdom preaching by John the Baptist and Jesus. As a result of this reversal, (1) the Lazarus class now received abundant spiritual food from Jesus and (2) the rich man class lost favor with God when new covenant began at Pentecost
————	—————————————–	————————————————–
Abraham	Abraham individually and as representing leaders of believers who have died	Jehovah
————	—————————————–	————————————————–
Abraham’s bosom	Conscious paradise for believers who have died	Position of favor with Jehovah in this life
————	—————————————–	————————————————–
Torment	Conscious torment of the unsaved after physical death	Torment in this life caused by the fiery judgment messages proclaimed by Jesus’ disciples
————	—————————————–	————————————————–
Water to cool tongue	Rich man’s torment compared to deep thirst that’s never quenched	Request of rich man class to Jehovah to have Jesus’ disciples let up from preaching the fiery kingdom messages that are causing their torment
————	—————————————–	————————————————–
Great chasm	There is no chance for unsaved to obtain salvation after physical death	God’s unchangeable, righteous judgment prevents the granting of the rich man’s request
————	—————————————–	————————————————–
Five brothers	Five living brothers of the rich man who died	Allies of the rich man class who share the same spiritual father—Satan
————	—————————————–	————————————————–
Rich man’s purpose in requesting Abraham to send Lazarus to five brothers to warn them	Send Lazarus back from the dead so five brothers will see that heaven and hell are real and warn them to repent because they will have no chance after death to repent and avoid the rich man’s torment	Rich man doesn’t want his brothers to repent. He is asking Jehovah to have Jesus’ disciples to water down their judgment messages so his allies won’t be tormented by them as he is.
————	—————————————–	————————————————–
Sending someone back from the dead to warn them	Sending Lazarus from the grave back to warn the brothers	Unspecified special signs or miracles to convince the brothers of the truth of Jesus’ message
————	—————————————–	————————————————–
Why Abraham refuses	The brothers wouldn’t repent even if someone returned from the dead. Their only hope is to heed Moses and the prophets	God will not provide special signs or miracles to convince the brothers. Their only hope is to heed Moses and the prophets.
————	—————————————–	————————————————–
Why does the rich man tell Abraham that if someone from the dead goes to the brothers they will repent?	The rich man is in torment and wants his brothers to repent of their sins so they won’t share his fate.	No explanation. The rich man doesn’t want his allies to repent. He just wants Jehovah to water down the judgment message in this life so the brothers won’t be torment by them

Tag: John 10:7

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