Word

I mentioned this before but I don't think it was clear so I will say
it again. The Watchtower and Awake Magazines are articles that are
based on scriptures and based on what's going on in the world. For
example the Awake for Dec asks the question if we are running out of
water. Some may say the Watch-Tower Trains those to tries to twist
minds in order to become witnesses.

I again say to those that unless you picked up an article, taken a
6-month home bible study, and attended our Kingdom Halls you, YOU, not
what you read on the net YOU have no idea. What I have posted makes
sense doesn't it? Does what I say sound like a lie or does it sound
like common sense? Use Common sense for a moment and consider the
following

1. I talked about why Jesus needed to come to Earth.

Review: I learned why Jesus came to Earth. He came to Earth to die for
us so we can live. Not die and go to Heaven but live here on Earth.
Common sense tells you that God didn't create the world for nothing
and if he wanted all of us to Die and go to Heaven he would have done
so along time ago or After the Flood with just Noah's family. Jesus
said no man has gone to Heaven but only Jesus who came from Heaven.
Jesus said this. If you think that you are going to Heaven well do you
think that you are more holy than John the Baptist? He did not say
that those holy men of old were up in heaven.

Jesus did not open the way for all the God-fearing ones of mankind to
go to heaven. For the sake of humankind in general, he prayed for
God's kingdom to come to the earth where dead humankind lies buried
and for the heavenly Life-giver's will to be done on earth as well as
in heaven. Will King David and John the Baptist want to do God's will
on earth under His kingdom? Certainly. Hence confused men need to
re-examine the Bible to learn what the Creator's will was for man at
the beginning. Then they will see that God's will and purpose have
been made more sure because Christ came. If we were to just die and go
to Heaven then again there would be no reason for Jesus to come in the
first place. If he came in order to make the way for us to go to
Heaven then what about the men of old times such as moses, noah, Job
who were here and have died before Jesus. You might reason that they
were raised from the dead as soon as Jesus came to earth and died but
again that could contradict what Jesus said at John 3:13. That would
contradict what Peter said about King David. Fact is, no man before
Jesus went to Heaven. Jesus said it himself. There is no twisting of
words. It's clear and again common sense.

Forget all that you been taught and open your minds to the possibility
of what I am saying. Understand the beginning of why Jesus needed to
come and you will understand why we will remain on earth.

2. Jesus is not God

Review: Based on my post yesterday, you will find just a few of many
reasons why Jesus is not God himself, Jesus had a beginning, God
didn't have and never had a beginning. Jesus was created, God has
always been. Common sense...

3. Hell - Please use common sense

If you had the Authority would you create such a place that would burn
people forever? If you say you would then you have the wrong heart
condition. If you say no, then why in the world would you think that
God would? Much confusion and misunderstanding has been caused through
the early translators of the Bible persistently rendering the Hebrew
Sheol and the Greek Hades and Gehenna by the word hell. The simple
transliteration of these words by the translators of the revised
editions of the Bible has not sufficed to appreciably clear up this
confusion and misconception."—The Encyclopedia Americana (1942), Vol.
XIV, p. 81.

Translators have allowed their personal beliefs to color their work
instead of being consistent in their rendering of the
original-language words. For example: (1) The King James Version
rendered she'ohl′ as "hell," "the grave," and "the pit"; hai′des is
therein rendered both "hell" and "grave"; ge′en‧na is also translated
"hell." (2) Today's English Version transliterates hai′des as "Hades"
and also renders it as "hell" and "the world of the dead." But besides
rendering "hell" from hai′des it uses that same translation for
ge′en‧na. (3) The Jerusalem Bible transliterates hai′des six times,
but in other passages it translates it as "hell" and as "the
underworld." It also translates ge′en‧na as "hell," as it does hai′des
in two instances. Thus the exact meanings of the original-language
words have been obscured.

4. Do all religions please God? - Common sense

Probably any form of worship that you know about encourages good
conduct, at least to some extent. But is that enough to please God?
SOME say, 'Just be sincere in your worship, and God will be pleased.
There is good in all religions.' For example, the Bahai Faith has
carried this view to the point of adopting into its beliefs the nine
principal religions of the world. This religious group holds that all
of these are of divine origin and are facets of one truth. How could
this be so?

Further, you have a right to wonder how a religion could please God
when it orders its members to plant nerve gas in public places, with
the possibility of killing many people. That charge has been leveled
against one religious group in Japan. Or is God pleased with a
religion that causes its members to commit suicide? A few years ago,
that happened to followers of the religious leader Jim Jones. Looking
back to earlier times, we may well ask, Can religions please God when
they foment warfare, as in the case of the Thirty Years' War, fought
from 1618 to 1648? According to The Universal History of the World,
that religious conflict between Catholics and Protestants was "one of
the most terrible wars of European history."

The religious Crusades from the 11th to the 13th century also resulted
in horrible bloodshed. In the first Crusade, for example, the
so-called Christian crusaders brutally slaughtered the Muslim and
Jewish residents of Jerusalem.Consider, too, what happened during the
Inquisition, which began in the 13th century and lasted about 600
years. Thousands were tortured and burned to death at the order of
religious leaders. Of course, the religions of Christendom are not the
only ones that are bloodguilty. In his work Pensées, French
philosopher Blaise Pascal observed: "Men never do evil so completely
and cheerfully as when they do it from religious conviction."

From God's standpoint, a religion's acceptability is not based on just
one factor. For a religion to be acceptable to him, its teachings and
activities must conform to his written Word of truth, the Bible. The
fruitage of God-approved worship must conform to God's standards.
Would you not agree? Think about this, In his Sermon on the Mount,
Jesus Christ indicated that there would be prophets falsely claiming
to represent God. Jesus said: "Be on the watch for the false prophets
that come to you in sheep's covering, but inside they are ravenous
wolves. By their fruits you will recognize them. Never do people
gather grapes from thorns or figs from thistles, do they? Likewise
every good tree produces fine fruit, but every rotten tree produces
worthless fruit; a good tree cannot bear worthless fruit, neither can
a rotten tree produce fine fruit. Every tree not producing fine fruit
gets cut down and thrown into the fire. Really, then, by their fruits
you will recognize those men."

These words show that we need to be on guard spiritually. We may think
that a religious leader or group is acceptable to God and Christ, but
we could be mistaken. How can we know, well like Jesus said you can
tell from their fruits or should I say conduct and if they are living
by Bible standards. Though a religion claims to have God's approval
and its ministers read passages from the Bible, that does not mean
that it is a form of worship pleasing to God. Its leaders might even
do impressive things that make it seem as if God were working through
them. Nevertheless, the religion could still be false, not producing
fruitage acceptable to God. Magic-practicing Egyptian priests of
Moses' day were able to do impressive things, but they certainly did
not have God's approval.

Today as in the past, many religions promote human ideas and
philosophies instead of adhering to what God declares to be the truth.
Especially appropriate, then, is the Bible's warning: "Look out:
perhaps there may be someone who will carry you off as his prey
through the philosophy and empty deception according to the tradition
of men, according to the elementary things of the world and not
according to Christ."

After speaking about good and bad fruitage, Jesus said: "Not everyone
saying to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter into the kingdom of the
heavens, but the one doing the will of my Father who is in the heavens
will. Many will say to me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not
prophesy in your name, and expel demons in your name, and perform many
powerful works in your name?' And yet then I will confess to them: I
never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness which
indicates that not all religions please God.

Clearly, then, it is essential to look at the fruitage of a religion
before concluding that it is acceptable to God. For instance, is the
religion involved with politics? Then note these words, recorded at
James 4:4: "Whoever . . . wants to be a friend of the world is
constituting himself an enemy of God." Moreover, Jesus said of his
true followers: "They are no part of the world, just as I am no part
of the world." (John 17:16) The religion that is good in God's eyes is
not involved with the politics of this world, which "is lying in the
power of the wicked one," the invisible spirit creature Satan the
Devil. (1 John 5:19) Instead, the religion that God approves loyally
advocates his Kingdom under Jesus Christ and declares the good news
concerning that heavenly government.—Mark 13:10.

Is a religion acceptable to God if it advocates civil disobedience?
The answer is obvious if we heed the apostle Paul's counsel: "Continue
reminding them to be in subjection and be obedient to governments and
authorities as rulers, to be ready for every good work." (Titus 3:1)
Of course, Jesus showed that his followers were to "pay back Caesar's
things to Caesar, but God's things to God."—Mark 12:17.

Suppose a religion encourages participation in the wars of the
nations. First Peter 3:11 urges us to "do what is good" and to "seek
peace and pursue it." How can a religion please God if its members are
willing to kill their fellow worshipers of another country in warfare?
Members of the religion that has God's approval reflect his principal
quality—love. And Jesus said: "By this all will know that you are my
disciples, if you have love among yourselves." (John 13:35) That love
has nothing in common with the violent hatred fostered in the wars of
the nations.

Religion should change warlike people into lovers of peace. This was
foretold in these words: "They will have to beat their swords into
plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. Nation will not lift
up sword against nation, neither will they learn war anymore." (Isaiah
2:4) Instead of spewing out words of hatred, those who practice true
worship comply with the command: "You must love your neighbor as
yourself."—Matthew 22:39.

Those practicing religion strive to live by the high standards of
Jehovah God, refusing to adopt immoral life-styles. God's Word states:
"What! Do you not know that unrighteous persons will not inherit God's
kingdom? Do not be misled. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor
adulterers, nor men kept for unnatural purposes, nor men who lie with
men, nor thieves, nor greedy persons, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor
extortioners will inherit God's kingdom. And yet that is what some of
you were. But you have been washed clean, but you have been
sanctified, but you have been declared righteous in the name of our
Lord Jesus Christ and with the spirit of our God."—1 Corinthians
6:9-11.

So, these are the things that we are taught based on scripture and
honestly some common sense. These are some of the things that appear
in our Watch-Towers which really is more or less a written speech
given to our congregation and those in our ministry. We do this
because we have to, we do this because we love our fellow man. If what
I say doesn't convince you or open your eyes in some way then I gave
you a witness and really covers what the scriptures say that all will
hear and then the end will come.

What I say may never convince you and as mentioned to another that
religion might be an area that we will never agree on. Jesus didn't
convince everyone when he was on earth. It's not me it's the message I
bring...