WATCHTOWER - APRIL 15, 1998

 

Page 4: Many people believe that our future, from the day of our birth to the day of our death, is somehow written in advance.

Note: The Watchtower does not believe in the sovereignty of God.

Jude 1:24-25 Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling, and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy, to God our Savior, Who alone is wise, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever. Amen.

 

Page 6: All the arguments in support of predestination are based on the supposition that since God undeniably has the power to foreknow and determine, including the future actions of every individual. Is this supposition sound, however? What God reveals in his Holy Scriptures indicates otherwise.

Note: The Watchtower does not believe in the Word of God.

Galatians 1:15 But when it pleased God, who separated me from my mother's womb and called me through His grace,

 

Page 6: For example, the Scriptures say that "God put Abraham to the test" by commanding him to sacrifice his son Isaac as a burnt offering. When Abraham was about to sacrifice Isaac, God stopped him and said: " Now I do know that you are God-fearing in that you have not withheld your son, your only one, from me." (Genesis 22:1-12) Would God have made that statement if he knew in advance that Abraham would obey this command?

Note: God will always test us for our benefit.

Correction: God did know that Abraham would be faithful.

Genesis 18:17-19 And the LORD said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the LORD, to do righteousness and justice, that the LORD may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him."

 

Pages 6-7: Because God is perfect, these verses cannot mean that God made a mistake in selecting Saul to be Israel's first king. Rather, they must indicate that God felt sorry that Saul turned out to be faithless and disobedient. God's using such an expression in referring to himself would be nonsensical if he had foreknown Saul's actions.

Note: The Watchtower does not believe in the sovereignty of God.

Romans 8:29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

 

Pages 7-8: So did God foreknow and even decree Adam's fall into sin, as well as the calamitous consequences that this would bring upon the human family? What we have considered shows that this cannot be true. What is more, if God did foreknew all of this, he would have become the author of sin when he made man, and God would be deliberately responsible for all human wickedness and suffering.

Correction: The Father did foreknow Adam's fall as He had already provided the Son.

1 Peter 1:20-21 He indeed was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you who through Him believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God.

 

Page 8: The Holy Scriptures do not reveal that our individual future is somehow determined in advance, or predestined, by God.

Note: The Watchtower does not believe in the Word of God.

Romans 8:30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified.

 

Page 8: God's prophet Jesus forewarned: "Go in through the narrow gate; because broad and spacious is the road leading off into destruction, and many are the ones going in through it; whereas narrow is the gate and cramped the road leading off into life, and few are the ones finding it." (Matthew 7:13, 14)

Note: The Watchtower is missing the narrow gate Who is Jesus Christ.

John 10:9 " I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture."

 

Page 12: What is God's will for our time? He has purposed to bring an end to this violent, immoral system of things. The centuries-old bad reign of humans will soon be replaced with a rulership of God's making.

Correction: The Father wants everyone to have faith in the Son.

John 6:40 "And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that everyone who sees the Son and believes in Him may have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day."

 

Pages 12-13: Note that the heavenly government will crush out of existence all forms of human rule. The governing of this earth will not be left to people. In heaven, those who make up God's Kingdom will control all earth's affairs for the good of mankind. (Revelation 5:10; 20:4-6)

Note: The reign of the kingdom of God will be from the earth.

Revelation 5:10 And have made us kings and priests to our God; And we shall reign on the earth."

 

Page 13: On earth, faithful humans will cooperate with the directives of God's Kingdom. This is the rulership Jesus taught us to pray for when he said: "Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth." - Matthew 6:10.

Note: One must first be in the spiritual kingdom of God before experiencing the literal kingdom.

Romans 14:17 for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.

 

Page 13: Jehovah's Witnesses put their faith in the Kingdom of God.

Correction: True Christians put their faith in Jesus Christ.

Galatians 3:26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.

 

Page 13: The "new earth" is the new human society that will be governed by the new heavens, God's Kingdom.

Correction: The "new earth" refers to a literal new earth.

Isaiah 24:20 The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall totter like a hut; its transgression shall be heavy upon it, and it will fall, and not rise again.

Revelation 21:1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.

 

Page 14: Jehovah asks that his servants develop and maintain a solid faith in him and his promises. With such faith one can completely trust Jehovah to do what he has promised to do.

Note: True Christians put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ.

Romans 3:21-22 But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe.

Philippians 2:19 But I trust in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, that I also may be encouraged when I know your state.

 

Page 15: About 1,900 years ago, many humble people demonstrated true faith. They realized from the fulfillment of Bible prophecy that Jesus was the Messiah and accepted his teachings. Having a solid basis in the facts and in the Hebrew Scriptures, they put faith in what Jesus taught

Correction: Early Christians put their faith in Jesus Christ.

Acts 3:16 "And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all."

Acts 20:21 "testifying to Jews, and also to Greeks, repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ."

Acts 24:24 And after some days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.

Acts 26:17-18 "I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me."

Galatians 3:22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.

Revelation 14:12 Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.

 

Pages 16-17: At that same time, those who put faith in Jehovah were announcing that mankind was about to enter its worst time of trouble yet. That is what was foretold in God's Word in Matthew chapter 24, 2 Timothy chapter 3, and elsewhere. What those people of faith said actually did happen, beginning in 1914 with World War I.

Note: 1914 is based on the bogus date of 607 BCE for the destruction of Jerusalem.

Note: World War I was actually just another European war.

 

Page 17: That reinforced God's promise found at Psalm 37:29: "The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it." And just before the death of Jesus when an evildoer expressed faith in him, Jesus said to that man: "You will be with me in Paradise." (Luke 23:43) Yes, as King of God's Kingdom, Jesus will see to it that this man is resurrected to life on earth with the opportunity to live forever in that Paradise.

Correction: That day the evildoer was in Paradise.

Luke 23:43 And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."

 

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