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Sunday, March 31, 2013

April Fools' Day - Links to Information

Click on any of the following links to view:

How Should a Christian View April Fools' Day? (Defending Jehovah's Witnesses)

Origins of April Fools' Day (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)

When it comes to having fun or playing practical jokes at another's expense, what scriptural principles should be kept in mind? (Jehovah's Witnesses Questions and Answers)

Holidays (Search For Bible Truths)

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Thursday, March 28, 2013

Easter - Pagan and Unscriptural

Easter—Relic of Ancient Sex Worship

Confirming its pagan background, The Catholic Encyclopedia, edition of 1909, states in Volume 5, on page 227: “A great many pagan customs, celebrating the return of spring, gravitated to Easter. The egg is the emblem of the germinating life of early spring. . . . The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility.” In harmony with this The Encyclopedia Americana, edition of 1956, states in Volume 9, on page 506: “According to the Venerable Bede, English historian of the early 8th century, the word [Easter] is derived from the Norse Ostara or Eostre, meaning the festival of spring at the vernal equinox, March 21, when nature is in resurrection after winter. Hence, the rabbits, notable for their fecundity, and the eggs, colored like rays of the returning sun and the northern lights or aurora borealis.”

If Easter were truly a Christian celebration, why the eggs and rabbits? What connection could they have with the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Obviously none whatsoever! They are traditional in Easter because the ancient pagans used them when celebrating their spring festival. Both were important symbols in pagan sex worship. On this point, consider what is said by Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend, edition of 1949, Volume one, page 335:

“Children roll pasch eggs in England. Everywhere they hunt the many-colored Easter eggs, brought by the Easter rabbit. This is not mere child’s play, but the vestige of a fertility rite, the eggs and the rabbit both symbolizing fertility. Furthermore, the rabbit was the escort of the Germanic goddess Ostara who gave the name to the festival by way of the German Ostern.” Do you think it is a Christian practice to encourage children to engage in a pagan fertility rite?


NO SCRIPTURAL BASIS FOR EASTER

But, you may object, the word “Easter” appears in the Bible at Acts 12:4. Why is it there if it is a pagan celebration? The word is used in the Authorized Version of the Bible [King James Version], but it is the result of poor translating from the Greek language in which the book of Acts was originally written. Other translations properly render the Greek word pascha as passover, not Easter. Note what The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible has to say about this on page 145: “Easter. Originally the spring festival in honor of the Teutonic goddess of light and spring known in Anglo-Saxon as Eastre. As early as the 8th century the name was transferred by the Anglo-Saxons to the Christian festival designed to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. In A.V. [Authorized Version] it occurs once (Acts 12:4), but is a mistranslation.”

Was there truly a Christian festival in the spring that was “designed to celebrate the resurrection of Christ”? Not in the days of Christ’s apostles. As foretold by the apostle Paul, after their death a great falling away from true Christianity occurred, which resulted in many unscriptural celebrations. (Acts 20:29, 30) Although the apostle Paul pointed out, under inspiration, that Christians were not to become tied to a tradition of observing days, months and seasons and years, some Christians proceeded to do it anyway. (Gal. 4:9-11) They apparently were persons who insisted on continuing the festivals of the Mosaic law but enlarged them to be commemorations of what they foreshadowed. Thus the Passover was given additional significance in Jesus Christ, the antitypical Passover Lamb, and in his resurrection. To this annual observance apostates gradually added practices and symbols from the pagan spring festival, which resulted in the celebration now called Easter.

That the celebration finds no authorization in the Holy Scriptures or precedent among early Christians is pointed out by The Encyclopædia Britannica, eleventh edition, Volume 8, page 828: “There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the apostolic Fathers. The sanctity of special times was an idea absent from the minds of the first Christians. . . . The ecclesiastical historian Socrates (Hist. Eccl. v. 22) states, with perfect truth, that neither the Lord nor his apostles enjoined the keeping of this or any other festival . . . and he attributes the observance of Easter by the church to the perpetuation of an old usage, ‘just as many other customs have been established.’” The old usage was the practice of pagans to have a festival in honor of their goddess of spring.


NOT FOR CHRISTIANS

The association of Christ’s resurrection with Easter has not changed the celebration into something that is
acceptable to true Christians. A rotten apple is not transformed into wholesome food merely by wrapping it in the skin of an orange.

Notwithstanding the fact that religious leaders of Christendom proclaim Easter as a Christian celebration, it is still pagan. You might say, “What difference does that make as long as it honors Christ?” The difference is between having the approval of God or having his disapproval, and that is the difference between eternal life and eternal death.—2 Thess. 1:8, 9.

If you desire the approval of the true God consider the command given to Christians at 2 Corinthians 6:14, 15, 17: “Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers. For what sharing do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what fellowship does light have with darkness? Further, what harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what portion does a faithful person have with an unbeliever? ‘Therefore get out from among them, and separate yourselves,’ says Jehovah, ‘and quit touching the unclean thing.’”

The Easter festival is an “unclean thing” because its roots are in pagan sex worship. People who celebrate it dishonor Jesus Christ by associating his name with that abominable form of worship. Why continue to do what is disgraceful to him and dishonoring to God? Heed the Scriptural command to separate from this false religious practice and those who advocate it. Recognize Easter for what it actually is, a relic of ancient sex worship. - "Easter—Relic of Ancient Sex Worship"; Watchtower 3/15/68
 
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THE SCRIPTURAL POSITION

In view of all the foregoing what should be the attitude of those who would please God toward the celebration of Easter together with all its pagan appendages? As already noted, neither Jesus nor any of his apostles established any Christian festival days. Nor was this any mere oversight, as shown by Paul’s rebuke to the Christians at Galatia: “How is it that you are turning back again to the weak and beggarly elementary things and want to slave for them over again? You are scrupulously observing days and months and seasons and years.”—Gal. 4:9-11.

Even more strongly condemned in the Scriptures is the comingling of paganism with the worship of the one true God: “Flee from idolatry. . . . What, then, am I to say? That what is sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No; but I say that the things which the nations sacrifice they sacrifice to demons, and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers with the demons. You cannot be drinking the cup of Jehovah and the cup of demons; you cannot be partaking of ‘the table of Jehovah’ and the table of demons. Or ‘are we inciting Jehovah to jealousy’? We are not stronger than he is, are we?” Paganism is the product of Satan and his demons, and to mix it with Christianity is an affront to Jehovah God that he will not permit to go unnoticed, for he is “a God exacting exclusive devotion.”—1 Cor. 10:14-22; Ex. 20:5.

The adopting of pagan appendages in Christian worship is also ruled out with these words: “What fellowship does light have with darkness? Further, what harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what portion does a faithful person have with an unbeliever? And what agreement does God’s temple have with idols?” None whatever. “‘Therefore get out from among them, and separate yourselves,’ says Jehovah, ‘and quit touching the unclean thing”’; “‘and I will take you in.’” Godless paganism is part of this unclean world, and Christians must keep themselves “without spot from the world.”—2 Cor. 6:14-18; Jas. 1:27.

....

Christians show appreciation for the miracle of Christ’s resurrection, not by celebrating a certain day set aside by some ancient council of men, and doing so with pagan appendages, but by accepting by faith the fact of Jesus’ resurrection and by letting it give them hope for their dead loved ones and for themselves and then letting that hope spur them on to serve Jehovah God with all their heart, mind, soul and strength.—Mark 12:30; 1 Cor. 15:58.  - Easter—What Are Its Origins?; Watchtower 4/15/63

For more, see:

Why Don't Jehovah's Witnesses Celebrate Easter? (Defend Jehovah's Witnesses)

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(To those who are not Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs), please remember that if you are looking for the authoritative information about the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society's (WTBTS) Bible-based beliefs and practices, you should look to our OFFICIAL WEBSITE at http://www.jw.org/en. Numerous publications as well as the New World Translation Bible (NWT) and the very useful Watchtower Online Library can be found there.)

SEARCH THIS SITE:

Defend Jehovah's Witnesses


SEARCH JW.ORG:

JW.ORG

Does the Word 'Easter' Belong in a Bible Translation? (Acts 12:4; KJV)

The word “Easter” is used in the Authorized Version of the Bible (KJV), but it is the result of poor translating from the Greek language in which the book of Acts was originally written. Other translations properly render the Greek word pascha as passover, not Easter.

Note what The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible has to say about this on page 145:

“Easter. Originally the spring festival in honor of the Teutonic goddess of light and spring known in Anglo-Saxon as Eastre. As early as the 8th century the name was transferred by the Anglo-Saxons to the Christian festival designed to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. In A.V. [Authorized Version] it occurs once (Acts 12:4), but is a MISTRANSLATION.”

Also notice the following from the Easton's Bible Dictionary, Thomas Nelson Publ.:

"EASTER - originally a Saxon word (Eostre), denoting a goddess of the Saxons, in honour of whom sacrifices were offered about the time of the Passover. Hence the name came to be given to the festival of the Resurrection of Christ, which occured at the time of the Passover. In the early English versions this word [Easter] was frequently used as the translation of the Greek pascha (the Passover). When the Authorized Version [KJV] (1611) was formed, the word `passover' was used in all passages in which this word pascha occurred, except in Acts 12:4. In the Revised Version the proper word, "passover," is always used."

For much more concerning Easter, see:

Easter - Links to Information (Defend Jehovah's Witnesses)

Why Don't Jehovah's Witnesses Celebrate Easter? (Defend Jehovah's Witnesses)

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(To those who are not Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs), please remember that if you are looking for the authoritative information about the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society's (WTBTS) Bible-based beliefs and practices, you should look to our OFFICIAL WEBSITE at http://www.jw.org/en. Numerous publications as well as the New World Translation Bible (NWT) and the very useful Watchtower Online Library can be found there.)

SEARCH THIS SITE:

Defend Jehovah's Witnesses


SEARCH JW.ORG:

JW.ORG

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Easter - What do Colored Eggs, Bunnies and Hot-Cross Buns Have to do With Honoring Jesus and God?

From early childhood you may have been told that Easter is a Christian celebration that commemorates the resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, rather than being a Christian celebration, many authoritative works of history clearly show that Easter is pagan, with roots deep in ancient sex worship.

If Easter were truly a Christian celebration, why the eggs and rabbits? What connection could they have with the resurrection of Jesus Christ? Obviously none whatsoever. They are traditional in Easter because the ancient pagans used them when celebrating their spring festival. Both were important symbols in pagan sex worship.

Even the very name of this celebration in English ("Easter") is the name of a pagan goddess. Many of the customs originally used in worshiping this ancient European goddess are the same ones used today in celebrating Easter.

Confirming its pagan background, The Catholic Encyclopedia, edition of 1909, states in Volume 5, on page 227:

"A great many pagan customs, celebrating the return of spring, gravitated to Easter. The egg is the emblem of the germinating life of early spring. . . . The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility."

In harmony with this The Encyclopedia Americana, edition of 1956, states in Volume 9, on page 506: "According to the Venerable Bede, English historian of the early 8th century, the word [Easter] is derived from the Norse Ostara or Eostre, meaning the festival of spring at the vernal equinox, March 21, when nature is in resurrection after winter. Hence, the rabbits, notable for their fecundity, and the eggs, colored like rays of the returning sun and the northern lights or aurora borealis."

"Children roll pasch eggs in England. Everywhere they hunt the many-colored Easter eggs, brought by the Easter rabbit. This is not mere child's play, but the vestige of a fertility rite, the eggs and the rabbit both symbolizing fertility. Furthermore, the rabbit was the escort of the Germanic goddess Ostara who gave the name to the festival by way of the German Ostern." - Funk & Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend, edition of 1949, Volume one, page 335.

That the celebration finds no authorization in the Holy Scriptures or precedent among early Christians is pointed out by The Encyclopædia Britannica, eleventh edition, Volume 8, page 828:

"There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the apostolic Fathers. The sanctity of special times was an idea absent from the minds of the first Christians. . . . The ecclesiastical historian Socrates (Hist. Eccl. v. 22) states, with perfect truth, that neither the Lord nor his apostles enjoined the keeping of this or any other festival . . . and he attributes the observance of Easter by the church to the perpetuation of an old usage, `just as many other customs have been established.'" The old usage was the practice of pagans to have a festival in honor of their goddess of spring.

Why Should True Christians Care?

So why should true Christians care if Easter's origins have pagan associations? Because true Christians should want to know that God does not approve of certain customs if they originate with false religion or are against Bible teachings. (Matthew 15:6) God makes it clear through His Word the Bible that if a Christan intentionally participates in a holiday or custom, it must have absolutely no known pagan religion associations. (Deut. 5:7-9; Exodus 23:13; 2 Cor. 6:17)

For much more information, see:

Easter - Links to Information (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)

Why don’t Jehovah’s Witnesses celebrate Easter? (JW.ORG)

What Does the Bible Say About Easter? (JW.ORG)

Easter Origins, Traditions and Customs - Christian or Pagan? (Search For Bible Truths)
Quotes and references concerning the pagan origins and associations in connection with: EASTER, COLORED EGGS and the RABBIT; HOT-CROSS-BUNS / "CAKES OF BREAD" and EASTER FIRES.

Easter - Who Does It Really Honor? (Jehovah's Witnesses United)
"What is the meaning and origin of Easter? Who is honored by the holiday? What are its symbols? Were early Christians commanded to celebrate Easter? Should true Christians celebrate Easter today? The first four questions, and more, will be answered in this paper..."

Easter - Pagan and Unscriptural (Search For Bible Truths; Excerpts from the 4/15/63 and 3/15/68 Watchtowers)

Does the Word 'Easter' Belong in a Bible Translation? (Acts 12:4; KJV) (Defend Jehovah's Witnesses)

Should We Celebrate Holidays? (bh p. 222-p. 223; Watchtower Online Library)
"There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament," states The Encyclopædia Britannica. How did Easter get started?

Research: Are Celebrating Holidays Acceptable to God? (Search For Bible Truths)

"Easter" -- And "Babylon the Great" (Babylon the Great)

Holidays (Search For Bible Truths) Links to related subjects

Paganism (Search For Bible Truths) Links to related subjects

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Friday, March 22, 2013

Jehovah's Witnesses Memorial Invitation - March 26th 2013 (Video 3:06)

Memorial of Jesus’ Death

You are warmly invited to meet with us to observe the anniversary of Jesus’ death. Find a meeting location near you.


                       *FIND A LOCATION NEAR YOU*


“One Man Died for All”

*Who is this man?
*How does his death help us?
*Why is it important that we remember him?

You are invited to consider answers from the Bible on 
Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Jesus Christ is widely recognized as the greatest man who ever lived. Yet, he surrendered his life for us 1,980 years ago. Concerning his death, the apostle Paul wrote: “One man died for all.” The apostle John observed: “The blood of Jesus . . . cleanses us from all sin.” (2 Corinthians 5:14; 1 John 1:7) Exactly what do those statements mean? Why do we need cleansing? How can the death of one man so long ago be of any benefit to us today?

The anniversary of Jesus’ death falls on Tuesday, March 26, 2013, after sundown. Jehovah’s Witnesses invite you to meet with them on that date to examine what makes Jesus—and his sacrifice—so vitally important.

SOURCE FOR TEXT ONLY: Memorial of Jesus’ Death (JW.ORG)

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Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Jehovah's Witnesses Memorial Invitation - March 26th 2013 (Video 2:43)

Memorial of Jesus’ Death

You are warmly invited to meet with us to observe the anniversary of Jesus’ death. Find a meeting location near you.


                      *FIND A LOCATION NEAR YOU*

“One Man Died for All”

*Who is this man?
*How does his death help us?
*Why is it important that we remember him?

You are invited to consider answers from the Bible on 
Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Jesus Christ is widely recognized as the greatest man who ever lived. Yet, he surrendered his life for us 1,980 years ago. Concerning his death, the apostle Paul wrote: “One man died for all.” The apostle John observed: “The blood of Jesus . . . cleanses us from all sin.” (2 Corinthians 5:14; 1 John 1:7) Exactly what do those statements mean? Why do we need cleansing? How can the death of one man so long ago be of any benefit to us today?

The anniversary of Jesus’ death falls on Tuesday, March 26, 2013, after sundown. Jehovah’s Witnesses invite you to meet with them on that date to examine what makes Jesus—and his sacrifice—so vitally important.

SOURCE FOR TEXT ONLY: Memorial of Jesus’ Death (JW.ORG)

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Tuesday, March 19, 2013

EASTER - Does It Have Any Pagan Religious Associations?

EASTER

What do the name "Easter," colored eggs, hot-cross buns, and bunnies have to do with honoring Jesus and Jehovah?

The very name of this celebration in English ("Easter") is the name of a pagan goddess! Many of the customs originally used in worshiping this ancient European goddess are the same ones used today in celebrating Easter!

"East'er ..., n. [AS. eastre, pl. eastron, from name of old Teutonic goddess of spring, AS. Eastre.]" - Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary, 1953.

"... Eastre was the goddess of spring in the religion of the ancient Angles and Saxons. Every April a festival was celebrated in her honor. .... The festival [eventually] was celebrated in honor of the resurrection of Christ but was still known as Easter after the old goddess." p. 215, v. 5, Britannica Junior, 1957.

"(the word Easter is derived from the [Anglo-Saxon] name of Eastre, the Spring-goddess….)" – p. 240, An Encyclopedia of Religion, Virgilius Ferm, The Philosophical Library, 1945.

Easter was

"originally the spring festival in honor of the Teutonic goddess of light and spring known in Anglo-Saxon as Eastre. As early as the 8th century the name was transferred by the Anglo-Saxons to the Christian Festival designed to celebrate the resurrection of Christ." - The Westminster Dictionary of the Bible.

"Rooted in ancient veneration, the date of Easter was long regarded as symbolizing the rebirth of living things that had passed through the death of winter. Eostre, the Anglo-Saxon goddess who presided over the vernal equinox, eventually gave her name to the Christian [?] festival." - How It Started, Garrison, copyright 1972 by Abingdon Press, pp. 49-50.

"Amongst the Anglo-Saxons the month of April was dedicated to Eostre or Ostara, Goddess of Spring; and her great feast has given its name to our Easter. Here again the Church was quite frank about it, and Bede states that the feast in England was simply `the old [pagan] festival observed with the gladness of a new solemnity.'" - Paganism in our Christianity, Weigall, p. 261, Gordon Press, 1974 (Reprint of the edition published by Putnam, New York.)

So how did the name of a pagan European goddess come to be in the KJV translation of Acts 12:4?

"EASTER - originally a Saxon word (Eostre), denoting a goddess of the Saxons, in honour of whom sacrifices were offered about the time of the Passover. Hence the name came to be given to the festival of the Resurrection of Christ, which occured at the time of the Passover. In the early English versions this word [Easter] was frequently used as the translation of the Greek pascha (the Passover). When the Authorized Version [KJV] (1611) was formed, the word `passover' was used in all passages in which this word pascha occurred, except in Acts 12:4. In the Revised Version the proper word, "passover," is always used." Easton's Bible Dictionary, Thomas Nelson Publ.


* * * *

"Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard [in a respectful, or even tolerating, manner] on your lips." Exodus 23:13, NIVSB.

* * * *

"Eating special buns at the festival of the pagan goddess Eostre has long been an established custom among the natives of Britain. Early Christian missionaries who tried to stop this practice got nowhere. Eventually.... converts ... were permitted to continue eating buns at the time of the spring festival...." - How It Started, p. 50.

"Like the Greeks, the [pagan] Romans ate bread marked with a cross ... at public sacrifices, such bread being usually purchased at the doors of the temple and then taken in with them - a custom alluded to by St. Paul in 1 Cor. x. 28. The cross-bread was eaten by pagan Saxons in honour of Easter, their goddess of light. .... The custom, in fact, was practically universal, and the early Church adroitly adopted the practice, grafting it on to the Eucharist and so giving us the hot-cross-bun." - The Encyclopedia Britannica, 1959, Vol. 4, p. 381.

"Long before the Christian festival of Easter was established, persons of many cultures exchanged eggs at the time of the year when nature wakes up from sleep. Wealthy persons used to cover their gift eggs with gilt or even gold leaf; ordinary persons usually colored them red. Today's [Easter] egg hunt, involving a dozen or hundreds or thousands of decorated or candy eggs, is so gay that it conceals the reverence with which many ancients [pagans] regarded this symbol of `life and death.'" - How It Started, p. 51.

"… the symbol of the egg generated not from Christian observances, but from pagan rituals. From earliest times, the egg has been a symbol of fertility and immortality. During the rites of spring, the pagan nations included it as a symbol of celebrating for the new life promised during the season of planting. The Church only took this ancient sign and applied it as a visual lesson to the resurrection of Christ." – p. 232, The Christian Book of Why, J. C. McCollister (Lutheran pastor and university professor), Jonathan David Publishers, 1983.

"Like the egg, the rabbit has been a symbol of fertility, the observance of which was a part of the Anglo-Saxon mythology and the pagan's celebration of spring, In a blend of Christian and pagan traditions, the rabbit was adopted as part of the festival of Jesus' resurrection celebrated during the spring each year." – pp. 233-234, McCollister.

"A great many pagan customs, celebrating the return of spring, gravitated to Easter. The egg is the emblem of the germinating life of early spring.... The rabbit is a pagan symbol and has always been an emblem of fertility." - The Catholic Encyclopedia, 1913, Vol. V, p. 227.

So when children hunt for Easter eggs (left by the `Easter Bunny'),
"This is not mere child's play, but the vestige of a [pagan] fertility rite." - Funk and Wagnalls Standard Dictionary of Folklore, Mythology and Legend, Vol. 1, p. 335.


The Encyclopædia Britannica, eleventh edition, volume 8, page 828:
"There is no indication of the observance of the Easter festival in the New Testament, or in the writings of the apostolic Fathers. The sanctity of special times was an idea absent from the minds of the first Christians. . . . The ecclesiastical historian Socrates (Hist. Eccl. v. 22) states, with perfect truth, that neither the Lord nor his apostles enjoined the keeping of this or any other festival . . . and he attributes the observance of Easter by the church to the perpetuation of an old usage, `just as many other customs have been established.'"

The `old usage' was the practice by pagans of having a festival in honor of their goddess of spring.

* * * *

"What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? .... `Therefore come out from them and be separate,' says the Lord. `Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you ...' says the Lord Almighty." - 2 Cor. 6:16, 17, NIVSB. [NIVSB f.n.: "agreement...between the temple of God and idols. There can be no reversion to or compromise with the idolatry they have forsaken for the gospel (cf. 1 Th. 1:9)."]

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(To those who are not Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs), please remember that if you are looking for the authoritative information about the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society's (WTBTS) Bible-based beliefs and practices, you should look to our OFFICIAL WEBSITE at http://www.jw.org/en. Numerous publications as well as the New World Translation Bible (NWT) and the very useful Watchtower Online Library can be found there.)

SEARCH THIS SITE:

Defend Jehovah's Witnesses


SEARCH JW.ORG:

JW.ORG

Sunday, March 17, 2013

St. Patrick's Day - Links to Information

Click on any link to view:


St. Patrick, The Shamrock and The Trinity (Defend Jehovah's Witnesses)


Should I Pray to Saints? (JW.ORG)

The Bible’s Viewpoint - Is It Appropriate to Pray to “Saints”? (AWAKE! NOVEMBER 2010; JW.ORG)

Saints (Search Results From the Watchtower Online Library)

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Saturday, March 16, 2013

Race and Ethnicity - Does God Have a Favorite Nationality?

Notice what the apostle Peter wrote about how God feels:

“The truth I have now come to realise, is that God does not have favourites, but that anybody of any nationality who fears God and does what is right is acceptable to him.’” (Acts 10:34, 35, Jerusalem Bible)

The Bible says that all peoples, regardless of stature, culture, color, or language, are members of one human family and that "all nations" were “made out of one man. (Acts 17:26)

The apostle Paul admonished Christians and practicers of Bible principles to do "nothing out of contentiousness or out of egotism, but with lowliness of mind considering that the others are superior to YOU." (Phil. 2:3) This certainly would not involve viewing those of another race as a so-called “inferior” race.

Recommended Related Articles:

Race and Ethnicity: We Are All One Family (g 11/09 pp. 22-23; JW.ORG)

What Is the Solution to Ethnic Intolerance? (w07 7/1 pp. 3-6; Watchtower Online Library)

Where Do the Different Races Come From? (Search For Bible Truths)

Is a Classless Society Really Possible? (w02 1/1 pp. 4-7; Watchtower Online Library)

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Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Did the Sabbath End When Jesus Died?

True Christians do not celebrate any Sabbath, neither the first day nor the seventh.

As Christians, Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe we are bound by the Mosaic laws including the Decalogue because of the Scriptural evidence.

Nowhere in the writings of Jesus' inspired disciples do we find any requirement for Christians to keep a weekly Sabbath. True Christians abide by all laws mandated for Christians. These laws, such as against idolatry, fornication, etc., are clearly stated as binding on Christians in N.T. But, this is not true of the Sabbath law.

1. Col. 2:16 shows that the Sabbath was removed and is no longer binding. This verse employs a technical formula used to designate ALL the Sabbaths of Israel: Yearly festivals, Monthly, and Weekly. The clear chronological pattern is an all inclusive enumeration which includes the WEEKLY Sabbath (2 Chrn. 2:4; 31:3; Ezek. 45:17; Hos. 2:11). Gal. 4:9-11 is an unmistakable parallel.

"Festival refers chiefly to the annual festival like the Passover, Pentecost, etc. New moon describes the monthly festival and the following word `sabbath' refers to the weekly holy day." - Linguistic key to the Grk N.T.

Further, the Greek word "Sabbath" here is used 60 times in the NT and every time it denotes the weekly seventh day sabbath! Only by arbitrarily reinterpreting this word in accord with a theological bias can we exclude the 7th day Sabbath.

These two points REQUIRE the conclusion that the whole system of Sabbaths, including the 7th, was brought to its end with the rest of the Law by the sacrifice of Christ.

2. When the question of obedience to the "Law of Moses," including the Decalog was raised (Ac. 15:5), the Apostles stated only three as "necessary": Idolatry, fornication and blood." The Sabbath was not mentioned while other laws such as against idolatry and fornication are clearly stated as binding (Ac. 15:28, 29). The commands they mandated were only those laws observed before the Exodus. Nothing else was "necessary" from the Decalog.

3. Scripture is explicit that the Sabbath was not given before the Exodus (De. 5:3,15, Ps. 147:19,20, Gal. 3:19 cf. Neh. 9:9- 14). And it was only given to natural Israel (the Jews), no one else (Ex. 31:16-17). Genesis does not say it was a command for mankind, nor was it in the commands given to Adam and Eve. There is not even one mention in the Bible of anyone keeping the Sabbath before the Exodus. And Mk. 2:27 actually implies the Sabbath was not in existence at Creation.

4. The inspired Christian writings state that "Christ is the end of the Law" (Ro. 10:4), which results in Christians being "discharged from the law," (Ro. 7:6) just as a wife is "discharged" from her deceased husband. He specifically mentions one of the Ten commandments--coveting--as part of that discontinued "law." That means that just like a dead husband the Law has absolutely no authority (Ro. 7:2). See also Gal. 5:18; Eph. 2:13-15; Col. 2:13, 14.

5. The Bible directly states that the Ten Commandments "written on stones" were included in what came to an end! (2 Cor. 3:7-11). The Scripture shows that it was NOT just the "glory" which was done away with at 2 Cor 3:6-11, but the grammar of verse 11 shows that what was "done away with" was the Decalog.

This is made clear by a comparison of the phrases "THAT WHICH is done away with was with glory" and "THAT WHICH remains is in glory." The pronouns identify the subjects as the "ministration of condemnation" and the "ministration of righteousness." It is the subject which "passed away" not the adjective "glory"!!! Just as it is the subject which "remains" and not its glory.

The clear teaching of Scripture is that the whole Mosaic Law covenant, including the Decalogue, was done away with at the same time. The Scriptures do not say "only the ceremonial part was done away with."

Christians were not commanded to keep any certain day as "holy", but to keep every day as "holy to Jehovah." (Rm. 14:5-9). The Christian Sabbath is a spiritual one which is an entering "by faith" into God's seventh creative "day"of rest which has continued for millennia (Heb. 4:3,9,10). We put God's work first in our lives every day, not just one.

It is clear that EVERY argument by those supporting a Sabbath requirement for Christians is based on a faulty interpretation and selective use of Scriptures.

For example, Sabbatarians must separate the so-called "ceremonial laws" from the "moral laws." However, this idea can only be maintained by arbitrarily defining words such as "Sabbath," "law" and "commands" as it fits their theology. If it says we must obey "law" then it must mean the Decalogue, but if it says "law" is not binding it must only mean "ceremonial laws." This is theologically driven exegesis and a highly dishonest method of interpretation.

Source: This is the chosen Best Answer by Bar_Anerges to a question from Yahoo Answers.

Also see: Sabbath - Links to Information (Defend Jehovah's Witnesses)

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Tuesday, March 12, 2013

St. Patrick, The Shamrock and The Trinity

The following quote shows how the great symbol of St. Patrick and St. Patrick's Day (the shamrock or clover) was used to explain the Trinity:

"The doctrine of Three Gods in One, each separate and distinct, yet each totally God, is claimed by Christians to be a mystery and is accepted on faith. In trying to teach his converts about the trinity, St. Patrick held up a shamrock explaining that the three leaves represented the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, while the stem was the Godhead itself from which they proceeded. This is said to be the origin of the use of the shamrock which is customarily worn on St. Patrick's Day.

"Scholars have discovered that the shamrock, or trefoil, was initially used in ancient Celtic fertility rites. It represented a triad of goddesses..." - pp. 79-80, Celebrations - The Complete Book of American Holidays, Robert J. Myers, Doubleday; Co., 1972.

Though it is clear that the shamrock was used as a symbol to explain the Trinity and represented a triad of pagan goddesses, this should in no way associate the clover itself as pagan. The history of the Trinity Doctrine certainly shows that the concept of the only true God being comprised of three persons is not a Bible teaching. It is not found in the Bible and developed gradually over several centuries after Christ.

The Trinity Has Pagan Origins

"The trinity was a major preoccupation of Egyptian theologians .... Three gods are combined and treated as a single being, addressed in the singular. In this way the spiritual force of Egyptian religion shows a direct link with Christian theology." - Egyptian Religion. (For much more, see Trinity And Pagan Influence.)

Historian Will Durant said that

"Christianity did not destroy paganism; it adopted it. . . . From Egypt came the ideas of a divine trinity."

And Arthur Weigall stated that

"Nowhere in the New Testament does the word `trinity' appear. The idea was only adopted by the Church three hundred years after the death of our Lord; and the origin of the conception is entirely pagan." - The Paganism in our Christianity, pp. 197, 198.

How Does God View Paganism?

True Christians should avoid pagan associations and view them as serious because God views these things very seriously. (Lev. 19:2) God Himself said: "You must not have any other gods against my face. Because I Jehovah your God am a God exacting exclusive devotion." (Ex. 20:1-5) NWT

Notice how exclusive the worship of God must be: "Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips." - Exodus 23:13, NIVSB.

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Monday, March 11, 2013

Acts 2:33 - A Scripture That Issues Multiple Problems For the Trinity Doctrine

"Neither the word Trinity, nor the explicit doctrine as such, appears in the New Testament, nor... in the Old Testament." - The New Encyclopedia Britannica, 1985, Micropedia, vol. 11, p. 928.

Trinitarians themselves admit that "The Trinity...is an INFERRED doctrine, gathered ECLECTICALLY from the entire Canon". - page 630 of the highly trinitarian publication, Today's Dictionary of the Bible, Bethany House Publishers, 1982.
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Not only is the doctrine not found in the Bible, but there are literally hundreds of Scriptures and passages that prove to be large problems for the belief that the Trinity (see definition) is Scriptural. Acts 2:33 is but one of them.

Acts 2:33 says in the New Living Translation:

"Now he [Jesus] sits on the throne of highest honor in heaven ("highest position"; GOD'S WORD Translation), at God's right hand. And the Father, as he had promised, gave him the Holy Spirit to pour out upon us, just as you see and hear today."

First, if Jesus really is God, then wouldn't the place of "highest honor in heaven" be the position of being God Himself rather than being at "God's right hand"?
Also see: How can Jesus be God and also sit at His right hand? (Search For Bible Truths)

Second, if Jesus really is God, then how can Jesus be "exalted" in the first place?

Third, if Jesus really is God, then why is God mentioned as a separate and distinct individual FROM Jesus in this Scripture?

Fourth, only the Father is equated to being God in this Scripture which is consistent with the rest of the Bible. The Bible repeatedly makes it clear that there is only one Almighty God and that only the Father "whose name alone is Jehovah" is God. (Psalms 83:18; 1 Cor. 8:6; Ephesians 4:6; Rom. 15:6; 2 Corinthians 11:31; Revelation 1:6; etc.) Jesus himself acknowledged this. (John 17:3)
Also see: The Father (Jehovah) is God Alone (Examining the Trinity)

HOLY SPIRIT

This Scripture ALSO shows how the supposed third person of the Trinity (the Holy Spirit) is not God nor even a person.

Fifth, notice how the NT Greek Lexicon describes the Holy Spirit as "this" at Acts 2:33 which identifies the Holy Spirit as a thing - not a person:
http://www.biblestudytools.com/lexicons/greek/kjv/touto.html

Sixth, also notice that God poured out [ekxeo, ekxew] His Holy Spirit. In all cases ekxeo ("poured out") refers to things. Holy Spirit, then, is a thing that may be poured out in portions. (See Num. 11:17, 25 and Acts 2:17,18 where God poured Holy Spirit from His Holy Spirit.) You simply do not pour out persons in measured portions upon other persons!
Also see: Is the Holy Spirit really a thing that can be poured out into portions? (Search For Bible Truths)

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Sunday, March 10, 2013

Should We Venerate "Saints" as Intercessors With God?

The Bible makes it clear that there is to be no veneration or adoration of Saints as intercessors with God. Our approach to the Father can only be through Jesus. (John 14:6, 14; 1 Tim. 2:5)

Concerning this, notice what Peter's response was to a certain situation in the account of Acts 10:25, 26, JB:

"As Peter reached the house Cornelius went out to meet him, knelt at his feet and prostrated himself. But Peter helped him up. `Stand up,' he said `I am only a man after all!'"

Peter did not approve of such adoration when he was personally present. He understood what Jesus clearly stated in John 14:6, 14 that our approach to the Father can be only through Jesus and that our requests are to be made in Jesus' name:

"Jesus said: `I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you ask for anything in my name, I will do it.'" (JB)

1 Tim. 2:5: "For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus." (NASB)

Note what Martin Luther wrote concerning the reverence of Roman Catholic Saints:

"The pity is that we are so blind that we do not leave the devil alone to play his tricks in his own way; rather, we support him and multiply them. I wish people would leave the saints in peace, and not mislead humble folk. What spirit was it that gave the pope authority to canonize saints? Who tells him whether they are holy or not? .... God is just in judging us with His wrath and in allowing the devil to lead us hither and thither, to institute pilgrimages, ... to set about canonizing saints and other foolish things." - p. 458, Martin Luther, Selections From His Writings, Dr. John Dillenberger, Anchor Books, Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1961.

Additional Reading:

Should I Pray to Saints? (JW.ORG)

The Bible’s Viewpoint - Is It Appropriate to Pray to “Saints”? (AWAKE! NOVEMBER 2010; JW.ORG)

Saints (Search Results From the Watchtower Online Library)

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Saturday, March 9, 2013

What is Tartarus? (2 Peter 2:4)

The word Tartarus is only found once in the Bible and that is at 2 Pet. 2:4,

"Certainly if God did not hold back from punishing the angels that sinned, but, by throwing them into Tar´ta·rus, delivered them to pits of dense darkness to be reserved for judgment;" (2 Pet. 2:4)

Notice the "pits of dense darkness". To help better understand what Tar´ta·rus is, consider the parallel text found at Jude 6:

“And the angels that did not keep their original position but forsook their own proper dwelling place he has reserved with eternal bonds under dense darkness for the judgment of the great day.”

Showing when it was that these angels "forsook their own proper dwelling place," Peter speaks of "the spirits in prison, who had once been disobedient when the patience of God was waiting in Noah’s days, while the ark was being constructed." (1 Pet. 3:19, 20) This directly links the matter to the account at Genesis 6:1-4 concerning "the sons of the true God" who abandoned their heavenly dwelling to couple with women in pre-Flood times and produced children by them, such offspring being designated as Nephilim.

From these texts it is evident that Tar´ta·rus is a condition rather than a particular location, since Peter, on the one hand, speaks of these disobedient spirits as being in “pits of dense darkness,” while Paul speaks of them as being in “heavenly places” from which they exercise a rule of darkness as wicked spirit forces. (2 Pet. 2:4; Eph. 6:10-12)

So considering the above, the "dense darkness" that the disobedient angels are in suggests a condition - not of non-existence or unconsciousness, but of - being cut off from illumination by God as renegades and outcasts from His family, with only a dark outlook as to their eternal destiny.

It is also evident that Tar´ta·rus is not the same as the Hebrew Sheol or the Greek Hades, both of which refer to the common earthly grave of mankind. This is made plain from the fact that, while the apostle Peter shows that Jesus Christ preached to these “spirits in prison,” he also shows that Jesus did so, not during the three days while buried in Hades (Sheol), but after his resurrection out of Hades. (1 Pet. 3:18-20)

For more, see:

TARTARUS - Links to Information (INDEX; Watchtower Online Library)

Tartarus (Insight-2 pp. 1068-1069; Watchtower Online Library)

“Tartarus” 2Pe 2:4—“By throwing them into Tartarus” Gr., Tar·ta·ro′sas; Lat., de·trac′tos in Tar′ta·rum; Syr., ʽa·gen ʼe·nun beThach·ta·ya·thaʼ (INDEX p. 1575; Watchtower Online Library)

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Friday, March 8, 2013

"Seen Me: Seen Father" - John 14:7-9

"Seen Me: Seen Father"  -  John 14:7-9

John 14:1 - "believe in God, believe also in me." 14:7 - "If ye had known me, ye would have known my Father also: from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. (:8) Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. (:9) Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and dost thou not know me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father; how sayest thou, Show us the Father? (:10) Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I say unto you I speak not from myself: but the Father abiding in me doeth his works." - ASV.

We can understand what Jesus actually intended when he said "I am in the Father and the Father is in me" and "the Father is abiding in me." And it is not very difficult to understand his saying, "If you had known me, you would have known my Father" since Jesus is in perfect harmony with the Father's will and purpose (i.e. "one," "in," etc.). (See: John 10:38 - Does This Scripture Really Prove That Jesus is God?; Defend Jehovah's Witnesses) But what about "he that has seen me has seen the Father"?

First, let's examine the relationship between "abiding in," "knowing," and "seeing" (horao in NT Greek) as commonly used figuratively in the Bible. 1 John 2:3, 5, 6 - "by this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments .... By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner He walked [your purpose, actions words, and life must reflect his example]." - NASB. And 1 John 3:29, "he that keeps His [God's] commandments abides in Him, and He in him." - NASB. These scriptures show, again, the intended meaning for the figurative use of "abides."

Now notice the relationship between "know" and "see": 3 John 11 - "the one who does good is of God; the one who does evil has not seen [horao] God." And 1 John 3:6 - "No one who abides in Him sins; no one who sins has seen [horao] Him or knows Him." - NASB.

We can see, then, that horao ("see") can mean the same thing as "abiding in" or "knowing," and all three may have the figurative meaning of agreement in purpose and will with someone else.

The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. 4, p. 380, tells us:

"What is seen in a vision is a revelation from God. Statements that human beings have seen or will see God Himself do not refer to a perception of a physical aspect of God by human physical senses but a process of coming to some amount of understanding of God, often just a simple realization of His greatness or some other aspect of His nature, either by a revelatory vision (Isa. 6:15; Ezk. 1:26-28), … or by their acquaintance with Jesus Christ (Jn 14:9, cf. 1:18)." – Eerdmans, 1991.

The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, Vol. 3, 1986 printing, Zondervan, pp. 513, 515, 518, explains the meanings of horao.

"Horao" means "... become aware (Gen. 37:1). (b) figuratively it comes to be used of intellectual or spiritual perception .... It also means ... attend to, know or have experienced (Deut. 11:2), or be concerned about something (Gen. 37:14; Is. 5:12)." - p. 513. - - "Besides the general meaning of to know, horao and its derivatives can mean to obtain knowledge". - p. 515.

This trinitarian reference also states:

"For the NT God is utterly invisible (Jn 6:46; 1 Tim. 1:17; 6:16; Col. 1:15) ... yet the resurrection narratives especially stress that the risen Christ is visible." - p. 518.

Professor Joseph H. Thayer (who was "the dean of New Testament scholars in America" - Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. IX) in his Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament ("a standard in the field") also defines horao with similar meanings and specifically tells us that John 14:7, 9 is in the category of "2. to see with the mind, to perceive, to KNOW."

In discussing this meaning of "horao," Thayer writes:

"to know God's will, 3 John 11; from the intercourse and influence of Christ to have come to see (know) God's majesty, saving purposes, and WILL, Jn. xiv. 7, 9". - p. 451, Baker Book House, 1984 printing.

We can understand, then, why the very trinitarian The NIV Study Bible, 1985, Zondervan, explains John 14:7 this way:

"Once more Jesus stresses the intimate connection between the Father and himself. Jesus brought a full revelation of the Father (cf. 1:18), so that the apostles had real knowledge of him." - footnote for John 14:7.

Trinitarian minister and acclaimed New Testament scholar, Dr. William Barclay, also comments on John 14:7-9:

"The Jews [including Jesus, of course, and those to whom he spoke] would count it as an article of faith that no man had seen God at any time .... To see Jesus is to see what God is like." - p. 159. "`He who has seen me has seen the Father,' Jesus is the revelation of God." - p. 161.

And,

"The danger of the Christian faith is that we may set up Jesus as a kind of secondary God. But Jesus himself insists that the things he said and the things he did did not come from his own initiative or his own power or his own knowledge but from God. His words were God's voice speaking to men; His deeds were God's power flowing through him to men. He was the channel by which God came to men." - The Daily Study Bible Series: The Gospel of John, pp. 159, 161, 162, Vol. 2, The Westminster Press, 1975.

So there is no real reason to insist that John 14:7, 9 shows Jesus as being equally God with his Father. The probability is that, in harmony with the usage of the time, Jesus was merely saying that what he spoke came from God, and what he did is what God directed. He meant that understanding what he did and said was like knowing ("seeing") God* (as, in a similar sense, those who literally saw angels sent by God and speaking God's words were said to have "seen God"). Jesus is totally in harmony with ("one" with) the Father in purpose (see the ONE study paper) so that we can "see" the Father's will in Jesus.

As in all other "Jesus is equally God" evidence, we find that the trinitarian "proof" is a scripture that can honestly be translated or interpreted in at least one other way which would prove no such thing!

We never find a statement clearly stating that "Jesus is equally and fully God" in the entire Bible. And yet other such essential knowledge that leads to eternal life is clearly and repeatedly emphasized: "Jesus is the Christ [Messiah]," "our savior and king" - the one who appears before God in heaven in our behalf, the one through whom we must approach God. Surely this most important information in the Bible of exactly who God is and exactly who Jesus is would not be hidden from us in the slightest degree!

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NOTE

*Origen, noted by many to be the greatest and most knowledgeable scholar of the NT Greek explained John 14:9:

"But ... God is invisible .... Whereas, on the contrary, God, the Father of Christ, is said to be seen, because `he who sees the Son,' he says, `sees also the Father.' This certainly would press us hard [to explain], were the expression not understood by us more correctly of understanding, and not of seeing. For he who has understood the Son will understand the Father also." - p. 277, vol. iv, The Ante-Nicene Fathers, Eerdmans Publishing.

For more, see:

Seeing God; Jesus (John 14:9) (Insight-1 pp. 789-791; Watchtower Online Library)

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