Bridge of Reason

  In last week’s Watchtower Wednesday on the Reachout Facebook page we looked at a Watchtower article entitled, ‘Help Your Bible Students to Become Baptized Disciples.’ I wonder what people made of the Watchtower approach to making disciples? This is a key issue because it is where your journey of faith begins. If you start in the wrong place, proceed in the wrong way, you won’t end up at your intended destination. I am reminded, reading the article, of Jesus' words for the Pharisees in Matthew's gospel, 'They tie up heavy burdens, hard to bear, and lay them on people's shoulders...'  (Mt.23:4) The article begins with Pentecost, typically telling the story their way, not allowing the text to speak for itself. ‘What was a large crowd in the first century told to do?’ they ask. Not surprisingly, while they must acknowledge the gift of speaking in other languages ( dialektos ) they give no explanation for this remarkable gift. Salvation, they go on to say , is gaine...

  For Watchtower Wednesday on the Reachout Facebook page last week I pointed to an article on jw.org addressing this question. How do you understand the kingdom of God? How would you explain it to a Jehovah’s Witness? The Kingdom of Heaven It is always helpful to start with their understanding of kingdom. This puts them on familiar ground and gives you the chance to address specific ideas they hold to be true. The first thing of which they are sure is, ‘ The Bible identifies its true location by calling it “the kingdom of heaven.” ( Matthew 4:17 , King James Version )’ What jumps out at me immediately is their use of the King James Bible. Why not quote the N ew W orld T ranslation ? The KJV has Jesus refer to ‘the kingdom of heaven,’ a place, while their own NWT has Jesus refer to, ‘the kingdom of the heavens.’ ‘ Heavens’ translates the Greek ouranos which is anglicised to Uranus. It has the meaning of sky, air, firmament, any area above the earth; heaven(s), the place of ...

  On their website the Watchtower Society tackles this question of the identity of the Alpha and Omega of Revelation 1:8;21:6; 22:13. Christians have always insisted the Alpha and Omega is both God the Father and God the Son , the beginning and the end of all things, second member of the Trinity. Jehovah’s Witnesses insist , ‘ The Alpha and the Omega refers to Jehovah God, the Almighty.’ They distinguish between Alpha and Omega in Rev.1:8,whom they call in the text 'Jehovah God,' and the First and the Last in Revelation 1:18. They make much of the difference between Alphaeus and Omega in v.8 and Protos and Eskhatos in v 17. They also point out the text in Habakkuk 1:12 where the prophet declares of God, 'you do not die.' ‘ ...the term “the First [ pro’tos, not alpha] and the Last [ e’skha·tos, not omega]” occurs at Revelation 1:17, 18 and 2:8 . In these verses, the context shows that the one referred to died and later returned to life. Thus, these verses ca...