Bridge of Reason

The Watch Tower Society's definition of salvation is: “ Preservation or deliverance from danger or destruction. That deliverance may be from the hands of oppressors or persecutors. For all true Christians, Jehovah provides through his Son deliverance from the present wicked system of things as well as salvation from bondage to sin and death. For a great crowd of faithful servants of Jehovah living during 'the last days', salvation will include preservation through the great tribulation.” - Reasoning from the Scriptures, WBTS, 1985, p.356. This, at first glance, seems right but when you look further qualifications begin to appear. “ Remember, though, that you must work hard to receive these blessings. It will cost you time and effort ...We therefore urge one and all to lay hold on God's promises and to trust him fully. By continued diligent study of the Bible and by application of its wise counsel you may attain to the grandest of blessings, including everlasti...

If you want to know your heart leap for joy at the hope we have in Christ read the first two chapters of Ephesians. Chapter one reminds us of who Christ is, what he has achieved, reminds us that all we have as believers is 'in him.' Then, as though to sober us from our celebrations lest we get cocky about all that we have, Paul reminds us: 'And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked...like the rest of mankind. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses and sins, made us alive in Christ...'  (Eph.2:1-5) The first thing to realise is you can be dead and alive at the same time, alive to the things of this world but dead to the things of God. The second is that it is the common lot ( like the rest of mankind ) until Christ comes along. The third is that your new life is a work of God, and the fourth is that this new life costs you your old life. The Bible calls relinquis...

Following my article on why Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t celebrate Easter and Tony Browns excellent account of his visiting the memorial meal online, post 1 here , post 2 here , I thought it might be helpful to look at how Witnesses think about the elements of the Christian Pasch, starting with the cross. In their Insight on the Scriptures the Watchtower Society writes: TORTURE STAKE. An instrument such as that on which Jesus Christ met death by impalement. (Mt  27:32-40; Mr 15:21-30; Lu 23:26; Joh 19:17-19, 25) In classical Greek the word (stau·ros#) rendered “torture stake” in the New World Translation primarily denotes an upright stake, or pole, and there is no evidence that the writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures used it to designate a stake with a crossbeam.—See IMPALEMENT; Int, pp. 1149-1151. The book The Non-Christian Cross, by John Denham Parsons, states: “There is not a single sentence in any of the numerous writings forming the New Testament, which, in the origin...

  Many will be aware of the protests of parents outside a grammar school in Yorkshire. It is over an image shown in a classroom setting in which racism and blasphemy were being addressed. Feelings have been so strong, voices so strident and demanding, that a teacher has had to go into hiding, fearing for their safety. Students of the school have now signed an online petition asking for the teacher to be reinstated, insisting he is not racist. Clearly, the sacred is important to people of faith, important enough for the voices of the faithful to be raised when they believe what they regard as sacred is being desecrated. As Christians we honour what is sacred to us and understand when people of other faiths might raise their voices in protest when what is sacred to them appears to have been abused. People may wonder then why Christians don't normally react in such strident and intimidating ways when the name of Jesus is traduced, mocked, and used as a blasphemy. We are jealous...

Someone asked if a murde r repents and turns to Jesus in the last days of their life is that person saved? It is a familiar enough question, popular with the cults . People usually find the answer scandalous; n obody is beyond the reach of his grace except the one who will not receive it. What does that mean? I t means, 'Whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life. He does not come into judgement, but has passed from death to life.' ( John 5:24, ESV, [ words of Jesus ] ) 'Whoever' means anyone may come, no on e is turned away who comes in repentance , no truly repentant sinner is beyond the reach of his grace. Peter writes, ‘ For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit...’ (1 Pet.3:18) The scandal is the cross, the righteous dying for the unrighteous, but there it is. 'Has eternal life' means those who...