DISCLAIMER--I will, by no means, exhaustively write about each
and every error in each and every chapter of this book—that would require a
book several times the size of this WT book. I will pick out a topic or two
from each chapter to write about. Some will be a “mole hill” in the landscape
of Bible doctrine and others will be a “Mt. Everest
Chapter 2, “The Bible a Book from God,” I sailed through and found nothing that
raised a major red flag which in and of itself raised a red flag. A great
technique to get someone to buy a lie is to place the lie after or in the
middle of a bunch of truths. As a person reads statement after statement which
are true, they are less likely to think a certain statement is false especially
if the statement concerns something which they have not formed an opinion on.
For example, years ago I was reading the WT book, The Truth that Leads to Eternal Life. I was sailing through the
pages, true statement after true statement when this statement occurred,
“Jesus, God’s first and greatest creation.” The book then went on to more true
statements. A Biblically ignorant person may have accepted the big lie about
Jesus because it was inserted in-between many true statements. Thus, one needs to be
ever vigilant to the WT slipping in the BIG LIE with a number of truths.
All WT beliefs and practices are not anti-Bible or
anti-Christian. However, the BIG LIE above about Jesus being created is lie
enough that you are believing in a false Christ and on the wide road to
destruction. If everything the WT believes and practices is in contradiction to
the Bible, how many would be ensnared by its lies. Even the devil masquerades
as an angel of light.
Chapter 3, “What is God’s Purpose on the Earth,” illustrates a common WT
practice I refer to as “hide-a-lie.” On page 33 under the heading, A New World
is at Hand! it reads, “The Bible assures us: There are new heavens and a
new earth that we are awaiting according to [God’s] promise and in these
righteousness is to dwell." (2 Peter 3:13; Isaiah 65:17) Sometimes when the
Bible speaks of “the earth,” it means the people who live on the earth (Genesis
11:1). So the righteous ‘new earth’ is a society of people who receive God’s
approval.”
A JW will point particularly to 2 Peter 3:6, “the world at that
time (long ago found in verse 5) was destroyed, being flooded with water.” The
JW will ask, “was the earth destroyed.” Your answer, “No.” The Witness will
then ask, “What was destroyed?” Your answer, “Sinful people.” The JW will then
beam with pride and say something like, “See, only sinful people are t0 be
destroyed, not the earth itself.”
DID YOU CATCH THE BIG LIE? If you did not, that is because the
JW was successful in “hiding-a-lie.” The hide-a-lie technique simply involves
reading only that portion of scripture that supports their lie and avoiding
other verses that expose their lie. The lie is, that the “new earth is a
society of people.” To expose this BIG LIE one needs only to continue reading
verses 7-12. Below are verses 7 and 10-12. I invite you to read all of 2 Peter
to get the full context. Remember the New Testament books were written without
chapter and verse divisions. See my blog on the importance of CONTEXT here.
7
But by His word the present heavens and earth are being reserved for fire, kept
for the day of judgment and destruction of ungodly men.
10
But the day of the Lord will come like a thief, in which the heavens will
pass away with a roar and the elements will be destroyed with intense heat, and
the earth and its works will be burned up. 11 Since all these things are
to be destroyed in this way, what sort of people ought you to be in holy
conduct and godliness, 12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of
God, because of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements
will melt with intense heat! 13 But according to His promise we are looking for
new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
How can you expose the WT's BIG LIE concerning 2 Peter 3:6? By reading the VERY NEXT WORD from
verse 7, “But.” Ask the JW, “What is a synonym for but?” If you look this up in
a thesaurus you will find: “however” and my favorite “on the other hand.”
Peter is saying “On the other hand or in contrast to what
happened ‘long ago’ today’s heavens and earth are being reserved (set aside)
for fire (what fire is spelled out in verse 10) but for now the heavens and
earth are being “kept (retained just as they are) for the day of judging and
destroying ungodly men.” After the judging and destroying, then the heavens and
earth will be dealt with as stated in verse 10.
Verse 10 clearly shows that the heavens and the earth will be
destroyed by intense heat. Note that Peter says twice (verse 10 and 12) the
heavens and earth are to be destroyed by intense heat. And we are looking for a
“new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.” Peter is very
clear about the destruction. He tells us there will be a “roar”—a sound that we
could hear and intense heat. And what will be destroyed—the very elements
(atoms) or building blocks of the heavens and earth. The promise mentioned in
verse 13 is recorded in Isaiah 65:17, “For behold, I create new heavens and a
new earth; and the former things will not be remembered or come to mind.”
A good rule to remember in Bible interpretation and to avoid the WT “hide-a-lie technique” is:
When the plain sense of Scripture
makes common sense,
seek no other sense;
Therefore, take every word
at its primary, ordinary,
usual, literal meaning
Unless the facts
of the immediate context,
studied in the light
Of related passages and
obvious and fundamental truths indicate clearly otherwise
What Does the Bible Really Teach--A WT Book Chap. 4 Part 1 here.
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