WHAT ARE ESSENTIAL DOCTRINES.
They are doctrines that the first century Christians would not deny but would rather enter the Coliseum and face the lions. These doctrines comprise the core of the Christian faith and that to remove any one of them is to make the belief system non-Christian. Any unsaved person (JW, Christian Scientist, Mormon, atheist, agnostic or Muslim), will deny one or more of these essential doctrines. Because these central doctrines define the character of Christianity, a person cannot be saved and deny any one. I believe these doctrines are: (1) Salvation by Grace, (2) Jesus is God and Man. (3)The Bodily Resurrection of Christ, (4) Monotheism and (5) the Trinity.
You may not agree that all of these are essential or maybe you feel that I left some out. But if you agree that even one of these doctrines are essential, then WT theology is not Christian because the WT is at odds with all five.
DOCTRINE #1 - SALVATION
Salvation According to the WT.
The Watchtower, Feb. 15, 1983, p.12, article, “You Can Live Live Forever in Paradise on Earth—But How?” The Article describes four requirements:
1st Requirement. "This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.“ So you must study and take in knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ. This would mean one needs to be involved in WT Bible studies.
2nd Requirement. One must obey God’s laws. You must live a clean, moral life as set out in the Bible.
3rd Requirement. A person needs to be associated with God’s channel. In plain English, you need to be a JW in good standing.
4th Requirement. You must be a “publisher” (actively going door-to-door).
Salvation According to the Bible.
Only through Jesus and His death on the cross are we saved. II Cor. 5:21, "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”
In other words, when God looks at Jesus, He sees us and when He looks at us, He sees Jesus. It is nothing that we have done, it is entirely of God.
Eph. 2:8-10 “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; not as a result of works, that no one should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
DOCTRINE #2 – JESUS
Jesus of the Watch Tower
Jesus was the first creation of
Jehovah. “Let God Be True,” p. 257.
“The Scriptures point to the resurrected Jesus Christ as the chief of all angels—Michael the archangel.” Awake!, 2-8-02, p. 16.
Jesus of the Bible.
John 1:1, 14, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [14] And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us,”
Revelation 1:8, 17-18 “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.” ... [17] When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last. I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive forever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
Revelation 22:12-13, 16 “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.... [16] “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.“
Note that the titles given to Jesus, “Alpha and the Omega,” “the Beginning and the End,” “the First and the Last,” “the Almighty,” “the Lord God, who is, and who was, and who is to come.” All these titles of Deity, in context are applied specifically to Jesus.
DOCTRINE #3 – JESUS BODILY RESURRECTION?
Bodily Resurrection WT style.
"...the man Jesus is dead, forever dead..." “The Atonement Between God and Man,” Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. 5, 1899, p. 454.
"...the bodies in which Jesus manifested himself to the disciples, his return to life were not the body in which he was nailed to the tree." The Kingdom is at Hand, 1944, p. 259.
“…in his resurrection he ‘became a life-giving spirit.’ That was why for most of the time he was invisible to his faithful apostles… He needs no Human body any longer… The human body of flesh, which Jesus Christ laid down forever as a ransom sacrifice, was disposed of by God’s power.” Things in Which it is Impossible for God to Lie, pp. 332, 354
“So the evidence indicates that the Son of God was known as Michael before he came to earth and is known also by that name since his return to heaven where he resides as the glorified spirit Son of God.” Reasoning from the Scriptures, 1985, 1989, p. 218
Bodily Resurrection Biblical style.
1 Corinthians 15:3-5, “For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.”
Paul says that “Christ died for our sins.” Paul says that “He was buried.” And that “He was raised.” He who? He Christ. Christ died, Christ was buried and Christ was raised. That is why Paul said, I Corinthians 15:14, “and if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain.”
DOCTRINE #4 - MONOTHEISM!
The WT’s Monotheism.
The WT identifies the Mighty God as Jehovah.
Jer. 32:18 “ . . . and repaying the error of the fathers into the bosom of their sons after them, the [true] God, the great One, the mighty One, Jehovah of armies is his name.”
Isaiah 10:21 “ A mere remnant will return, the remnant of Jacob, to the Mighty God.”
BUT the WT also states that this Mighty God is Jesus.
Isaiah 9:6 “For there has been a child born to us, there has been a son given to us; . . . And his name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.”
The Bible on Monotheism.
Deut. 6:4 “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God the LORD is one!” John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (NASB)
Isaiah 43:5 “ . . . Besides Me there is no God.” 2 Peter 1:1, “To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (NASB)
Isaiah 45:21 “ . . . And there is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior. There is none except Me.” Titus 2:13, “while we wait for the blessed hope—the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ,” (NASB)
Isaiah 46:9 “ . . . For I am God and there is no other, I am God, and there is no one like me.” John 20:28 in the WT’s Kingdom Interlinear, “In answer Thomas said to Him (Jesus), “The Lord of me and the God of me.”
DOCTRINE #5 - THE TRINITY
The WT’s view of the Trinity.
"Christendom's unchristian
doctrine of a Trinity of "God the Father and God the Son and God the Holy
Ghost" will be rejected by all enlightened mankind as being a blasphemous
pagan lie." Paradise Restored to Mankind - By Theocracy, p.388.
“God-fearing persons who want to know Jehovah and serve him find it a bit difficult to love and worship a complicated, freakish-looking, three-headed God. The clergy who inject such ideas will contradict themselves in the very next breath by stating that God created man in his own image; and certainly no one has ever seen a three-headed human creature." Let God be True, 1946, pp. 83-84.
The Bible’s view of the Trinity.
The OT places an emphasizes on the unity of God. It is clear that there is only one God, in contrast to the many false gods of the pagans; yet, there are instances in the Old Testament pointing to the fact that God exists in a plurality of Persons.
One example of this occurs where God is speaking and uses "us" and "our": Genesis 3:22 Genesis 11:7 Isaiah 6:8 and Genesis 1:26-27 which says, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness . . .’” This last quote is significant since it speaks of the very nature of God.
The Gospel message is clear: God
the Father sent His Son to redeem fallen man; The Son willingly came to die for
the sins of the world; and the Holy Spirit convicts men of sin, regenerates the
heart by the Word of God which He inspired, takes the things of Christ, and
shows them unto us who love Him.
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