"I wish I could have met Jesus"

I remember a JW telling me her biggest dream in the New Order is to talk to the 'impaled' wrongdoer whom Jesus had promised would be in the Paradise.

The biggest reason for this desire is to "ask the forgiven criminal what Jesus looked like and what He sounded like."

I have good reason to believe most JW's have contemplated how they could have a chance to meet...or at the minimum, to just get a good look at the Lord and Saviour who died for them. Most Witnesses are happy to look forward to meeting the Great Ones from Antiquity such as Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses, David, and Elijah.

"I wish I would have met Jesus", a Witness may conclude. After all, if all the Apostles and followers of Jesus in the first century are part of the 144,000 going to heaven, then this doesn't leave many eyewitnesses of the Lord to talk to in Paradise. The best they could do is talk to that forgiven sinner, although most don't even know they could chat with John the Baptist, using their definition of the Annointed.

The Society's illustrations portray Jesus as an older King with white hair and beard (though some publications show him as an enthroned young clean-shaven man!). In drawings He has flesh, but they explain he really doesn't have a fleshly body in Heaven. He will be invisible just like His Father (not even some white, trace lines).

Even if they believe Jesus is the Number Two Most Important Being in the Universe, they will someday see Christ in all His Glory, and for that matter, the Holy Father.

Jesus explains his Second Coming will be visible.

Matthew 24:26"So if anyone tells you, 'There he is, out in the desert,' do not go out; or, 'Here he is, in the inner rooms,' do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. 28Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.

Revelation 1:7 Behold, He is coming with clouds, and every eye will see Him, even they who pierced Him. And all the tribes of the earth will mourn because of Him. Even so, Amen.

Let us pray these souls are saved by the Almighty God and that they see a Resurrection of Life, not Condemnation!

Amazing Grace

"We cannot get salvation just by asking for it".

Comments like that are frequently made at the meetings. The latest one was made by an elder's wife at a bookstudy. To a JW, salvation cannot simply be that easy.

"We must do something else", she followed without explaining what that something else is. In the minds of JW's, this must automatically mean living a perfect life as close as possible. Their salvation is works oriented.

"Jehovah will reward those who work hard enough with eternal life", a non-baptized person who irregularly attends the Kingdom Hall confided in me on one occassion. "If one doesn't work, one does not get paid."

According to God's Word, we cannot earn our salvation

Ephesians 2:8 For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.

Salvation is not dependent on works either.

Romans 4:4 Now when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an obligation. 5However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness.

As a Jehovah's Witness, I did not understand what Grace was all about. I remember at field service when I was a young kid, I was trying to sing "Amazing Grace" since I only knew the first line. "Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound". An elder overheard me and was visibly indignant, but he didn't say anything to me about it. I didn't find the meaning of Grace, much less made the connection to Salvation until years later. Now, I look at the lyrics of this beautiful song and I can only praise God.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,That saved a wretch like me....I once was lost but now am found,Was blind, but now, I see. -John Newton

The Society teaches no one can be certain of their salvation, but this goes contrary to biblical teaching.

1 John 5:13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

Grace and Salvation now hold a wonderful significance. Simple words like that have changed my life forever. These poor souls, under the clutches of the Watchtower, are being deprived of the only hope for Christians.

Memorial 2007, Part 1: Downplaying Jesus' Sacrifice

"How are we going to treat the Father from now on?"

That was the biggest question at the Memorial I attended on April 2, 2007. Only by the Grace of God did I not go berserk. I had prepared myself not to interfere in the proceedings, out of respect to my family and friends there.

Right from the beginning the onslaught of absurdity and deception was unleashed. The Elder opened the night with a weird guilt trip. He summed up all of creation and the meaning of life into this simple illustration. If a father found his son had crossed the railroad tracks and there was no way to stop the impending train from destroying the young boy other than to derail it and thus killing all of passengers, what would the father do?

"Well, this is precisely what happened", the Elder continued, face still intact. "The Father, Jehovah, sacrificed his Son, Jesus Christ, so that all of you may live! How would we act towards that human father? How much more should we feel towards our Heavenly Father that went through that?".

I am not completely aware how people took his illustration, but I couldn't stomach it. First of all, how WOULD we feel if a Father did just that? I would feel grateful if he let me live, in a strange kind of way, but how would the man's wife and, if the case, other children react to this?

The analogy breaks down even faster. It wasn't just a few that were inside this train, it was the entire human civilization, past, present, and future! Even if the human Father allowed that to happen from inside the moving train, did the Son go there unknowingly?

Not only did God send his Son, but His Son volunteered to take on our deserved punishment and die for us! The ficitious little boy was evidently unsupervised by his Father in the first place and wandered off into a danger zone by mistake. How ungodly to make such comparisons to the Holy Father and Son.

John 10:17 The reason my Father loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again. 18 No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from my Father."