Jamestaiwo:
Once Saved forever Saved

Why is Once saved forever Saved not generally accepted?

Before answering the question, let me give you some Scriptural context.

1. CONTEXT

Christ Jesus said in Mark 13:13:

"And you will be hated by all people on account of my name. But the one who has endured to the end will be saved."
(Similar words are found in Matthew 10:22; 24:13)

He also said in Revelation 2:10:

“Prove yourself faithful even to death, and I will[b] give you the crown of life[/b].”

In harmony with this, the apostle Paul by inspiration wrote in 1 Corinthians 9:26, 27:

“I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so fight I, not as one that beateth the air: But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when[b] I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway[/b].”

And in capter 10 verse 12 he added:

“Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.”


2. ANSWER

And now, my answer.

I humbly believe that even if we I am the path of salvation, I must to endure to the end, even to death if necessary, in order to be saved and receive the prize of eternal life.

I believe I have to strive to obey God in this race for life, so that I am not disapproved or disqualified somehow.

No human can gain their own salvation, it is Jesus’ death that gains salvation for those who show their faith, and even so, it is a gift from God for those who strive to meet His requirements.

So, if we think think we are standing, we must be careful not to fall

Nicollas01:
Respectfully,Why do Jehovah’s Witnesses say there is no burning hell in the Bible, when there is a lake of fire in the scriptures . I'll be reading the comments

Nice question.
Before dealing with the lake of fire and brimstone, let me explain that the words most frequently translated as “hell” in the Bible are the Hebrew word “sheol” and its Greek equivalent “hades”.

Jehovah’s Witnesses understand that both refer to the common grave of mankind (Psalm 16:10, Acts 2:27), instead of a fiery hell of tortures. Why?

Since dead people are unconscious (Ecclesiastes 9:10), they can’t feel any pain.
Since people such as Jacob and Job expected to go there (Genesis 37:35; Job 14:13), it is clear that good people go to hell.
The Bible states that the penaly for sin is death, rather than torture in fire (Romans 6:7).
Eternal punishment wouldn’t be just, since God warned Adam that if he sinned, his punishment would simply be death (Genesis 3:19). God would have been lying if he later sent him to a fiery hell.
God is love and he has never even contemplate the idea of eternal torture (1 John 4:8; Jeremiah 7:31).
As for the Lake of Fire, we understand it is a symbol, rather than a factual lake.

On the one hand, the book of Revelation is basically a symbolic vision or set of visions. In the first verse, we read: “Christ expressed this revelation by means of symbols sent through his angel to his servant John” (Evangelical Heritage Version).
The fact that the Devil is cast into this lake seems to us to be an indication that the lake of fire is symbolic, since the Devil is a spirit creature, which can’t be harmed by literal fire.
Death, or the absense of life is also burnt in the lake, which is physically impossible.
The wild beast and the false prophet, symbols themselves, are also cast into the lake.
The Bible itself explains that the lake of fire represents the second death (Rev 20:14; 21:.
These links will give you more information:

https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/what-is-hell/ https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/lake-of-fire/

Sergio saveer

Emusan:


Not now, I've been learning from birth.
Let me help you put the word in Jesus mouth
"I tell you today, you will be in Paradise which I'll be governed from heaven"
Since you know me oree than Jesus.
@color speaks a lot about how you people can twist the scripture.
Jesus didn't say He'll be with the thief and countless deadones rather the thief will BE WITH JESUS just as other countless deadones will be with Jesus.
"When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. John 14:3

Don't be a waste of time please.
How can you be with someone without the person being with you?
I think this more of a linguistic difference than a biblical one.

Now, where do you think the comma should be placed?

Emusan:


You people are very funny

So Jesus was lying to the man that, the man will be with him in Paradise when Jesus Himself won't be in the same Paradise but heaven

Now that you're learning...
The earthly paradise that Jesus promised the thief will be governed by Jesus as King. Hence, Jesus will be with this thief and other countless deadones when he resurrect them from the grave to life in paradise earth (John 5:38,29 ; Rev 20:11-13; 21:3-4)

I feel compelled to comment here even though I really don't want to. Obviously, The comments here will be varying depending on who are JWs and who are not. It's understandable cos' everyone will be providing answers based on their knowledge.

But two things are certain.

ONE

Jehovah’s Witnesses do not base our beliefs on the Quran, or on the Tanakh only, or the Book of Mormon..

We believe the Bible is the Word of God and base all of our doctrines and our worship on the Bible.


So, from that standpoint, yes: the religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses is biblical.

TWO

A different approach would be whether our interpretation of the Bible is correct or not.

Obviously, Jehovah’s Witnesses will tell you that it is. And those who believe in the Bible but belong to a different religion or a different theological trend so to speak will tell you that it isn’t.

The key is knowing why we believe what we believe, why we find it so convincing.
Is there any of Jehovah's witnesses teaching you find confusing? Why don't you bring it up and let's discuss with your own Bible?(If you have a Bible handy)
Or is it the practical applications of those scriptures?


Now it is difficult to talk to us in person, but if you visit our official website you’ll find a lot of information.
JW.org

cornelboy:


I didn't attend the meeting.
I hope to do so in the future.
I haven't seen any kingdom hall around egbeda Ibadan.

Really? Do you know you can Jw.org to search for the closet KH to you.
You can follow the Below link address and on location

https://apps.jw.org/ui/E/meeting-search.html#/weekly-meetings/search/E/Egbeda,%20Ibadan,%20Nigeria/7.379596,3.967468/@8.522565,4.591165,9z

ignis:
Where is Satan now?

As simple as the above question may sound, I have been confused searching for the answer in the holy Bible.

Please I need elders and Bible scholars in the house to come to my rescue with answer and possible scripture to back up the answer.

Is satan in heaven, earth or hell?

Do you have a Bible handy?

You might want to consider this scriptures

Revelation 12:7–9 New American Standard Bible

7 And there was war in heaven, Michael and his angels waging war with the dragon. The dragon and his angels waged war, 8 and they did not prevail, and there was no longer a place found for them in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.

Satan and his Angels is confined to earth.
Satan and his Angels are working tirelessly Satan and the demons are hard at work misleading people by controlling the governments and religions and social environment of humans.
Such problems are part of the what is called the “time of the end.”

The worst is yet to come. You should reach out to one of Jehovah’s Witnesses to learn how to gain entrance into the kingdom the will soon put an end to all suffering and disease, war and violence and even death will be no more.

Thanks for your time

cornelboy:


That's what I saw on the thread. The person said your a fugitive.
Wetin be OD book?

Organized to do Jehovah's Will
It's available on Jw library and Jw.org

cornelboy:


Calm down. That's what I saw on the thread. I said what the person said.

Don't start with your I'm not JW yet pls.

The person is a nobody. I don't know how to get to the thread again.

Good Afternoon Cornelboy, How're you doing today?
Your comments gives me so much Joy cos' you remind me of myself when I'm just learning the truth. That euphoria to share everything I'm learning with everybody. I understand this feeling, why keep such a lifesaving message to yourself?

Doing that, I'm sure you're familiar with the biblical reasons why we should avoid apostates and people disguising as one especially on the web? So, this is from a purely non-biblical standpoint.

If you observe them, they are not here to have a discussion with you, Their Job is to slander and spew lies. I pretty much ignore them to their frustrating self.
There is a reason why they are called apostates. They have made it their aim to speak against the organization they left and everything it stands for. They're not in for any dialogue or sort, It is only to spread hate or lies or both.

I personally don’t think there is a single thing on earth that can shipwreck my faith at the moment, not even an apostate. I just won’t engage them because it’s a waste of time, I mean you can be counting spaghetti sticks than waste such time .

How was your first in-person meeting?

OLAADEGBU:


You have obviously been influenced by the NWT. The translators did not place the comma, it was Archbishop Stephen Langton who later added the punctuations.

Oh really?
You mean because Stephen Langton was the first person to suggest punctuation validates the meaning? Calm down and learn
No doubt the position of the comma changes the meaning.
Not just Stephen, later Greek text of watt and others contains punctuation but the point is, each of them punctuated according to their understanding of the scriptures then.
Someone that has a flawed understanding of the bible will punctuated wrongly.

OLAADEGBU:


Since you know you are no prophets neither are inspired by the Holy Spirit you have no business predicting or interpreting scriptures confusing million of blind followers into pit of hell.

Good evening Mr. Ola. Should I take this as a general statement for all religious organization or this particular one is peculiar to JWs? Repeatedly, your Daddy G.O has change his interpretation of the scriptures, I hope he'll take this advice too.

Is it unusual to have a wrong ideas or expectation in the Bible? NO!
Ancient worshippers of God and early christians also had mistaken ideas and expectations and needed to adjust their viewpoint or what would one think if the followers of Jesus after being taught bible truths had the opposite understanding?

Such changes are in harmony with the Bible principle stated at
Proverbs 4:18; The path of the righteous is like the bright morning light that grows brighter and brighter until full daylight.”
Just as the rising sun reveals details of a landscape gradually, God grants an understanding of divine truth progressively, in his due time.”

We do not try to hide these changes in our understanding (thus no disception) of the Bible. In fact, we record and publish them.

One of the most attractive feature of Jehovah’s witnesses is this humble attitude and willingness to grow spiritually.

I believe in the Bible and that JWs by far has the most accurate and reasonable interpretation. That doesn’t mean that I believe Jehovah’s Witnesses have the absolute truth. The absolute truth is God’s Word (John 17:17), and Jehovah’s Witnesses offer the best explanation in my view; but it is subject to improvement, instead of being bound to a creed.

OLAADEGBU:


Why then do they predict the future? a

This is the question you ought to have asked before allowing yourself to be misguided by all these misleading articles.
Everybody knows our belief is that miraculous gift of prophesy disappeared since the days of the apostles.

Check out extract from many of our official journals and watchtower articles.

We have not the gift of prophecy.” (January 1883, page 425)

“Nor would we have our writings reverenced or regarded as infallible.” (December 15, 1896, page 306)

does not mean those now serving as Jehovah’s witnesses are inspired. It does not mean that the writings in this magazine The Watchtower are inspired and infallible and without mistakes.” (May 15, 1947, page 157)

“The Watchtower does not claim to be inspired in its utterances, nor is it dogmatic.” (August 15, 1950, page 263)

“The brothers preparing these publications are not infallible. Their writings are not inspired as are those of Paul and the other Bible writers.-2 Timothy 3:16 And so, at times, it has been necessary, as understanding became clearer, to correct views. Proverbs 4:18 ”​—February 15, 1981, page 19.


We have never Claim to making any predictions or prophesy.What we have been guilty of is misunderstanding some of the prophecies (That is in the Bible already) that relate to the “end times”.
No one enter a trance or wakeup from a dream to tell you this or that. NO!
We compare the scripture to scripture and try to understand what it says about the end times

Afterall, we never claimed that our researches are infallible and we're always ready to change if we find out we are incorrect. Life in general is like that. Some people change as they learn and grow, some refuse to even learn.
I pray you do.

For example, we used to celebrate Christmas but when we found out it's unscriptural, We do the right thing

"In 1972 the Jehovah's Witness Watchtower claimed to be the prophet of God."

you check the article, you can notice that we are compared with “prophets” (in inverted commas, mind you) metaphorically, because we publicly proclaim God’s message. Only that that message is the one in the Bible, not a personal divine revelation.

Jehovah's Witnesses do not prophesized neither do they believe in modern day gift of it.
You cannot be a False prophet if you're not a Prophet at all

OLAADEGBU:
What did Jesus mean when He said, "Today you will be with me in paradise"? Where does the comma belong in Luke 23:43?

The Bible text had no punctuation marks as we know them today, so the translators into English are the ones who decide where to put quotation marks, dashes, commas, and fullstops/periods.

In Luke 23:43, some translators put the comma in the wrong place, changing the meaning of what Jesus was saying based on biased doctrines or might be a mistake.

Jesus was not saying “You will be with me today” because that day Jesus ended up in the grave, not in any Paradise.


Jesus meant he was promising the man “today”- that very day- that one day in the future that man would be resurrected to live in Paradise.

Putting the comma in the correct place (after the word “today”) correctly conveys what Jesus meant and is therefore the more accurate translation.

Emusan:


Silent mode

Emusan:


And where was it stated in the scripture that you must be asked for permission before being baptized?
Well good for you!
You quoted Matt 28:19-20 yet you can still open your mouth to spew that @color
That verse simply put it that BAPTIZED them...(first) before teaching.
The way you people twist scripture eh

Nice observation!

Do you take your time to consider these verses? I'll help

"Go, therefore, and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you."

Notice that does who are baptized must be a disciple of Jesus, which means they must have learn about Jesus and choose to follow him.
Back to my question, Do you think Babies can make these decisions?

Emusan:


So do JW have a spokesperson or not?

Emusan:


See excuses

Are they young people or baptized children

When I got baptized in my previous religion, they didn’t ask for my permission.


When I got baptized as one of Jehovah’s Witnesses, I had read the whole Bible, I had studied it, and I had been well informed of all the teachings that JWs consider as the real teachings of the Bible. That knowledge of the Bible was the main feature that led me to the conclusion that that was the true religion.

Jesus said:

“Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19, 20)

So,(Whether young or old) Christians should be baptized when they have been taught, when they obey Jesus’ commands and are disciples. At what age can you make this decision by yourself? 15 years old? 18 years old? 13 years old? one week old?
Sergio

Emusan:


Could that @underlined be a slip of finger or sleep of brain

A JW that does not know that they have a spokesperson.
Is that one a JW?

achorladey:


.

You clearly do not worth my time.
I'll match you up with these young people in my congregation and allow them school you.
Oh! Wait a minute, they've a better use of their time too

I don't even know JWs have a spokesperson until today

I've read many articles encouraging young people to get baptized but not little children. Infact, it encourages parents to teach their children from infancy with the intention of helping them become baptized disciples of Christ one day.

In the Broadcasting programme of March 2020, a member of the Governing Body interviews a brother who talks about his many years serving God. He mentions that he got baptized very young; he wanted to get baptized when he was 11, but the elders refused, so finally, he got baptized when he was 15

In my local congregation, I've seen the case of a child(10yo or 11yo) clearly ahead of his or her age, who easily overcome the level of knowledge and understanding required of an adult,. perhaps some elders might conclude that they cannot reject that person’s desire.

If that is so much a problems, how about the religion organization that baptized Babies?

Visit JW.ORG
Should Infants Be Baptized?
https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2011729#h%3D1%3A0-9%3A72

https://wol.jw.org/en/wol/d/r1/lp-e/2016202#h%3D1%3A0-30%3A459

There are religious organization without belief in god or deity

Jehovah’s Witnesses are ONLY PEER BIBLE STUDENTS, and we share the Bible with all who want to know the Truth.

There is no connection to anything but our God, Jehovah and His Word in the Bible.

Don't allow useless propangada render you this way

Visit our website JW.ORG to learn more about God and his promise about a better future

Jehovah’s Witnesses do not have masonic roots. And the Earth is not flat. And this pandemic is not caused by G5 technology. And governments are not engaged in a secret program to add toxic chemicals to the atmosphere from aircraft.No! The soul is not immortal. Get a life while at it

FatherOfJesus:
The refusal to participate in elections, sing national Athems and pay proper alligiance to their sovereign state is an act of treason.

Naahh
Is that the problem you have with us?

FatherOfJesus:
lol, extremism is when you don't conform to state laws

Oh!
You mean our refusal to take up arms to kill people and they would rather encourage and teach people on living in peace.
Yeah! You're right! They are guilty, they hate humans and they should be persecuted

We as Jehovah's Witnesses will not take up arms or go to war and kill people!
We would never harm anyone
We are law abiding citizen and try all means to be at peace with everyone
We do not discriminate people based on their religion or lifestyle

So how can we be tied to extremism

Oh! Maybe only one form of extemism is our love for fellow man/woman.

So our brothers and sister everywhere in the world are not extremists in any way shape or form including our beloved Chinese brothers and sisters

Ibadan Robinhood

There's always two side to a story. The OP's own is a critic side which is full of half-truth and biased opinion.

This is the short version

The Watchtower Society did not join the UN. Only nations can join the UN.


They became what is called an NGO (Non Government Organisation) to the department of Public Affairs, This was so that they could have access to the vast library at the UN that we use in many of our publications

The criteria for being an NGO was different when they become an NGO. The criteria changed and the responsible men at the WTS we unaware of the change of status for being an NGO until a reporter in England wrote a story for the Guardian

The headquarters began receiving many letters asking about this and as result of those letters, they checked the UN requirements for NGOs and found they had recently changed; they realized that the requirements demanded a more definite support and that violated our neutrality stand, so they disassociated

tctrills:
That's the beauty of scripture reading. Our relationship with God began before the world was created.
We are his spirit children. That is why the scriptures call him our Heavenly Father. We came from heaven. And we have the potential to become like God.

John 8:23
23So he went on to say to them: “YOU are from the realms below; I am from the realms above. YOU are from this world; I am not from this world

I don't think we need to stretch things from Jesus' statement here

tctrills:

The bible says the spirit of man was formed within God, not in the garden. But our human existence began in the garden. Note spirits are not humans.

and the man became a living person.(Gen 2:7). God's we are created and our life started on earth.

To create means to come from inexistence or nothing.

advocatejare:

Don’t believe everything you read on the internet. The guy is just acting his movie


https://www.ghpage.com/lady-piesie-asamoah-gifty-pant-removed-pastor-reacts-photos/45611/?amp=1

It had better be so