AboutDaniel Selinski Expertise Will answer any question about our religion,doctrines and practices, but most of all the scriptural reason.Quite adept in other translations other than our New World Translation.Understand koine Greek which was used in the New Testament.
Experience In Jehovah's Witness organization since 1975,served as an ordained minister and regular pioneer
Education/Credentials High school grad,Attended College.
Expert: Daniel Selinski Date: 7/25/2008 Subject: Which is the right religion?
Question All right, Daniel, I can't leave you go after that last post. The true religion is Christianity. It's the only religion that can boast of a leader whose life, death and resurection were prophecized hundreds of years before he ever lived, whose religious leader predicted an improbable event (destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD) and whose resurrection could be reasonably believed, improbable as it sounded. After all, if Christ didn't rise, then would cowering fishermen and the like be able to preach his life-changing and soul saving message? Would they be able to face persecution and ultimately death if He didn't rise?
Now that we know what the right religion is, lets examine if there is one type of Christian assembling that is the only acceptable one for Christians to be part of. Let's look at the two that could be the most probable first, Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy.
Both have ties to the apostolic church, both are the oldest fellowships, so could one of these two possibly be the one? Both claim their authority from Scripture and Apostolic Tradition. And that's the first problem: No one can be sure which of their different sets of tradtions are truly the real ones from the apostles, if in fact either! Not to mention that some binding traditions they both share can't credibly be traced to the apostles! So, no, let's skip Orthodoxy and Roman Catholicism...their claims crumble under scrutiny.
Next up, Mormonism. No, Joseph Smith was a fasle prophet. Next!
Next up is the Watchtower. Let me ask you, if I was confused by the Trinity, found hell repugnant, and hated the concept of serving in the military, why wouldn't I join the Christadelphians? They at least haven't made any false prophecies.
Let's see...The Church of Christ? They claim to be the restoration of 1st Century Christianity, and are largely orthodox, but miss the boat on baptismal regeneration, not to mention how legalistic they are concerning only their baptism and no one else's forgiving sins. Plus, Disciples of Christ broke off from the Church of Christ, so how do we know THEY aren't the true first century church and not the Church of Christ?
So we've knocked off all the fellowships that claim to be the only REAL Christians. None of these can truly be, as their claims can't be backed up with the facts or scripture.
That leaves Protestantism. Are all Protestant churches faithful assemblies? Absolutely not! Are many? Absolutely. Which are? Those that preach the gospel, (we are saved by grace alone through faith alone through Christ alone), teach the existence of a triune God, and consider the Bible their ultimate authority for life and living.
So to conclude, can I tell you where to assemble? No, I can't. There, I admit it. I can just tell you how to get right with God and the Assemblies to avoid. Once you get right with God, though, I CAN tell you who to talk to as far as getting you in the right assembly:
He's our teacher, counselor, and advocate(Jn 14:26), He's eternal (Hebrews 9:14), omnicient (1Cor 2:10,11)...He's God(Acts 5:3-4)! He's the Holy Spirit, and He's the supernatural power source that all who have trusted in Christ have access to! Ask Him fervently in prayer to guide you to the right church where orthodox doctrine is preached and your spirit will be fed! He will! And if you misinterpret His guidance and wind up at the wrong church, continue to seek His counsel and He will lead you out of it!
There ya go, Daniel. I hope I better articulated my "Which Church is the Right Church" answer. I'm sure it won't satisfy you, but PLEASE consider it as an option. It is my fear that your heart is so hardened around the Watchtower being Jehovah's Organization despite the false prophecies and lies it has told.
I know you probably can't stand me, but I care deeply about you and don't wish to see you perish.
Mike
Answer At least I got you to admit it thats a start.Unfortanantly Protestantism is from Roman Catholicism its just a protest which is where the name came from,they still took away the same teaching of the principle part of Christendom which is the catholic church.
Our search for the true religion must start with where it started at Pentecost ,Christ formed the Christian congregation. There must be just one true religion. Jesus Christ spoke of those who practice such religion as worshiping God “with spirit and truth,” and truth is never at disagreement with itself.
You cant disagree with the fact that the early Christian congregation bore no resemblance to the institutionalized church systems we see today.
They were organized, individual congregations did not operate independently of one another. They all recognized the authority of a governing body in Jerusalem. That body—consisting of the apostles and older men of the Jerusalem congregation—helped to preserve the unity of the congregation as the “one body” of Christ.
Nothing like we see in the realm of Christendom which is fragmented into hundreds of different denominations and doctrines.
So like I said the true church was formed at Pentecost ,this was the only way of worship approved by God,Israel's way at Jerusalem was rejected in favor of this group.
The question is :
What happened to that one true congregation ?
Did it become the Catholic Church? Did it evolve into the denominational, fragmented Protestant church system that we see today? Or did something else happen?
It is true the catholic church assumed the leadership in established religion.
But Jesus himself said the true church he formed would disappear from view and that he would allow such a sad situation to continue for centuries.
Identifying the congregation he started as the kingdom of the heavens he said:
NWT:
(Matthew 13:24-30) . . .The kingdom of the heavens has become like a man that sowed fine seed in his field. 25 While men were sleeping, his enemy came and oversowed weeds in among the wheat, and left. 26 When the blade sprouted and produced fruit, then the weeds appeared also. 27 So the slaves of the householder came up and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow fine seed in your field? How, then, does it come to have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy, a man, did this.’ They said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go out and collect them?’ 29 He said, ‘No; that by no chance, while collecting the weeds, YOU uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the harvest season I will tell the reapers, First collect the weeds and bind them in bundles to burn them up, then go to gathering the wheat into my storehouse.’”
Now I will break this down for you.
Jesus explained that he was “the sower,
“The fine seed” his congregation he formed.
His enemy “” was Satan the Devil.
“The weeds” were counterfeit Christians who infiltrated his congregation .
He said that he would let “the wheat” and “the weeds” grow together until “the harvest,” which would come at “a conclusion of a system of things.”
What did all of this mean?
Soon after the death of the apostles, apostate teachers from within the congregation began to take control of it. They spoke “twisted things to draw away the disciples after themselves.
How do we know this?
(Acts 20:29-30) . . .I know that after my going away oppressive wolves will enter in among YOU and will not treat the flock with tenderness, 30 and from among YOU yourselves men will rise and speak twisted things to draw away the disciples after themselves.
His going away was the deaths of the leadership of the true congregation formed.
So by the fourth century
the enemy adulterated the pure church with lies and false teachings
Catholic Christianity had become the official religion of the Roman Empire which ruled at that time.
Just as predicted Jesus his genuine true church was hidden from sight as counterfeit Christians flourished.
"An enemy, a man, did this.’ They said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go out and collect them?’ 29 He said, ‘No; that by no chance, while collecting the weeds, YOU uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest"
So he still has true believers who didn't accept the false teachings of the catholic church but they were chocked out so to speak by the weeds false religion.
So what he started at Pentecost no longer made up a clearly identifiable visible body or organization the Devil saw to that.
The apostle Paul foretold something else that would mark this counterfeit religious system. He wrote:
NWT:
(2 Thessalonians 2:3-4) . . .Let no one seduce YOU in any manner, because it will not come unless the apostasy comes first and the man of lawlessness gets revealed, the son of destruction. 4 He is set in opposition and lifts himself up over everyone who is called “god” or an object of reverence, so that he sits down in the temple of The God, publicly showing himself to be a god. . .
This is not a single man as the false churches teach but a system.
This “man of lawlessness” is none other than the clergy class that exalted itself into a ruling position over the “Christian” congregation.
KJ says:
the son of perdition
Holman Christian Standard ;
the man of lawlessness
English Standard Version:
This apostasy started in the apostle Paul’s day. It accelerated once the apostles died and their restraining influence disappeared. It would be marked, said Paul, by “the operation of Satan with every powerful work and lying signs and portents and with every unrighteous deception.”
(2 Thessalonians 2:7-10) . . .True, the mystery of this lawlessness is already at work; but only till he who is right now acting as a restraint gets to be out of the way. 8 Then, indeed, the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will do away with by the spirit of his mouth and bring to nothing by the manifestation of his presence. 9 But the lawless one’s presence is according to the operation of Satan with every powerful work and lying signs and portents 10 and with every unrighteous deception. . .
So the correct word is man of lawlessness which was as he said already teaching false doctrines,so he cant be a single man a anti Christ as the false churches teach .
This same verse is translated by Christendom's KJ as:
"For the mystery of iniquity doth already work.
First it translates the same GK word "son of perdition" now the same word is mystery of iniquity .
English Standard :
the mystery of lawlessness is already at work
Then KJ later in the same verse says:
And then shall that Wicked be revealed
This is inconsistent.
English Standard
9The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan
How accurately that describes the activities of so many religions in christendom not Jehovah's Witnesses.
"But the lawless one’s presence is according to the operation of Satan with every powerful work and lying signs and portents 10 and with every unrighteous deception"
Healings,speaking in tongues,expelling Demons and on and on in the name of Jesus.
All kind of signs that supposed to confirm God must be with a certain religion that perform these spiritual gifts that were done away with hundreds of years ago yet they are still being done today but the power is from the Devil.
(Matthew 7:22-23) . . .Many will say to me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and expel demons in your name, and perform many powerful works in your name?’ 23 And yet then I will confess to them: I never knew YOU! Get away from me, YOU workers of lawlessness.
So these works although powerful are works of this lawless class of christendom,it cant be Islamic religions they dont envoke the name of Jesus,it cant be Jehovah's Witnesses we just go door to door we dont perform any powerful works ,so that leaves the churches of christendom.
He plainly stated he did not give these churches the power to perform these spiritual things .
"I never knew YOU! Get away from me, YOU workers of lawlessness"
These signs are for a purpose by the Devil,it says why he perform these wonderful works.
9Even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders,
KJ:
10And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.
Jehovah's Witnesses offer the truth of the scriptures but people reject our message in favor of signs and visible proof .
The other churches that sprang up following the so-called Reformation you mentioned .
Did they return to the model of the early Christian congregation? Did they restore the purity of the original Christian congregation? It is true that following the Reformation, the Bible became available to many of the common people in their own language. Yet, history shows that these churches continued to teach erroneous doctrines.
What of Jehovah's Witnesses?
Jesus definitely foretold that his one true congregation would be restored during what he called a conclusion of a system of things.
(Matthew 13:30) 30 Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the harvest season I will tell the reapers, First collect the weeds and bind them in bundles to burn them up, then go to gathering the wheat into my storehouse.’”
True religion here is pictured as wheat false religion as weeds.
We are in the harvest so true religion must be established right now.
Where is that one true church?’ It ought to become more and more clearly identifiable as time goes forward.
I say this because he said:
(Matthew 13:28-30) . . .Do you want us, then, to go out and collect them?’ 29 He said, ‘No; that by no chance, while collecting the weeds, YOU uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the harvest season I will tell the reapers, First collect the weeds and bind them in bundles to burn them up. . .
Weeds and wheat look just alike at one point in time but in time one can see the difference between the two,so likewise true religion should be identifiable right now from false religion.
Christendom claims to have sprung from the original small Christian
at Pentecost but religious history shows that actually Christendom was founded in the fourth century by the pagan Roman emperor Constantine the Great.
Jesus “the Son of man,” did not sow those weeds in his own field. His enemy, Satan the Devil, did so. In the parable, the slaves of the Sower quickly discovered the presence of the weeds in the wheat field. They wanted to uproot the weed sprouts. But the Sower, the owner of the wheat field, would not let them do so. In his patience and long-suffering he ordered the slaves to let both the weeds and the wheat grow together until the harvest
First then would he have the weeds, now fully grown, separated from the wheat.
Jesus is clearly speaking of christendom
In fulfillment of this feature of Jesus’ parable, he did not have Christendom destroyed as soon as it manifested itself. He permitted it to expand to grow to where it is today with its hundreds of different doctrines and beliefs.
But as this says he will destroy christendom;
(Matthew 13:30) . . .Let both grow together until the harvest; and in the harvest season I will tell the reapers, First collect the weeds and bind them in bundles to burn them up,. . .
So he will destroy false religion and only the true religion will be left.
The Devil knows which religion is true that is for sure,so he spread lies that Jehovah's Withesses are false prophets,as you said:
"They at least haven't made any false prophecies."
I have stated on this board we have never in the pages of the Watchtower made predictions claiming they came from God,for a date to be a prophecy it would have to be claimed it camed from him and as I stated many times we done claim to be inspired with the gift of prophecy hence we cant be false prophets,
so dates as to events in the future were merly speculation not prophecy.
You can continue to believe in the church and support christendom but its going down in flames Christ will see to it.
Today Christendom’s congregations number into the millions
but God did not plant this way of worship.
Jesus sounds the warning of false religion:
(Matthew 15:13) . . .Every plant that my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted.
(Psalm 127:1) . . .Unless Jehovah himself builds the house, It is to no avail that its builders have worked hard on it. Unless Jehovah himself guards the city, It is to no avail that the guard has kept awake. . .
(Proverbs 21:30) . . .There is no wisdom, nor any discernment, nor any counsel in opposition to Jehovah. . .
