About Renae Expertise I am willing to answer any reasonable questions you may have regarding my faith. 1 Peter 3:15 - "But sanctify the Christ is Lord in your hearts, always ready to make a defense before everyone that demands of you a reason for the hope in you, but doing so with a mild temper and deep respect."
Experience I have been one of Jehovah's Witnesses for 17 years, but it has only been during the last 8 years that I have truly dedicated my life, delved into research and proven what I believe in to myself through many secular sources as well as God's word the Bible.
Education/Credentials 8 years of research. I am still learning and perfecting my faith through Jesus teachings and God's will. I understand many of the deeper things of the Bible that now make much more sense to me and I am able to back up my beliefs with other resources such as Encyclopedias including the Catholic Encyclopedia, various journalist's articles, in detail as well as comparison of different biblical translations in order to get the full effect of the scriptures.
Question "Hello!
First of all thank you for taking time to answer questions on your faith. I
appreciate the time you take to provide a resource for people trying to
understand your faith.
So my question is on communion. I am not a JW but studied with some for 6
months. Some of what i learned seemed to make sense, but the thing i never
understood was why ALL JW's don't partake in the Lord's Evening Meal. I
know that once a year you all attend a service for the Lord's Supper, but no
one actually eats of the bread or drinks of the cup that is passed UNLESS that
person feels they are part of the spirit anointed 144,000. But why not?
1)In Luke 22:19, Jesus told his disciples regarding Communion to "do this in
remembrance of Me".
2)Also in 1st Corinthians 11:17-26, if you read the passage Paul is correcting
the Corinthians on their conduct at the Lords Evening Meal. Their
congregation would all come together for Communion, but some wouldn't be
able to partake because there were some who would eat and
drink the elements in excess, not leaving enough for those at the end. Paul
encouraged them to eat at their homes if they were hungry so that when it
was time to celebrate the Lord's Evening Meal, ALL would be able to partake.
Now either this ENTIRE congregation was part of the 144,000, or Paul was
indeed telling us that ALL believers should eat the bread and drink of the
cup.
3)Finally, again in 1st Corinthians, 10:16-17 Paul mentions the elements of
Communion and says that although "we are many, we are one bread and one
body, and WE ALL PARTAKE of that one bread".
I'm sure you are familiar with these portions of scripture and probably have
been presented with these verses accompanied by the same questions I'm
asking! But nonetheless i still would like to hear what you have to say on this
issue.
Do you eat of the bread and drink of the cup when it is passed to you?
If you do not, why don't you?
I look forward to hearing your response as i have never heard from a JW the
reasoning based on scripture for this. GOD bless you!"
Answer Hi John. Sorry it's taken me so long to get back to you, life gets a little frantic for me sometimes when I'm balancing work with 4 children. I like to do the research for you before I just jump in, I try not to give an answer without thinking too much about it. I do appreciate your question very much.
I would like to first focus on where Jesus was when he presented the Lord's evening meal to his apostles. As you may recall this took place while they were celebrating the passover meal which was done only once a year on Nissan 14. Similarly the Jewish Festival of Unfermented Cakes, the Festival of Weeks(Pentecost), the Festival of Booths or Ingathering, and the Day of Atonement were all held once a year. So when Jesus stated "For as often as" at 1 Cor. 11:26, he was meaning to do it "as often as" they usually did what they had been already doing (or when they celebrated the passover) which would be annually and this is why JW's celebrate Jesus' memorial annually.
Now in order for you to completely understand I think I should address, according to the scriptures, who the "anointed" is and what Jesus was talking about when he said we are all one body. (Please look up all the scriptures I site here in order to fully understand what I am explaining according to scripture. I encourage you to use whatever Bible you feel you would like to.) The night of the meal, eleven faithful followers partook with Jesus, and at Luke 22:29 he told them, "I make a covenant with you, just as my Father has made a covenant with me, for a kingdom". At this time they were being invited to share with Christ in his heavenly Kingdom. So it makes sense that all persons today who partake of that bread and cup at the Lord's evening meal should believe that they are involved in that 'covenant for a kingdom' as well. (This is decided by Jehovah who then puts a strong desire to live in heaven and rule as a king or priest with Jesus Christ into each of their hearts. That is their sole purpose in going to heaven as it states in Revelation 5:10: "you made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they are to rule as kings over the earth".) At Luke 12:32 Jesus said that only a "little flock" would receive the heavenly kingdom as their reward. At Revelation 14:1-3 we find the number of that little flock to be 144,000. This group began to be selected at Pentecost in 33 C.E. when certain ones were anointed with holy spirit and given the gift to speak to people about God in their native tongues, or languages. In Corinthians chapter 11 you mentioned how Paul was addressing the congregation of Corinth about their attitudes toward eachother when celebrating and eating the passover meal.(Please open your Bible to 1 Corinthians chapter 12 so you can follow along as I explain) Obviously they were not very thoughtful of one another when they partook. Maybe some of them even felt they were more deserving then someone else and Paul felt he needed to address the situation. However we can see in chapter 12 that these ones did not understand their position in God's arrangement. If you read in chapter 12 you will find him elaborating to the congregation on this subject. If you would, please turn with me to chapter 12 verse 4, here Paul says: "there are varieties of gifts, but there is the same spirit" now if you would, look at verse 5, he says: "there are varieties of ministries, yet there is the same Lord" in verse 6 he goes on: "there are varieties of operations, yet it is the same God who performs all of the operations in all persons". So when we look at these verses we learn that there is a beneficial purpose given to each person according to the holy spirit. We learn that we all can receive the holy spirit even without being anointed and everyone is used by God in a different way according to a different purpose. We can really see this in verses 8-10. Then in verse 12 it tells us about how we all become united as one body through Christ; as one body or one congregation united throughout the world. We are members of a body, like arms, legs, head, neck, brain, feet, etc. a body cannot work correctly without every single part or member being unified. So now we understand verses 19-27.
Now we, through the knowledge that we gain from the Bible (that Jehovah has allowed to pass through time and kept preserved for us through the anointed ones) are able to learn the "truth" about the scriptures. We now can have a share in the benefits of Jesus ransom sacrifice in order to have our sins forgiven so we can gain everlasting life. (John 17:3) In order for us to remember the sacrifice Jesus made for us, we need to observe the memorial of his death which was celebrated on Nissan 14 and is still the same memorial Jehovah's Witnesses observe every year on the same day of Nissan 14 according to the interlinear calendar. We do this in remembrance of Jesus loving sacrifice for us. No, most Jehovah's Witnesses today do not partake of the emblems. No,I do not partake of the emblems either. But I definitely attend and observe Jesus memorial every year just as was commanded and I understand why. I have no desire what so ever of ruling in heaven. My desire is to live here on this earth forever. I believe in Isaiah 65:21-25 where it says: (21) "And they will certainly build houses and have occupancy; and they will certainly plant vineyards and eat their fruitage. (22)They will not build and someone else have occupancy; they will not plant and someone else do the eating. For like the days of a tree will the days of my people be, and the work of their own hands my chosen ones will use to the full. (23) They will not toil for nothing, nor will they bring to birth for disturbance; because they are the blessed ones of Jehovah, and their descendants with them. (24)And it will actually occur that before they call out I myself shall answer; while they are yet speaking, I myself shall hear. (25) The wolf and the lamb themselves will feed as one, and the lion will eat straw just like the bull; and as for the serpent, his food will be dust. They will do no harm, nor cause any ruin in all my holy mountain, Jehovah of Armies has said." That to me sounds like a perfect life on earth and that is exactly what I want.
