Jehovah's Witnesses and salvation
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For Jehovah's Witnesses, the salvation doctrines play a very important role. They reject the doctrine of universal salvation. They teach that salvation requires faith in Jesus Christ. They believe that salvation is a free gift from God, and that Christian works are evidence of their genuine faith—indeed, "faith without works is dead" (James 2:24). They reject the concept "once saved, always saved," believing that salvation will be granted to those who endure faithfully until the end.[1] Jehovah's Witnesses believe that people currently alive must be actively associated with their religion alone, and become one of them as an essential requirement for salvation. Their literature states: "A third requirement is that we be associated with God's channel, his organization. . . Jehovah is using only one organization today to accomplish his will. To receive everlasting life in the earthly Paradise we must identify that organization and serve God as part of it." (Watchtower 15 Feb 1983 p. 12) They also believe faithful Christians and worshippers of God in the past will also gain salvation via a resurrection, along with the non-Christian resurrected who then choose to serve God.
The group rejects the doctrine of predestination or fate, believing that all intelligent creatures are endowed with free will.
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the hope for mankind is to live forever on a paradise earth. The hope for the dead is the resurrection to life on the restored earth.
Jehovah's Witnesses hold that baptized believers are classified into two groups. The one class is called the "anointed" class or "the little flock" (Luke 12:32). These are limited in number to 144,000 based on Revelation 14:1 and 4, and those of this class remaining alive today are called "the remnant" (Revelation 12:17). They are also considered to be "God’s sons" and "joint heirs" (Romans 8:14-16) with the son of God, Christ Jesus, and, consequently, they will co-rule with him in the "Kingdom of heavens." This class, therefore, has the hope of entering heaven after death. Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the Word of God is primarily directed to his 'sons,' the "little flock" class, and therefore may not apply to the other Jehovah's Witnesses in a direct way. One example of this is the passage John 3:3. Jehovah's Witnesses hold that only his "sons" are "anointed" or "born again" in accordance to Jesus' words to Nicodemus, "Verily, verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God."
Only those in the anointed class consume small portions of the unleavened bread and wine at the yearly commemoration of Christ's death, on the date corresponding with the Jewish date Nisan 14, commonly referred to as the Memorial, a special meeting held at Kingdom Halls, rented locations, and sometimes assembly halls. This meeting consists of a talk relating to the value of Jesus' shed blood and flesh, signified by the wine and the bread, respectively, along with a passing of emblems (bread and wine) throughout the audience. The remaining attendees, baptized Witnesses or otherwise, are considered observers only. (Compare with the Eucharist.)
The other class according to Jehovah's Witnesses' beliefs was identified in 1935, and was then called the "Jonadab class." Today they are referred to as the "other sheep", based on the passage at John 10:16 where Jesus speaks of having "other sheep... that are not of this fold." This identification for the "other sheep" differs radically from the current mainstream view of this passage, namely that Jesus would bring his Jewish believers (little flock) and Gentile believers (other sheep) together into one fold.
This "other sheep" class of Jehovah's Witnesses make up more than 99% of their believers today. Though they are not "born again" as reigning "kings and priests" in God's Heavenly Kingdom, they anticipate being subjects of God's kingdom, enjoying everlasting life on a peaceful, paradisaic earth.[2] This doctrine of two classes of believers is unique to Jehovah's Witnesses.
The "ingathering" of this heavenly class of "anointed" Witnesses is believed to have ceased for the most part in the early 1930's, when the ingathering of believers expressing an earthly hope rose sharply. Rarely will one find a younger "anointed" one, but the idea that individual "anointed" ones can be rejected and replaced is not unheard of. "Anointed" believers are generally given no more consideration than other elderly believers. They can be disfellowshipped (excommunicated) for the same sins as the "other sheep," and hold no special office within the congregational arrangement. Having the "anointed" status is, by Scriptural definition, a personal discovery during one's conversion, and an innate knowledge to be positively held by the individual alone. While falsely claiming to have this inner knowledge is a sin, it is in reality not the place of any other person to make this assessment for him or her, Witness or otherwise; the individual's publicly known in-depth understanding of Bible truth (including the role of the "anointed class") and his or her own "testimony" is what the congregation must accept. Historically, only male "anointed" members have been chosen to serve on their Governing Body.
Some critics claim that Jehovah's Witnesses' own literature contradicts the number 144,000 anointed as being filled in our modern times, as one issue of the Watchtower magazine lists over 910,000 Christians who experienced terrible torture and death for their faith in Christ during the beginnings of Christianity, as secular history also testifies during the first four centuries. (Watchtower 1951, 1 September, p. 516) This would present an obvious contradiction that 144,000 Christians never existed in full until the 20th century (1935) as currently taught by Jehovah's Witnesses through their organization the Watch Tower Society. Some reconcile this by responding that Jehovah's Witnesses also teach that the Apostasy foretold by Jesus began in earnest after the death of the last Apostle at the end of the 1st century. (Insight on the Scriptures, Vol 2, pp. 310-312) Beginning in the 2nd century, the Church began to adopt teachings that Jehovah's Witnesses believe are deviations from Scripture. (Watchtower 2001, 1 April, p. 14) Therefore, the members of the Church from that point forward are sometimes referred to in Watch Tower Society literature as "professed" Christians and are not considered to necessarily be "anointed." However, in the article in question, only 144,000 Egyptian Christians are stated to be merely "professed," leaving up to 766,000 other Christians that were said to be fighting for "The Christian stand." They also hold to this despite the fact that Jehovah's Witnesses themselves, including their modern "anointed" (since the late nineteenth century), have also held beliefs that are now considered deviations from Scripture due to "their bondage to Babylon the Great" ("world empire of false religion") and what they claim are its false religious doctrines, and still do not believe that they themselves have a completely accurate understanding of the Bible.[3]
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that God's Kingdom is a real heavenly government, established in 1914 and headed by Jesus Christ, along with a group of 144,000 faithful Christians.[4] They refer to their witnessing activity as "preaching 'this good news of the kingdom'".[5] This Kingdom or government will rule over the earth and restore the earth to its previous Edenic condition.[6] At Armageddon, Jehovah God will remove wicked persons from the Earth once and for all and God's Kingdom will replace all human kingdoms, or governments.[7] After Jesus and the 144,000 co-rulers have administered Earth's affairs for one thousand years and Satan's final test has been concluded, these individuals will turn over direct rulership of all creation back to Jehovah. (Rev. 20:3)
[edit] References
- ^ You Can Endure to the End The Watchtower October 1, 1999, p. 17.
- ^ You Can Believe in a Paradise Earth The Watchtower November 15, 2003, p. 4.
- ^ Firmly Uphold Godly Teaching The Watchtower, May 1 2000, p. 8.
- ^ Stand Still and See the Salvation of Jehovah! The Watchtower June 1, 2003, p. 17.
- ^ Keep On Preaching the Kingdom The Watchtower January 1, 1988, p. 25.
- ^ Christians and the Millennial Hope The Watchtower April 15, 1981, p. 13.
- ^ When God's Will Is Done on Earth, April 15, 2004, p. 4.
