Page 36 - Cults and Marginal Groups - Textbook w videos short

the early Scriptures word stauros (the apparatus used as a scaffold for crucifying Jesus) should be
translated as a simple upright post, or a post with a cross beam (either a ✝ shaped Latin Cross, a 'Y'
shaped Forked Cross, an 'X' shaped St. Andrew's Cross or a 'T' shaped Tau Cross). The consensus is that it
was not a simple upright post.

They teach that Jesus is not the means of bringing salvation to men. Jehovah’s Witnesses claim
everlasting life is a reward for doing the will of God and carrying out one's dedication -- in other words,
salvation is a reward for good works. (Jehovah’s Witnesses are expected to spend five hours per week in
door-to-door visitation and witnessing, are responsible for selling twelve subscriptions to The
Watchtower magazine each month and are responsible for conducting a "Bible study" each month in the
homes of their converts.)

According to Jehovah’s Witness theology, a person has one of three possible destinies. The Anointed
(144,000) will be in heaven to reign with Jehovah God. The rest of the faithful Jehovah's Witnesses (not
of the 144,000) will live forever on a paradise Earth. Both of these classifications are determined to a
great extent on membership in the Watchtower organization as well as going door-to-door spreading
the message of the Watchtower. Those people who are not members of the Watchtower organization
will be destroyed by Jehovah God and cease to exist. There is no concept of eternal punishment or hell
in Watchtower theology (Let God Be True, pp. 90-95, 289). They also believe that men will have a second
chance, after death, to be saved.
So the crux of the error taught those in the Watchtower Society is that Jesus is not God and
He cannot save you. They believe he was a perfect man, but that was all He was – a man.
His life and death are not essential to our salvation. But according to John 8:24, Jesus said,
“I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for except ye believe that I AM, ye
shall die in your sins.” If you miss the right Jesus, you miss eternal life! We want to,
therefore, strongly focus on what the Jehovah’s Witnesses teach about Jesus and what the
Word of God clearly reveals about Him.

1. Colossians 1:16-17

16 For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether
thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities--all things have been created through Him and for
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Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together.
NWT “By means of him all [other] things were created in the heavens and upon the earth, the things
visible and the things invisible, no matter whether they are thrones or lordships or governments or
authorities. All [other] things have been created through him and for him. Also, he is before all [other]
things and by means of him all [other] things were made to exist.”

Notice the NWT inserts the word “other” four times ---to make Christ appear to be
uncreated and that He existed before all things. They made Him a part of the creation –
that He was created first, and then He was used by Jehovah to create all other things in the
universe. The 1950 version of the NWT did not even put the brackets around the insertion
of the words, other, but succumbed to pressure and since 1961 added them. The word,
other, is NOT in the original Greek manuscripts.

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