Page 66 - Cults and Marginal Groups - Textbook w videos short

A better translation of the word “spiritual” would be supernatural, especially in this
context. The exact same word used earlier in I Cor. 14:4 makes reference to a
“supernatural rock” that followed the Israelites in the wilderness.

Flesh and blood is an idiom used in Scripture to refer to mortal humanity ( a mere
human being). Mortal humanity must be made immortal humanity in order to survive
in heaven. The resurrected body will be endowed with special qualities that will enable
it to adapt perfectly to life in God’s presence.

Note that verse 53 says that this perishable body (human body) must put on
immortality. We put on immortality to our mortal humanity. Nothing is taken
away…but rather immortality is added (put on) to our humanity.

WITNESSING NOTE: Since the Greek word for spiritual does not mean immaterial or non-physical. In
fact, it means physical in a spiritual realm… or supernatural. This is referring to a literal person whose
life has spiritual direction.

The Person of the Holy Spirit

Jehovah's Witnesses believe and teach that the Holy Spirit is neither a person nor God. Father, the Holy
Spirit is God’s impersonal “active force” for accomplishing His will in the world. The Holy Spirit is
likened to electricity, “a force that can be adapted to perform a great variety of operations.” God uses
the impersonal force known as the Holy Spirit to accomplish His purposes. They argue that since the
Holy Spirit does not have a name, He is not a person.

1. Genesis 1: 1-2

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1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was formless and void, and
darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the
waters.

NWT: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth proved to be formless
and waste and there was darkness upon the surface of the watery deep; and God’s active force was
moving to and fro over the surface of the waters.

The Hebrew word for spirit is ruach which can be translated “breather, air, strength, wind, breeze,
courage, temper, and spirit.” It cannot ever be translated “active force” as in the NWT. When ruach is
used of God’s Spirit, we see at the same time clear evidences for the personality of the Holy Spirit.
Active forces have no personal characteristics.

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