A detractor has charged us with not accentuating “the good news of salvation in Christ,” but rather raising the "Kingdom of God" as more important. What does the Bible say?
Let
us examine how many scriptures we find that use either phrase mentioned above.
Those
accentuating the “Kingdom of God” or “the Kingdom of the heavens”:
Matthew:
6
times, 32 times as “the Kingdom of the heavens. Chapters 1-14, 15-28
Mark: (Kingdom
of God = 14
times)
Luke:
(Kingdom of God = 32 times) Chapters 1-12, 13-24
John:
(Kingdom of God = 2
times)
Book
of Acts: 6
times
Paul’s
writings: 4
times
Total:
74
Number
of times the phrase “the good news of salvation in Christ” appears in
scripture: 0 (zero) times.
Hmm. Maybe the man intended "the good news of salvation in Jesus." How many times does that appear? Answer: Zero. Huh, well we have to give them something. How about "salvation in Jesus" or "salvation in Christ"? Nope, sorry. Still zero. I have to find something. Oh, I know, how about Acts 4:12. In that case "salvation" is mentioned in connection with Jesus. But there has to be more. Well, how about the number of times that “good news” and “Christ” appear in the same verse or even "good news" and "Jesus". 24 times. BUT you will readily see some of them are quite a stretch. I was trying to give the detractors the benefit of the doubt.
Hmm. Maybe the man intended "the good news of salvation in Jesus." How many times does that appear? Answer: Zero. Huh, well we have to give them something. How about "salvation in Jesus" or "salvation in Christ"? Nope, sorry. Still zero. I have to find something. Oh, I know, how about Acts 4:12. In that case "salvation" is mentioned in connection with Jesus. But there has to be more. Well, how about the number of times that “good news” and “Christ” appear in the same verse or even "good news" and "Jesus". 24 times. BUT you will readily see some of them are quite a stretch. I was trying to give the detractors the benefit of the doubt.
So
what does God, in his Holy Word the Bible, accentuate more? The answer is
clear, it is the Kingdom message. By more than 3 times as many. Even then, that
does not mean that Jehovah’s Witnesses try to berate the value of Jesus, his
place in God’s purpose, or the value of the ransom. We hold it very dear. In fact, in our minds, the Kingdom and Christ as savior are inseparable.
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ReplyDeleteAnonymous: I was in two medical facilities for a total of 9 hours yesterday. One was ER for a total of 6 hours. I was on so many monitors, multiple vein taps, and dozens of tests. When I got home, I saw your comment and debated with myself all night what to do with it. (I did not want to leave you hanging and wondering if I ever read it):
ReplyDeleteThe following observations are not intended in an unkind tone at all. Having been in business, having observed people for over 60 years, I’ve made conclusions about motives and characters. Sometimes I am right, and sometimes not. However, the growing experience with you has made me conclude our conversations are fruitless. (I have had this deep gut feeling way before talking with Mr. Williams).
In one post, I took a defensive stance to your statements, but you assured me nothing negative was intended. I was cautious, but I always try to give the benefit of doubt to others. I even apologized. But then you came right back at me with more, that I decided to chalk up to a fervor for your beliefs.
On more than one occasion, you have agreed to continue discussions via email, but you would always disappear afterwards and show up sometime later on a different blog article. Finally, you stated you’d rather continue our conversations via my blog. I wondered why you weren’t keeping your word. I am keeping mine and will not continue conversations with you here. This is, in fact, my last comment to you.
You seem to want to hide who you really are. To me, you were initials. To another you were first-name only. (Note: I’m intentionally not revealing those details so you don’t feel humiliated or targeted.) In contrast, you know my full name.
You claim yourself a friend of the Witnesses, however your blog article reveals you are anything but that. Your overall demeanor toward the individual witness is a strong sense of condescending condolence that we’ve been so duped by the Watchtower. Your feelings toward the doctrinal teachings are they are wrong. Your feelings toward the organization are little less than it is Satanic (although I will grant you that you’ve never actually stated that. I think if you did, no JW would give you any ear.) (In that regard, I need to remind you that true Christians, like their Father, do not hide who they are. We are very open about who we are. You have not been.)
You took exception to my quoting you directly. I didn’t interpret anything different that you quite plainly stated, namely that “the good news of salvation in Christ,” (your phrasing which appears nowhere in scripture) was so much better than what the Witnesses feature, “the Kingdom of God” (or, the “Kingdom of the Heavens”). In contrast to your phrase, the one we use is indeed directly found in scripture multiple times. I am not changing the post, nor did I reveal where the quote “the good news of salvation in Christ,” came from. So while you have no problem directly attacking our beliefs, I dignified you by not returning evil for evil.
If I gave this more time, I could probably come up with several other points, but I am still very weak from my latest medical condition and my intention is not to “shut you down,” but only to reveal why I have decided that any further discussion with you is fruitless. I do wish you the best life you can possibly have. Maybe someday, you’ll see through your animosity and finally conclude that we are true Christians. If not, I have no ill will toward you.