What Could Be the Main Difference between Jews and Jehovah’s Witnesses?

KerimF

What I know is that they have the same Holy Book, Torah, but I am not sure this is true or not.

Keep_Smiling_4_Jesus

To me, a number of Jews do not yet personally know Jewish Rabbi HaMaschiach Yeshua (while wanting Third Jewish Temple to be built for Mashiach). Thankful for a few Jews whose spirituality connects with Ruach HaKadosh (Breath The Holy) inside me.

Jehovah's Witnesses (JW's) believe G-d has only one voice so the life force of Michael the Archangel was sent to be inside the human baby Jesus. Puzzling is the blind faith of JW's in the untrustworthy human Watchtower Society, which is actually more important to JW's than Holy Scripture. When the human Watchtower Society publishes a change, JW's have a choice: change their own belief for conformity OR be shunned (ostracized). Peer pressure is a powerful motivator for personal change.

Keep Smiling 😊

KerimF

Hello @Keep_Smiling_4_Jesus ,

If you don't mind, let us try to be more precise though I don't expect someone to be as sincere as I am in revealing all what he may have in mind about a topic of interest.

A preprogrammed instruction related to the human's instincts of survival guides him to be a member of a powerful well-organized group (social, sportive, financial, religious or political) with the hope to have a better chance to survive, besides gaining certain extra benefits and privileges.

Naturally, a member of a formal group knows that his sincerity (mainly in public) has limits defined by his group's head (or heads). If he crosses those limits, he would be seen as a traitor. This is why I try my best to help whom I talk to be on the safe side (not crossing his groups's limits) when he tries to be sincere with me. After all, whatever we (the one I talk to, and I) may have in mind will not stop the world to go on, as designed.

I guess every human has an idea (relative to his deep nature) about the possible end purpose of being 'forced' (not in the bad sense) to exist temporarily in the material earthly world (a realm which is defined by time and space). I said 'forced' because my will had nothing to do with the decision (Heavenly and earthly) which gave me the chance to exist on earth. Well, this fact may not be true to all. A friend told me that he existed before his birth and inspired his parents to let him exist (I personally like hearing such stories, as I pass a pleasant time in watching certain science-fiction movies).

What I know is that a Muslim is supposed to believe that the end purpose of his temporary existence is to join Allah in Paradise if he knew how to obey well Allah's rules and observe, as he can, the Islamic rituals that please Allah.

So, I wonder if there a difference between a real Jew and a real JW about the end purpose of their actual temporary existence which will end, as it is the case of all humans, at the death of their human body? Thank you.

Kerim

Keep_Smiling_4_Jesus

@KerimF January 29 A preprogrammed instruction related to the human's instincts of survival guides him to be a member of a powerful well-organized group (social, sportive, financial, religious or political) with the hope to have a better chance to survive, besides gaining certain extra benefits and privileges.

My apologies for me NOT being a member of a powerful well-organized group while being immensely Thankful for an ongoing intense personal relationship with Holy יהוה Lord אלהים God 😍 with me still learning to Be Holy as אלהים God is Holy 😍

The Lexham English Bible (LEB) typically italicizes word(s)* added for smooth English.

To me, Holy preprogrammed instruction is described in Luke 10:25-27 LEB (with Hebrew words usually translated by Jewish scholars in LXX: יהוה as Lord & אלהים as God)  =>

And behold, a certain legal expert stood up to test him, saying, “Teacher, what must I do so that I will inherit eternal life?”

And he said to him, “What is written in the law? How do you read it?”*

And he answered and* said, “You shall love the יהוה Lord your אלהים God from all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.

And he said to him, “You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live.” 

But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”

And Jesus replied and* said, “A certain man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell into the hands of robbers, who both stripped him and beat him.* After* inflicting blows on him,* they went away, leaving him* half dead. Now by coincidence a certain priest was going down on that road, and when he* saw him, he passed by on the opposite side. And in the same way also a Levite, when he* came down to the place and saw him,* passed by on the opposite side. But a certain Samaritan who was traveling came up to him and, when he* saw him,* had compassion. And he came up and* bandaged his wounds, pouring on olive oil and wine, and he put him on his own animal and* brought him to an inn and took care of him. And on the next day, he took out two denarii and* gave them* to the innkeeper, and said, “Take care of him, and whatever you spend in addition, I will repay to you when I return. Which of these three do you suppose became a neighbor of the man who fell among the robbers?” So he said, “The one who showed mercy to him.” And Jesus said to him, “You go and do likewise.” 

FYI: Google Maps shows 3.5 hours of walking from the Museum of the Good Samaritan to the Sycamore Tree climbed by Zaccheus in Jericho, with a descent of 500 meters (1,640 feet). Personally wonder if the certain legal expert was a Levite, a Jewish relative of those who walked past the injured man.

For me, the most powerful group is the Bride described in Revelation chapters 19 -22, a result of my belief choice wanting to Hear & Obey Holy יהוה Lord אלהים God to do God's Will in God's Way in God's Time with God's Strength for God's Glory 😍

@KerimF January 29 So, I wonder if there a difference between a real Jew and a real JW about the end purpose of their actual temporary existence which will end, as it is the case of all humans, at the death of their human body? Thank you.

One Jewish web site has The History and Meaning of Shiva

JW.org has an article Where Are the Dead ? What happens When You Die ? that embeds human interpretation of a numbered Scripture verse as an individual proverb (often ignoring relevant Holy Scripture context). Also JW.org has death destination for 144,000 that is different than the rest of the human organization, which also effects who partakes at their annual memorial. Puzzling for the JW.org 144,000 is not knowing Israel tribal descent mentioned in Revelation 7:1-8 LEB (with Hebrew word usually translated by Jewish scholars in LXX: אלהים as God)  =>

 After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, so that no wind could blow on the earth or on the sea or on any tree. And I saw another angel ascending ⌊from the east⌋, holding the seal of the living אלהים God, and he cried out with a loud voice to the four angels ⌊who were given permission⌋ to damage the earth and the sea, saying, “Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the slaves of our אלהים God on their foreheads.” And I heard the number of the ones who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel: 

from the tribe of Judah, twelve thousand sealed, 

from the tribe of Reuben, twelve thousand, 

from the tribe of Gad, twelve thousand, 

from the tribe of Asher, twelve thousand, 

from the tribe of Naphtali, twelve thousand, 

from the tribe of Manasseh, twelve thousand, 

from the tribe of Simeon, twelve thousand, 

from the tribe of Levi, twelve thousand, 

from the tribe of Issachar, twelve thousand, 

from the tribe of Zebulun, twelve thousand, 

from the tribe of Joseph, twelve thousand, 

from the tribe of Benjamin, twelve thousand were sealed. 

Keep Smiling 😊

KerimF

@Keep_Smiling_4_Jesus My apologies for me NOT being a member of a powerful well-organized group while being immensely Thankful for an ongoing intense personal relationship with Holy יהוה Lord אלהים God with me still learning to Be Holy as אלהים God is Holy

@KerimF I am afraid that the word ‘Holy’ could be found in every known religion. Theists (like pagans and Muslims) are supposed to also see their God Holy. But I don’t think they learn how to be Holy, be an image of their Holy God, in the same way. 

@Keep_Smiling_4_Jesus For me, the most powerful group is the Bride described in Revelation chapters 19 -22, a result of my belief choice wanting to Hear & Obey Holy יהוה Lord אלהים God to do God's Will in God's Way in God's Time with God's Strength for God's Glory

@KerimF If I understood you well, to be Holy one has to obey his Holy God. This means that his God has well-defined rules that he has to obey and could be found somewhere (likely in a Holy Book). Naturally, those imposed rules reflect his God’s Will, his God’s Way.

After all, this scenario is not new, a somehow similar one could be found on earth. A powerful king usually has his own well-defined rules that his followers have to obey in order to be on the safe side. And their king may also reward them, in one way or another, for their obedience and submission.

On my side, I feel real bad if I have to play the master on some others, even if I have the right and the means to do it. And I can’t lose my soul (besides my will and time) by playing the slave of anyone for all treasures and pleasures on earth.

So, if Jesus came to bring me rules to obey, I would see in him just a man who founded a ruling system in the name of God, as Mohammad of Islam did. But I discovered that Jesus came to bring me the knowledge I need (to save me from my ignorance), not rules of a new doctrine.

In brief, in my life I have no reason to obey Heavenly imposed rules or rituals to observe. I just live the Unconditional Love/Care towards all others, good and evil, on earth as it is in Heaven. Yes, this is a very narrow way, but it is the only way to be a child of God’s Eternal Realm of Love.

For instance, to me the word ‘God’ doesn’t refer to a Supernatural Ruling King (as Allah of Islam).

I see my God in “The One Loving Will/Power of the Heavenly Father and Jesus, unified since before Creation, by the Divine Spirit of Love, the Holy Spirit.

In God’s Kingdom, there are no rules, masters and slaves There are only spirits unified by the Holy Spirit. This is why Jesus was very clear about the Holy Spirit in {Matthew 12:31-32}.

Brother Rando

One should note what Lord & אלהים as God actually means: https://translate.google.com/?sl=auto&tl=en&text=Lord%C2%A0%26%C2%A0%D7%90%D7%9C%D7%94%D7%99%D7%9D%C2%A0as%C2%A0God&op=translate

KerimF

And to Muslims, Allah is God, so what?

Jehovah has His rules to be obeyed and rituals to be observed, Moses' God (known by the ancient Jews) had His rules to be obeyed and rituals to be observed, and Allah has also His rules to be obeyed and rituals to be observed.

The good news is that the believers of a Ruling God are very proud for being his obedient worshipers.

Brother Rando

https://www.christiandiscourse.net/discussion/comment/23313#Comment_23313

Adolf Hitler killed those who claimed to serve Jehovah - Jews and Jehovah Witnesses

The Jews were bloodguilty - However, Jehovah Witnesses were guilty by faith. All Jehovah Witnesses had to do in order to escape death was to re-cant their faith.

What Happened to Jehovah’s Witnesses During the Time of the Holocaust?

About 1,500 of Jehovah’s Witnesses died during the time of the Holocaust, out of some 35,000 Witnesses living in Germany and Nazi-occupied countries. The cause of death is not known in all cases. Since research is ongoing, figures and other details may be updated in time.

How did they die?

• Executions: Close to 400 Witnesses were executed in Germany and in Nazi-occupied countries. Most victims were tried in court, sentenced to death, and beheaded. Others were shot or hanged without a formal court hearing.
• Severe detention conditions: More than 1,000 Witnesses died in Nazi concentration camps and prisons. They were worked to death or died as a result of torture, starvation, exposure to cold, illness, or poor medical care. As a result of the brutal treatment, others died shortly after their liberation at the end of World War II.
• Other causes: Some Witnesses were killed in gas chambers, subjected to deadly medical experiments, or given lethal injections.

 

Why were they persecuted?

 Jehovah’s Witnesses were persecuted because they adhered to the Bible’s teachings. When the Nazi state demanded that the Witnesses do what the Bible forbids, the Witnesses refused to comply. They chose to “obey God as ruler rather than men.” (Acts 5:​29) Consider two areas in which they made that choice.

Remaining politically neutral. As are Witnesses in all countries today, Jehovah’s Witnesses living under Nazi rule were neutral in political issues. (John 18:36) Therefore, they refused to

• Salute the swastika or say “Heil Hitler!”​—Matthew 23:10; 1 Corinthians 10:14.
• Vote in elections or join Nazi organizations.​—John 17:16. 

1. Serve in the military or support war efforts.​—Isaiah 2:4; Matthew 26:52.

Practicing their faith. Despite being forbidden to practice their faith, Jehovah’s Witnesses continued to

• Meet for prayer and worship.​—Hebrews 10:24, 25.
• Preach the Bible’s message and distribute Bible-based literature.​—Matthew 28:19, 20.
•  Show kindness to their neighbors, including Jews.​—Mark 12:31.
•  Hold on to their faith, refusing to sign a document renouncing their beliefs.​—Mark 12:30.

Professor Robert Gerwarth concludes that Jehovah’s Witnesses were “the only group in the Third Reich to be persecuted on the basis of their religious beliefs alone.”

Fellow concentration-camp prisoners came to admire Jehovah’s Witnesses for their firm stand. One Austrian prisoner observed: “They do not go to war. They would rather be killed than kill anyone else.”

 

Where did they die?

• Concentration camps: The majority of Jehovah’s Witnesses died in concentration camps. They were incarcerated in camps such as Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Dachau, Flossenbürg, Mauthausen, Neuengamme, Niederhagen, Ravensbrück, and Sachsenhausen. In Sachsenhausen alone, about 200 deaths of Jehovah’s Witnesses have been verified.
•  Prisons: Some Witnesses were tortured to death in prisons. Others died because of the injuries inflicted during interrogation.
•  Places of execution: Jehovah’s Witnesses were executed mainly in Berlin-Plötzensee, Brandenburg, and Halle/Saale prisons. In addition, some 70 other locations where Witnesses were executed have been documented.

Jehovah Witnesses walk by faith not matter what comes their way. Just as Jesus Christ worshiped Hid God and Father, Jehovah's Witnesses walk the same path.

Keep_Smiling_4_Jesus

@KerimF January 31 I see my God in “The One Loving Will/Power of the Heavenly Father and Jesus, unified since before Creation, by the Divine Spirit of Love, the Holy Spirit.

Curious about @KerimF thoughts about this Celestial Kingdom description:

Celestial Kingdom. The highest kingdom of glory, where one is in the presence of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ. Only those who have accepted LDS doctrines and ordinances will be assigned to the Celestial Kingdom. The Celestial Kingdom is the only place where Heavenly Father resides and governs. This kingdom is subdivided into three levels in descending order. The highest level is for those who have been obedient to the gospel and have been married in an LDS temple. No one goes into the highest level of the Celestial Kingdom single. The second level is for LDS people who are more active in the LDS Church positions but not involved in temple rituals. The lowest level is for those who received LDS baptism. Both the second and third levels serve those in the highest level.

 David L. Rowe, I Love Mormons: A New Way to Share Christ with Latter-Day Saints (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2005).

FWIW: Google Search for phrase "Heavenly Father and Jesus" found numerous LDS web sites: e.g. BYU

Searching the 1,122 Bibles in my Logos library found the phrase "heavenly Father and Jesus" in only one translation:

I bear testimony that the words of Jesus are eternally True. Immensely Thankful for Holy יהוה Lord יֵשׁוּעַ Yeshua (Jesus) inner peace (actually Holy שלום Shalom => Holy Peace with Holy Blessings) experience inside me 😍

Again I bear testimony about the original language words inspired by Holy יהוה Lord אלהים God being awesomely Alive and consistently True: e.g. my desire to Be Holy as is Holy has Bible basis in 1 Peter 1:3-25 LEB (with Hebrew words usually translated by Jewish scholars in LXX: יהוה as Lord & אלהים as God) =>

Blessed be the אלהים God and Father of our יהוה Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, into an inheritance imperishable and undefiled and unfading, reserved in heaven for you who are being protected by the power of אלהים God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time, in which you rejoice greatly, although now for a short time, if necessary, you are distressed by various trials, so that the genuineness of your faith, more valuable than gold that is passing away, but is tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ, whom, although you have not seen, you love; in whom now you believe, although you do not see him, and you rejoice greatly with joy inexpressible and full of glory, obtaining the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 

Concerning this salvation, the prophets who prophesied about the grace meant for you sought and made careful inquiry, investigating for what person or which time the Spirit of Christ in them was indicating when he testified beforehand to the sufferings with reference to Christ and the glories after these things, to whom it was revealed that they were serving not themselves but you with reference to the same things which now have been announced to you through those who proclaimed the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, ⌊things into which⌋ angels desire to look. 

Therefore, ⌊when you have prepared your minds for action⌋ by being self-controlled, put your hope completely in the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former desires you used to conform to in your ignorance, but as the one who called you is holy, you yourselves be holy in all your conduct, for it is written, “You will be holy, because I am holy.” And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves with fear during the time of your temporary residence, because you know that you were redeemed from your futile way of life inherited from your ancestors not with perishable things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb who was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has been revealed in these last times for you who through him are believing in אלהים God, who raised him from the dead and gave him glory, so that your faith and hope are in אלהים God. 

Having purified your souls by your obedience to the truth for sincere brotherly love, love one another fervently from the heart, because you have been born again, not from perishable seed but imperishable, through the living and enduring word of אלהים God. For 

“all flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flower of the grass. 

The grass withers and the flower falls off, but the word of the יהוה Lord endures ⌊forever⌋.” 

And this is the word that has been proclaimed to you. 

I bear testimony that my faith continuously believes in Holy יהוה Lord יֵשׁוּעַ Yeshua (Jesus) the same as continually believing in Holy יהוה Lord אלהים God, truthfully consistent with command in John 14:1

πιστεύετε εἰς τὸν θεόν, καὶ εἰς ἐμὲ πιστεύετε (Greek spoken by יֵשׁוּעַ )

Be Ye Believing in The אלהים God, also in Me Be Ye Believing

Greek verb expresses primary kind of action as continuous belief with secondary aspect of present time. Ye is an archaic English word that expresses You (plural). Modern English equivalent in the Southern U.S. is "All You All".

@Brother Rando January 31 One should note what Lord & אלהים as God actually means:

Remember humanly created Google artificial intelligence can be inconsistent as translation of Deuteronomy 6:4 from Hebrew to English shows "the Lord"

Simple prophetic test is accuracy. To me, Unfulfilled Watchtower Society predictions prove JW.org alignment with our spiritual enemy, the father of lies, who wants to keep every human from truly experiencing Holy יהוה Lord אלהים God ❤️ Love.

Keep Smiling 😊

KerimF

@Brother Rando Adolf Hitler killed those who claimed to serve Jehovah - Jews and Jehovah Witnesses

@KerimF It is really sad that more than 100 millions had to also die and suffer in WW2 so that Europe could be conquered by Saviors.

I am afraid saying more than this... is politics.

For example, I recall when I was a kid; I used to see signs in some American movies on which it was written: “No Entry for dogs and Jews”. So, I asked my father: “Aren’t Jews humans like us? He replied: Yes, they are. But the purpose of this inhuman world-wide anti-Jew campaign is simply to isolate Jews around the world from all other communities”. At that time, I couldn’t explain why Jews had to be isolated.

Jesus reminded me of a simple effective hint which never fails to discover hidden truths: “You know them by their fruits”. So, when, later, I heard of Holocaust and how millions of feared isolated Jews were exported rather easily to Palestine soon after WW2, things started to be clearer...

KerimF

@Keep_Smiling_4_Jesus My apologies for me NOT being a member of a powerful well-organized group while being immensely Thankful for an ongoing intense personal relationship with Holy יהוה Lord אלהים God with me still learning to Be Holy as אלהים God is Holy.

@KerimF Sorry, I thought you are a real Jew, therefore, a good member of the group headed by Honorable Jewish Elders whose role is to keep reminding their good Jewish people, Moses’ rules and rituals, to be obeyed and observed.

Based on my humble logic (I got from my Creator), a One ‘Being’ God (which is very different from One ‘Entity’ God) cannot know how ‘love’ could be lived in His Celestial Kingdom since he is supposed to be One-of-His-Kind. But it is possible for such a one being God to live love, in case ‘love’ means to reward whoever obey his rules and punish whoever disobey them deliberately, as I do (like, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth).

In other words, it happens that we both see and love our Creator but in two very different ways.

Keep_Smiling_4_Jesus

@Keep_Smiling_4_Jesus January 31 My apologies for me NOT being a member of a powerful well-organized group while being immensely Thankful for an ongoing intense personal relationship with Holy יהוה Lord אלהים God with me still learning to Be Holy as אלהים God is Holy.

@KerimF February 1 Sorry, I thought you are a real Jew, therefore, a good member of the group headed by Honorable Jewish Elders whose role is to keep reminding their good Jewish people, Moses’ rules and rituals, to be obeyed and observed.

On a trip to Israel, some Jews also thought my appearance looked like a Jewish Rabbi. Thankful for Ruach HaKodesh (Breath The Holy) helping me appreciate Jews placing a crown on Torah scrolls as a reminder about the Righteous King of the Universe being the source of Holy Scripture words. Wonderful was me dancing Joyfully with a Jew (on Mt Zion) as Holy Spirit inside us testified about our relationships in Holy יהוה Lord אלהים God 😍

My desire, if at all possible, is living in Holy שלום Shalom (Peace & Blessings) with everyone 😍

I bear testimony to an intense intimate relationship with One Unique plural Holy יהוה Lord אלהים God, who has three eternal voices (at times, the three voices speak as One):

• Righteous יהוה Lord King Abba (The Will who became Father when The Word took on human flesh)
• Righteous יהוה Lord King Jewish Rabbi יֵשׁוּעַ Yeshua (The Word who left Holy Heaven to be The Son of Man & The Son of God => "Emmanuel" : God with us)
• Righteous יהוה Lord Ruach HaKodesh (Breath The Holy) who is everywhere

Most (if not all) of the original language words inspired by Holy יהוה Lord אלהים God were given to people familiar with ancient Jewsih culture to write. My learning of Jewish ways is helping me appreciate Holy יהוה Lord אלהים God ❤️ Love nature more & more. To me, Love is always a choice, cannot be forced.

Thankfully Holy HaShem (The Name) is shared as it is written in  Jeremiah 23:5-6 LEB =>

“Look, days are coming,” declares יהוה Yahweh, “when I will raise up for David a righteous branch, and he will reign as king, and he will achieve success, and he will do justice and righteousness in the land. In his days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell in safety, and this is his name by which he will be called: ‘יהוה Yahweh is our righteousness.’

Hebrew noun (construct spelling => of) for righteousness has pronoun, suffixed, 1st person, plural whose literal translation is: 'יהוה Yahweh righteousness of We'

Keep Smiling 😊

KerimF

@KerimF In other words, it happens that we both see and love our Creator but in two very different ways.

 

@Keep_Smiling_4_Jesus My desire, if at all possible, is living in Holy שלום Shalom (Peace & Blessings) with everyone 

@KerimF And I wish those who are created to play my enemies be well and I have no reason to even think to hurt them in any way. I am glad seeing them enjoy showing their superiority in the temporary material realm, while I look for the eternal realm of God’s love.

 

For instance, the duty of believers of every doctrine is to protect, at any price, certain Holy things, as sacred idols, scared temples, sacred books, sacred words and lately sacred flags. In my life, I have none of those Holy Sacred Things; I just protect the greatest gift, I got for free, which is the eternal Spirit of Love in my soul. Even the devil, the king of the most powerful deceivers in his world, cannot take it from me.

 

Talking about deceivers, can any Christian politician advise his audience to love their enemies (as Jesus Christ said clearly)? If he does, he will be replaced the next day, if not worse. But he had to claim being a real Christian (of Jesus Christ), not an atheist, a pagan, a Jew, a JW or a Muslim, because he chose to join (or serve) the world’s greatest deceivers. In my case, since I didn’t need to join, directly or indirectly, any formal group, I can do it without hesitation; even it will cost my life, if not worse. But please don’t worry; the good news is that I, Kerim, have no chance to talk to the world’s multitudes as the world’s politicians (mainly the Christian ones) and their religious counterparts are allowed to do, almost every day.

Keep_Smiling_4_Jesus

@KerimF February 1 In other words, it happens that we both see and love our Creator but in two very different ways.

My human observation about LDS doctrinal compliance is the ongoing lack of יהוה Lord Jesus personal relationship. One funeral for a co-worker had many Mormom speakers speed up a bit when they were done speaking to say: "In the name of Jesus Christ" whose verbal acknowledgement left out individual desire for Jesus to be their יהוה Lord.

Sadly LDS compliance does NOT have personal experience yielding to יהוה Lord King Jewish Rabbi יֵשׁוּעַ Yeshua (Jesus). ! john 2:1-29 LEB =>

My little children, I am writing these things to you in order that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous one, and he is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments. The one who says “I have come to know him,” and does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in this person. But whoever keeps his word, truly in this person the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him. The one who says that he resides in him ought also to walk just as that one walked. 

Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the message which you have heard. Again, I am writing a new commandment to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light already is shining. The one who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness until now. The one who loves his brother resides in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him. But the one who hates his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes. 

I am writing to you, little children, because your sins have been forgiven you on account of his name. I am writing to you, fathers, because you have known the One who is from the beginning. I am writing to you, young men, because you have conquered the evil one. I have written to you, children, because you have known the Father. I have written to you, fathers, because you have known the One who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God resides in you, and you have conquered the evil one. 

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, because everything that is in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance of material possessions—is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away, and its desire, but the one who does the will of God remains ⌊forever⌋. 

Children, it is the last hour, and just as you have heard that antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have arisen, by which we know that it is the last hour. They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us. But they went out, in order that it might be shown that all of them are not of us. 

And you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you all know. I have not written to you because you do not know the truth, but because you do know it, and because every lie is not of the truth. Who is the liar except the one who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This person is the antichrist, the one who denies the Father and the Son. Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either; the one who confesses the Son has the Father also. 

As for you, what you have heard from the beginning must remain in you. If what you have heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father. And this is the promise which he himself promised us: eternal life. These things I have written to you concerning the ones who are trying to deceive you. 

And as for you, the anointing which you received from him remains in you, and you do not have need that anyone teach you. But as his anointing teaches you about all things, and is true and is not a lie, and just as it has taught you, you reside in him. 

 W. Hall Harris III et al., eds., The Lexham English Bible (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2012), 1 Jn 2:1–27.

To me, humans wanting to be their own lord instead of yielding to יהוה Lord King Jewish Rabbi יֵשׁוּעַ Yeshua (Jesus) really miss out on experiencing the awesome depth, breadth, width, & height of Holy יהוה Lord אלהים God ❤️ Love. Every human has free will to choose what to ❤️ Love most. To me, Mormons ❤️ Love the human LDS church the most while Jehovah's Witnesses ❤️ Love the human Watchtower Society the most. My life testimony includes me realizing that I am NOT God with my personal need for Holy יהוה Lord אלהים God's help to ❤️ Love Holy יהוה Lord אלהים God with all of me: my heart, my mind, my soul, & my strength that enables me to earnestly Worship & Praise Holy יהוה Lord אלהים God. Truth be told: if/when Prayerful Worship of Holy יהוה Lord אלהים God is lacking inside me, my life at that point is seriously in trouble (my old age is tired of numerous stupid self-centered sins while immensely Thankful for Holy יהוה Lord אלהים God forgiveness with Holy cleansing & healing). My ongoing desire is changing my stubborn nature from being stupidly stuck on self to Being Holy as Holy יהוה Lord אלהים God is always Holy, whch enables me to Love Well: God, me, & neighbors.

To me, human choice to Love human LDS experience & doctrine the most is a heart breaking deception, which keeps Mormons from intensely experiencing Holy יהוה Lord אלהים God ❤️ Love in The Son of God (physically) & The Son of Man (יהוה Lord Rightesouness) so Mormons actually do NOT know Holy Father in Heaven becuase individually do NOT desire יהוה Lord King Jewish Rabbi יֵשׁוּעַ Yeshua (Jesus) to be Lord in their life. Thankful for testimony in me of Holy יהוה Lord אלהים God ❤️ Love's annointing in me, which has included my repentance from my sins, agreeing with Holy יהוה Lord אלהים God for faithful & just forgiveness of my sins followed by ongoing Holy transformation inside me = beautiful beyond my words to testify 😍

Thankful for Holy יהוה Lord אלהים God ❤️ Love that desires intimate personal relationship with Holy Freedom (beyond my words to describe well):

“Mormonese” in Action: Some God-Ordained Experiences

“You know, I felt like God was there!” That was the response when my colleague Ken Mulholland asked what his Mormon friend thought of the worship service they’d just attended at Ken’s church. At his invitation, she’d gone to a traditional Christian church for the first time in her life. Her voice sounded full of surprise, as if she didn’t think this was supposed to happen in a non-LDS church.

Ken responded to her comment quite simply: “You know why? Because he was.” Notice what happened after that, as Ken tells it, and the sense he makes of it:

And that was a turning point in her life. She came to the point of saying, “I have theological questions I’d like to ask you. What about Joseph Smith? What about the Book of Mormon?” At that point, she was really wanting to be disentangled from the doctrinal issues that she had. But we had to go through the experience of her feeling that Christianity was valid and true, and at that point the intellectual questions and the theological questions rose to the forefront.

Carol Jensen recalls the time she went at the invitation of her boss to a Christian concert by The Continentals. She says it struck her as kind of “odd” because as the group performed, people all around her were “praising God and, I mean, they’ve got their hands over their head.” Then she describes, in what has to be one of the two or three most beautifully transparent, compelling accounts I’ve ever heard by a transitioning Mormon, her experience of tension between bewilderment (even dismissive distaste) and attraction—a classic kind of epiphany:

And this little guy that was just as irritating as everything, sitting in front of us, just, as he went into that song he just closed his eyes, his hands were in the air, he was swaying—it was just—very disorienting. But then, his pure love for Jesus—everyone around us kind of got into this, and their love—and I could see this love for Jesus, and I really, my heart was breaking, because I thought, “they’re in the kindergarten of religion—I’m in the university getting my upper degrees, and just for a minute I’d like to just put it aside and be free to just sing about Jesus and love him like that.” Seeing this love, it’s just very different for Mormons; and it also related back to when I was a child and had sung those songs. One of the things that Christians can show to Mormons [is] that as they expose their love for Jesus, it’s just so surprising to Mormons—how can they fail to just want to be free to do that?

Finally, let me share about a Mormon to whom, in this case, God himself spoke in “Mormonese.” The story of my friend Jan Castro’s conversion figures as the most dramatic I’ve ever witnessed close up. In this case, I had a front-row seat at a God show I’ll never forget.

Dave Castro and his wife, Jan, came the first night to a class I was to teach at the seminary—a class titled “How We Got the Bible.” Only three students showed up, and our normal policy is to cancel a class if there are less than five, although it’s a professor’s call. I gave the first lecture, promptly announced the class would be canceled, and dismissed them after prayer.

The Castros stayed to talk, however, and I took the opportunity to ask about the two of them, including questions about their spiritual journey. They said they’d been married only a few years, both were medical professionals, and . . . “How long have you been a Christian, Dave?” I asked.

“Since I was eight. I was converted at a Bible camp and raised spiritually in the Nazarene Church, but then I fell away for many years. For the past six years or so I’ve been trying to follow God seriously again.”

“And, Jan, how long have you been a Christian?”

“Well, um . . . I’m not one,” she said sheepishly. “I’m a lifelong Mormon, and, well, Dave and I are both seeking for what God wants in our church life and for what his truth is about. We’ve agreed to pray for wisdom and to visit each other’s churches—both traditional Christian and LDS—but not discuss the issues for now because it gets argumentative. I was so looking forward to this class because I really want to know if I can fully trust the Bible like Christians do, despite its translation errors and all. Is there any way it could continue?”

Something happened inside me at this moment, which I’m now convinced was a Holy Spirit nudging. I now understood why their faces had fallen with visible disappointment when I announced the cancellation of the class.

“Well . . . maybe. Tell you what. Let me pray about this for a couple days and call you before next week’s scheduled class session. Perhaps the Lord wants us to go ahead with this class.” Perhaps also, I didn’t tell them, I was using a favorite Christian hedging device to buy time for . . . something, but what? It seemed like I already had my answer: God was clearly on the move in these two lives, and the class was to be an important part of what he was doing. In short, I was already beginning to feel negligent toward him by canceling it. Still, confirmation through prayer can’t hurt, I reasoned (or rationalized).

That was Monday night. By Wednesday, after many prayers had gone up from my heart and those of several friends I enlisted, I still had that little Jonah cloud of discomfort and negligence haunting me whenever I thought of canceling the class. “Okay, Lord,” I finally said, “I’m your servant. We’ll do it.” That evening I called Dave and Jan and the third student to tell them the class was on.

Now we get to see the other half of God’s agenda, the part we didn’t plan on, which opened up because we said yes to the first part. The Saturday of the third week of class, we held a daylong prayer retreat at the seminary, open to anyone for a small fee but free to students taking classes that term. I was leading the retreat. Both Dave and Jan came.

For an opener, I like to use a simple prayer exercise we do as a group even though it leads each one into very personal prayer in silence. I got it from Richard Foster’s Celebration of Discipline; it’s called “Palms Down, Palms Up.” It works like this. As prayer leader, I first ask the group members to sit upright with their eyes closed and hands resting on their laps, palms down. Then I guide them into a piece of imagery: “Picture yourself holding the handle on a piece of luggage with your hands. Raising them up a couple inches, physically clench them around that handle. In the brief time of silence that follows, recognize that luggage as a weight in your life that you’ve been carrying, like an unconfessed sin, a worry, perhaps a broken relationship you mourn, whatever. Ask the Lord to show you what he wants to. As we are silent now, picture a label on the side of that luggage that names your particular weight, your burden. Then in faith simply release your grasp, and see yourself dropping it into God’s lap, remembering he tells us in his Word to cast all your cares on him, for he cares for you.” After a generous moment’s silence, I then tell them to continue in prayer, eyes still closed, by turning their hands over, palms upward and open in a receiving posture. I then guide them to picture themselves, in another time of silence, asking for and receiving a gift from their Lord to replace the burden they just released—for example, a gift of peace to replace their worry, a gift of reconciliation for a broken relationship—because Jesus told us in the Sermon on the Mount to ask our Father for his good gifts, knowing he loves to give them even much more than earthly fathers do. I tell them to use the silence to see themselves receiving the gift and thanking God for it. Finally, after more silence, I conclude with a prayer of gratitude, and we sing a song.

After this opener, my practice is to dismiss the group members for a two-hour time of solitude, during which they are to observe a rule of silence, are free to wander about the grounds or sit in a room, and are to seek the Lord in prayer. I give them resources to use if needed. I also offer to listen and intercede for any individuals who wish to visit me in the glassed-in front office.

You guessed it: in came Jan Castro, only minutes after the solitude began. She’s a shy person and had to kick herself to do this, but right away she said she’d had a powerful encounter with God and thought I ought to know about it. Now at this point let me interject something: usually people who come in to talk about that opening exercise name some small- to middle-weight issue like concern over a cross word they uttered at their mother-in-law or worry about a job interview. With Jan, I was about to have my soul rocked, and I mean something in the range of 6.0 on the spiritual Richter scale.

She began by offering her initial misgivings about the experience because “the vision that came to me didn’t exactly fit the images you described.” That’s when I got my first clue: if my suspicions were right, God himself had taken hold and was doing something much bigger than either of us anticipated. I reassured her it was fine if the vision didn’t fit and asked her to continue.

“When you told us to picture a piece of luggage, what came to me was not like an overnight bag or suitcase with a handle but a very clear picture of a huge, brown burlap sack. It was filled with slips of paper that had rules and laws on them and also listed my ‘works.’ And instead of holding it by a handle, I was under it, holding it up with my hands and arms outstretched, and stumbling beneath its weight.” Now she really had my attention, but this was nothing compared to what followed. “You told us to ask God to show us what it represented and see a label on the side, so I did. I looked up, and in large, black, bold letters on the side of the bag, I read the word ‘MORMONISM.’ Actually, I tried to change my thought into something like a sin that you were talking about, but the image wouldn’t go away, so I decided to stick with it. It represented, I knew, a burden I’d carried—not just for some short time lately, but for my entire life. In fact, everything in my life was tied up in it—religious commitments, activities, values, family, raising children, everything!

“Anyway, you told us next to just let go of it and give it to God. I tried, but I couldn’t do it! In my vision I found myself trying to push it away, but it wouldn’t release. My hands were stuck to it as if they were superglued! Next I tried lowering it to the ground and kicking it with everything I had, but all this was still useless. I actually made up a mountain in my imagination after that, and I tried to kick it down the hill—but it just wouldn’t go anywhere! I really wanted to let go, but it was like letting go of my whole life. I was stuck.” Here she chuckled a bit at the slightly embarrassing oddness of this image, and I permitted myself to chuckle with her just a little.

“Then it came to me,” she continued. “Just like all my life I’d been trained to ‘take responsibility’ and do things in my own strength, I was even trying to do this ‘letting go’ in my own strength—but its hold on me was so strong I couldn’t overpower it!”

By now I was flabbergasted. What to do? I wasn’t even sure how to counsel her.

Fortunately, God took care of that too, for Jan continued: “It came to me like a small voice that I should just ask God to take it away by his strength, his power. So I did, saying, ‘Okay, Lord, you take it,’ and the instant I prayed that, the entire sack floated away into the sky like a feather caught in a strong updraft! I mean, it just rose up into the clouds and disappeared like it was nothing!”

My jaw dropped.

“Then you told us to receive some gift from God to replace the burden we had just released,” she continued. “The only thing that came to me in that moment was, this was the time I was to invite Jesus Christ to personally come in and take over my life—something I had never done but was the only thing God wanted me to do, right then. So I did. I asked God to fill my emptiness and felt Jesus enter my heart. The feeling was so powerful that I knew it was real. I had no doubt that it was his love. It felt like he put his arms around me and held me like a little child on his lap, and I knew that he had come into my life and that I had been ‘born again’ to a new life in Jesus Christ.”

What filled me at this point was an awe that almost made me fall prostrate, right down on my face. Far beyond anything I could orchestrate, God had moved in with his mighty grace and spoken to Jan Castro in her native “Mormonese,” the language of experience—visionary symbols, images, feelings, and all—so he could give her the gift of salvation in Christ.

At the end of the day, we regathered in our large group to share what we’d seen and heard God do. I had urged Jan to push herself a bit, overcome her shyness, and share this story with the group. When she did, I watched with profound joy as her husband, sitting next to her, began to cry. Thus began their new life in Christ together. Through the years I’ve followed them as they joined a Christ-centered, Bible-based church, became leaders, and went on mission trips yearly to serve Jesus with their medical skills and more among poor people in Central America.

I still marvel. At our precious Lord’s workings, my soul fixates with wonder. I weep as I write.

 David L. Rowe, I Love Mormons: A New Way to Share Christ with Latter-Day Saints (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 2005).

Keep Smiling 😊

KerimF

@Keep_Smiling_4_Jesus ...by this we know that we have come to know him, if we keep his commandments.

@KerimF Please tell me very clearly what Jesus’ commandments are. Thank you.

In my knowledge, Jesus said One Advice, known as the First and Greatest Commandment. I call it ‘advice’ because it cannot be imposed as a rule. True Love/Trust, towards God (or humans), is strictly a personal matter based on one’s free-will only.

Naturally, a human who cannot trust fully God’s Love in everything around him, he cannot live Jesus’ second advice towards everyone (good or evil) whom he may meet or know.

 

Jesus came to give me all what I need to know on how to oppose and defeat for good the robotic nature of my mortal living flesh. So, since many decades, I was seen by anyone who knew me as being not of the world (while no one of them was able to convince me of sin). This is why Jesus said to His Apostles:

“If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you”.

 

Pagans used to believe that they can hurt their gods by disobedience. Naturally, a human can hurt a man-made god (that is a human-like god).

And here is a secret.

When a theist thinks he hurt his God, he actually hurt those who claim being the representatives of his God on earth.

This happened to me after I read attentively what Jesus says on the Gospel (I was 17). He surprised me with this:

“And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men.”

This is exactly what I used to see and hear in every Sunday’s Mass. Naturally, I couldn’t join anymore the hypocrites at the Masses who use “repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.”

But, by doing this, I started to feel I am somehow guilty as if I was sinning against God. This feeling of guilt used to become very strong whenever I met a priest who used to see me in his Church on Sundays. Only then, I realized that I felt guilty not because I was doing something wrong, but because I ceased to obey those whom I used to obey since I was a kid.

 

Conclusion:

Those who used to obey some masters, for too long (civil, religious or political) cannot just stop obeying them, even for a good reason (as I did).

And if one’s masters claim being representatives of God, whenever he thinks he sinned against God, by not observing certain rules or rituals, he actually hurt his worldly masters who, unlike God, need his obedience, for their prestige in the least.

Keep_Smiling_4_Jesus

@KerimF February 3 Please tell me very clearly what Jesus’ commandments are. Thank you.

On the evening of 14 Nissan 3790, Jesus spoke several commands to believing disciples of יהוה Lord Jesus as documented in John 13:1-16:33 LEB (with Hebrew words usually translated by Jewish scholars in LXX: יהוה as Lord & אלהים as God) =>

Now before the feast of Passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come that he would depart from this world to the Father, and having loved his own in the world, loved them to the end. And as a dinner was taking place, when the devil had already put into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot that he should betray him, because he knew that the Father had given him all things into his hands, and that he had come forth from God and was going away to God, he got up from the dinner and took off his outer clothing, and taking a towel, tied it around himself. Then he poured water into the washbasin and began to wash the feet of the disciples, and to wipe them dry with the towel which he had tied around himself. 

Then he came to Simon Peter. He said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will understand after these things.”

Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet forever!”

Jesus replied to him, “Unless I wash you, you do not have a share with me.”

Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”

Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed only needs to wash his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not all of you.” (For he knew the one who would betray him; because of this he said, “Not all of you are clean.”) 

So when he had washed their feet and taken his outer clothing and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done for you? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord יהוה,’ and you speak correctly, for I am. If then I — your Lord יהוה and Teacher — wash your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that just as I have done for you, you also do. Truly, truly I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you understand these things, you are blessed if you do them. 

“I am not speaking about all of you. I know whom I have chosen, but in order that the scripture would be fulfilled, ‘The one who eats my bread has lifted up his heel against me.’ From now on I am telling you before it happens, in order that when it happens you may believe that I am he. Truly, truly I say to you, the one who receives anyone I send receives me, and the one who receives me receives the one who sent me.” 

When he had said these things, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified and said, “Truly, truly I say to you that one of you will betray me.”

The disciples began looking at one another, uncertain about whom he was speaking.

One of his disciples — the one whom Jesus loved — was reclining close beside Jesus.

So Simon Peter gestured for this one to inquire who it was about whom he was speaking.

He leaned back accordingly against Jesus’ chest and said to him, “Lord יהוה, who is it?”

Jesus replied, “It is he to whom I dip the piece of bread and give it to him.”

Then after dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot.

And after the piece of bread, then Satan entered into him.

Then Jesus said to him, “What you are doing, do quickly!” (Now no one of those reclining at table knew for what reason he said this to him. For some were thinking because Judas had the money box, Jesus was telling him, “Purchase what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor.)

So after he had taken the piece of bread, he went out immediately. And it was night. 

Then, when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God אלהים is glorified in him. If God אלהים is glorified in him, God אלהים will also glorify him in himself, and will glorify him immediately. Children, yet a little time I am with you. You will seek me and just as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going you cannot come,’ now I say also to you.” 

“A new commandment I give to you: that you love one another — just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples — if you have love for one another.” 

Simon Peter said to him, “Lord יהוה, where are you going?”

Jesus replied, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow later.”

Peter said to him, “Lord יהוה, why am I not able to follow you now? I will lay down my life for you!”

Jesus replied, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly I say to you, the rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times! 

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places; but if not, I would have told you, because I am going away to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, so that where I am, you may be also. And you know the way where I am going.” 

Thomas said to him, “Lord יהוה, we do not know where you are going. How are we able to know the way?”

Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you know him and have seen him.” 

Philip said to him, “Lord יהוה, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.”

Jesus said to him, “Am I with you so long a time and you have not known me, Philip? The one who has seen me has seen the Father! How can you say, ‘Show us the Father?’ Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak from myself, but the Father residing in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if not, believe because of the works themselves. Truly, truly I say to you, the one who believes in me, the works that I am doing he will do also, and he will do greater works than these because I am going to the Father. And whatever you ask in my name, I will do this, in order that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it. 

“If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, in order that he may be with you forever — the Spirit of truth, whom the world is not able to receive, because it does not see him or know him. You know him, because he resides with you and will be in you. 

“I will not leave you as orphans; I am coming to you. Yet a little time and the world will see me no longer, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you. The one who has my commandments and keeps them — that one is the one who loves me. And the one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and will reveal myself to him.” 

Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord יהוה, why is it that you are going to reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”

Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and will take up residence with him. The one who does not love me does not keep my words, and the word that you hear is not mine, but the Father’s who sent me. These things I have spoken to you while residing with you. But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name — that one will teach you all things, and will remind you of everything that I said to you.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you — not as the world gives, I give to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid. You have heard that I said to you, ‘I am going away, and I am coming to you.’ If you loved me, you would have rejoiced that I am going to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am. And now I have told you before it happens, so that when it happens, you may believe. I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world is coming, and he has no power over me. But so that the world may know that I love the Father, and just as the Father has commanded me, thus I am doing. Get up, let us go from here! 

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch that does not bear fruit in me, he removes it, and every branch that bears fruit, he prunes it in order that it may bear more fruit. You are already clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Remain in me, and I in you. Just as the branch is not able to bear fruit from itself unless it remains in the vine, so neither can you, unless you remain in me. 

“I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me and I in him — this one bears much fruit, for apart from me you are not able to do anything. If anyone does not remain in me, he is thrown out as a branch, and dries up, and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this: that you bear much fruit, and prove to be my disciples. 

“Just as the Father has loved me, I also have loved you. Remain in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. I have spoken these things to you in order that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be made complete. This is my commandment: that you love one another just as I have loved you. No one has greater love than this: that someone lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you slaves, because the slave does not know what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything that I have heard from my Father I have revealed to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and your fruit should remain, in order that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. These things I command you: that you love one another. 

If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, for this reason the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also. But they will do all these things to you on account of my name, because they do not know the one who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin. But now they do not have a valid excuse for their sin. The one who hates me hates my Father also. If I had not done among them the works that no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have both seen and hated both me and my Father. But this happened so that the word that is written in their law would be fulfilled, ‘They hated me without a reason.’ 

“When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father — the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father — that one will testify about me. And you also will testify, because you have been with me from the beginning. 

“I have said these things to you so that you will not fall away. They will expel you from the synagogue, but an hour is coming that everyone who kills you will think they are offering service to God אלהים. And they will do these things because they do not know the Father or me. But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes, you may remember that I told you about them. 

“And I have not said these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you. But now I am going away to the one who sent me, and none of you is asking me, ‘Where are you going?’ But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your hearts. But I tell you the truth, it is better for you that I go away. For if I do not go away, the Advocate will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you. And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and concerning righteousness and concerning judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me, and concerning righteousness, because I am going away to the Father and you will see me no more, and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. 

I still have many things to say to you, but you are not able to bear them now. But when he — the Spirit of truth — comes, he will guide you into all the truth. For he will not speak from himself, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will proclaim to you the things to come. He will glorify me, because he will take from what is mine and will proclaim it to you. Everything that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he takes from what is mine and will proclaim it to you. 

“A little while and you will see me no more, and again a little while and you will see me. So some of his disciples said to one another, “What is this that he is saying to us, ‘A little while and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me,’ and ‘Because I am going away to the Father’?” So they kept on saying, “What is this that he is saying, ‘A little while’? We do not understand what he is speaking about!” 

Jesus knew that they were wanting to ask him, and he said to them, “Are you deliberating with one another about this—that I said, ‘A little while, and you will not see me, and again a little while and you will see me’? Truly, truly I say to you, that you will weep and lament, but the world will rejoice; you will become sorrowful, but your sorrow will change to joy. A woman, when she gives birth, experiences pain because her hour has come. But when her child is born, she no longer remembers the affliction, on account of the joy that a human being has been born into the world. So you also are experiencing sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy from you. And on that day you will ask me nothing. Truly, truly I say to you, whatever you ask the Father in my name, he will give you. Until now you have asked nothing in my name. Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. 

“I have said these things to you in figurative sayings. An hour is coming when I will speak to you in figurative sayings no longer, but I will tell you plainly about the Father. On that day you will ask in my name, and I do not say to you that I will ask the Father on your behalf. For the Father himself loves you, because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God אלהים. I have gone out from the Father and have come into the world; again, I am leaving the world and am going to the Father.” 

His disciples said, “Behold, now you are speaking plainly and are telling us no figurative saying! Now we know that you know everything and do not need for anyone to ask you questions. By this we believe that you have come from God אלהים.” 

Jesus replied to them, “Now do you believe? Behold, an hour is coming — and has come — that you will be scattered each one to his own home, and you will leave me alone. And I am not alone, because the Father is with me. I have said these things to you so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have affliction, but have courage! I have conquered the world.” 

Thankful for my passionate need to always 🙏 Hear & Obey יהוה Lord אלהים God => Abba (Father), Yeshua (Jesus), & Ruach HaKodesh (Spirit of Truth), who intimately share the name יהוה as three eternal voices unified in God אלהים 🙏❤️😍

Thankfully my prayers 🙏 to יהוה Lord אלהים God requesting Holy Healing & Help in me to ❤️ Love יהוה Lord אלהים God with all my heart, all my mind, all my soul, & all my strength that enables me to enjoyably worship יהוה Lord אלהים God 🙏 being answered one step at a time, day by day 🙏❤️😍 (albeit some days have a reminder of me wearing a construction cone, reflecting my transformation to Be Holy as יהוה Lord אלהים God is Holy as changes are in process).

My apologies for lack of human words to express the immense Joy of יהוה Lord אלהים God inside me 😍

Keep Smiling 😊

KerimF

"A new commandment I give to you: that you love one another — just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples — if you have love for one another.” 

This is my commandment: that you love one another just as I have loved you.

These things I command you: that you love one another.

 

This is just an advice. For example, a father cannot order his sons to love each other, unless the father is a master, and his sons are his slaves. Between a master and slaves there is no real love/trust. There is obedience and submission only.

 

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me.

 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if not, believe because of the works themselves.

 

It is a fact (not orders) to a human who is able to see Jesus and the Father are one. In other words, they are unified by the Divine Spirit of Love, the Holy Spirit, and have, therefore, One Will/Power (God).

  

 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments

 “If anyone loves me he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and will take up residence with him.

Remain in me, and I in you.

If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you want and it will be done for you.

Remain in my love.

Ask and you will receive, so that your joy may be complete. 

I don’t see here rules to obey, as in Judaism and Islam to name a few.

 If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you.

Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A slave is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you.

 

So you also are experiencing sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take away your joy from you.

I have said these things to you so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have affliction, but have courage!

 

These are simply facts related to those who will be able to oppose their preprogrammed instincts (be no more of the world) by living the Unconditional Love towards all others, good and evil.

 

=====================================

 

Here is another secret:

 

While I was growing up and observing the world, I used to be surprised that every believer, no matter if he is a Pagan, a Jew, a Muslim or a formal Christian, feels the same great joy towards his God, despite the many differences in how each of them sees God and obeys his specific religious rules/rituals.

 

I needed more than a decade to discover that the reason of their common great joy is a natural preprogrammed sensation whenever someone accepts to submit himself totally to another being.

If this other being is a supernatural being (in one’s mind), the believer expresses his inner great pleasure during his submission as if it were a great spiritual joy.

If the other being is a human... it is no more for kids to hear :)

 

This explains why every theist around the world is very sure that his God is the true one. After all, he feels a real great joy whenever he has the chance to express his total submission to his God (no matter who his God is).

 

For instance, although I know that Jesus and the Father don’t need my submission (in a mutual true love and unlimited trust, submission has no place), I sometimes convince myself that I am in total submission to Jesus (or the Father, since they are one for having One Unified Will) so that I can also, for a while, feel this sort of great pleasure/joy (this is very relaxing).

KerimF

Brother Rando

Thank you for your kind response. It's been my pleasure in correcting misnomers and in helping with scriptures.

@KerimF It is a fact (not orders) to a human who is able to see Jesus and the Father are one. In other words, they are unified by the Divine Spirit of Love, the Holy Spirit, and have, therefore, One Will/Power (God).

@Brother Rando - The following scripture is taught by Billions of Members of Christendom who make the false claim that the following teaching from Jesus is to be taken literally. There is no room for accepting anything else. Therefore, they teach the man-made doctrine that Jesus is God. Of course, this theology also cancels out other theologies the same ones teach who make this false claim. For instance, if the claim Jesus is God is true and accurate, then God cannot be made up of three persons, three colors, three voices, nor three angels.

• I and the Father are one. (John 10:30)

Jesus also taught in regards to marriage, that "the two will be one flesh,’ so that they are no longer two, but one flesh" (Mark 10:8)

• We can reason that these two scriptures are not to be taken literally. Jesus is not His Father and a married couple do not morph into one flesh literally.
• Let's take your personal circumstance. No matter how long you live, you will never become Your Father and should you be married, You and your wife will never morph into one flesh.
• Rather, you would become one in the sense of supporting one another, like a team. Therefore, these two teachings from Jesus are taught in a figurative sense.

Notice this teaching from Jesus Christ:

• For the Father judges no one at all, but he has entrusted all the judging to the Son, (John 5:22)
• Notice if Jesus meant the Father and I are one literally, he who would have stated such.
• If Jesus is God (incarnated) as taught by man-made doctrines, then both scriptures would be voided.
• Someone is wrong here and I don't think it is Jesus... If you would like to take a scripture literally, then take, "For the Father judges no one at all, but he has entrusted all the judging to the Son, (John 5:22)"

The truth is so simple once it is learned, a child could understand it.

• and said: “Truly I say to you, unless you turn around and become as young children, you will by no means enter into the Kingdom of the heavens. Matthew 18:3

I look forward to the Day when I call you My Brother!

You Can Be Close to God

Consider four basic steps that can help you draw close to God.

“Draw close to God, and he will draw close to you.”​—James 4:8.

“Throw all your anxiety on him, because he cares for you.”​—1 Peter 5:7.

WHAT CAN WE DO TO BE CLOSE TO GOD?

• Talk to him.​—Psalm 145:18, 19.
• Listen to him.​—Psalm 32:8.
• Follow his directions.​—Proverbs 3:5, 6.
• Do not give up.​—Matthew 7:7, 8.

KerimF

As you know, a real marriage follows a law, civil or religious, in the first place.

Such a law allows a man and a woman to unify their fleshes but not necessarily their 'will'. This is why Jesus was specific about their two fleshes (Mark 10:8). In fact, if a man and his wife cannot believe that they became one flesh only, having 4 eyes, 4 ears, 4 arms, 4 legs... etc. they will likely divorce sooner or later or live in sort of hell if they stay together.

On the other hand, to have 'One Will', two persons have to be real free independent ones first.

Is a woman real free to live with a man for life as a wife without marriage? I mean, could a woman be proud in her community for living with a man just because they love each other? Even in America, she won't be proud and still hope that her man/lover will marry her someday.

Scriptures are written by men in a language made by men, edited by men, translated by men to other languages made by men.

Muslims are also happy with their scriptures which tell them that the name of their God has to be called 'Allah'. Their God hears them if they use the word 'Allah'.

On your side, you have 'Jehovah' instead. And you are happy with Him.

So, where is the problem if Kerim's God has no specific name? :)

For instance, many years ago, my brother (4 years younger) had to tell me once I am an idiot many times, to please his wife. I knew he didn't mean it, and, in my heart, I forgave him. But he still cannot apologize for fear of his wife :)