WHY did Jesus leave us?

[Elijah John]

If Jesus was (is) God-incarnate and also the Messiah, why did he leave us after the resurrection?

Why didn't he stay with us for eternity....on earth?

Why didn't he usher-in the Messianic Age/the Kingdom of God the first time around? (Universal peace under God's rule etc)

[Hector Barbosa]

[Replying to post 29 by marco]

Wow! you skipped around the pebbles making little pips, and suddenly you flew out into space with a loud roar!

Would you care to explain how you came from point A to B, or drew the conclusion you did from the argument you made?

[Elijah John]

Christendom (apostate "imitation" Christian churches) have never had God's blessing since they have proved to be part of Babylon the Great, and so its not a question of God rejecting them.


JW

So are only Jehovah's Witnesses real Christians and not "apostates" or "imitation" Christians?

No, you cannot be an "apostate" if you have never been in the true religion. Christiandom, as a whole is an "apostate" religion since, I believe, it was born when individuals left Christian teachings (after the death of the last of the Apostles) and adopted pagan philosophy and manmade traditions.

Only Jehovah's Witnesses I believe practice real (true) Christianity as Jesus presented in scripture at this present time. Of course, in my opinion, God sees the many millions of sincere people other religions, and is calling them out (see Rev 18:4).

JW

source: https://www.jw.org/en/jehovahs-witnesse ... -religion/





Further reading: How Can I Find the True Religion?
https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/q ... n-is-true/

"Pagan philosophies" and traditions like the dying and rising god and blood sacrifice? (animal and/or human?)

[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to post 27 by JehovahsWitness]
Is Christianity today the church of the Antichrist?

1 John 2:17-19New International Version (NIV)

17 The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever.

Warnings Against Denying the Son

18 Dear children, this is the last hour; and as you have heard that the antichrist is coming, even now many antichrists have come. This is how we know it is the last hour. 19 They went out from us, but they did not really belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us; but their going showed that none of them belonged to us.

No True Christianity of course, but yes, the "Antichrist" we believe is a collective term (not refering to one individual) that refers to peoples and organizations involved in spreading lies and religious deception about Jesus Christ and his teachings. I do believe the clergy class of christendom can be identified with the "antichrist".






Further reading: Who is the Antichrist?
https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/q ... ntichrist/

[postroad]

[Replying to post 33 by JehovahsWitness]
If the clergy of all denominations other than your own are antichrists does this mean that the baptisms they perform are without the powers of salvation?

[JehovahsWitness]

[Replying to post 33 by JehovahsWitness]
If the clergy of all denominations other than your own are antichrists does this mean that the baptisms they perform are without the powers of salvation?

Jehovah's Witnesses don't believe any baptism has "the power to save"; baptism is simply a ceremony to mark a person's dedication to God and decision to do his will. It is, we believe the "doing of God's will" and accepting of the ransom sacrifice of his son (Jesus) that has the power to save. Nobody will be saved just because they were baptised, that is like saying somebody wins the race because they signed up for it and started running. Baptism is the beginning of acting in line with God's commands, we are saved if we finish the race! Of course you cannot win the race if you don't start it and Jesus did command his disciples to baptize new disciples for the above reason.

We (Jehovah's Witnesses) don't recognize any baptism apart from those associated with our religion. If a person is was previously baptism in another faith, but comes to recognize Jehovah's Witnesses as having the true religion and Jehovah as the True God, he or she will have to be baptized again.


Jehovah's Witnesses are baptised through full water immersion (going completely under a body of water) in keeping in line with the biblical pattern.



JW

[marco]

[Replying to post 29 by marco]

Wow! you skipped around the pebbles making little pips, and suddenly you flew out into space with a loud roar!

Would you care to explain how you came from point A to B, or drew the conclusion you did from the argument you made?

Not really. As Pilate said, what I have written, I have written. I've checked for pebbles and pips but I cannot detect any.

My concluding statement was simple irony, not derived from the body of my post. All I sought to do was defend the poor Romans from the charges you seem to have brought against them, but I probably misunderstood your post.

[shnarkle]

If Jesus was (is) God-incarnate and also the Messiah, why did he leave us after the resurrection?

Why didn't he stay with us for eternity....on earth?

Why didn't he usher-in the Messianic Age/the Kingdom of God the first time around? (Universal peace under God's rule etc)

The answer Jesus gave was so that "the Comforter" could come. This is where I think most of mainstream Christianity either misses the boat or jumps ship on what he's really saying. He's saying that as long as he's this guy walking around and becoming an object of worship, no one is going to receive His Spirit.

He prays that just as the Father is in him and he in the Father, may it be that he is in them and they in him, but he can't really do that while they remain identified with themselves. They cannot have their identity in Christ until His Spirit comes to indwell in them just as it did in Christ.

So what does this mean? To me, it means that there is no kingdom without a king, and if the king's Spirit is within you, then you can see the kingdom. After references to Jesus being the light of the world, he then informs his disciples that they are the light of the world; seems to be catching. He also says that they will do greater things than he has done so I think it's telling us that there are those of us who are living in the kingdom because they are able to see the world as Christ sees it because it is the eyes of Christ that are doing the seeing, and there are those of us who are living in a world as we see it.

So the messianic age is being ushered in for those who have the eyes to see. It reminds me of that passage in Isaiah where he's describing the corruption and depravity going on in Israel, but then when he has this vision, the angelic host of heaven see only the holiness of God pervading all of creation.

[shnarkle]

[Replying to post 23 by JehovahsWitness]
Is it possible that God has completely forsaken Christianity as you believe he did with national Israel?

Matthew 5:18-20New International Version (NIV)
For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

As I said, God always proves true to his word, Jesus said he would be with this true followers until the end of the system of things and the only way that might be changed would be if they (True Christians) proved as an organization to be unfaithful or disobedient.

That has not happened, True Christians are presently faithfully fulfilling their commission to preach the good news, currenly spending billions of hours preaching from door to door and announcing Christ's incoming government as instructed and are enjoying a "spiritual paradise" which is evidence of God's blessing and approval.


Christendom (apostate "imitation" Christian churches) have never had God's blessing since they have proved to be part of Babylon the Great, and so its not a question of God rejecting them.


JW

When you refer to "true Christians", and "true followers" would these terms be synonymous with what the bible refers to as "saints"?, or are the saints that are written in the book of the lamb referring to some other group of people?

The reason I ask is that the description God gives for them seems significantly different than the description you're presenting. I guess I'm wondering how a "spiritual paradise" fits in with something like this: "And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations. And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world."

Granted, it could easily be argued that this hasn't been granted yet, but if the antichrist is referring to a system, then there have been plenty of these systems throughout history and they've done essentially what Revelation indicated; Nazi Germany being a prime example of this not just with respect to the Jewish population, but Jehovah's Witnesses as well. I forget who it was, Goring or Goebbels, who said that he feared the Jehovah's Witnesses because as a group, they stood up to the Nazi government and refused to comply. If more had taken notice of this example, history may well have turned out differently.

[Hector Barbosa]

[Replying to post 36 by marco]

Not really. As Pilate said, what I have written, I have written. I've checked for pebbles and pips but I cannot detect any.

My concluding statement was simple irony, not derived from the body of my post. All I sought to do was defend the poor Romans from the charges you seem to have brought against them, but I probably misunderstood your post.

So are you Pilate defending the Romans?

Yeah you probably misunderstood my post