Still browsing through the Watchtower publication, "What Does the Bible...

[carlpartis]

...Really Teach?"...? On page 40, in reference to Jesus' baptism in the Jordan River, it says,

"At the moment when God's spirit, or active force, was poured out upon him that day, Jesus became the Messiah, or Christ, the one appointed to be Leader and King."

Please note that it says on "that day, Jesus BECAME the Messiah, or Christ"

However, the Bible portrays things very differently -

"For there is born to you THIS DAY in the city of David a Savior, WHO IS Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:11, caps mine)

The Greek rendered "is" (esti) is in the PRESENT, not future tense.

Your thoughts, comments, please?

[jaysh89]

Ok firts of all, i would hardly consider 7 million people a cult and second, its 144000 not 77000. Get your story straight Della.

[Sasi]

The Word of God was appointed to be the Messiah before the universes were created. God foreordained his plan of salvation and who would be saved and how the Eternal Son would be born on earth, and the Word and the Holy Spirit agreed to all of this.

The Holy Spirit anointed Jesus even before his birth. In Luke's gospel we read that when Mary was pregnant with Jesus at an early stage, she visited Elizabeth who was pregnant by the Holy Spirit with John (Jesus' cousin). "When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the baby leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit. In a loud voice she exclaimed, 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favoured, that the mother of MY LORD should come to me?"

Note how Elizabeth called the foetus in Mary's womb 'My Lord'. This is something the Watchtower Society tries to sweep under the carpet. They will not face up to the immense implications of this.

[Andrew W]

nothing it is an outdated fairy tale

[Ben]

The bottom line is: Did Jesus become the Messiah or Christ?
Did he become a King? Where, in Israel? He became neither; and neither according to Watchtower publication nor according to the NT. Neither at his baptism nor at his birth. Can anyone rebut my rebuttal?

[Sentinel]

The problem lies with the many interpretations of the Bible and when you have individuals and or groups like the Mormons or JW`s doing this then their are bound to be major problems.
Anyone today can bring together a few people and start a cult following and teach whatever interpretations of scripture they please and this causes great problems.
St. Peter’s instruction, (2Peter1:20) “First of all you must understand this, that no prophecy of scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation.” Most respond that this means the Holy Spirit will guide each individual but then we look at (2 Pet 3:16) “There are some things in [Paul’s letters] hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other scriptures.” Why would St. Peter say that the ignorant and unstable twist St. Paul’s letters if the Holy Spirit were guiding them? The need for Church authority was so widely accepted among the early Christians that even the Ethiopian eunuch answered Philip, Acts 8:31 “How can I [understand Isaiah] unless someone guides me?”