Immortality of the Soul & Jehovah's Witnesses

The JW’s teach that once you die, you stop existing, sort of a materialistic point of view with a twist. They do believe that pretty much everyone will be resurrected from the dead and be conscience again.

They really point to 4 key passages that I will go through with their arguments, then we will examine them one by one:

Genesis 2:7 - then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.

• The JW Bible says that man became a living soul, which is an ok interpretation of that word. They then reason that we don’t have souls. We are souls.

Ezekiel 18:4 - Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins shall die.

• See (they say) because we ARE souls, the soul that sins dies. So when we die we are dead.

Psalms 146:4 - When his breath departs he returns to his earth; on that very day his plans perish.

• The JW Bible reads that his thoughts will perish. Now obviously if your thoughts have perished with your death, then there is nothing left of you to exist, therefore you have stopped existing after death. And to back this up is…
  

Ecclesiastes 9:5 - For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing.

• See the dead are conscience of nothing because when you die, you stop existing, there is no special part of you that goes on living after you die.
  

Now how do we respond to these verses?
Lets look at Genesis 2:7 - then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.
- I agree that the Bible describes people as being souls such as in 1Peter 3:20 where is says that "eight persons (souls), were saved through water." But I have noticed also that the Bible has a wide range of the use of the word "soul" [Heb. Nephesh, Gk. Psuche]. For example:
Gen 35:18 – a soul can go out at death.
1Kgs 17:21 – come back in a person.
Luke 1:46 – people have souls.
Mt 10:28 – the soul is not the body and it can’t be killed by man.
Josh 10:37 – can be struck with a sword.
Ps 42:6; Ps 43:5 – is the dwelling of emotions.
Rev 6:9-11 – can speak after death.

So sometimes the Bible says that the person IS a soul. Other times it says that the soul is something IN a person. Even other verses say that the soul is something that survives death.

Ezekiel 18:4 - Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sins shall die.
- The context here is just saying that a person will have to be accountable for their own sin, not their children. But you are saying that this verse is saying that souls can and do die. I agree with that, but not in the sense that when a person sins his soul dies, meaning ceases to exist. A person’s soul can be dead to God, meaning that they have fallen out of relationship with him like in Luke 15:24 - About the prodigal son, the father says - my son was dead and is alive, he was lost and now is found.

Psalms 146:4 - When his breath departs he returns to his earth; on that very day his plans perish .
- The Hebrew word here for thoughts implies ‘plans’, as if when the person dies, all the plans that he had planned cannot come to fruition because he died before be could make them come to pass. The whole psalm is about trusting in the Lord and not in man, because while plans of men perish the plan of God is forever and can be trusted.

Finally Ecclesiastes 9:5 - For the living know that they will die, but the dead know nothing.
- If you have spoken with a corps lately you will notice that you have done all of the talking. It is in this sense that the dead know nothing. Even the context of this verse betrays the interpreation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses if we read the whole 12 chapters of Ecclesiastes

In Ecclesiastes 3:20, 21 - All go to one place; all are from the dust, and all turn to dustagain.21 Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down to the earth? So the author himself asks the question about where does the spirit go at death?
Ecclesiastes 12:7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the spirit returns to God who gave it. At the end of the book he gives the answer - the spirit returns to God - it isn’t destroyed at all.

Some other verses that show the soul survives death:
Matt 10:28 - do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
Matt 17:3 - Moses and Elijah - (two dead guys) talking to Jesus
Luke 16:23 - Lazarus and the rich man. Whether this is a parable or not, Jesus always drew his images from real life situations.
Philipians 1:23 - St. Paul says, My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better.

Miracles

What should we say to Christians that say that Miracles were only done in the Biblical times and that we should no longer expect them?

I think that some "Bible Christians" come up with this interpretation for three reasons. The first is that they aren’t recognizing miracles in their own lives. The second is that if they saw a miracle they might not know how to handle it. The third and final reason is that in light of the first two things, they needed to find a Biblical answer and so they twisted some scripture passages to make it say what they wanted.
That verse is 1 Corinthians 13:8-10 8 Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. 9 For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; 10 but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.

They point to where it says that prophecies and tongues (these are gifts of the Holy Spirit spoken of in 1 Cor 14) will pass away when the perfect comes. They then interpret "the perfect" to mean the Bible and the end of public revelation.

But is that what St. Paul was talking about when he said "the perfect"? No way and the context gives us the answer as it always does.

St. Paul sandwiches this enter section with the word "love", Which we need to keep in mind
1 Corinthians 13:8-13 8 Love never ends; as for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.
9 For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect;
10 but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away.
11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways.
12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood.
13 So faith, hope, love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
St. Paul is saying that their focus needs to be on love, and the perfect that is coming where we will understand fully is the second coming of Christ.

It can’t be when the Bible is finished that would mean that Paul was preaching an incomplete Gospel this whole time. The reason why the greatest is love is because in heaven, we won’t need faith because we will see God face to face and we won’t need to hope because our hope will be complete, but we will still love.

What about the people who say that, they would believe in God if only he would show them a miracle?

This is exactly what the Pharisees said in Matthew 12:38-40 38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to him, "Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you."
39 But he answered them, "An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign; but no sign shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.
40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the whale, so will the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

So the sign that is given is his resurrection, but there is another sign that was already given in connection with a resurrection. Remember that Jesus has a friend named Lazarus who dies and he goes to Abraham’s Bosom, while the rich man was in fire.

Luke 16:27-31 27 And he said, `Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house, 28 for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.' 29 But Abraham said, `They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.' 30 And he said, `No, father Abraham; but if some one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' 31 He said to him, `If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if some one should rise from the dead.'"

What happens next is a bit shocking; - Jesus goes to the tomb of Lazarus and says John 11:43-53 "Lazarus, come out." 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet bound with bandages, and his face wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, "Unbind him, and let him go."
45 Many of the Jews therefore, who had come with Mary and had seen what he did, believed in him;
46 but some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done.
47 So the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the council, and said, "What are we to do? For this man performs many signs….
53 So from that day on they took counsel how to put him to death.

See the miracle was the cause not of faith, but of hatred. So people who are asking for a sign, might not necessarily want one. The Catholic Church is not afraid of miracles, in fact we believe in the god of Miracles. You only have to look as close as your local Catholic Book store to find all sorts of amazing stories of how God is still doing miracles today.

Pharaoh's Heart Condition

In the OT there are some places where it would seem that God is not being very fair. One such example would be when it says in Exodus that God "hardened Pharaoh’s heart." It SEEMS as though it is saying that God is forcing Pharaoh to do Evil, but that is of course not the case.

Tthere are several resources that bring to light the meaning of these verses. One is Tim Gray's study on Exodus, and the other is Jeff Cavin's Great Adventure series.

What do these Bible studies reveal?

They really show that at every opportunity, God is giving his grace to Pharaoh to make the right decision. But each of us has experienced what Pharaoh was going through, not necessarily with 1 Million souls on the line, but with smaller choices. Before each of us is two choices, the right thing to do and the wrong, and sometimes with great effort choose the wrong. But by the very fact that we saw the choice and there was a struggle inside of us proves that God was giving us his grace to make the right decision. God continues to give us now the grace to repent, and hopefully we do, but we can still reject his grace once again and do what we want, for whatever reason.
So sometimes we accept God’s grace and sometimes we reject God’s grace.

The point can be wrapped up in a phrase. “The Sun’s light melts wax and hardens clay”

The Sun’s light is always the same, but it depends on the recipient.
Pharaoh’s heart was like clay.

So getting into the phrase “to harden his heart” what does that mean exactly”

Well the Hebrew literally means that his heart was made heavy, that it was weighed down.

Now this doesn’t mean much to us today, but it meant a lot to the Egyptians, yes Egyptians.
The Egyptians believed that the heart was where the emotions ruled from and that it represented the purity of a person. They also believed that when the person died, Anubis (one of their gods) would take the persons heart and weight it. On one side of the scale would be the persons heart and on the other side would be a feather. If the persons heart weighed more than a feather it meant that the person was a sinner and the person would experience a terrible death in the afterlife. If it weighed less than a feather, it meant that the person gained eternal life.

So when the Bible talks about Pharaoh’s heart getting hardened, it is really saying that it is being made heavy and that he is being judged as a sinner, unworthy of eternal life.

Something else is that when you read the text carefully, sometimes it says that The LORD hardened Pharaoh’s heart, but other times it says that Pharaoh hardens his own heart.
NAS Exodus 8:15 But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and did not listen to them, as the LORD had said.

Besides God gave Pharaoh 9 chances to turn away from those false gods and turn toward the true God. I would say that God was being very merciful to the Egyptians and Pharaoh.

What are some other ways to answer the objection that God is cruel because he hardened Pharaoh’s heart.

There are two more ways from a linguistic point of view.

From what I understand about the Hebrew language, there are idioms where the Subject isn’t the cause of the action, but gives permission for the action to take place. Here are some examples:
Jeremiah 4:10, “ ‘Lord God, surely thou hast greatly deceived this people’
– Now God hadn’t deceived the people, but had permitted false prophets to spread lies.

Ezekiel 14:9: “ ‘If the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the Lord have deceived that prophet’
– Now the Lord isn’t deceiving anyone or he wouldn’t be God, reason tells us that. What was happening was that God was permitting them to be deceived.

The same is true for Pharaoh. God wasn’t hardening Pharaoh’s heart, but was permitting it be to hardened.


Finally another great answer to these charges is Metonymy is a figure of speech used in rhetoric in which a thing or concept is not called by its own name, but by the name of something intimately associated with that thing or concept.[1] (From Wikipedia)

An example in English would be - The White House supported a certain Bill. It isn’t the White House, it is the president who is supporting the Bill, but because there is a close association between the two. To say one is to imply the other.

So now to the Bible: The Book of Kings says many times that a certain Kings “walked in the way of Jeroboam…who had made Israel sin” Now Jeroboam didn’t force anyone to sin, but rather his poor example was one that people choose to follow into sin.

Another example is where it says in Acts chapter 1 that Judas bought a field with the money he received from betraying Jesus.

But it actually wasn’t he that bought the field remember Matthew 27 says that he returned the money and that those leaders bought that field. But they bought it with his money, that is why Acts 1 says that HE bought it.

So Back to God hardening Pharaoh’s heart.
God gave Pharaoh a Message, and the hearing of that message was instrument through which Pharaoh chose to harden his heart.

But if God had not given the message, his heart would not have been hardened.

So can we say that Pharaoh hardened his own heart, yes the Bible says that.
Can we say that the Message hardened Pharaoh heart, yes, because of the reaction of Pharaoh to the message.

And we can say that Moses and God hardened Pharaoh’s heart because they are the channel and the Source of that message.

The Jesus of Jehovah's Witnesses

Jehovah's Witnesses have a particularly unique view about Jesus. They teach that Jesus is Michael the archangel.

They really have four arguments that they base this teaching on:

The first is that in the Bible only one angel is called an archangel, which is Michael. The word "arch" means ruler, and because the Bible only names one archangel (Michael). He must be Jesus.

Next they say point out that Michael is called "the great prince" in Daniel 12:1. Who better to be a prince over God's people than Jesus.

Then they show how it is Michael in Revelation 12 that defeats Satan and throws Him out of heaven. They say - who else but God's Son Jesus could be able to do such a thing.

Finally they point to 1Thess 4:16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God; and the dead in Christ shall rise first. They say - see he will have the voice of an archangel, and because there is only one archangel, Jesus must be Michael.

I have thought of some arguments against these 4 arguments:

#1 The Bible never says that Jesus is Michael (Now it never says that he is a part of the Trinity either, but that is a starting point)

#2 The Bible says that Jesus is not an angel.
Hebrews 1:5-6 For to which of the angels did He ever say, "Thou art My Son, Today I have begotten Thee"? And again, "I will be a Father to Him And He shall be a Son to Me"? 6 And when He again brings the first-born into the world, He says, "And let all the angels of God worship Him."
See God never said to an angel - "you are my son", and later he has all the angels worship the Son.

#3 In the Book of Daniel chapter 10: 13 Michael, one of the chief princes.

#4 Lets take a closer look at 1 Thessalonians 4:16
1Thess 4:16 For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God;
They reason incorrectly, they say that Jesus descends with the voice of the archangel, therefore he is an archangel. But it also says that he descends with the trumpet of God. Does that mean that he is the trumpet of God? no way.
If I said to you "the night came with a terrible storm, and with utter hopelessness"
This doesn't mean that night IS a terrible storm and hopelessness.

Something else to point out is that it literally says that it was the voice of AN archangel and A trumpet of God. They say that there is only one archangel and that it is Jesus, but there is no definite article in the text.

#5 The watchtower own interpretation in the past was that Jesus was not Michael.
For years, the Watchtower taught that Michael is not the Son of God, since the angels had to worship him (WT, Nov. 1879, p. 4; Reprints, p. 48). At one time "Michael" was identified with the Pope of Rome! (The Finished Mystery, 1926 edition, p. 188) http://www.freeminds.org/doctrine/jesus/jesus-christ-who-is-he.html (Protestant Site)

#6 1 Samuel 2:25 "If one man sins against another, God will mediate for him; but if a man sins against the LORD, who can intercede for him?"
Could an angel have died for us? no. To fulfill justice, and appease the eternal God, you would need an eternal sacrifice, which is what Jesus (God the Son) has done for us.

How should we treat Jehovah's Witnesses when they come to the door?
What everyone needs to know is while it can be annoying for people to come to your door who actually want to talk about religion. These people are forced to go door to door. Now I imagine that some must like it, but for any of them to stop going is social suicide. Really these people are slaves to fear and you have an opportunity to help set them free. #1 by your example, treat them with great respect. Love them as Christ loves you. #2 If you are not prepared to speak with them, kindly let them know, and either get prepared and invite them back or let them know you are praying for them, but not to come again. But we must be Christ to them.

If you have questions about how to answer the Jehovah's Witnesses on certain topics, or would like to invite me to your parish to speak about how to best answer the Jehovah's Witnesses: Contact me via email Catholic4areason@gmail.com

When God Sleeps

The Bible is so rich and because many of us don’t know the Old Testament as well as we should, we can often overlook something very significant. I am certainly guilty as well of not knowing the Old Testament like I should. I am getting this from the works of Tim Gray and Scott Hahn.

So here is what Matthew 8:24-27 says:
And behold, there arose a great storm in the sea, so that the boat was covered with the waves; but He Himself was asleep.
25 And they came to Him, and awoke Him, saying, "Save us, Lord; we are perishing!"
26 And He said to them, "Why are you timid, you men of little faith?" Then He arose, and rebuked the winds and the sea; and it became perfectly calm.
27 And the men marveled, saying, "What kind of a man is this, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?"

Now if we knew the Old Testament like we should, this story of Jesus should remind us of the story of Jonah.
There are 6 parallels in this story and they are as follows:

1. Both Jesus and Jonah set sail on a boat.
2. Both are caught in a storm on the sea.
3. Both fall asleep
4. In the story of Jesus and Jonah, the sailors are terrified.
5. Both groups of sailors cry out to God for help.
6. Both Jonah and Jesus somehow bring out the calming of the sea.
7. Both groups of sailors marvel at the calming of the sea.

The significance of the Story is this: After both this story in Mathew and the one in Jonah, both Jesus and Jonah go and help out some Gentiles. Jonah goes and preaches to the Assyrians who capital is Nineveh, while Jesus goes and cast out demons from the Garadene demoniac.

This sort shows us something else about Jesus. It not only shows us that Jesus is like a new Jonah, but it also reveals his divinity.
Lets look at Psalm 107:28-30 In the context, some sailors are being to and fro by a terrible storm on the sea. It reads:
28 Then they cried to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress; 29 he made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed. 30 Then they were glad because they had quiet, and he brought them to their desired haven.

This is exactly what happens in Matthew 8. Showing the divinity of Christ that he is The LORD.
You know when you read the Old Testament and it says LORD in all caps. That is talking about the very name of God himself. Yahweh that he gave to Moses.

So Jesus is showing us here that he is THE LORD who can rebuke the seas and they listen to him.

Here are some spiritual interpretations that the saints saw in these passages.
Moral interpretation:(St. John Chrysostom, Horn, in Matt. 28),the wave-tossed boat signifies the struggles of the Christian life. Endangered by the wind and fierce waves, God’s people are awakened by spiritual assaults and become aware of their helplessness. They call upon the Lord for salvation and inner peace. The near presence of Christ assures their deliverance, and his swiftness strengthens their wavering faith.

Moral interpretation: (St. Augustine, Sermo 51), the episode at sea signifies the drama of the Christian life. All of God’s children embark with Christ on a life that is full of dangerous storms, especially attacks from evil spirits and temptations of the flesh. We must learn to trust in Christ daily, since he alone can restrain these forces and bring us to the safe harbor of salvation. See note on Mt 8:23-27.

There are three sources fro this information and I highly recommend them all.
Scott Hahn's Ignatius Commentary - http://www.ignatius.com/ViewProduct.aspx?SID=1&Product_ID=432&SKU=CSB:MK-P&Category_ID=6

Scott Hahn's audio commentary found here - http://www.saintjoe.com/prodinfo.asp?number=5626

listen FREE to Tim Gray Here - http://www.ewtn.com/vondemand/audio/file_index.asp?SeriesId=6715&pgnu=

The Daily Sacrifice and a Promise Fulfilled

http://bibletidbits.blogspot.com/2009/03/daily-sacrifice-and-sabbath.html

Linked above is the Rerun of my segment of "Bible Tidbits" on sacred Heart Radio.

But this week I thought I should give you more for being a faithful listener to the show or reader of the blog.

I said in a previous post that I would list all the Markan sandwiches (Where Mark begins with one topic, goes to another topic, and then returns to the first topic.) They are pretty cool when you look them up.

Again these are all in the Gospel of Mark.

#1 A. 3:20, 21
B.3:22 - 30
A.3:31-35

#2 A.4:1-20
B.4:21-25
A.26-34

#3A.4:35-31
B.5:1-13
A.5:14-20

#4 A. 5:21-24
B.5:25-34
A.5:35-43

#5A. 6:7-13
B. 6:14-29
A. 6:30, 31

#6 A. 11:12-14
B. 11:15-29
A. 11:20-25

#7A. 15:40, 41
B.15:42-47
A. 16:1-8

#8A. 16:14, 15
B. 16: 16-18
A. 16 :19-20

The Sin of Anger

Everyone struggles with virtues to conquer the vices. What does the Bible say about anger? And what are some ways that we can overcome it?

There is a type of Holy Anger that our Lord Jesus demonstrated when he overturned the table in the temple, but that isn’t what we are talking about today.

The Bible has some strong words against anger:
Ephesians 4:26-27 Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not give the devil an opportunity.

Ephesians 4:30-32 And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31 Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. 32 And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you.

Ephesians 6:4 And, fathers, do not provoke your children to anger; but bring them up in the discipline and instruction of the Lord.

I would say that a definition of anger would be a disordered desire of revenge. We have seen what St. Paul tells us about it, but also look what Jesus says in
Matthew 5:22 But I say to you that every one who is angry with his brother shall be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother shall be liable to the council, and whoever says, `You fool!’ shall be liable to the hell of fire.

Some of the best advice I have heard is from a book called "The Sinners Guide, written by The Venerable Louis of Granada. In summery he says this:
When this furious enemy assails you, let the following considerations help you to overcome its movements:

• Consider first the even beasts live at peace with their kind. Elephants to not war upon one another; sheep live peaceably in one fold...Yes even the infernal spirits, the first authors of all discord, are united in a common purpose - the perversion of mankind. Man, alone for whom peace is most fitting, lives at enmity with his fellow men and indulges in implacable hatred. All animals are born with weapons for combat. The bull has horns; the bird has a beak and claws...But man, destined to live at peace with his fellow creatures, comes into the world naked and unarmed. Reflect, then, how contrary to your rightful nature it is to seek to be revenged upon one of your kind, to return evil for evil, particularly by making use of weapons which nature has denied you.
• 
  In the second place, a thirst for vengeance is a vice which befits only savage beasts. You misrepresent your origin, you disgrace your descent, when you indulge in ungovernable rage, worthy only of a wild animal. Instead of calming his fierce rage by the power of reason, that noble gift which he shares with the angels, he abandons himself to the blind impulse or passions which he possesses in common with the brutes.
• 
  If someone upsets you, consider how much more God has borne from you and how much he has endured for you. Were you not His enemy when He shed the last drop of His blood for you? See also His patience with our daily offenses against Him, and with what mercy and tenderness He receives you when you return to Him.
• 
  If anger urges that your enemy doesn’t deserve forgiveness, ask yourself how far have you merited God’s pardon. Will you have God exercise only mercy toward you, when you pursue your neighbor with absolute hatred? Remember that the pardon which man has not merited for himself. Christ has superabundantly merited for him. For the love of Him, therefore, forgive all who have offended you.

Moreover, as long as hatred predominates in your heart you can make no offering which will be acceptable to God, for he said:
Matthew 5:23-24 So if you are offering your gift at the altar, and there remember that your brother has something against you, 24 leave your gift there before the altar and go; first be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift. St. Gregory said (Moral. 21:16) "We gain no merit from good works is we have not learned to endure injuries with patience.
The Apostles says: Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
If you overcome your passion, you gain a more glorious victory than he who conquers a city. Our noblest triumph is won by subduing ourselves, by subjecting our passions to the empire of reason.

The most efficacious remedy against this vice is to pluck from your heart disordered love of self and of everything that pertains to you. Otherwise the slightest word of action directed against you or your interests will move you to anger.

Never act until your anger subsided, or until you have once or twice repeated the Our Father or some other prayer.