Jehovah’s Witnesses Non-Official Web Site

Sutra chanting and other peculiarities of esoteric rituals during New Year’s Eve ceremony at the impressive Manpukuji, headquarters of the Obaku school of zen buddhism in Uji, south of Kyoto.

A MAN in Tibet spins a prayer wheel, a drum containing written prayers. He believes that his petitions are repeated with each turn of the wheel. In a spacious home in India, a small room is set aside for doing puja—worship that may include making offerings of incense, flowers, and other things to images of various gods and goddesses. Thousands of miles away in Italy, a woman in an ornate church kneels before an image of Mary, the mother of Jesus, and prays while holding a string of rosary beads.

Indeed, religion has influenced the lives of millions of people. Is this not strong evidence that man has a spiritual need and yearning?
Religion has been defined as “devotion to some principle; strict fidelity or faithfulness; conscientiousness; pious affection or attachment.” By this definition, nearly everyone displays some form of religious devotion in his life. That even includes atheists.

Out of the vast array of beliefs, how can we identify true teachings that please God?
See the whole official Watchtower article.

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MOST of us like to have a good selection to choose from when we go shopping. When a market offers a variety of fruits and vegetables, we can select the ones that we most enjoy and that are good for our family. If a clothing store offers many affordable styles and colors, we can choose what best suits us. Some of the choices we make in life are merely expressions of individual taste. Others, though, affect our well-being, for example, our choice of healthful food or wise friends. So, what about our choice of religion? Should our way of worship be merely an expression of personal taste? Or is it a matter that seriously affects our well-being? See official Wachtower article link.

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Answers questions about:God, Jesus Christ, Holy Spirit, Death, Resurrection, Bible, Prayer, Family Life and more.

Stauros. In classical Greek, this word meant merely
an upright stake, or pale. Later it also came to be
used for an execution stake having a crosspiece.
 

Why do Watch Tower publications show Jesus on a stake with hands over his head instead of on the traditional cross?*
The book The Non-Christian Cross, by J. D. Parsons (London, 1896), says: “There is not a single sentence in any of the numerous writings forming the New Testament, which, in the original Greek, bears even indirect evidence to the effect that the stauros used in the case of Jesus was other than an ordinary stauros; much less to the effect that it consisted, not of one piece of timber, but of two pieces nailed together in the form of a cross. . . .
It is not a little misleading upon the part of our teachers to translate the word stauros as ‘cross’ when rendering the Greek documents of the Church into our native tongue, and to support that action by putting ‘cross’ in our lexicons as the meaning of stauros . #

  ==References==

*Reasoning From the Scriptures,english International Bible Student Association, p.89
#The book The Non-Christian Cross, by J. D. Parsons (London, 1896) Pp. 23, 24; see also The Companion Bible (London, 1885), Appendix No. 162.
 

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To what was Jesus referring when he told us to pray: Let your kingdom come ?

At the beginning of this model prayer, Jesus instructed his hearers: “You must pray, then, this way: ‘Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified. Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.’” (Matthew 6:9-13)

God’s Kingdom is a government established by Jehovah God with a King chosen by God. Who is the King of God’s Kingdom? Jesus Christ. Jesus as King is greater than all human rulers and is called “the King of those who rule as kings and Lord of those who rule as lords.” (1 Timothy 6:15) He has the power to do far more good than any human ruler, even the best among them.

From where will God’s Kingdom rule? Well, where is Jesus? You will remember learning that he was put to death on a torture stake, and then he was resurrected. Shortly thereafter, he ascended to heaven. (Acts 2:33) Hence, that is where God’s Kingdom is—in heaven. That is why the Bible calls it a “heavenly kingdom.” (2 Timothy 4:18) Although God’s Kingdom is in heaven, it will rule over the earth.—Revelation 11:15.

WHAT WILL GOD’S KINGDOM DO?

For more informations about God’s kindom : Watchtower Official Web Site 

‘You Must Pray This Way’

DO YOU know the words of the Lord’s Prayer? It is a model prayer taught by Jesus Christ. During his renowned Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said: “You must pray, then, this way.” (Matthew 6:9)

Since it was introduced by Jesus, it is often called the Lord’s Prayer, also known as the Our Father prayer.—Latin, Paternoster.

Millions around the world have committed the Lord’s Prayer to memory and repeat it often, perhaps daily. In recent years, many have recited this prayer in schools and at public events. Why is the Lord’s Prayer so highly esteemed?

In its catechism, the Roman Catholic Church deems the Our Father to be “the fundamental Christian prayer.” The World Book Encyclopedia acknowledges this prayer’s important place in all religions of Christendom, calling it one of the “basic statements of Christian faith.”

It must be acknowledged, however, that many who recite the Lord’s Prayer do not fully understand it. “If you have any kind of Christian background you probably are able to rattle off the Lord’s Prayer without having to pause for breath,” says Canada’s Ottawa Citizen newspaper, “but you might have difficulty saying it slowly and with understanding.”

Is it really important to understand our prayers to God? Why did Jesus give us the Lord’s Prayer? What does it mean for you? See full text  Watchtower Official Web Site

Is it really important to understand our prayers to God? Why did Jesus give us the Lord’s Prayer? What does it mean for you?

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Rural Cambodian Family maimed by a land mine.

Even after a conflict ends, mines and explosive remnants of war such as unexploded bombs, shells and cluster-munition bomblets continue to kill and maim. This deadly problem has a name: weapon contamination. It deprives entire populations of water, firewood, farmland, health care and education. — ICRC .  God’s will?

Is God’s Will Being Done?

“Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.”—Matthew 6:10.

The view that whatever happens, good or bad, manifests God’s will is often based on Jesus’ words in what is called the Lord’s Prayer, quoted above. God’s will is being done in heaven, is it not? In praying ‘Let your will be done on earth,’ do we not acquiesce to what happens on earth as being God’s will?

Many are uncomfortable with this view. For them, it portrays God as insensitive to the feelings of his human creation. ‘How could a loving God want what is horrific for innocent people?’ they ask. ‘If there is a lesson to be learned, what could the lesson possibly be?’ Perhaps that is how you feel.

In this regard, Jesus’ half brother, the disciple James, wrote: “When under trial, let no one say: ‘I am being tried by God.’ For with evil things God cannot be tried nor does he himself try anyone.” (James 1:13) God is not the source of what is bad. Plainly, therefore, not all that happens on earth today is God’s will. The Scriptures speak also of man’s will, the nations’ will, and even the Devil’s will. (John 1:13; 2 Timothy 2:26; 1 Peter 4:3)

Do you agree that what happened to the cambodian family could not have been the will of a loving heavenly Father?—Text source Watchtower

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THE Bible was originally written in ancient Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek. So most people who desire to read it must rely on a translation.

 TODAY, the Bible is the world’s most widely translated book—parts of it being available in over 2,400 languages. Some languages have not just one translation but scores of them. If you have a choice in your language, you surely want to use the very best translation you can find.

To make an informed choice, you need to know the answers to the following questions: What different types of translations are available? What are the strengths and weaknesses of each type of translation? And why should you be cautious when reading some translations of the Bible? — Official Watchtower Issue

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Tyndale’s translation taken from the Gospel of st. John Chapter one

William Tyndale (sometimes spelled Tindall or Tyndall; pronounced /ˈtɪndəl/)(c. 1494 – 1536) was a 16th-century Protestant reformer and scholar who, influenced by the work of Desiderius Erasmus and Martin Luther, translated the Bible into the Early Modern English of his day.

While a number of partial and complete Old English translations had been made from the seventh century onward, and Middle English translations particularly during the 14th century, Tyndale’s was the first English translation to draw directly from Hebrew and Greek texts, and the first to take advantage of the new medium of print, which allowed for its wide distribution.

In 1535, Tyndale was arrested on the orders of King Henry VIII, jailed in the castle of Vilvoorde outside Brussels for over a year, tried for heresy and burned at the stake. He was strangled before his body was burnt.

Much of Tyndale’s work eventually found its way into the King James Version (or “Authorised Version”) of the Bible, published in 1611, which, as the work of 54 independent scholars revising the existing English versions, drew significantly on Tyndale’s translations. — Wikipedia

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In spite of the efforts of many translators to restore God’s name in the Bible, there has always been religious pressure to eliminate it.

Manuscripts of the book of Revelation (the last book of the Bible) have God’s name in its abbreviated form, “Jah,” (in the word “Hallelujah”). But apart from that, no ancient Greek manuscript that we possess today of the books from Matthew to Revelation contains God’s name in full. Does that mean that the name should not be there? That would be surprising in view of the fact that Jesus’ followers recognized the importance of God’s name, and Jesus taught us to pray for God’s name to be sanctified. http://www.watchtower.org/

YAHWEH

Yahweh is the English rendering of יַהְוֶה, a vocalization of the Tetragrammaton יהוה that was proposed by the Hebrew scholar Gesenius in the 19th century. The stem of the name Yahweh (Yah-) remains widely accepted but disagreements continue on the ending (-weh). This pronunciation and spelling, as with many religious and scholarly issues, remains the subject of ongoing  debate . ^[1] —Wikipedia 

Tetragrammaton

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God’s name and Bible translators

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God did not create humans to suffer.

God did not create humans to suffer. On the contrary, he endowed the first human couple, Adam and Eve, with perfect minds and bodies, prepared a delightful garden to serve as their home, and assigned them meaningful, satisfying work. (Genesis 1:27, 28, 31; 2:8) Tragically, Adam and Eve failed to obey God. A rebellious spirit creature, later identified as Satan the Devil, convinced Eve that it was not in her best interests to obey God. In fact, God was supposedly depriving her of something highly desirable: independence, the right to choose for herself what was good and what was bad. That same day, Adam and Eve began to experience the results of their rebellion. By rejecting divine rulership, they lost out on the protection and blessings that subjection to God had afforded them.

The rejection of God’s authority has caused untold suffering. It is fitting, then, that God should use a special expression of his authority to end human suffering and accomplish his original purpose for the earth. (Matthew 6:9, 10) http://www.watchtower.org/

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