nPeace
Veteran Member
What you believe is irrelevant, isn it.1Cor 12:13 For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit.
Which Spirit were they baptised into the one body with? A Christian has the Spirit of God and the Spirit of Christ in them. Are they one Spirit or two?
Romans 8:9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ. 10 But if Christ is in you, then even though your body is subject to death because of sin, the Spirit gives life because of righteousness. 11 And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies because of his Spirit who lives in you.
You love feeling like Jesus.
Yes the Spirit was given after Jesus was resurrected.
Is the baptism of Matthew 28:19 different from the one in which a Christian is given the Spirit of God? If so, why?
God's Spirit can influence lives in many ways and an atheist can have his life influenced by God's Spirit. But is the Great Crowd led by the Spirit as in:
Romans 8:5 Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires. 6 The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace. 7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you.
Romans 8:14 For those who are led by the Spirit of God are the children of God.
And really being a Christian included living like a Christian and following the Lord, or we will probably be rejected by Him, so works are very important for not just JWs. But of course the salvation is through faith and love and the works of love is that faith at work. It is not the works that save us or we would be earning our own salvation, which we cannot do.
How do you kill the deeds of the flesh without the Spirit of God in you and giving you strength to do that and guiding you?
A possibility is that the 144000 is a totally symbolic number. 12x12x1000. Looks pretty symbolic of all Christians.
Certainly there is nothing to definitely connect the "little flock" of the gospels with the 144000 except the say so of your teachers.
A large part of the teachings of the JWs is based on very iffy interpretation of prophecy and even to the extent that it changes the gospel message for the great crowd on the say so of a hand full of men.
Because we believe all Christians are baptised into Christ and receive the Spirit and are part of the New Covenant and are in the Kingdom of God as citizens of that Kingdom, we see no problem with going to heaven. But of course the scriptures tell us that the New Jerusalem is coming down to earth and God and the Lamb will be in it. It is like heaven is going to be on earth. The OT tells us that God has chosen Jerusalem/Zion to live in forever. I don't know what the 144000 are going to do in heaven alone.
The way it looks to me is that New Jerusalem is going to be where all Christians call home and the rest of the New Earth is going to be where the nations call home.
If heaven is going to be on earth, then what is the purpose of these scriptures? Matthew 6:10; Ephesians 1:10; 2 Corinthians 5:1; John 14:3
I'm sure you have some interpretation that fits your belief, but those belief are false - contrary to scripture... and I am not getting into that twister again.
Twisters literally takes everything out of you.