When Joseph Rutherford saw a "dazzling flash of divine light" (Revelation book, p.125) in 1935 and decided there were two classes of Christians, 144,000 with a heavenly hope and a great crowd with an earthly hope, he must have forgotten all about the scripture at 1 John 4:1.  "Beloved ones, do not believe every inspired expression, but test the inspired expressions to see whether they originate with God, because many false prophets have gone forth into the world."  (NWT)  Testing an inspired expression means first trying to fit it in with what the rest of the Bible teaches.  If it turns out that a person is forced to purposely mistranslate a biblical word to make the new idea fit, then that should be a clue that the inspired expression has failed the test.  Apparently, Jehovah's Witnesses are clueless.

In order to have a two-class system, the Watchtower Society must hold to a very narrow interpretation of the word "spirit" in the Bible.  For them, it could definitely not refer to our inner self, possibly our subconscious mind, which is connected to God's spirit and survives our death.  "Spirit" to Jehovah's Witnesses must be simply our breath or a spark of life, impersonal and fleeting, because the earthly class have to be unconscious after death.  Otherwise, they'd be no different from the heavenly class.

As a result, a quick read of Hebrews chapter 12 should have raised two big red flags for Joseph Rutherford.  The first 13 verses of Hebrews chapter 12 are comparing the discipline we receive from our earthly fathers to the discipline we receive from God our heavenly Father.  Verse 9 says, "How much more should we submit to the Father of our spirits and live!"  (NIV)

Farther along in Hebrews 12, the writer tells Christians that the new covenant gives them a glimpse into their eternal future in heaven.  Verses 22-24 say, "But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.  You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.  You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant . . ."  (NIV)

In both of these passages, a person has a spirit that is connected to God while on earth and survives the body after death to dwell in heaven.  In this second passage, these "spirits of righteous men made perfect" who are in heaven could not be the 144,000, according to Watchtower theology, because the 144,000 are "the church of the firstborn" who are also there in heaven.  Who are these spirits, then?

Somehow, the Society has to get them back down on the earth as the remnant of the 144,000, so they can be temporarily separated from the church of the firstborn, dividing the 144,000 into two groups.  However, the Society can't get them down here and still call them "spirits."  So what alternative is there, other than to scrap the false premise of a two-class system?

Well, they could deliberately and with no scholarly justification whatsoever mistranslate the word "spirits" as "spiritual lives" in their New World Translation of the Bible.  This is just what they have done, and they have the temerity and the audacity to openly admit it!  In the Watchtower magazine of March 15, 1981, on page 31, they state:  "Literally, the Greek text reads 'the Father of the spirits.'  He is the father of the spirit-begotten congregation to which Paul was writing and so the New World Translation here paraphrases the expression with a personal touch, saying 'the Father of our spiritual life.'"

Paraphrasing an expression with a personal touch is another way of saying they have altered the inspired Word of God to conform to their preconceived religious bias.  They have admitted adding to the Word of God!  And this from the group who said the following in the Foreword to their New World Translation:

"The translators who have a fear and love of the divine Author of the Holy Scriptures feel especially a responsibility toward Him to transmit his thoughts and declarations as accurately as possible.  They also feel a responsibility toward the searching readers of the modern translation who depend upon the inspired Word of the Most High God for their everlasting salvation."

After "clarifying" the Bible, they now have the "spirits [spiritual lives] of righteous men made perfect" here on earth where they want them, as the article goes on to say, "These spirit-begotten Christians really have 'spiritual lives' now on earth and they are exhorted to walk according to the spirit by which they were begotten."

It doesn't seem to matter that the writer of Hebrews said these spirits were in heaven.  Spiritual lives are lived out on the earth, so the same Watchtower article concludes, "In view of these facts the expression 'the spiritual lives of righteous ones who have been made perfect' presents 'the congregation of the firstborn who have been enrolled in the heavens' from a different viewpoint and therefore is no needless repetition of what has been said in verse 22.  There is accordingly no need for trying to apply it to another class of God-fearing persons like the faithful men and women of former times from Abel to John the Baptizer."

Yes, there is no need for Jehovah's Witnesses to come to the reasonable and scriptural conclusion that these spirits of the righteous ones are probably the faithful men and women described in Hebrews chapter 11.  Instead, Jehovah's Witnesses come to the conclusions their leaders tell them to come to, leaders who brazenly change the inspired Word of God to make it agree with their false doctrines.  How scary is that?!

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written by thomas , September 05, 2009

You are in error because you do not believe what the bible teaches or believe what Jesus taught. What is the point of the judgement and resurrection if we have spirits that live forever? Almost every pegan religion teaches that humans live after death by means of a spirit. Sounds to me like you are part of that pegan teaching. Start at Genesis and learn that the dead know nothing, because they are DEAD. "No one has gone into heaven except the one that came from heaven."

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written by Yahkins , September 05, 2009

Thomas,
"No one has gone into heaven except the One that came from heaven".
I thought JWs believe that the heavenly class have been going to heaven at their demise since Christ? It seems to me that the Watchtower acknowledges the scriptural backing for this belief of the redeemed spirit living on after death. Not once did Sherry talk about what happens to the spirit of the un-redeemed. I think the misunderstanding is the notion that there are two destinations or inheritances for the faithful, as Sherry has clearly written about. Ephesians clarifies what was once a mystery: That God always intended the Gentiles to be fellow heirs of the one body and promise in Christ (Eph 3:6). "For there is one body...and one hope of your calling (Eph 4:4)". Jehovah God foretold His Gathering of the true Israel of faith "from among all nations by putting His spirit in them which would cause them to walk in His statutes and judgments. And then they'd dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers...I will increase their men like a flock. Like a holy flock...(Ez 36:23-3

cool

". Jesus called himself the good shepherd of Israel, where he said "other sheep I have which are not of this fold; them also I must bring..and there will be one flock and one shepherd (Joh10:16)". It seems to me that Jesus knew the Ezekiel quote very well, in fact so did John who did not leave Jesus' reference to "another fold" unanswered in his gospel account. The bible must interpret itself, and John clarifies this (other fold brought into one flock) statement a few verses later after further proving Jesus as the the true shepherd who calls his children from spiritual death to life, given by physical display of Lazarus being raised from death. Caiaphas prophesied "that Jesus would die for the nation, and not for that nation only, but also that He would gather together in one the children of God who were scattered abroad (Joh11:52)". I trust the new testament Apostles declaration of who the other fold is over any man or organization. I also once believed that the spirit was unconscious apart from the body (soul sleep as it is called), that is til I read Paul's account of his "being caught up to the third heaven". Paul called it "Paradise". Paul wondered, when he was caught up into heaven, "Whether in the body, or whether OUT OF THE BODY I do not know, God knows- but such a one was caught up to the third heaven". My immediate question was: How could paul be unsure if soul sleep is true. I mean Paul was taught by direct revelation from Christ, so if soul sleep is true, than why the quandry? Unless it is true that Paul, like Enoch, Ezekiel and the Apostle John, were "caught up in the spirit" into the third heaven!
This realization for me brought a whole new understanding of the immediacy behind Paul's exclamation, "WE are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord (2 Cor5:6-

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".
Like Mark Hunter wrote in one of his articles. Don't think like the old testament Sadducees thought in their misunderstanding of the resurrection, "God is not the God of the dead; but of the living". Even Moses and Elijah spoke to Jesus about what was to be accomplished at the cross in Luke 9; hardly a dead vision of a future event at the physical resurrection. Moses and Elijah spoke to Jesus about things that were going to happen that very week! They were and are very much alive and conscious beings right now. The question for you is, are you going to take the risk of investing into your faith as the good servants who multiplied the Master's talents? I know it can be scary to step out in faith into seemingly unchartered territory away from an organization that tells you that you're straying from Jehovah if you follow the call of faith. I had to do this very thing long ago, as I also was in an organization that taught such. But I found out how Christ is true and faithful, and that He will never leave or forsake you if you're his sheep. My prayer for you, is that the Father (a name permitted by Christ for us to use in the "Our Father prayer", a name.. Abba, far more intimate and preferred by God than calling Him by His formal name, imagine a child calling his dad Mr Smith.)
"That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might thru His spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your heart thru faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in (His) love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width, length, depth and height- to KNOW THE LOVE OF CHRIST which surpasses knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to THE POWER THAT WORKS IN US, to Him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ TO ALL GENERATIONS, forever(unceasing)Amen Eph.3:15-21".
Yours in Christ,
Jehoiakin

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