A friend of mine pointed out to me the importance of this word, “enlightened”.  Here are some of the meanings I found for the word:

en·light·en [en-lahyt-n]

Having knowledge and spiritual insight; education that results in understanding and the spread of knowledge; tending to increase knowledge or dissipate ignorance.

Is it arrogance to take this word upon oneself? To say “I am enlightened”? Well if you asked me a year or two ago I would have responded differently than I do today.

The truth that we have been taught for all these years is not what we thought it was. The Governing Body may not does not have Jehovah’s spirit. What does this mean? It has been a mind-blowing revelation to me. The word then becomes (at least to us) more than the sum of its parts. It becomes a call to action. A spur for us to learn more and study harder. To strive and to sort it all out and not to give up.

We are still Christians. We are still servants of the most high God Jehovah. We don’t have to throw our Christian heritage away. We don’t have to cry in our beer and give up. We can do something. We can act. Whether it’s in stealth-mode or not we can still function. We can encourage and build up our family and our friends. We can preach the good news to our neighbors in our ministry- Maybe in an ever better way than before. The greek word gnosis means knowledge. But notice what Insight vol 2 page 181 under “knowledge” says:

E‧pi′gno‧sis, a strengthened form of gno′sis (e‧pi′, meaning “additional”), can often be seen from the context to mean “exact, accurate, or full knowledge.” Thus Paul wrote about some who were learning (taking in knowledge) “yet never able to come to an accurate knowledge [of truth.]”

So ACCURATE knowledge is key to our enlightenment. And having the courage to face up to it, and to admit that there’s a problem doesn’t hurt either. If that’s not the definition of enlightenment then I don’t know what is.

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9 Comments on Enlightened is our name-o

  1. andrew says:

    I agree accurate knowledge is important. However, is it the most important? Will Jehovah condemn to Gehenna all who believe in the Trinity? or the immortal soul? or that the FDS has been appointed over all Jesus’ belongings? Consider Jesus parable of the sheep and the goats. Forget the scriptural twisting that the Society does to this parable. The meaning is quite straightforward. Who are Jesus brothers? Luke 8:21 “…my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it”
    Do you do God’s will? Then you are Jesus’ brother. This parable shows that in large part our judgement will be based on not holding back in showing charity and love to those less fortunate especially those who are christians. Its not up to us to decide who is a true christian and who isn’t. If someone claims Jesus as their master they are deserving of our material help and love, in fact even they don’t claim to be christian we should work good towards all. Let us not commit the sin of ommision, (James 2:15-17 1John 3:17)our eternal lives are at stake. DO NOT make the mistake of thinking that if we provide spiritual help to someone that relieves us of the responsibility of providing practical material help.

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  2. The Lingdow says:

    I agree for the most part with Andrew. That it is not all about head knowledge. For we can never know the whole truth about Jehovah and his purposes for us in our imperfect state. That we should ever strive toward accurate knowledge and be humbly willing to admit when we discover we are mistaken is a goal we all can attain. I believe that is in line with what the Admin. and the Apostle Paul is saying here.
    On the point that Andrew was making about: “Will Jehovah condemn to Gehenna all who believe in the Trinity? or the immortal soul?”
    The scriptures that come to mind are pretty straight forward and following them is part of ‘doing God’s will’ (2 Corinthians 6:16-17) . . .And what agreement does God’s temple have with idols? For we are a temple of a living God; just as God said: “I shall reside among them and walk among [them], and I shall be their God, and they will be my people.” 17 “‘Therefore get out from among them, and separate yourselves,’ says Jehovah, ‘and quit touching the unclean thing’”; “‘and I will take YOU in”. . . and more to the point- (Revelation 18:1-4) “18 After these things I saw another angel descending from heaven, with great authority; and the earth was lighted up from his glory. 2 And he cried out with a strong voice, saying: “She has fallen! Babylon the Great has fallen, and she has become a dwelling place of demons and a lurking place of every unclean exhalation and a lurking place of every unclean and hated bird! 3 For because of the wine of the anger of her fornication all the nations have fallen [victim], and the kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and the traveling merchants of the earth became rich due to the power of her shameless luxury.” 4 And I heard another voice out of heaven say: “Get out of her, my people, if YOU do not want to share with her in her sins, and if YOU do not want to receive part of her plagues.” The teachings of ancient Babylon are now not hard for a sincere lover of truth to find out. So yes Jehovah would expect us to accurately know what teachings are from Babylon and have nothing to do with them. Otherwise as His Word says we would share the plagues that are due that “Great Harlot”.
    Now who God chooses to save or not and for what reasons are not for us to judge. But that does not excuse us from the obligation to do everything in or power to worship God in Spirit and Truth: (John 4:23-24) 23 Nevertheless, the hour is coming, and it is now, when the true worshipers will worship the Father with spirit and truth, for, indeed, the Father is looking for suchlike ones to worship him. 24 God is a Spirit, and those worshiping him must worship with spirit and truth.”

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  3. Andrew says:

    I believe many JWs are struggling right now because of their desire to worship Jehovah with truth. But consider that the majority of Christians since the bible was completed haven’t had a bible atleast not in their language. How will they fare in the judgement? Will God take away “points” from them because they were not worshipping in truth? Although as has been said truth is very important, love for God, faith in the ransom and love shown towards one’s fellowman is what seems to constitute the basis of the judgement.
    I would rather stand before Jesus in the judgement as a Trinity believer and one who showed true humility and love for my fellowman, instead of one who believed all the correct doctrine but was self-righteous and failed to help others.
    We must strive for truth but not comdemn other christians just on the basis of what they believe to be true doctrine. Luke 18:9-14.
    There are some doctrines that are quite clear in the bible (Jehovah is our creator, Jesus died for our sins, how to treat others) and there are other doctrines not so clear. We may have clear opinions on the ones not so clear, but to condemn others or to say they are not our brothers because they don’t agree with us smacks of self righteousness.

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  4. greybeard says:

    “but to condemn others or to say they are not our brothers because they don’t agree with us smacks of self righteousness.” I agree with you Andrew. Lets say for the sake of saying it that JW’s are wrong about 1914 and Jesus didn’t chose them in 1918. What if right now we are still in the growing period and the cry to Get Out of Babylon the Great has not went out yet? What if this is the period where the wheat and the weeds grow together? Just a thought… What say you? To me it does not look like Babylon the Great has Fallen as JW’s teach.

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  5. Jayme says:

    Great points brothers! Agreed, that what many view as “salvation” issues really are not. The “truth” that saves us is Jesus Christ(John 14:6). This truth we must know and believe(John 3:16). How we treat others is most important also. Love is the Laws fulfillment(Rom.13:10) and also the Law of the Christ(Gal.6:2, John 13:34). Faith, without it it is impossible to please God well(Heb.11:6,James 1:6).

    Becoming dogmatic and judgemental about not so clear doctrinal or prophetic passages does more to tear down than unite in love. By prayer, study and respectfully sharing viewpoints we can all continue to grow in our understanding of the deep things of God.

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  6. The Lingdow says:

    Please do not misunderstand me, brothers. I do not mean to say that one who believes in some (what seem to be) Babylonian teachings at this time cannot be a christian. I have seen little evidence to be convinced of Babylons fall. So if we are in the time of the ‘growing together’ and if the cry has not gone forth to flee Babylon the Great then what Jesus said at Mark 9:40 is still in effect. If one is on the side of Jesus even though it seems to another christian he can’t be, because of whatever, that one is “for us”. Or in other words our brother in Christ.
    On the other hand if one is aware of Gods view on the matter of Babylon the Great he must flee from Her (as much as possible) and he then has an obligation to help others do the same. As long as he understands that no person is to ‘lord it over’ another and become a ‘master to his faith’. If it is the case that the cry to flee is still future then the ‘voice from heaven’ will make it clear to all what to do. Jehovah will not “take away points” from someone who does not know. All will know. Otherwise how can one choose sides. What one chooses to believe is a different matter.(2 Thess. 1:6-8) That leads me to believe that there will be by necessity a greater cry than anything we have ever heard before. (Like from heaven as it says in Rev.) (Joel 3:13-17)
    To say that we are ‘better’ than others because they may understand a little differently is completely contrary to the Christian way of life. In no way did I mean to imply that. (Mark 10:44)
    Does anyone have any scriptural or any other evidence to show that Babylon the Great is not those false religions that promote the teachings of ancient Babel? To me this is not a “not to clear” prophetic passage in the Bible. This seems crystal clear. A direct command from Jehovah to flee from It. (Rev. 18:1-4) A love of Truth and God would compel one to make sure his worship is not tainted by Babylon. It was this love that moved me to question some of the teachings of the ‘Society’. Jesus said that the greatest command was to love God with every fiber of your being. Nothing and no one should come in between our worship of Him. Even if that is our own imperfect heart. Jehovah will destroy those that fail to worship Him. There is no ambiguity in the scriptures about that. He has installed a perfect Judge to do the separating and He has also given us all His perfect instructions on how to please Him. We are just too stupid or unwilling or both to listen sometimes.
    I am sorry if I am rambling. I do that occasionally.

    With Christian love,
    The Lingdow

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    • Andrew says:

      Thank you Lingdow for expressing yourself, I am sorry if by my words it seemed that I was condemning your viewpoint. I sincerely didn’t try to do that.

      As seen by other comments I have made on this site, all christian denominations have varying degrees of truth but as this point, i believe, not one single denomination has God’s exclusive favor. All are corrupt to varying degrees. Therefore I think all organized religion will be judged as part of Babylon the Great. This includes the Jehovahs Witnesses. This isn’t to say that all JWs or all Lutherans or all Baptists etc. are condemned. The wheat is still in all these religions. The Great Trib will refine true christians are it will be evident at that time who are true christians.

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      • Jayme says:

        Hi again Andrew, I think you have expressed the state of things very well. I too think that ALL organized religion will be judged as Babylon the Great. By the end of the great trib. they will all be gone and only individuals will be left. There are alot of Gods people in the many varied denominations of christianity, that is why they are called to “get out of her” at the time of her final destruction.

        I also agree with Lingdow in that those of us who understand more clearly how God feels about false and pagan teachings have more accountability and a responsibility.

        It seems the more we learn the more we find ourselves alone. I guess we are ahead of the curve and are even now being forced by our consciences to get out of “Babylon the Great”. This sure presents a challenge in “gathering together” though. To completly flee from all babylonish coruption at this time would leave us loners. How can we “incite one another to love and fine works” in that state? These are hard choices and a fine line to walk for sure!

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  7. zerodtkjoe says:

    Thanks for the info

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