Cults versus the Gospel

This post concerns cults or heresies that the class has mentioned. Feel free to comment to have me add a discussion of any of these issues.

The first group we discuss is Jehovah's Witnesses. This group believes that Jesus is not God but only the Son of God and a god in the sense of an angel being a god. To them, he is the incarnation of Michael the archangel. They see the Holy Spirit as merely an impersonal force that God uses. Salvation is not by grace but through a complex, work-based two-class system. Only their 144000 will reach the higher levels of paradise. In the atonement, they believe the sacrifice was that of an ordinary man to atone for the sins of humanity. They hold this view because they see human reasoning as the only proper way to interpret scripture. They believe Jesus never rose physically from the grave, but rather God disposed of his body and recreated him as Michael the archangel. They believe they are the only true Church, and all others are satanic impostors. They do not believe hell exists; instead, they believe the soul ceases to exist after death. This belief is called annihilationism. Their view mainly stems from the belief that there is no difference between the soul and body and that no immaterial part of man survives physical death. The only Bible they accept is the New World Translation of 1950, which is filled with alternate readings unsupported by Greek or Hebrew texts. The Jehovah's Witnesses clearly deny the gospel by emphasizing salvation through grace alone, by faith alone, apart from works. They reject justification by faith, deny the true nature of Christ and the atonement, reject the resurrection, and deny the existence of God’s just wrath upon sin. They differ from Christianity in other ways as well. A Christian is a person who, by God’s grace, has been born again through the work of the Spirit (John 3). He has trusted in Jesus Christ alone for salvation (Romans 3:23-24). God has justified all who trust in Christ (Romans 5:1). The Holy Spirit seals a Christian (Ephesians 1:13) and dwells within by the Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16).