Jehovah's Witnesses: How can the Holy Spirit be non-personal yet personally bless people?

Question

So the WBTS teaches that the Holy Spirit is not a being but is God's active force i.e. Laws of Nature (gravity, electromagnetism etc.), but also that the Holy Spirit is able to bless people on a personal level and offer them spiritual guidance. How can gravity and the other components of nature have the ability to personally interact with mankind? Using deductive reasoning, would this belief be rooted in paganism?

Answer 1

WHAT is God’s holy spirit? In its opening words, the Bible speaks of the holy spirit—also rendered “God’s active force”—as “moving to and fro over the surface of the waters.” (Genesis 1:2) In the account of Jesus’ baptism, while God is described as being in “the heavens,” the holy spirit appears “descending like a dove” upon Jesus. (Matthew 3:16, 17) Additionally, Jesus spoke of the holy spirit as a “helper.”—John 14:16.



These and other Bible passages have led some to conclude that the holy spirit is a person, just as God, Jesus, and the angels are individual spirit persons. In fact, for centuries some of the most influential religions of Christendom have attributed personality to the holy spirit. Despite this long-standing doctrine, many church members remain confused, and some even disagree with their religious leaders. For instance, according to a recent survey, 61 percent of those interviewed believe that God’s spirit is “a symbol of God’s presence or power but is not a living entity.” What, though, does the Bible say?

1. Mary visiting Elizabeth; 2. John baptizing a man; 3. Peter speaking to Cornelius and his family

What the Bible Says



An honest Bible reader cannot help but conclude that the holy spirit differs from official church descriptions of it as a person. Consider the following Bible accounts.



1. When Mary, the mother of Jesus, visited her cousin Elizabeth, the Bible says that the unborn child in Elizabeth’s womb leaped, “and Elizabeth was filled with holy spirit.” (Luke 1:41) Is it reasonable that a person would be “filled” with another person?



2. When John the Baptizer spoke to his disciples about Jesus as the one who would succeed him, John said: “I, for my part, baptize you with water . . . , but the one coming after me is stronger than I am, whose sandals I am not fit to take off. That one will baptize you people with holy spirit.” (Matthew 3:11) John could hardly have been referring to the holy spirit as a person when he spoke of baptizing people with it.



3. While visiting a Roman army officer and his family, the apostle Peter spoke of Jesus as having been anointed by God “with holy spirit and power.” (Acts 10:38) Shortly afterward, “the holy spirit fell upon” the army officer’s household. The account says that many were amazed “because the free gift of the holy spirit was being poured out also upon people of the nations.” (Acts 10:44, 45) Here again, the terms used are inconsistent with the idea of the holy spirit being a person.



It is not unusual for God’s Word to personify things that are not a person. These include wisdom, discernment, sin, death, and undeserved kindness. (Proverbs 8:1–9:6; Romans 5:14, 17, 21; 6:12) Jesus himself said that “wisdom is proved righteous by all its children,” or its good results. (Luke 7:35) Clearly, wisdom is not a person that has literal children! Likewise, the holy spirit is not a person simply because in some instances it is personified.

What Is the Holy Spirit?



In the Bible, God’s holy spirit is identified as God’s power in action. Hence, an accurate translation of the Bible’s Hebrew text refers to God’s spirit as “God’s active force.” (Genesis 1:2) This concept is well supported throughout the Bible.—Micah 3:8; Luke 1:35; Acts 10:38.



Contrary to popular belief, God is not present everywhere at all times. Rather, he dwells in the spirit realm, in an “established place of dwelling,” or residence. (1 Kings 8:39; 2 Chronicles 6:39) The Scriptures also refer to a specific place where God lives and has his “throne.” (1 Kings 22:19; Isaiah 6:1; Daniel 7:9; Revelation 4:1-3) However, from his “established place of dwelling,” he can use his active force to reach out into every corner of both the spirit realm and the physical realm.—Psalm 139:7.



Back in 1879, Bible scholar Charles L. Ives aptly illustrated God’s ability to exercise his power from a fixed location. He wrote: “For example, we say, ‘Open the shutters, and let the sun come into the room.’ We mean, not the real, bodily sun, but the solar ray, that which proceeds from the sun.” Similarly, God has no need to travel to the locations where he intends to use his active force. He simply employs his holy spirit, which can reach to the extremities of creation. Seeing the holy spirit for what it is—God’s powerful active force—can give you confidence that Jehovah will fulfill his promises.

Answer 2

Why do Jehovah Witness' say Holy Spirit is in basic terms a stress, yet communicate with it as a guy or woman ? i'm perplexed approximately their present day theory ... In a fashion you replied your very own question. who's the author of bewilderment? Who creates confusion? God isn't the author of bewilderment. devil is and he makes use of others to distribute his works. devil needs us to have confidence that Jesus isn't God, The Holy Spirit isn't God and it somewhat is Jehovah, on my own this is God. so they carry about about an phantasm a Jesus this is created and the Holy Spirit is an merchandise for use, like a gadget. like a gadget in his toolbox. Even the call of God they use is created by potential of guy. Getting greater to the factor with reference to the Holy Spirit, they decrease the Holy Spirit into the words and archives of the guidelines of this worldwide and not the non secular worldwide of Heaven. The non secular worldwide does no longer perform below the guidelines of the flesh, subsequently it somewhat is undemanding for devil to confuse some into believing in a distinctive Jesus, holy spirit and god. You ask an extremely solid question, how is it you communicate with a stress? Is that very reminiscent of speaking to a tree? are you able to ask this lively stress that might actually assist you recognize the be conscious? Or do you ask a guy or woman, a being that could understand, respond and do some thing which you ask? They take God and make him comply with the regulations of the flesh and to no longer his regulations. They decrease the countless, they take that this is countless and let us know that he won't be able to try this he won't be able to try this because of the fact they have not got the potential to appreciate, they carry about him into the confines of the flesh. God is countless and might do something, he could be many persons, many beings if he had to. The bible of course teaches us that the God Head is made up of three persons, God the daddy, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and all 3 make up the only authentic God. Jesus stated that in case you spot me, you have seen the daddy additionally for the daddy and that i are one. i'm asserting you won't be able to work out the Holy Spirit yet you will pay attention him and additionally you will sense him and in case you have heard him and felt him you have heard and felt the daddy. no longer some lively stress that emanates from God yet God himself.

Answer 3

Because the holy spirit is from God, so it is God doing the blessing.



It's like a parent who praises his child. The child hears the non-personal vibrations of sound waves in his ears. But it isn't the sound waves that are praising the child, but the source of those sound waves - the parent.

Answer 4

Laws of nature have been quieted with a "hush" from Jesus. Did Jesus have God's holy spirit? certainly.

Didn't Jesus say he would send "a helper" when he left to Get the Work done? Yes.



What about this "Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me"

Weren't the last words Jesus spoke on Earth before ascending to heaven Matthew 28:"18Then Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."





Didn't the scriptures tell us that Jesus did NOTHING of his own initiative only what the Father



John 8:28

Luke 22:42

John 14:28, "My Father is greater than ... he did not come into the world on his own initiative but was directed to do so..





EVERY selfless person that has served God has NOT done anything of their own initiative, not even Jehovah's son, by his own admission.



Not Abraham, Not Moses, Not Noah, Not the Angels... unless they forsook God.



So... if they ONLY ones that serve Jehovah are selfless and giving and directed to do God's will, it would stand to reason that was what the Holy Spirit did. NOTHING of it's own initiative.

And if it is non personal which it is. That would make perfect sense.



God's Holy spirit is, to me... likened to my money. (which I don't have much of haha)

It is his "force" to use in terms we can relate with. It helps, it is a helper.



But it isn't life and it doesn't work on it's own iniative, ALTHOUGH like money which most people see when they actually SEE PEOPLE WITH MONEY, is much like people see God's Holy Spirit, or active force, they equate it with what they WANT TO See which is Jesus using that when he was here.



The only unforgivable sin is to grieve God's active force or holy spirit... Why is that so?

Because it takes work to do that, God sends it to help us, if we ignore or fight it, if we belittle it or go against it's power we are actually found fighters against God's will.



Remember Pharaoh? No matter what he was shown, no matter what GODS power showed him his heart was stubborn and obstinate. And that was the down fall, that was grieving God's PROOF that he was the one that was calling the shots.

Answer 5

This belief is not rooted in paganism. If thorough research is done, one finds that personification does not mean something becomes a personality.

Personification does not prove personality. It is true that Jesus spoke of the holy spirit as a “helper” and spoke of such helper as ‘teaching,’ ‘bearing witness,’ ‘giving evidence,’ ‘guiding,’ ‘speaking,’ ‘hearing,’ and ‘receiving.’ In so doing, the original Greek shows Jesus at times applying the personal pronoun “he” to that “helper” (paraclete). (Compare Joh 14:16, 17, 26; 15:26; 16:7-15.) However, it is not unusual in the Scriptures for something that is not actually a person to be personalized or personified. Wisdom is personified in the book of Proverbs (1:20-33; 8:1-36); and feminine pronominal forms are used of it in the original Hebrew, as also in many English translations. (KJ, RS, JP, AT) Wisdom is also personified at Matthew 11:19 and Luke 7:35, where it is depicted as having both “works” and “children.” The apostle Paul personalized sin and death and also undeserved kindness as “kings.” (Ro 5:14, 17, 21; 6:12) He speaks of sin as “receiving an inducement,” ‘working out covetousness,’ ‘seducing,’ and ‘killing.’ (Ro 7:8-11) Yet it is obvious that Paul did not mean that sin was actually a person.

So, likewise with John’s account of Jesus’ words regarding the holy spirit, his remarks must be taken in context. Jesus personalized the holy spirit when speaking of that spirit as a “helper” (which in Greek is the masculine substantive pa‧ra′kle‧tos). Properly, therefore, John presents Jesus’ words as referring to that “helper” aspect of the spirit with masculine personal pronouns. On the other hand, in the same context, when the Greek pneu′ma is used, John employs a neuter pronoun to refer to the holy spirit, pneu′ma itself being neuter. Hence, we have in John’s use of the masculine personal pronoun in association with pa‧ra′kle‧tos an example of conformity to grammatical rules, not an expression of doctrine.—Joh 14:16, 17; 16:7, 8.

Lacks personal identification. Since God himself is a Spirit and is holy and since all his faithful angelic sons are spirits and are holy, it is evident that if the “holy spirit” were a person, there should reasonably be given some means in the Scriptures to distinguish and identify such spirit person from all these other ‘holy spirits.’ It would be expected that, at the very least, the definite article would be used with it in all cases where it is not called “God’s holy spirit” or is not modified by some similar expression. This would at least distinguish it as THE Holy Spirit. But, on the contrary, in a large number of cases the expression “holy spirit” appears in the original Greek without the article, thus indicating its lack of personality.—Compare Ac 6:3, 5; 7:55; 8:15, 17, 19; 9:17; 11:24; 13:9, 52; 19:2; Ro 9:1; 14:17; 15:13, 16, 19; 1Co 12:3; Heb 2:4; 6:4; 2Pe 1:21; Jude 20, Int and other interlinear translations.

Further evidence against the idea of personality as regards the holy spirit is the way it is used in association with other impersonal things, such as water and fire (Mt 3:11; Mr 1:8); and Christians are spoken of as being baptized “in holy spirit.” (Ac 1:5; 11:16) Persons are urged to become “filled with spirit” instead of with wine. (Eph 5:18) So, too, persons are spoken of as being ‘filled’ with it along with such qualities as wisdom and faith (Ac 6:3, 5; 11:24) or joy (Ac 13:52); and holy spirit is inserted, or sandwiched in, with a number of such qualities at 2 Corinthians 6:6. It is most unlikely that such expressions would be made if the holy spirit were a divine person. As to the spirit’s ‘bearing witness’ (Ac 5:32; 20:23), it may be noted that the same thing is said of the water and the blood at 1 John 5:6-8. While some texts refer to the spirit as ‘witnessing,’ ‘speaking,’ or ‘saying’ things, other texts make clear that it spoke through persons, having no personal voice of its own. (Compare Heb 3:7; 10:15-17; Ps 95:7; Jer 31:33, 34; Ac 19:2-6; 21:4; 28:25.) It may thus be compared to radio waves that can transmit a message from a person speaking into a microphone and cause his voice to be heard by persons a distance away, in effect, ‘speaking’ the message by a radio loudspeaker. God, by his spirit, transmits his messages and communicates his will to the minds and hearts of his servants on earth, who, in turn, may convey that message to yet others.

Answer 6

When we just read the book of Acts, there's no how to deny the Holy Spirit is personal. Acts of apostles shows Him acting like the one who conducts the church, commanding the disciples, speaking with them, making revelations of a soon future, etc... Peter said we can't lie (deceive)unto the Holy Spirit, what is possible only unto persons. In this same context, he clearly calls the Holy Spirit God (see Acts 5).

Jehovah's witnesses exegesis is impious.

Answer 7

Since the Holy Spirit is God's active force, God uses that force or "energy" to bless mankind.

Answer 8

I'm not Jehovah's Witnesses, but I teach that the Holy Spirit is God the Father Himself.

Answer 9

Why should it matter as long as it is doing what it is to do?

We cannot fully understand ourselves, what more of God and the things of God?



Lets focus. Seek God.