Enoch

[Anonymous]

A Japanese Jehovah witness is coming to my house and I have been engaging in conversation with her. I was mentioning Genesis 5 to her and was talking about the Enoch. (KJV) And Enoch walked with God: and he [was] not; for God took him. Everyone else in the chapter died. That is what God's word says and that is what I believe. (Hebrews 11:5 KJV) By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God. It says that he should not see death...that means that he did not die, but she is sending me stuff that says other wise. She will be coming back on Friday and I really need to know what to say. This is really the first time that I have tried to discuss the Bible with someone. I asked God to help me to testify for him and I did not think that it would be this hard. I know that I can do it through Christ, but can anyone point me in a good direction on this topic with Jehovah Witnesses.

[Kurieuo]

Hi ferna,

I'm not familiar with this belief about Enoch, but I was able to dig up some information which might be helpful on this topic, you may want to skip the first paragraph but I quote it just to give more insight to what he's talking about:

Wierwille [some guy ] further manipulates this text to defend his errant view of death. Following the lead of many pseudo-Christian groups such as Jehovah's Witnesses and the Holy Order of MANS, he places the comma after the word "to-day" instead of before it. His result is, "Verily, I say to you to-day, thou shalt. . . ." He then claims, "This fits with the rest of the Word of God.""' If this were true, then why does Jesus use the phrase "Verily I say to you" scores of times, while He never says, "Verily I say to you today"? Dr. Wierwille's revision is not consistent with the rest of the Word of God. Instead, we have another instance of Wierwille molding the Word to fit his theology, rather than molding his theology to fit the Word.

Important to Wierwille's errant view of death is his interpretation of Hebrews 11:5, "By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that be pleased God."

He interprets this to say that all, including Enoch, die and stay dead until Christ's return,

"He pleased God all the time for which God so loved him that God took him from the place where Enoch's loved ones would die and put him at a place where he should not see death. Enoch did not see anyone else die, but be himself died."62

Wierwille's bizarre exegesis is incorrect on many points. He claims that "the word 'see' is anablepo, which means 'to look with one's eyes' or literally to see someone die.""' In no reputable Greek text of today, including the UBS, Nestle, and Westcott and Hort, and not even in the outdated Stephens' text of 1550 which The Way uses, is the word anablepo found in the verse; nor is it found in any of the critical notes. This reflects either an incorrect guess on Wierwille's part or a deliberate misstatement. Instead, the word is idein, an aorist form of horao. In 17 of the 40 times this word is used in the New Testament, it does not mean a physical seeing as Wierwille demands. Verse 27 of this same chapter is an example. Moses left Egypt. . . . for he endured, as seeing Him who is unseen."

Wierwille cites verse 13 as proof Enoch died: "These all died...." However, he does not take into account that this verse is sandwiched in the middle of a section (vv. 6-17) dealing only with Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, and Jacob. Verse 13 refers only to these, not to Enoch and the earlier patriarchs. A look at Genesis chapter 5 is further persuasion that Enoch did not die. The entire chapter is genealogical in nature, listing 10 men, their ages at death, and children. After each one (except for Enoch and Noah) the closing phrase of the section reads, ". . . and he died." This phrase is not listed after Noah because the following chapters continue the narrative of his life, and finally record his death in Genesis 9:29. The phrase is not listed after Enoch's section because he did not die, but instead, ". . . he was not, for God took him." That is, God took him directly to Himself (contrary to Wierwille's ideas) without Enoch first physically dying. (Contrast Gen. 5:5, 8, 11, 14, 17, 20, 27, 31 with v. 24.)

(Full article at http://www.empirenet.com/~messiah7/rsr_wdsway2.htm)

Hope this helps. I personally think there are more important doctrines to focus on, but I'm sure you both will end up discussing them as well.

Kurieuo.