Hello,
 
I just wanted to ask if anyone here has ever had a close, daily type of relationship with a Mormon or Jehovah's Witness.  From my experience, what I can tell you is that VERY, VERY few christians I have known even come close to the fervor, zeal, and passion these folks have for their "religion".  If you want to talk about WALKING THE WALK, these folks live in a way that truly reflects their "faith".  Furthermore, they seem from all outward appearances to manifest what we would call "the fruits of the spirit".  Many times I have witnessed what can only be called "special blessings" that seem to emanate from their lives.  They are deeply involved in spiritual disciplines, and so on, and so on--you get my point. 
 
However, as I am sure you know, their MOTIVATIONS come from a truly crooked and warped BELIEF SYSTEM.  For the Mormon, seeing as one day you will BE A GOD, you better show a reflection of that belief by the way you are living on this earth ( before you get your own planet to rule as a god)  And of course, for the JW's, you need to earn enough "points" to be good enough to "bump out" one of the only 144,000 who will make it---but watch out, some other JW may come along, do better than you, and bump you out. 
 
CHARLES TAZE RUSSELL--founder of JW said " If you read the bible in its current form, in 2 years you will be in complete darkness.  However, if you read MY TRANSLATION, then within 1 year you will see the light and understand all"  JOSEPH SMITH--founder of Mormonism said "NO one has done more to benefit the human race than me--not even JESUS" 
 
WOW  I think ALL here can COMPLETELY AGREE THAT THESE FOLKS WOULD NOT MAKE THE RAPTURE--LET ALONE HEAVEN.  YET FROM ALL OUTWARD APPEARANCES, THEY SEEM TO BE LIVING A LIFE OF TREMENDOUS OBEDIENCE.
 
Another example--earlier in my life I was involved in EE (Evangelism Explosion), and we were in a local area talking to folks and we came upon this woman and were having a really good discussion.  She had been a regular church goer--several nights a week, served in MANY, MANY areas of her church and community, spoke of JESUS, was involved in spiritual discpl. etc. etc. etc.  However, when we asked the questioned about if she were to die tonight, and stand before JESUS, and HE  asked 'WHY SHOULD I LET YOU INTO MY HEAVEN"  Her response was to talk on and on and on and on about all the things SHE had done in her life over the last 30 years to DESERVE heaven. 
 
So, again--from all OUTWARD APPEARANCES, FROM WHAT WE HUMANS CAN SEE--THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT--THESE FOLKS SEEM TO DEMONSTRATE A WALK REFLECTED BY OBEDIENCE, AND YET THEIR BELIEF SYSTEM IS NOT IN LINE WITH SCRIPTURE--PERIOD.  I could go on and give many, many more examples.
 
So, my question is HOW ARE THESE FOLKS ABLE TO CLEARLY SHOW WHAT THE SCRIPTURE CALLS THE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT (OR OBEDIENCE) IF THEIR BELIEF SYSTEMS IS COMPLETELY WHACKO, AND THEREFORE HOW CAN ANY HUMAN JUDGE RIGHTLY THE MOTIVATIONS BEHIND ANOTHERS ATTEMPTS AT OBEDIENCE, AND THEREFORE HOW CAN ANY HUMAN JUDGE ANOTHER ABOUT WHETHER THEY ARE GOING TO "MAKE" THE RAPTURE OR NOT ??????
 
I guess my simple point is this---what we would call obedience, fruits of the spirit, etc. may not necessarily TRULY REFLECT WHERE THEIR HEARTS ARE REGARDING A SAVING RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST, AND WE AS HUMANS DO NOT HAVE A VERY GOOD ABILITY AT DISCERNING MOTIVATIONS. 
 
Now I could be wrong, but it seems to me that MOTIVATIONS (the why we do) are very important to JESUS, and can not be over looked.
 
ONLY JESUS KNOWS THE HEART.
 
Am I off-base here ????  Am I missing something ???
 
Patrick