How do Jehovah's Witnesses' teachings about Christ compare with Scriptures.pdf

How do Jehovah's Witnesses' teachings about Christ compare with

Scriptures?

M any people are confused about

the Jehovah's Witnesses. People

have written to ask if they are

Christians or do they worship a

different God? The following article

may help to answer this important

questions.

Jehovah's Witnesses and

Christians have several things in

common. They share common

concerns about religious apostasy,

they teach against evolution and

they believe that Christ will return to destroy the forces of Satan and

establish His kingdom on earth.

Jehovah's Witnesses and Christians do, however, differ on many

important doctrines. In an attempt to keep this article to a reasonable

length, let us not concentrate on ALL the differences. Rather...

...L ET US INVESTIGATE THE MOST IMPORTANT ISSUE, THE

PERSON OF JESUS CHRIST.

JW's believe that Jesus Christ was a perfect man, and that He is a

person distinct from God the Father. However, they also teach that

before His earthly life, Jesus was a spirit creature, Michael the

archangel , who was created by God and became the Messiah at His

baptism. According to Jehovah's Witnesses, Jesus is a mighty one,

although not almighty as Jehovah God is. According to John 1:1 in their

Bible, The New World Translation, Christ is "a god" but not "the God."

They teach that Jesus "was and is and always will be beneath

Jehovah" and that "Christ and God are not coequal".

Does the Bible confirm their beliefs or does it teach the orthodox

Christian concept that Christ is God? This is an extremely important

question. Consider the following points:

1. The Christ of the New Testament is the Jehovah of the Old

Testament.

o Isaiah wrote about seeing Jehovah in Isaiah 6:1-10 .

o In John 12:31-42 , we are told that Isaiah saw Jesus' glory

and spoke of Him

o In Exodus 34:14 we are to worship no one but Jehovah.

o In Hebrews 1:6 the angels worship Christ.

o In Isaiah 44:6 Jehovah is called the first and the last

(confirmed in Revelation 1:8 ),

o but in Revelation 22:13 Christ is the first and the last.

These verses demonstrate that the name "Jehovah" is used for

both God the Father and of God the Son. Although they are

distinct persons they are each called "Jehovah" because they

each possess deity.

2. The deity of Christ is taught in Scripture.

In Matthew 1:23 , Christ is called "Immanuel," which means "God

with us."

When Thomas touched Jesus' wounds, after the resurrection, he

exclaimed, "My Lord and my God" ( John 20:28 ). There is no

basis whatsoever for saying, as some JW's say, that Thomas

was referring to Christ when he said "my Lord" but was referring

to God (Jehovah) when he said "my God." Instead, Thomas

called Christ both his Lord and his God. And Christ did not

correct him! Colossians 2:9 clearly confirms the deity of Christ

when it states that in Him "all the fullness of the divine quality

dwells bodily" (New World Translation). Stephen called Jesus

"Lord" ( Acts 7:59,60 ), and we are to confess Jesus as Lord

( Rom. 10:9 ; I Cor. 12:3 ). "Lord" in these verses is Kurios, which

is the Greek word for Jehovah in the Septuagint, the Greek

version of the Old Testament. It is evident from this that Christ

the Lord (kurios) is Jehovah God.

3. Attributes of Christ show that He is God.

Jesus Christ knows all things (John 1:48 ; 2:25 ; 6:64 ; 14:30 ;

21:17 ). He is all-powerful ( Matt. 28:18 ; Heb. 1:3 ), sinless ( John

8:46 ), eternal ( Mic. 5:2 ), and unchanging ( Heb. 13:8 ). Since only

God possesses these attributes, Christ must be God.

4. Certain works of Christ show that He is God.

Jesus Christ has the power to forgive sins ( Mark 2:5-7 ; Eph.

1:7 ), give eternal life (John 10:28 ; 17:2 ), judge the world ( John

5:22, 27 ), and control nature ( Matt. 8:26 ). Since only God can do

these things, Christ must be God.

5. Christ received worship as God.

Jesus is worshipped by the angels ( Heb. 1:6 ) and by man ( Matt.

14:33 ), and yet only God is to be worshipped ( Ex. 34:14 ) . Christ

Himself said that worship is due to God alone ( Matt. 4:10 ), and

yet He accepted worship. If Jesus in His pre-existent state were

the archangel Michael, how could He have received worship,

since angels are not allowed to receive worship (Rev. 19:10 )? If

Christ were not God, then worshipping Him would be idolatrous.

6. Jesus Christ is called "the mighty God" in Isaiah 9:6 .

JW's have a ready answer for this verse. They explain that

Christ is "the mighty god" but not "the almighty." They say that

Christ is the mighty, never the almighty and that Jehovah is the

almighty God, never the mighty. However, Jeremiah 32:18

shows that Jehovah is the mighty One. Therefore, since Christ is

the mighty God ( Isaiah 9:6 ) and Jehovah is the mighty God ( Jer.

32:18 ), they are both God. They both possess full deity.

7. Christ is God, the Creator of all things according to

Colossians 1:15-17 .

JW's refer to this passage to support their teaching that Christ

was created by Jehovah (for example, Let God Be True , p.35).

This is based primarily on the words, "the firstborn of all

creation," in verse 15. However, if this verse was teaching that

Jesus Christ is the first created being made by God, the word

"first-created" would have been used of Christ, not the word

"firstborn." These are two different words in the Greek, with two

different meanings. "First-created" is protoktistos, and "firstborn"

is prototokos. Colossians 1:15 does not use the protoktistos,

"first-created." Instead it uses prototokos, which means an heir,

a begotten one, the first in rank. The teaching of Colossians

1:15 is that Christ is first in rank above all creation; He is the

Heir of all things. He is prior to all creation and superior over it.

The JW's New World Translation adds the word "other" four

times in Colossians 1:15-17 , so that the passage states that

Christ created "all other things," everything except Himself.

However, there is no basis for adding "other." It certainly does

not occur in the Greek manuscripts. The translators of the New

World Translation admit this by putting "other" in brackets. This

"translation" attempts to comply with the assumption that

firstborn means first-created. But, as shown, this is not the

meaning of firstborn, and therefore it is also wrong to add the

word "other." There is no verse in the entire Bible that states that

Christ was created by Jehovah!

8. Christ claimed to be equal with God in John 10:30 .

JW's believe that this verse, "I and the Father are one," means

that Christ was one with God the Father in purpose and not in

nature and essence. However, if that was all Christ was saying,

why did the Jews want to stone Him? They themselves thought

His purpose was the same as God's. Verse 33 of John 10

explains that they wanted to stone Him because of blasphemy ,

because He claimed to be God!

The deity of Christ is the central point of the Scriptures. It clearly

teaches that Christ is God. The teachings of the Jehovah's Witness'

concerning Jesus Christ clearly contradict the teachings of the Bible.

Passages such as Philippians 2:5-11 tell us that Jesus Christ, who

existed as God, took the bodily form of a humble servant so that He

could die on the cross in our place. "Therefore also God highly exalted

Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that

at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in

heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue

should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (kurios), to the glory of God

the Father."

How to Talk Creation with a Jehovah's

Witness

by Robert Doolan

A survey of members of conservative churches in 10 states across

America found that almost 90 per cent of those polled had met a

Jehovah's Witness. Yet almost none of these people knew what

Jehovah's Witnesses believe, or how to talk to them properly. But the

best place to start is at the beginning—at creation.

You've got to give credit to Jehovah's Witnesses for one thing. Their zeal and

persistence is probably unparalleled among religious groups. And even if they do

always seem to knock on your door when you're either sleeping in, sitting down

to Sunday dinner, or trying to feed the baby, if you talk to them long enough

you'll find they are as anti-evolution as you are. Their headquarters in Brooklyn,

New York, produces millions of copies of books which expose the errors of

evolution and give evidence for creation. 1

The problem is that the Watchtower society, the Jehovah's Witnesses'

organization, is notorious for overlooking details that prove their ideas wrong.

Like many other cults, their zeal is ' not according to knowledge ', as Paul lamented

of Israel ( Romans 10:2 ) . Unfortunately, their ideas on creation suffer from this

malady also. So creationists who talk to them at the door should know where the

'Watchtower creation' differs from God's creation as revealed in Genesis and

other parts of the Bible.

The purpose of this article is not to provoke you to argue with Jehovah's

Witnesses. Your argument is not with the Witness on your doorstep, but with the

leaders of his or her organization. They have led the Witness to think that the

distorted doctrines they have taught him or her are in fact God's truth. Your

purpose in discussing creation with Jehovah's Witnesses—and you will find you

have a common interest in this subject—is to urge them to see that their leaders

are not providing them with reliable information. They rely on the doctrines of

men who have made Scripture fit their own ideas. If the Witness can see this, he

or she may be more open to the truths of the Gospel.

Begin your discussion by admitting that you have a strong interest in creation.

Say you have heard that the Watchtower society produces a lot of material

exposing the errors of evolution, for which they are to be commended. Then add

that you have also heard strong criticism of their doctrines. Ask if you could go

over a few passages of the Bible with them about creation. They won't refuse. If

you have difficulty remembering all the points listed below, ask if they would take

this article away and read it, then let you know their response to each point.

How long is a Genesis day?

Start by discussing the length of the days in the first chapter of Genesis.

The Watchtower publication 'Life—How Did It Get Here?' rightly points out that

the Hebrew word yom , translated ' day ', can mean different lengths of time. 2

Because yom sometimes allows periods much longer than 24 hours, the

Watchtower organization has decided that this is what 'day' must mean

throughout the first chapter of Genesis.

However, good exegesis requires that a secondary meaning of any Biblical text

should only be sought if a literal reading doesn't make sense. But the literal 24-

hour day, with evening and morning each day, makes very good sense in the early

verses of Genesis. In the overwhelming number of its occurrences, the word yom

means an ordinary, literal day—either an entire solar day, or the daylight part of

an ordinary solar day. Whenever the word is used in Scripture with specific

beginning and end points (' evening ' and ' morning ') or is described as ' the first

day ', ' the sixth day ', etc., it always refers to a literal solar day. 3 This should be

pointed out to the Jehovah's Witness.

A well-known scholar in New Testament Greek, Dr Robert H. Countess, has

critically analysed the Jehovah's Witnesses' New Testament. He found that the

translators of the Jehovah's Witnesses' New World Translation have adopted—as

well as invented—certain principles whereby they have chosen a reading not

found in their basic Greek text or in any Greek text. 4 This tendency seems at

times to inhibit the Watchtower's literal acceptance of the Old Testament text as

well.

In most translations John 1:1 shows that Jesus the Creator (' the Word ') ' was God '.

But the New World translation has added to Scripture by saying 'the Word was a

god', making Jesus to be a false god like Baal or Satan.

Ask the Jehovah's Witness this: 'If the writer of Genesis wanted to describe the

six days of creation as six ordinary 24-hour days, how should he have done it?'

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