JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES
Chapter 32
History
Officially known as the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, the Jehovah's Witnesses are a product of the life work of Charles Taze Russell, born February 16, 1852, near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In 1870, while still in his teens and without formal theological education, Russell organized a Bible class whose members eventually made him "pastor."
In 1879 he founded the magazine Zion's Watchtower- in which he published his own unique interpretation of the Bible, and in 1886, the first volume of seven books (six written by Russell) entitled The Millennial Dawn was published. (These later were retitled Studies in the Scriptures.)
By the time of his death in 1916, "Pastor" Russell, according to the Watchtower, traveled more than a million miles, gave more than thirty thousand sermons, and wrote books totalling over fifty thousand pages.
A few months after the death of Charles Taze Russell, the society's legal counselor, Joseph Franklin Rutherford, became the second President of the Watchtower Society. It was under his leadership that the name "Jehovah's Witnesses" was adopted.
Rutherford died in 1942 and was succeeded by Nathan H. Knorr. It was during Knorr's presidency that the society increased from 115,000 to more than two million members. In 1961, under Knorr's leadership, the society produced its own English translation of the Bile entitled The New World Translation of Holy Scriptures.
Claims of the Jehovah's Witnesses
Jehovah's Witnesses are zealous and sincere, and they claim to accept the Bible as their only authority. However, their theology denies every cardinal belief of historic Christianity including the Trinity, the divinity of Jesus Christ, His bodily resurrection, salvation by grace through faith, and eternal punishment of the wicked.
The Watchtower has this to say about itself-. It is God's sole collective channel for the flow of biblical truth to men on earth.
Source of Authority
If the six volumes of Scripture Studies are practically the Bible, topically arranged with Bible proof texts given, we might not improperly name the volumes "the Bible in an arranged form," that is to say, they are not mere comments on the Bible, buy they are practically the Bible itself.
Furthermore, not only do we find that people cannot see the divine plan in studying the Bible by itself, but we see, also, that if anyone lays the Scripture Studies aside, even after he has used them, after he has became familiar with them, after he has read them for ten years -if he then lays them aside and ignores them and goes to the Bible alone, though he has understood his Bible for ten years, our experience shows that within two years he goes into darkness. On the other hand, if he had merely read the Scripture Studies with their references and had not read a page of the Bible as such, he would be in the light at the end of two years, because he would have the light of the Scriptures.
Although the Watchtower contends that the Scriptures are their final authority, we find they constantly misuse the Scriptures to establish their own peculiar beliefs. This is accomplished chiefly by quoting texts out of context while omitting other passages relevant to the subject. For all practical purposes their publications take precedence over the Scriptures.
Trinity
The Watchtower makes it clear they do not believe in the doctrine of the Trinity. "The trinity doctrine was not conceived by Jesus or the early Christians .... The plain truth is that this is another of Satan's attempts to keep the God-fearing person from learning the truth of Jehovah and His Son Christ Jesus."
In Watchtower theology neither Jesus Christ nor the Holy Spirit is God.
Jesus Christ
In the theological system of the Jehovah's Witnesses, Jesus Christ is not God in human flesh, but rather a created being.
"Jesus, the Christ, a created individual, is the second greatest personage of the Universe. Jehovah God and Jesus together constitute the superior authorities."
"He was a god, but not the Almighty God, who is Jehovah."
"If Jesus were God, then during Jesus' death God was dead in the grave."
"The truth of the matter is that the word is Christ Jesus, who did have a beginning."
The denial of the deity of Christ is nothing new in the history of the church. It is a revival of the ancient heresy known Arianism (named after the fourth-century AD heretic Arius.) Arianism teaches that the Son was of a substance different from the Father and was, in fact, created.
The Jehovah's Witnesses, in an attempt to demonstrate that Jesus Christ is not Jehovah God, appeal to the Bible to substantiate their beliefs. However, it is the Bible that contradicts their theology, revealing it to be both unbiblical and non-Christian.
JOHN 14:28
One favorite passage used by Jehovah's Witnesses to prove Christ is less than God is John 14:28: "My Father is greater than I." This verse refers to the voluntary subordination of Jesus during His earthly life when He willingly placed Himself in submission to the Father. It says nothing about His nature, only His temporary rank on earth. Thus, the "greater than" refers to His position rather than His person.
COLOSSIANS 1:15
Jesus is called the "firstborn" of all creation in Colossians 1:15. The Watchtower takes this to mean "first created." However, the passage itself states that Christ is the Creator of all things (verses 16 and 17), not a created being. The title firstborn refers to His preeminent position, not that He is Jehovah's "first creation."
In Revelation 1:5 and Colossians 1:18, Christ is referred to as the "firstborn from the dead." It is obvious that the literal sense of the word cannot be used here. Also it cannot be used as the first to be raised from the dead. It can only mean preeminence or sovereignty, in that Christ was the first to be raised from the dead by His own power and to be exalted to immortality, 13/382 as the context in both cases corroborates.
The Witnesses try to substantiate their doctrine of Christ being one of the creation by deliberate insertion of a word for which there is no basis in the Greek text. A clear example occurs here in The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures, Colossians 1:16,17, which is pertinent to this discussion ...
because by means of him all [other] things were created in the heavens and upon the earth, the things visible and the things invisible, no matter whether they are thrones or lordships or governments or authorities. AU [other] things have been created through him and for him. Also, he is before all [other] things and by means of him all [other] things were made to exist.
The word other has been inserted all the way through the passage unjustly. There is no equivalent word in the Greek text and no reputable translation includes it. When it is considered that the Jehovah's Witnesses assume Jesus Christ to be a created being, it is easy to understand why they insert "other.'
The Greek solely states, "He is before all things and by him all things hold together," which is interpreted logically by Stedman to plainly teach that "Christ is the Creator of everything that has existence, material or immaterial, and therefore He cannot Himself be a creature."
However, when the word other is unwarrantedly interjected four times, it alters the thought to imply that Christ is the author of all created things, with the exception of one, Himself, who the Watchtower Society says was created. A footnote in the New World Translation reads: "All other: as at Luke 13:2,4 and elsewhere."
The reference here to Luke 13:2,4 corresponds to the Lord's question about the Galileans whom Pilate had killed, and the eighteen men who were slain by the falling tower of Siloam. He asks, "Do you suppose that these Galilean were greater sinners than all other Galileans?" and, "Or do you suppose that these 18 ... were worse culprits than all [the other NWT] men who live in Jerusalem?" (NASB)
Stedman, in his article, "The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures," set forth clearly the reason for the inclusion of "other" here and its exclusion in Colossians 1:15-18.
Now here, though the original has no word for "other," it is plainly implied in the context, for, of course, these dead men were being put in contrast with all their fellow-citizens. However, there is no such implication in Colossians 1:15-17 unless one presupposes that Christ Himself was nothing but a creature. But no translator has the right thus to presuppose on a doctrinal issue. If the text were simply rendered as it is, leaving out the inserted word other, it would agree exactly with other New Testament passages that declare plainly that the Lord Jesus Christ is Creator of everything that has been created (Hebrews 1:10; John 1:3).
Again it is evident that the translators have taken special care to make the text say what they suppose it ought to say rather than to let it speak plainly for itself. 47/33
Therefore, in light of the historical, literal and metaphorical meanings of "firstborn" the Jehovah's Witnesses are unscriptural in the application of it to Christ as created.
Jesus Christ, as taught in Colossians 1:15-18, is prior to, distinct from and sovereign over the universe.
JOHN 1:1
One of the readings of the New World Translation that has caused considerable outrage among Greek scholars is its totally unsupportable rendering of the last clause of John 1:1, "The word was a god." This translation makes Jesus Christ less than God, relegating Him to the position of a "created being" in accordance with Watchtower theology. There is no basis whatsoever for this rendering, although the Watchtower would have people believe the contrary:
How are we to understand John 1:1,2, of which there are differing translations? Many translations read: "And the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Others read: "And the Word (The Logos) was divine."
Another: "and the Word was God." Others, "And the Word was a god." Since we have examined so much of what John wrote about Jesus who was the Word made flesh, we are now in a position to determine which of those several translations is correct. It means our salvation.
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