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-.

Note the following statement by "Pastor" Russell:

 

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.

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.

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."

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 ...

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.

This is a misleading statement because it gives the impression that other translations agree with their rendering when the opposite is true. There are no reputable authorities or translations that support the reading, "The Word was a god."

The only other translation quoted in this Watchtower publication that reads the same way is The New Testament in an Improved Version Upon the Basis of Archbishop Newcome's New Translation: With a Corrected Text, printed in London in 1808. Such an antiquated and obscure translation done by a Unitarian cannot be considered reputable.

 

GRAMMATICAL EXPLANATION OF JOHN 1:1 ...

 

The grammatical explanation given by the Watchtower for its translation of John 1:1 is unsatisfactory. They contend that when theos (the Greek word for God) appears in John 1:1 it appears twice, once with the definite article [the] and once without. When it appears without the definite article (in the last clause of John 1:1) they feel justified in translating it, "And the Word was a god."

In the first eighteen verses of John's Gospel, the word for God - theos appears six times without the definite article (vss. 1,6,12,13, and twice in 18). Yet, it is rendered God (referring to Jehovah) in each instance except for the last clause of verse one when it refers to Jesus!

If the Watchtower's translations were consistent, verse 6 should read: "There arose a man that was sent forth as a representative of a god." Moreover, verse 12 should read "to become a god's children," etc. Why only in verse 1 do they refuse to translate theos as God (meaning Jehovah)?

We conclude that there is no basis for translating John 1:1, "The Word was a god," as in the New World Translation. It is a biased rendering that cannot be justified grammatically.

They do not want to acknowledge what is clearly taught in verse 1: Jesus Christ is God. Also, it should be observed that the absence of the definite article does not indicate someone other than the true God. The entry on theos in the authoritative Arndt and Gingrich Greek Lexicon states theos is used "quite predominately of the true God, sometimes with, sometimes without, the article."

Even without going to the Greek grammar of John 1:1, we can see that the Watchtower translation of John 1:1 goes against the clear teachings of the Bible. In both the Old and New Testaments we are taught that there is only one true God (Isaiah 43:10; John 17:3; 1 Corinthians 8:4-6; etc.). All other "gods" are false gods. Those who would acknowledge any god as true except for Jehovah God are guilty of breaking the first commandment: "You shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:3).

By translating the last part of John 1:1 as, "The Word was a god," the Watchtower has declared its belief in polytheism, or the belief in more than one god. According to the whole testimony of the Bible, the Word (Jesus Christ) of John 1:1 must be either the only true God, Jehovah, or a false god. The Bible knows only one true God, Jehovah.

JOHN 8:58

In the eighth chapter of the Gospel of John, Jesus is asked by the religious leaders, "Whom do you make yourself out to be?" (verse 53).

He answered, "Before Abraham was, I Am" (verse 58).

His answer is a direct reference to Exodus 3:14 where God identifies Himself from the burning bush to Moses by the designation, "I Am." The Jews, realizing that Jesus claimed to be God, attempted to stone Him for blasphemy (verse 59).

The New World Translation mistranslates this verse by making it read, "Before Abraham came into existence I have been." The footnote to John 8:58 in the 1950 edition is enlightening: "I have been -- 'ego eimi' after the aorist infinitive clause and hence properly rendered in the perfect indefinite tense."

This statement was completely false. So the Watchtower changed the note to read "the perfect tense," dropping the word indefinite (see The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures, 1969). However, this is also incorrect since the verb eimi is in the present tense, indicative mood, and hence should properly be translated, "I Am." Moreover in the context of John 8:58 (8:42 - 9:12), the verb "to be," occurs 22 times in 'the indicative mood and the New World Translation correctly renders 21 out of 22. The only incorrect rendering is in John 8:58. Why.?

Dr. A. T. Robertson, one of the greatest Greek scholars who ever lived, after translating ego eimi as "I AM," had this to say about John 8:58: "Undoubtedly here Jesus claims external existence with the absolute phrase used of God."

The Watchtower betrays itself in its own Kingdom Interlinear Translation which contains a literal English translation beneath the Greek text as well as the New World Translation reading. In John 8:58 under the Greek ego eimi, The Kingdom Interlinear rightly translates it, "I am," but the New World Translation changes it to, "I have been." This inconsistency is striking.

There is no sufficient basis for the translation, "I have been," in John 8:58. This is another example of the scholarly shortcomings of the Watchtower. It obscures the fact that Jesus Christ is Jehovah God.

To promulgate this error they mistranslate such passages as Ephesians 4:30 ("also, do not be grieving God's holy spirit, with which you have been sealed for a day of releasing by ransom") and John 14:26 ("But the helper, the holy spirit which the Father will send in my name, that one will teach you all things and bring back to your minds all the things I told you").

However, both of these verses teach the personality of the Holy Spirit. How can one grieve something impersonal? Or how can an "impersonal force," teach all things? Competent translations substitute "With which" in Ephesians 4:30 with "by whom," and have "whom the Father will send" and "he will teach you" in John 14:26 rather than the impersonal holy spirit of the Watchtower.

The idea that the second coming of Christ took place in 1914 is important to Watchtower theology. That was the time, they say, that God's kingdom was fully set up in heaven. However, this was not always their teaching. Before 1914, the Watchtower was predicting that God's Kingdom was to be set up on earth (not in heaven) in 1914!

"The times of the Gentiles" extend to 1914. And the Heavenly Kingdom will not have full sway till then, but as a "stone" the Kingdom of God is set up "in the days of these Kings" and by consummating them it becomes a universal Kingdom- a "great mountain and fills the whole earth."

The prophecies made by Russell and the Watchtower concerning 1914 totally failed because the Kingdom of God was not established upon the earth. Today, as already observed, the Watchtower teaches that Christ returned invisibly in 1914 and set up His Kingdom only in Heaven. However, this idea clearly opposes the scriptural teaching of the visible bodily return of Christ:

The Watchtower is guilty of false prophecy (Deuteronomy 18:21,22) in wrongly predicting the date 1914 to be the return of Christ. They are also wrong in asserting His coming is secretly and invisibly because the Scriptures teach completely the contrary (Revelation 1:7).

A close examination of the Watchtower has demonstrated that it is not what it claims to be: the "sole collective channel for the flow of biblical truth." It is guilty of false prophecy, anti-biblical theology, and misrepresentation of the truth.

We heartily recommend to Jehovah's Witnesses that they act on the following instruction from the Watchtower: "We need to examine, not only what we personally believe, but also what is taught by any religious organization with which we may be associated. Are its teachings in full harmony with God's Word, or are they based on the traditions of men? If we are lovers of the Truth, there is nothing to fear from such an examination." 51/13

Such an examination will show the shortcomings of the man-made Watchtower and the all-sufficient perfection of Jesus Christ, our "great God and Savior" (Titus 2:13).