Can I get a thorough explanation regarding the Jehovah's witness's befief on the deity of Christ. Is he God? If not, who was he? Could you please be very specific and use Scripture?
Deity of Jesus
by bryanlovesgod 14 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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the_classicist
Right from the horse's mouth: http://www.watchtower.org/library/ti/index.htm
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Robert K Stock
Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe that Jesus is equal to God. They say he is more than an angel but less then God. Jehovah's Witnesses say that God had no begining but Jesus did.
My personal opinion is that Jesus was a deluded human being who mistakenly thought he was the Messiah.
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Carmel
Hey bryan, welcome to JD. What scripture will you accept? If you limit yourself to the bible, you will find conflicting quotes regarding the reality of Christ. Remember, more Christians have been killed by other christians over this issue than all the deaths by the hands of infidels.
So if I use the Koran or other scripture will that count?
carmel
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Carmel
In the Qur'án we read that Muhammad spoke to his followers, saying:
'Why do you not believe in Christ, and in the Gospel? Why will you not accept Moses and the Prophets, for surely the Bible is the Book of God? In truth, Moses was a sublime Prophet, and Jesus was filled with the Holy Spirit. He came to the world through the Power of God, born of the Holy Spirit and of the blessed Virgin Mary. Mary, His mother, was a saint from Heaven. She passed her days in the Temple at prayer and food was sent to her from above. Her father, Zacharias, came to her and asked her from whence the food came, and Mary made answer, "From on high." Surely God made Mary to be exalted above all other women.'
This is what Muhammad taught His people concerning Jesus and Moses, and He reproached them for their lack of faith in these great Teachers, and taught them the lessons of truth and tolerance. Muhammad was sent from God to work among a people as savage and uncivilized as the wild beasts. They were quite devoid of understanding, nor had they any feelings of love, sympathy and pity. Women were so degraded and despised that a man could bury his daughter alive, and he had as many wives to be his slaves as he chose.
Among these half animal people Muhammad was sent with His divine Message. He taught the people that idol worship was wrong, but that they should reverence Christ, Moses and the Prophets. Under His influence they became a more enlightened and civilized people and arose from the degraded state in which He found them. Was not this a good work, and worthy of all praise, respect and love?
Look at the Gospel of the Lord Christ and see how glorious it is! Yet even today men fail to understand its priceless beauty, and misinterpret its words of wisdom.
(Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 47)
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homme perdu
Carmel I read the Quran and it doesnt refer Isa (Jesus) as Christ only as the son of Marium (Mary) and Messiah.
The Quran also makes it clear that it does not support the trinity.
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sting
Just a very quick one. I have studied world religions at degree level and the JW's till I'm blue in the face. I have arrived along with countless scholars at the following conclusion...
An unbiased & impartial reading of the New Testament corpus alone will present you with a dilemma. Either Jesus was a mad man (which He clearly wasn't!) or He was God incarnate. A similar stance will be discovered with The Holy Spirit and the Father.
The Trinity, whilst totally incomprehensible IS a biblical teaching. I always encourage every JW to read the NT with their Watchtower spectacles off!
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mnb77
When emailing my JW friend I asked her about Christ and if he was God becuase of what John1:1 says and how they translate it to "a god" she sent me this JW thing from her CD with all the Watchtowers on it.
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Questions from Readers
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Trinitarians point to John 20:28 as proof that Jesus is God. There Thomas said (NW): "My Master and my God!" How can this argument be answered??F. W., Philippine Republic.Jesus is a god. "God" means a strong one. Christ is called "The mighty God" at Isaiah 9:6, "a god" at John 1:1 (NW), and "the only-begotten god" at John 1:18 (NW). Jehovah is not the only god or strong one. The very fact that he is called the Almighty God indicates that there are other gods not so mighty, not almighty like him. So Thomas could call Jesus God, but not THE God, and three verses later Jesus is called "the Son of God," as we read (NW): "But these have been written down that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God, and that, because of believing, you may have life by means of his name." So there was no objection to John?s reporting that Thomas addressed Jesus as a deity, and certainly John does not say that Thomas? address to Jesus was to make us believe that Jesus was The God, but says it was to make us believe Jesus was God?s Son. In this same chapter (20:17, NW) Jesus said: "I am ascending to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God." He was not ascending to himself.
But now the trinitarians will say Thomas used the Greek definite article "the" (ho) before "God," proving he called Jesus The God. The article "the" is in the nominative case in the Greek, but the word "God" here is in the vocative case and of such A. T. Robertson says in his A Grammar of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research, on page 461: "The article with the vocative in address was the usual Hebrew and Aramaic idiom, as indeed in Aristophanes we have ho pais akoloúthei. It is good Greek and good Aramaic too when we have Abbá ho patér (Mark 14:36) whether Jesus said one or both. In Matthew 11:26 (nai, ho patér) we have the vocative. When the article is used, of course the nominative form must occur. Thus in Rev. 18:20 we have both together, ourané kai hoi hágioi. Indeed the second member of the address is always in the nominative form. Thus Kýrie, ho Theós, ho pantokrátor (Rev. 15:3). Compare John 20:28." Page 462: "When Thomas said Ho kýrios mou kai ho theós mou (John 20:28), he gave Christ full acceptance of his deity and of the fact of his resurrection." Page 466: "In John 20:28 Thomas addresses Jesus as ho kýrios mou kai ho theós, the vocative like those above. Yet, strange to say, Winer calls this exclamation rather than address, apparently to avoid the conclusion that Thomas was satisfied as to the deity of Jesus by his appearance to him after the resurrection. Dr. E. A. Abbott follows suit also in an extended argument to show that kýrie ho theós is the LXX way of addressing God, not ho kýrios kai ho theós. But after he had written he appends a note to p. 95 to the effect that ?this is not quite satisfactory. For [John] xiii. 13 phonéite me ho didáskalos kai ho kýrios, and Rev. 4:11 áxios ei, ho kýrios kai ho theós hemón, ought to have been mentioned above.? This is a manly retraction, and he adds: ?John may have used it here exceptionally.? Leave out ?exceptionally? and the conclusion is just. If Thomas used Aramaic he certainly used the article. It is no more exceptional in John 20:28 than in Rev. 4:11."
So, since the use of the definite article was made before the form of address to anybody, Thomas? use of the definite article does not force his use of God to mean The God, Jehovah. Jehovah was not begotten, but existed without beginning. But according to John 1:18 (NW) Christ was the only god or strong one directly begotten or created by Jehovah, however.
So Jehovah is The God; Jesus Christ is one of many who are called gods. Satan is called "the god of this system of things," Moses was said to be as god to Pharaoh, and in the Psalms men are called gods, and Jesus referred to this and argued that hence the Jews should not say he blasphemed when he said he was God?s Son. And the apostle Paul said there are many called gods. But to argue that these many different ones called gods are, by virtue of this fact, The God Jehovah would be absurd. Similarly, it is absurd to try to argue that Thomas? reference to Jesus as god proves Jesus is The God, and doubly so when just three verses later Jesus is identified as God?s Son.?2 Cor. 4:4, NW; Ex. 7:1; Ps. 82:6; John 10:35; 1 Cor. 8:5.
Incidentally, in view of the existence of so many called gods, does it not establish the need for The God, the Almighty God, to have a distinguishing name, that is, Jehovah?
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Hope it helps,
mnb77
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AuntieJane
They really have to twist and turn in order to "Prove" the WTS teachings.
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viewaskew
Sting, can you point me in the direction of some books which may help me accept that the Trinity is a Biblical teaching?