Jehovah’s Witnesses

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Nada Scriptura?

Maturity

The world’s false religions and cults have many similarities, and one common thread among them all is their disbelief / distrust / disdain for the Bible.

And among these groups, five stand out as surprising when you consider that they believe themselves to be Christian, and as everybody knows, “Christians” believe the Bible . . . don’t they?

Whether it’s the Jehovah’s Witnesses who discourage individual understanding of the Scriptures . . .

Thus the Bible is an organizational book and belongs to the Christian congregation as an organization, not to individuals, regardless of how sincerely they may believe that they can interpret the Bible. For this reason the Bible cannot be properly understood without Jehovah’s visible organization in mind.

The Watchtower / October 1, 1967 / Page 587

. . . even going so far as to employ scare tactics that you’ll become apostate for reading the Bible on your own or in a small group:

They say that it is sufficient to read the bible exclusively, either alone or in small groups at home. But, strangely, through such ‘Bible reading,’ they have reverted right back to the apostate doctrines that commentaries by Christendom’s clergy were teaching 100 years ago…

The Watchtower / August 15, 1981/Pages 28-29


Or whether it’s the Mormons spreading their seeds of doubt . . .

It was apparent that many important points touching the salvation of men, had been taken from the Bible, or lost before it was compiled.

Joseph Smith /Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith /Page 10

. . . and blatantly attacking the Word of God:

This congregation heard brother O. Pratt scan the validity of the Bible, and I thought by the time he got through, that you would scarcely think a Bible worth picking up and carrying home, should you find one in the streets.

Brigham Young / Journal of Discourses / Volume 3 Page 116

Or whether it’s the liberal churches who “take the Bible seriously but not literally.”

Liberality

Or whether it’s the Emergents whose greatest “virtue” is ambiguity, and whose mantra is “did God really say that?” all the while dismissing the importance of the very Bible they claim to believe:

This is part of the problem with continually insisting that one of the absolutes of the Christian faith must be a belief that “Scripture alone” is our guide. It sounds nice, but it is not true. In reaction to abuses by the church, a group of believers during a time called the Reformation claimed that we only need the authority of the Bible. But the problem is that we got the Bible from the church voting on what the Bible even is… When people say that all we need is the Bible, it is simply not true.

Rob Bell / Velvet Elvis / Pages 67-68

I grew up thinking that we’ve figured out the Bible, that we knew what it means. Now I have no idea what most of it means. And yet I feel like life is big again—like life used to be black and white, and now it’s in color.

Kristen Bell (Rob Bell’s wife) / Christianity Today / November 2004

Or whether it’s the Roman Catholic Church who in times past would burn you at the stake for merely possessing the Scriptures in your native tongue, but who now settle for pompously looking down their noses at you for daring to hold God’s inspired, infallible Word above that of their fallible, uninspired popes, priests, and man-made traditions.

Stake

So, whether you’re discouraged from reading your Bible, or the Bible is impugned so that you conclude it can’t be trusted, the desired result is always the same: Once you put down the word of God, or place some other “authority” above it, heresy will always follow.

As Gary Gilley aptly said in his book This Little Church Went to Market:

Today, virtually every heresy found in the Christian ranks can be traced back to some form of rejection of the Bible as God’s final authority. It may be pragmatism (which adds success to the Bible); mysticism (which adds experience); tradition (which adds the past): legalism (which adds man’s rules); or philosophy such as psychology (which adds man’s wisdom). The end result is all the same: the Word of God takes a back seat to the inventions and imaginations of men.

Essentially, all these false religions and cults have one goal in mind: To get you to stop trusting the words of the living God and instead, put your trust in their organization. As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord and we will trust His word over the lies, rumors, heresies, doubts, and traditions of these false organizations. But what about you? When the question of the authority of Scripture comes up are you going to believe the empty words of false prophets, teachers, popes, and organizations, or the words of God Himself?

GalaxyFor the most part these counterfeit groups would agree that God created the heavens and the earth and that He is the architect of everything from the vastness of the galaxies yet to be discovered by man, to the tiniest microorganisms that are more complex than any supercomputers that we could ever build. And with few exceptions I’m confident that these groups also believe that God sustains His creation and that He’s omnipotent, omniscient, and all powerful.

Yet ironically they do not believe He had or has the power to sustain and preserve His word from generation to generation. How convenient for them that the God of all creation has this one weakness (that their popes, prophets, and programs can help God out with).

God was very clear about the tenacity of His Word: It is forever settled in Heaven (Psalm 119:89), it endures forever (Isaiah 40:8, 1 Peter 1:25), the smallest letter or stroke of the law shall not pass (Matthew 5:18), and Heaven and earth will pass away before His word does (Matthew 24:35, Mark 13:31, Luke 16:17, Luke 21:33).

Yet the false prophets will have you believe that the sovereign God who created and sustains the universe simply could not ensure the preservation of His own Word, but their “new revelation” on the other hand, is accurate and can be trusted in spite of the fact that their doctrines keep being added to, subtracted from, and changing from prophet to prophet, from leader to leader, and from pope to pope.

Bible The Scriptures are for our instruction and to provide hope (Romans 15:4), for teaching (Deuteronomy 11:9, 2 Chronicles 17:9), for equipping Christians for good work (2 Timothy 3:16-17), and it gives us assurance of salvation (1 John 5:13).


Furthermore, God’s Word is more precious than silver and gold (Psalm 119:72), it’s a lamp, a light, and the way of life (Proverbs 6:23), it’s a lamp unto our feet (Psalm 119:105), it teaches us to fear the Lord (Deuteronomy 17:19), it purifies (Psalm 119:9), it gives understanding to the simple (Psalm 119:130), it teaches us so that we can walk in His paths (Isaiah 2:3), it sanctifies (John 17:17, Ephesians 5:26), it testifies to Jesus Christ (John 5:39), it leads us to Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:24), and it judges our thoughts and attitudes (Hebrews 4:12).

DeconstructionWhen you consider what God’s Word does, you can see why false religions and cults wish to separate you from it! If they can drive a wedge between you and the word of God, then they will have successfully separated you from the only source by which to measure truth. Then you are easy prey for their new revelations, their other gospels (Galatians 1:6-9), and their false christs.

So, I have three questions:

1. The Bereans were commended for searching the Scriptures to assure that what the Apostle Paul was teaching was accurate (Acts 17:11). Why are these false religions and cults advising you not to take up the Scriptures to see if what they’re teaching is true?

2.The Apostle Paul told us that our struggle is against spiritual powers and forces of wickedness (Ephesians 6:11-12) and in this fight he tells us to put on the armor of God (Ephesians 6:13), in which one of these is the sword of the Spirit–the very word of God. Why would false religions and cults want to disarm you from one of the best offensive and defensive weapons God has provided the Believer and instructed him to wield?

3. Jesus Christ, the Apostles, and the Disciples read the Scriptures and quoted from them regularly. In fact, when Satan tried to thwart Jesus’ mission on earth by twisting Scripture, Jesus quoted from the Scripture each time in rebuttal, effectively disarming the father of lies with the words of truth (Matthew 4:1-11). If the Scriptures were good enough and valuable enough for Jesus Christ and the Apostles, why do the false religions and cults say that they’re not good enough for you?

CultsFor all the reasons above it is apparent why false religions and cults reject the Bible and the idea of Sola Scriptura. When those groups claiming to be “Christian” are compared to the Light of the Scriptures they always come up short and their errors, falsehoods, heresies, and soul-damning doctrines of demons are exposed. If they can get you to doubt the Bible, they will quickly fill that void with their own “authority.”

Remember, we were never told that man shall live on the Church, the prophets, or popes, but we are told that man shall live on “every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Deuteronomy 8:3).

So Jesus was saying to those Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, then you are truly disciples of Mine; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.” – John 8:31-32

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For more on the Bible see : Bible Reference Notes – The Holy Scriptures


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The Watchtower’s Struggle with Being Born Again

April 1, 2009 Watchtower

April 1, 2009 Watchtower

I’ve read some past Watchtower magazine articles in an attempt to verify the Jehovah’s Witness teaching about what it means to be born again. I’ve found their teaching on this is truly inadequate. In discussions with Jehovah’s Witnesses, I’ve tried to explain the biblical meaning of born again in many ways. During our conversations, none of my questions regarding the shortcomings of their teaching have been answered.

I was excited when I discovered the April 1 Watchtower cover story was about being born again. I hoped that maybe the writers would attempt to fill in some of the gaps in the teaching. Unfortunately, this article is nothing more than a rehash of articles I’ve already read.

These are some of the questions that remain unanswered concerning the teaching:

  1. The non-144,000 JWs are not born again. 1 John 5:1 says that everyone who believes Jesus is the Messiah is born again. How can JWs not be born again, yet profess to believe that Jesus is the Messiah?
  2. The non-144,000 JWs are not considered children of God. I agree that unless you are born again, you are not a child of God. I don’t think the average JW knows that the Watchtower teaches that he or she isn’t a child of God. If they’re not children of God, whose children are they? I believe they remain children of the devil.
  3. If being born again means having been raised from spiritual death to spiritual life (Ephesians 2:1), and most JWs aren’t spiritually alive, they must still be spiritually dead. Does that not concern them?
  4. Jesus said that one will not see the kingdom of God unless he or she is born again (John 3:3). Wouldn’t the paradise earth that most JWs aspire to be considered part of the kingdom of God? They won’t even see paradise earth without being born again.

Every time I’ve tried to discuss this with a Jehovah’s Witness, he or she attempts to change the subject to why he or she is satisfied with paradise earth, and why only the 144,000 are born again. Those are interesting topics to discuss, but I’ve tried to keep the conversation on the topic at hand: If you’re not born again, what are you?

In the Bible, some Jews claimed to be children of God, because they were children of Abraham (John 8:41). Jesus corrected their thinking, telling them that they were in fact children of the devil (John 8:44).

The reality is that for Jehovah’s Witnesses (and everyone else who is not born again), there are only two choices: Either you are reborn as a child of God, or you remain a child of the devil.

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Why we do what we do

question-mark

Many people who visit DefCon come here seeking truth. They have heard lies and stories told by those who claim to be shepherds and pastors, only to find they have been lied to and misled. Others are new Christians who are looking for help to understand what is truth, where to find it, who can be trusted, and who to should be avoided at all costs.

Then there are some who come here from a mindset, a philosophy, a religion, that is opposed to the truth of God. They are Mormon or Jehovah’s Witness or Emegerent or postmodern or they come from the prospoerity gospel, and so on and so forth. Or they may come from The Church of the Fluffybunny–those churches where they would not DARE speak biblical truth, lest somebody’s feelings get hurt. They would not DARE talk about sin, lest somebody’s self-esteem be injured. They are from an all-inclusive, seeker-sensitive, porpoise-drivel, Osteen/Warren/Schuller/Ed Young type church where truth is simply whatever you want it to be.

So, this person comes to DefCon, sees that we are not afraid of offending anyone, knowing that the cross is “to the Jews a stumblingblock, and to the Greeks foolishness” (1st Corinthians 1:23). And they see us tear down the foolishness of these “little boy preachers,” and compare/contrast what they say against the Scripture. And the accusations come flying. We are “Pharisees.” We are “judgmental.” We are “putting God in a box.” We are “the only ones who know the truth.” We have never “talked to God.” etc. etc. etc

At this point, the question becomes: “Why do we do what we do.” That’s what you’re about to find out. Let me tell you in a parable.

Suppose I served a master who was married to a young bride. This bride is not always wise when it came to the ways of the world (Matthew 10:16). Now, my master is going on a long trip, and will not be back for a long time (John 16:16). While my master is gone, he has entrusted me with the care of his bride (1st Timothy 3:15). I promise that I will look after her, watch over her, and let nothing happen to her. I promise to let no one do violence to her or despoil her (Acts 20:28). After all, my master has gone to great lengths to keep her pure (Ephesians 5:27).

Shortly thereafter, a young man comes knocking at the door. He is a finely-dressed, good-looking, well-spoken young man. But I also know he is not as he seems. Yet, when He asks to come in, I let him in. After all, I don’t want to offend him or make him feel bad or unwelcome. Then I step out to go to the store, leaving the young man alone with my master’s young bride. When I return, the young man is gone. I go upstairs to find my master’s young bride in the bedroom. Her face is bruised, her clothes are torn. She is crying and inconsolable. I know what has happened. I also know that it is my fault that it happened, because I left her alone with someone whose intentions were evil–and I knew it. I have done evil by allowing this evil to be done–all the while thinking my master will never know (Psalm 10:11).

But, my master does know. He has cameras all over the house. He can see everything that happens (Hebrews 4:13). And He has seen that I left His bride with a man who was good-looking outside, but evil resided within him (Matthew 7:15). When He finally returns, will He be angry? I dare say He would be extremely angry for allowing such evil to be done to his bride (Jeremiah 23:1). He would be furious with me for allowing His bride to fall prey to someone that I knew good and well was evil throughout (James 4:17). And He would beat me severely for my disobedience (Luke 12:47).

On the other hand, suppose when that young man came to the door, I knew his intentions (Hebrews 4:12). And instead of letting him in, I proclaimed to the entire neighborhood that he was evil (Philippians 3:17-19). I let it be known to all who could hear that this man who looked so dashing and charming was a snake on the inside (Romans 16:17-18). Thus warned, men kept their brides hidden from him, and would not so much as open the door to him (2nd John 1:9-11). And when my master returned, He would reward me for my obedience (2nd Samuel 22:21; Revelation 22:12).

That, friend, is why we do what we do. Because there are many good-looking, fine-sounding religions that are just waiting to find their way into the true church and wreak havoc upon her. We, with every breath in us, will fight to never let that happen! And will warn everyone we can so they do not fall prey.

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Africa desperately needs help with combating cults.

I know that after my departure savage wolves will come in among you, not sparing the flock . . . – Acts 20:29

Source: Africa Center for Apologetics Research

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See related posts:

Charismania unrestrained: Africa’s witch children

The Hell-bound false prophetess Helen Ukpabio of Liberty Gospel Church in Nigeria

Sam and Esther: The least of these

Who they were then, and who they are now

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Ten more (very) quick Questions for Jehovah’s Witnesses.

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(Also for LDS)

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(Also for LDS)

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(Also for LDS)

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To see the first ten (very) quick questions for Jehovah’s Witnesses, click here.

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Dear Jehovah’s Witness: Is the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society an inspired prophet of God or not?

kingdom-hall Is the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society an inspired prophet of God or not?

Yes: They claim to be prophets of God.

“So, does Jehovah have a prophet to help them, to warn them of dangers and to declare things to come? These questions can be answered in the affirmative. Who is this prophet?…This “prophet” was not one man, but was a body of men and women. It was the small group of footstep followers of Jesus Christ, known at that time as International Bible Students. Today they are known as Jehovah’s Christian witnesses….Of course, it is easy to say that this group acts as a “prophet” of God. It is another thing to prove it.” Watchtower April 1, 1972 Page 197

No: They deny that they’re inspired.

“However, the Watchtower does not claim to be inspired in its utterances nor is it dogmatic. It invites careful and critical examination of its contents in the light of the Scriptures.” Watchtower August 15, 1950 Page 263

Two Questions.

1). How can you claim on one hand to be a prophet of God, and yet deny being inspired?

2). If the Jehovah’s Witness organization is an inspired prophet of God, then how do you explain the countless false prophecies and doctrinal flip-flops made by a supposed “inspired” organization? If it is not inspired, then what is the final authority for the rank and file Jehovah’s Witnesses?

Check out more Contradictions in Watchtower Theology at CARM.


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Sermon of the week: “The Trinity and the Old Testament” by Don Green.

We wrap up our December series on the deity of Jesus Christ and the doctrine of the Trinity with Don Green’s sermon The Trinity and the Old Testament. For those who have been listening to this series since December 3rd, I hope it’s been a blessing to you all. For those who have missed out on one or more of the sermons on this topic, you can check out those posts below:

John 1:1 and the Jehovah’s Witnesses

Jesus Declares His Deity

My Lord and My God

An Introduction to the Trinity

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Sermon of the week: “An Introduction to the Trinity” by Don Green.

We’ve been going through Don Green’s five-part series on Christ’s deity and the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. This week is part four and it’s entitled An Introduction to the Trinity.

If you haven’t already listened to parts one through three, check them out below:

John 1:1 and the Jehovah’s Witnesses

Jesus Declares His Deity

My Lord and My God

Don Green has done an outstanding job through this series of defending the faith against those who would deny the deity of Christ and the doctrine of the Trinity.

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Sermon of the week “My Lord and My God” by Don Green.

We continue our month long series on the deity of Christ (and the doctrine of the Trinity) with this week’s sermon entitled, My Lord and My God.

Pastor Green does an excellent job throughout this five part series of unpacking the truth of Christ’s deity as revealed in the Scriptures. Next week his message will be, An Introduction to the Trinity and the following week his message will be, The Trinity and the Old Testament. I trust this entire series will be a blessing to you all.

If you haven’t already, I highly encourage you to check out the first two installments on this topic below:

John 1:1 and the Jehovah’s Witnesses

Jesus Declares His Deity

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“JEHOVAH”–God’s “personal name?”

DISCLAIMER: The purpose of this post is NOT to discourage the use of the name “Jehovah.” The purpose is to dispel the notion put forth by the Watchtower Society that it is the ONLY name we are to use when referring to God. There is nothing wrong with using “Jehovah,” nor is it the only name we can use. That said…

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The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (WTBTS, OR WT for short) has spent years trumpeting that they alone use, quote, “The personal name of God.” But do they really?

Question–How many Jews, speaking Hebrew, about 4000 years ago, in the Middle East, used the sound we associate with the letter “J”?

Answer–“Yeah, I’d like to answer that. Uh, what?”

Now, I don’t claim to be a Hebrew scholar, but I have studied what many have had to say on this subject. That said, let’s take a look at the evolution of the name “JEHOVAH.”

For the sake of those of you who may be new to the Bible, whenever you see the word “LORD” in all capital letters in the Old Testament, that is how the translators render the Hebrew word יהוה (Reading right-to-left, the Hebrew characters Yod-Heh-Vav-Heh. Transliterated into our alphabet, literally, “YHVH”).

Now, keep in mind that the Hebrew alphabet has no vowels to speak of (any Hebrew scholars, feel free to correct me here). So the writer would insert dots (called “vowel points”) above, under, and/or inside the characters to indicate the proper pronunciation. And according to most Bible scholars who have studied biblical Hebrew, the correct pronunciation would be “YAW-vey.”

Next, we bring in the Hebrew word “Adonai,” which translates into “Lord.” Eventually, because of the dispersions the Jews suffered, the Hebrew language began to fade. Legend has it that about 200 years before christ, Hebrew scribes began adding the vowel points for “Adonai” to the Tetragrammaton, (Either out of reverence for God’s name, or out of superstition they would mispronounce it, depending on who you read), thus making it to read “YaHoVaH” when transliterated into English. English changes over the years, the “Y” becomes a “J”, the first “a” becomes an “e” and we now have “Jehovah.”

This is where things get tricky for the JW. According to OFFICIAL WTBTS MATERIAL [Emphasis mine],

“The first recorded use of this form dates from the thirteenth century C.E. Raymundus Martini, a Spanish monk of the Dominican Order, used it in his book “Pugeo Fidei” of the year 1270.” (from Jehovah’s Witnesses own book “Aid to Bible Understanding” p.884)

In other words, the WTBTS considers the “personal name of God” to be a name erroneously invented by a 13th Century Catholic Monk. Their excuse? [Emphasis mine]

Today many Hebrew scholars prefer Yahweh as the true pronunciation.

However, consistency favors Jehovah. In what way? The pronunciation Jehovah has been accepted in English for centuries.

Those who object to using this pronunciation should also object to the use of the accepted pronunciation Jeremiah and even Jesus. Jeremiah would need to be changed to Yir·meyah’ or Yir·meya’hu, the original Hebrew pronunciations, and Jesus would become Ye·shu’a` (Hebrew) or I·e·sous’ (Greek). Hence, many Bible students, including Jehovah’s Witnesses, feel that consistency favors the use of the already well-known English-language “Jehovah” and its equivalent in other languages.

Stop! Ummmm, wait a sec. We have to pronounce it “Jehovah” in English–but it has, quote, “its equivalent in other languages.” So, if you pronounce THE EQUIVALENT in other languages, you don’t have to pronounce it “Jehovah.” But if you speak English, you have to say “Jehovah.” What about Jews? How are they supposed to pronounce it? I’m confused.

OK, so help me out here. The WTBTS is trying to tell us that the proper pronunciation of, quote, “The personal name of God” DEPENDS ON ITS ACCEPTANCE IN THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE (Or its equivalent in other languages)??? So, basically, Moses, David, Solomon, Abraham–these men did not know how to properly pronounce this name because THEY DIDN’T SPEAK ENGLISH!!

Oh, then there’s this one, from the Watchtower magazine itself [Emphasis mine]:

“…down through the centuries, the correct pronunciation of the divine name in Hebrew has been lost. Hence, it is uncertain what vowels should be used to fill in the name.”(Watchtower, Feb.1, 1980).

There is also evidence from other sources that “YAW-vey” is closer to the true pronunciation. From Let Us Reason Ministries [Emphasis mine]:

THE UNIVERSAL JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA says “JEHOVAH is an erroneous pronunciation of the Tetragrammaton, a four lettered name of God, made up of the Hebrew letters Yod He Vav He. The word “JEHOVAH” therefore is a misreading for which there is no warrant and which makes no sense in Hebrew. The Hebrew letters point to a Yod Y…the more correct pronunciation is Yahweh or some form deriving from the same consonants. For example Yah is used in its shorter form in Ex.15:2 and 17:15, Isa.12:2 and Ps.118:14 .

The WTBTS is not sure what vowels should be used. They believe that the English rendering of YHVH is to be trusted over the rendering given by those who speak the language the Old Testament was written in. They say that we non-JW’s don’t use the real, quote, “personal name of God” when they themselves don’t even know what it is.

Oops.

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Sermon of the week: “Jesus Declares His Deity” by Don Green.

We continue our month long series on the deity of Jesus Christ and the doctrine of the Trinity with Don Green’s sermon Jesus Declares His Deity. If you did not hear last Wednesday’s sermon of the week by Don Green I highly encourage you to check it out here. It was entitled John 1:1 and the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

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Sermon of the week: “John 1:1 and the Jehovah’s Witnesses” by Don Green.

DefCon will be examining the deity of Jesus Christ throughout the month of December. Each sermon of the week will feature the next installment of this five-part series by Don Green.

We start off with part one today with the sermon entitled John 1:1 and the Jehovah’s Witnesses. This is a superb journey into the doctrine of Christ’s deity beginning with John 1:1. Don Green also takes this opportunity to tackle the heretical teaching of the Jehovah’s Witnesses where they twist this verse. This is a theology lesson you don’t want to miss.

With the precision of a skilled surgeon, Don Green, cuts into the lies of the Jehovah’s Witnesses with four points that systematically proves that their rendering of John 1:1 as “a god” is not only impossible, it’s not even debatable.

This is a fantastic sermon on the defense of John 1:1 that everyone should hear. Sadly the one’s that need to hear it the most (those who deny the deity of Jesus Christ like Jehovah’s Witnesses) will probably never take the time to listen to it. However, if there are any Jehovah’s Witnesses out there who are brave enough to listen to this sermon I challenge you to do so. And if (after listening to it) you wish to discuss it, you are more than welcome to do so and we will be more than happy to correspond with you.


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How seeker-friendly churches skew the Gospel like a cult.

“If the ark and the tabernacle had to be built exactly according to God’s plan, should not the Church also be built according to His plan? Surely the Bride of Christ is of even greater importance than the ark or the tabernacle.”

– Trevor Mcllwain

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On this day in history . . .

As most Americans celebrate Halloween today there is a smaller segment that will celebrate Martin Luther’s nailing of the 95 theses to the Wittenberg door in 1517 which sparked the Protestant reformation. But there’s an even smaller segment that will recognize a much-lesser known event that occurred on this day almost a hundred years ago.

A 64 year old man on a train unexpectedly died as the train was approaching Pampa, Texas. That man was Charles Taze Russell, founder of the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and on this day in 1916 this wolf in sheep’s clothing quietly slipped into eternity to face the very Christ that he taught was not God, and the very Hell that he denied existed.

It was on this day in 1916 that this false prophet died, being cast into the black darkness that had been reserved for him forever (Jude 13), and leaving a destructive cult in his wake.



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Blasphemous association or divine doctrine?

Question: Would there ever be an occasion in which you would equate God the Father on the same plane as anything or anyone else?

Would you ever combine or associate God with anyone or anything in which the relation would indicate or imply equality? For example, would you ever assert that God and electricity are on equal footing? What about God and man being equal? What about God and an angel?

Most of you would rightly say, “No! That is not only contrary to the revealed nature of God, but it’s blasphemous.”

For those who are not sure about the point I’m trying to make, permit me to be more specific with the following examples:

– Would you ever do anything in the name of the Father, the force, and the power?

– Would you ever perform any work in the name of the Father, Peter, and Paul?

– Would you ever administer a sacrament in the name of the Father, Gabriel (the angel), and Michael (the arch angel)?

Where am I going with all of this?

Well, I was thinking recently about the Jehovah’s Witnesses and their rejection of the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. There are so many examples in Scripture to support the Trinity and they are used with abundant frequency in its defense. But there’s one that isn’t used quite as much as I believe it should be, especially when dealing with Jehovah’s Witnesses. That example would be found in Matthew 28:19.

The JWs are ardent proponents of the name “Jehovah” as being the most important name in the universe (in spite of some solid biblical text proving otherwise). So when baptizing new believers into the faith (in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit), why does Jehovah share the uniqueness and holiness of His name with Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit who the JWs claim are just an angel and an “active force” (like electricity)?

Let me be more clear; would a jealous God who will not give His glory to another, allow Himself to be associated with Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in the administration of one of the two sacraments of Christianity in a manner that makes Him and His name equal to that of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit if they were not equal to Him?

It is hardly comprehensible to imagine Jehovah would do such a thing, especially when He has asked, “Who is like Me” knowing that no one is like Him. Why would Jehovah not only permit but instruct believers to be baptized “in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit,” if they were not equal?