I usually take Sundays off from my blog, but occasionally I just can't help but speak up. A few minutes ago my doorbell rang, and as soon as I opened the door I knew it was Jehovah Witnesses calling. After about 30 seconds of small talk, I found out who they were, and I very politely - but firmly - said, "I'm not interested!" And they graciously accepted that and went away.
The Bible says:
"If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him godspeed. For he that biddeth him godspeed is partaker of his evil deeds." - 2 John 10,11
Probably the biggest mistake Christians make when dealing with non-Christians (like atheists, Mormons, Jehovah Witnesses, Muslims, Hindus, etc.) is thinking that they can argue them into the Kingdom of Heaven. And Jehovah Witnesses especially seem to love to engage people in disputes concerning the Bible. They will talk to you about how we should not celebrate Christmas or birthdays, how blood transfusions are evil, how we should not salute the flag, how there is no such thing as hell, and on and on and on.
The problem is that some of the things Jehovah Witnesses say have a ring of truth to them. I am personally convinced that Christmas has its origin in ancient paganism (See my post, The Daily Spurgeon, December 25, 2013). And while I am a patriot and I love my country and have no problem saluting the flag or saying the pledge of allegiance, I don't want to do any of these things in a Church service. I don't even like having an American flag in the sanctuary. (see my post: Patriotic Songs for July 4, 2013).
And even blood transfusions should not be accepted without at least some reservation. I worked in health care for 9 years, and have made countless trips to the hospital lab picking up blood for patients getting transfusions. And I thank God for the doctors and nurses (and especially the blood donors!) that make all this possible. I have had a low blood count for years, and while my doctor is trying to correct that by having me watch my diet and take iron supplements, it is possible that one day I will need to have a blood transfusion myself. But blood transfusions are not without risk - some people can have allergic reactions to them, and the blood supply is not 100% safe (although it is probably 99% safe!).
Of course, much of what the Jehovah Witnesses teach is clearly wrong. Hell is a real place where God will punish his enemies - including the Jehovah Witnesses who don't repent and forsake their beliefs - and it will last forever! (See Sinners in the Hands of An Angy God, by Jonathan Edwards, and The Holocaust of Hell, by Dr. David P. Murray)
But the biggest thing that separates Jehovah Witnesses (and all false religions, for that matter) is this: What think ye of Christ? The Jehovah Witnesses snare people by getting them talking about the minor issues (such as the ones I mentioned above, although the doctrine of hell is far from a minor issue!). But the real issue is what they believe about Jesus.
They believe there is God - Jehovah. And then there is Jesus, a created being. All the other doctrines they peddle - even their rejection of a literal hell - pale in comparison to this error. As Dr. Martin Lloyd Jones has written: "We believe in God in three persons, blessed Trinity. God the Father. God the Son. And God the Holy Ghost. This is the essential truth. There is no gospel apart from it."
I don't recommend arguing with non-Christians (of whatever stripe). You can love them, pray for them, do good deeds for them. But if you want to share the gospel with them, go no further than John 1:1. If you can't come to an agreement on this verse, then it matters little what other arguments you may win with them.
In the King James Bible, John 1:1 says:
"In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was God."
In the Jehovah Witness Bible, John 1:1 says:
"In the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word was a god."
I'm not a Bible scholar - or a minister - but I have a friend who is both. And I asked him to explain John 1:1 to me and how the Jehovah Witnesses mistranslate this verse to try to prove Jesus is not God. Here is what my friend said:
“Now on John 1:1. The problem is that ancient Greek has no
indefinite articles (a, or an). For example, they never say ‘there is a
tree.’ They would just say, “There is tree.” If they wanted to be
specific they would say, ‘There is the tree.’ That’s the general rule
anyway. But anyone who has ever studied any language knows that there
are always exceptions to the rules. If an ancient Greek was writing
about a specific tree, he didn’t have to put ‘the’ in it to make it
definite – you just knew by the context that it was definite, i.e., a
specific tree.
“The way this applies to John 1:1
is that the Greek literally says: In beginning was the word, and the
word was with the God, and God was the word. First, notice that
there is no ‘the’ before beginning – and yet the JW
Bible (New World Translation) doesn’t say ‘a beginning’ because the
context makes it pretty clear that we are talking about the beginning of
creation.
“Second, notice that there is no ‘the’ before
the second occurrence of ‘God.’ The Jehovah Witnesses insist that this
must be translated ‘a god’ because any word without ‘the’ is indefinite,
i.e., a god, a tree, etc. And as a general rule, this would be correct.
But there is a grammatical reason that the Greeks could not put ‘the’
before the second reference to God – and it gets complicated. Stay with
me.
“Greeks did not do sentences like we do. Take the
sentence ‘Spot ran home.’ Spot is the subject, ran is the verb, and home
is the direct object. We know that because we generally put subjects
first toward the front of sentences and before objects. If we change the
order and said ‘Home ran spot’, the sentence would be somewhat confusing because it looks like ‘home’ should be the subject of the verb
ran – and that doesn’t make sense.
“Greeks didn’t do
subjects and objects with word order – they did it with word endings.
Very generally speaking, their subjects often ended in os, as in Logos
(Word) or Theos (God). If they wanted to make Logos the object, they
would spell it Logon. If they wanted to make Theos the object they would
spell it Theon. Then you can put it anywhere in the sentence and still
know which the subject is. Pretty straightforward.
“You’ll
notice that my translation of John 1:1 above reads: ‘God was the word.’
and nearly all Bible translations translate this as ‘The word was God.’
In Greek there is no question whatsoever that ‘the Word’ is the subject
and God is the object of that clause – hence, the English translation.
‘The Word was God is correct (I capitalize God to avoid for now the
question of whether it should be god or God). That comes next.
“Unfortunately,
there is an exception to this rule of os =subject, on = object (there
are also other endings for subjects and objects by the way). The
exception is this: If two nouns are connected by a ‘to be’ verb (am,
are, is, was, etc.) both the subject and the object end with the same
endings. It’s crazy, I know but that’s the way it works! So in the
clause ‘Theos han ho logos (God was the word) the subject is ho logos
(the Word) because it has the definite article (ho=the) and God is the
object because, even though it has a subject ending in accordance with
Greek grammar – it does not have a definite article. If the Greeks had
put ‘the’ in front of God too, it not only would have been poor grammar –
we couldn’t tell whether God was the subject or the object.
“So
we know that Word is the subject, how do we then know if God in this
verse should be definite (i.e. God) or indefinite (i.e. a god)? Context!
First the broader context: In John, God is always the one true Jewish
God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. To rip this one passage out of this
broader context and assume that in this verse it must be ‘a god’ because
there was no definite article is absurd. Second, the immediate context
- the passage says ‘the Word was with the God’ (Note the ‘the’) and the
Word was God. The immediate context – in fact, the exact same sentence –
makes it perfectly clear that John is speaking of God and not a god.
“Now,
a note on consistency. While JWs insist that Theos (God) in John 1:1
must be translated ‘a god’ because it doesn’t have a definite article
(the), it is important to note that The New World Translation translates Theos as God (capital G) in John 1:6, 12, 13 and 18 – even though none of those verses put the ‘the’ in front of Theos!
“Finally,
even radical liberal Greek scholars who don’t believe in Jesus deity
acknowledge that John is calling Jesus God (not a god). The JW’s are
simply factually in error on this one.
“By the way,
Revelation 1:8 in The New World Translation reads ‘I am Alpha and Omega,
says Jehovah God…’ This is really interesting, because Revelation 22:12-16
says ‘Look, I am coming quickly … I am Alpha and Omega, … I Jesus sent
my angel to bear witness…’ In other words, chapter 1 of the New World
Translation says God is the Alpha and Omega — but chapter 22 says that
Jesus is the Alpha and Omega. I once heard of a Jehovah Witness who got
saved after this was pointed out the him.”
Recommended listening and reading:
How One Man Escaped Jehovah Witnesses
What Do Dr. Tim LaHaye and Glen Beck Have in Common? (my post)
