FIFTEEN REASONS WHY I CANNOT BE
A JEHOVAH'S WITNESSRobert B. Mignard
THE crystal clear teachings of the Word of God will not allow a thorough going Bible student to embrace the doctrines set forth by the Jehovah's Witnesses. This basic teachings of this sect are in conflict with the Scriptures. Fifteen of their unique doctrinal errors are listed here and constitute sound reasons why no one may unite with the Witnesses and still hold to the truth of God.
1. The Jehovah's Witnesses Deny The Absolute, Unique Divinity of Jesus
Christ.Scripture demonstrates that the Lord Jesus Christ is Jehovah. Isaiah 41:4; 44:6 and 48:12 declare that the attribute of being the "first and the last" belongs to Jehovah alone. In Revelation 1:8,11,17 and 22:13, 14 Jesus Christ is shown possessing this very attribute, thereby making Him the Jehovah of these Isaiah passages, and indeed of the entire Old Testament.
Isaiah 45:22-25 speaks of a universal worship, which one day all mankind will render unto Jehovah. Philippians 2:9-11 applies this Isaiah passage to Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 44:22, 23 sets forth Jehovah as the redeemer. Eph. 1:7 establishes Jesus Christ as this redeemer.
In Isaiah 45:24 and 54:17 Jehovah is our righteousness. In I Cor. 1:30 Jesus Christ is our righteousness.
Isaiah 43:11 reserves for Jehovah alone the work of saving man. "[B]eside me there is no saviour." Titus 2:13 teaches that Jesus Christ is the Saviour, thereby establishing Him as the Jehovah of Isaiah Chapter 43.
An honest student of the Scripture will read, study and compare the verses used above.2. The Jehovah's Witnesses Teach That Jesus Christ is a Created Being--
Simply Another God.This doctrinal error is achieved through a spurious translation in their New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures which renders John 1:1, "And the Word was a god." Isaiah emphatically denies this error in 43:10; 44:6, and 45:5, 21 and shows their translation of John 1:1 to be illegitimate. Four times Jehovah declares the impossibility of there being "another god" or "a god" beside Himself. Every honest student of Scripture must acknowledge the solitary aloneness of Jehovah.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." (John 1:1)
"Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me." (Isaiah 43:10)
"Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God." (Isaiah 44:6)
"I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:" (Isaiah 45:5).
"Tell ye, and bring them near; yea, let them take counsel together: who hath declared this from ancient time? who hath told it from that time? have not I the LORD? and there is no God else beside me; a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me." (Isaiah 45:21)3. The Jehovah's Witnesses Deny The Personality and Divinity of the Holy
Spirit.Of the many Scripture references which demonstrate this to be false John 16:13,14 is representative. [Nine] times the Lord Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit by the personal masculine pronoun. The Greek word "Spirit" is neuter but the pronoun employed is not "it" but rather "he" and "himself".
Christ deliberately set aside the established rules of Greek grammar, for the pronoun must agree with the noun in gender, to emphasize the Holy Spirit's personality. Were the Holy Spirit not a person, the pronoun "it" would have been used and the grammar of the passage kept intact. Even the Witnesses' own New World Translation acknowledges the Spirit's personality in the translation of these two verses. The divinity of the Holy Spirit is clearly demonstrated in the following references which the honest student will carefully study: Acts 5:3,4; I Cor. 3:16; II Cor. 13:14. In I Cor. 12:4-6 the Holy Spirit is called Lord (v.5) and God (v.6). In placing Isaiah 6:8-10 alongside of Acts 28:25-27 it becomes evident that the God of Isaiah 6 is the Holy Spirit."(13)Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come. (14)He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you." (John 16:13- 14)4. The Jehovah's Witness Deny The Biblical Doctrine of the Trinity.
Though the truth of the Trinity is amusing to the Witnesses, nevertheless it constitutes part of the revelation of God. The Bible student discovers there is a Person in Scripture known as the Father who is God (Eph. 1:2). There is another Person in Scripture called the Son, Christ, Jesus. Jesus Christ who is God (Titus 2:13). There is still another Person called the Holy Spirit, Holy Ghost, Spirit of God who is God (Acts 5:3,4).
The one Greek word theos, "God", is used of all three Persons, thus ascrib-
ing the same divinity to each. The careful student also notes the fact of the Trinity in Isaiah 48:16,17; Matt. 3:16,17; 28:19 and II Cor. 13:14. The conclusion is simply that there is one God manifest in three Persons known as Father, Son and Holy Spirit, and since each Person is God, the persons are equal.
"Grace be to you, and peace, from God our Father, and from the Lord Jesus Christ." (Ephesians 1:2)
"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;" (Titus 2:13).
"(3)But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? (4)Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it not in thine own power? why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God." (Acts 5:3- 4)5. The Jehovah's Witnesses Deny The Bodily, Corporeal Resurrection of
Jesus Christ From the Dead.False doctrine declares "The man Jesus is dead, only His spirit arose."
The witness of Jesus Christ is quite different (Luke 24:36-45). Even a casual glance at v.39 dispels any doubt concerning the bodily resurrection. Thomas met the physically resurrected Christ (John 20:24-29), as did the other disciples who ate fish with Him. (John 21:12-14). Paul testifies to the corporeal resurrection of Jesus Christ in I Cor. 15:3- 19. The guards at the tomb, the chief priests and Sanhedrin would never have become excited, Matt. 28:11, 15 if "only His spirit arose.""Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have." (Luke 24:39)6. The Jehovah's Witnesses Deny The Bodily Visible Return of Jesus Christ.
They say, "We must not expect Him to come again as a human being"--"Coming is properly translated presence and refers to the invisible presence of the Lord." In contrast, a Bible student discovers the truth that Jesus Christ IS coming back again physically, literally. In Rev. 1:7 "every eye shall see him"; in I Thess. 4:16,17 "(16)the Lord himself shall descend from heaven"; and in Acts 1:10,11 He "(11)shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven." The testimony of these passages is irrefutable.
7. The Jehovah's Witnesses Deny Presence of the Believer with Christ
Upon Death.According to II Cor. 5:8; Philippians 1:21-24 and Luke 16:20- 22, the believer, immediately upon death, passes into the presence of Christ. The body sleeps in the ground (John 11:11-14), awaiting the resurrection, (I Cor. 15:20-23), while the soul and spirit now separated from the body (Jas. 2:26), pass into Heaven.
"We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord." (II Corinthians 5:8)8. The Jehovah's Witnesses Chide the Believer's Hope of Heaven.
John 14:1-3; Philippians 3:20, 21; I Pet. 1:3-5; and Rev. 3:12 are but a few of the many passages in Scripture which speak of the "living hope" of being with Christ forever.
9. The Jehovah's Witnesses Deny the Reality and Eternality of Future Pun-
ishment.Scripture teaches the reality of Hell. The Lord Jesus Christ spoke more of Hell than Heaven and informs us that Hell is a furnace of fire, (Matt. 13:49-50); a place for Satan and his emissaries, (Matt. 25:41); an unquenchable fire, (Mark 9:42-48). Furthermore, He insisted upon the fact that Hell is eternal. The Greek word aionios, which is defined as that which is without end, is used to describe the everlasting life mentioned in John 3:16.
The eternality of God in Rom. 16:26 is deliberately used by Christ to describe the duration of Hell (Matt. 18:8), and by John in Rev. 14:11.
Aionios does not have a double meaning. If it means that God is eternal and the life which the believer receives is eternal, then it must mean that Hell is also eternal."Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire." (Matthew 18:8)
"And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night..." (Revelation 14:11).10. The Jehovah's Witnesses Deny the Perfect Salvation of Christ's Cross.
Without any warrant from Scripture, the Witnesses teach that the Millennium, the thousand year reign of Christ upon earth, will afford all mankind from Adam onward, who will be resurrected, an opportunity, under favorable conditions, to earn salvation. Where is there a single Bible verse supporting this? The Lord Jesus Christ has purchased our salvation on the Cross, Rom. 3:21-26, and it remains for man to believe and be saved (Eph. 2:8,9 and Acts 16:30,31). Salvation is wholly apart from any human effort (Rom. 3:27,28).
11. The Jehovah's Witnesses Deny Patriotism and the Salute to the Flag.
Scripture enjoins all believers to be loyal citizens. The careful student
will see in Rom. 13:1-7; I Peter 2:13-15 and Matt. 22:21.12. The Jehovah's Witnesses are Confused About the 144,000.
Through good works and sincere effort it is the hope of a Jehovah's
Witness to become one of the 144,000. In the two chapters in which the
144,000 are mentioned, Revelation 7 and 14, the student of Scripture notes
that 144,000 are literal Jews of the ancient tribes with no Gentiles among
them (7:4-8); are all males (14:4); are virgins (14:4); will minister
during the Great Tribulation (14:6-13); and do not earn their office but
are appointed by God (7:3). By no stretch of the imagination can sound
Biblical interpretation allow a Gentile sect to claim for its devotees a place
among the 144,000.13. The Jehovah's Witnesses Use A Perverted Translation of the Bible.
The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scripture is a fum-
bling translation of the New Testament which no reputable Greek schol-
ar will endorse. The Translation has been altered to fit the heresy. For in-
stance, the Greek word for "other", "allos", does not appear in the Greek
text of Col. 1:16,17 but is inserted four times in their translation to make
Christ appear as part of the creation, and hence fit their doctrine that He
is a created son, another god. " . . . because by means of Him all other
things were created." This and dozens of other passages make the New
World Translation a travesty of God's Word."(16)For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (17)And he is before all things, and by him all things consist." (Colossians 1:16- 17)14. The Jehovah's Witness Doctrinal System is Based Upon The Interpreta-
tions of Charles Taze Russel.In 1874 a Brooklyn haberdasher, Charles Taze Russel, announced that
he possessed all the truth. In his many volumes Russel "left scarcely one
great truth or fundamental doctrine untouched with his unholy and un-
warranted conclusions." (Dr. Wm. E. Biederwolf). As a careful study will
reveal, Russel's writings serve as a broad base upon which the Jehovah's
Witness structure is erected. Presently the Jehovah's Witnesses are following
the fallen conclusions of a rascal who was divorced by his wife, was in
trouble with the courts and who fleeced his followers with "miracle wheat"
sold at an exorbitant price, which claimed would produce 15 times as
much wheat as an ordinary bushel.15. The Jehovah's Witnesses Neglect A Vast Area of Scripture Truth.
A careful analysis of numerous books, pamphlets and magazines
turned out by the Watch Tower Publishers, reveals that only a small per-
centage of the Bible is used. A mere 6 1/2% of the Scripture is quoted, leav-
ing untouched the rest of the Word of God.
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