Jehovah’s Witnesses are members of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. This organization was started by Charles Taze Russell  in 1872. Russell had many issues with orthodox Christianity and had an exceptionally hard time understanding the doctrine of eternal damnation in Hell. Eventually Russell denied it as a false teaching that has pagan roots. As his studies continued he eventually even denied the Trinity, the deity of Christ, the person-hood of the Holy Spirit, and salvation by grace through faith.

The New World Translation

In order to defend their false doctrine, the Jehovah’s Witnesses went as far as creating their own bible translation called, “The New World Translation.” In my experience with bible study I have never in my life seen such a poor translation of the Scriptures. The New World Translation was created in 1961 as a means for Jehovah’s Witnesses to further distance themselves from Christian orthodoxy and what they deem the “Harlot Church.”

Among the multitudes of mis-translations in the New World Translation, the most popular and blatantly false one is found in John 1:1. John 1:1 reads, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God.” However, the NWT renders John 1:1 like this, “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was a god.” The NWT inserts an “a” where it does not exist. No reputable Greek scholar that I have ever come across has ever rendered John 1:1 in this way.  This is how the Watchtower translated John 1:1 in their word for word literal interlinear translation, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was toward the God and god was the Word.” Even they could not translated John 1:1 the way the NWT does when forced to literally translate the Greek in their interlinear bible.

The Deity and Authority of Christ

Jehovah Witnesses vehemently deny the deity of Christ. This, among other doctrines, is one they have fought hard to try to deny. In their official handbook, “What does the bible really teach” the Jehovah Witnesses indirectly teach that Jesus is the brother of Satan. On page 41 we read,

“As a spirit creature in heaven, Jesus had a special relationship with Jehovah. Jesus is Jehovah’s most precious Son-and for good reason. He is called ‘the firstborn of all creation,’ for he was God’s first creation…..This tells us that he spoke for God, no doubt delivering messages and instructions to the Father’s other sons, both spirit and human.”

What Does the Bible Really Teach?

However, if we backtrack to page 28 we read this of Satan,

“Put simply, one of the powerful spirit sons of God turned himself into the Devil.”

What Does the Bible Really Teach?

The Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that Jesus and Satan were both influential spirit sons of God in heaven. They are spiritual siblings, the only difference is Jesus obeyed God and Satan did not. This is a grave heresy that tramples underfoot the authority of Christ. Not only does it strip the Lord Jesus of His deity, but it strips Him of His authority over the spiritual realm. We read countless times in the Scriptures how the spirits obey Jesus because of who He is. If Jesus was just another “spirit creature” like Jehovah’s Witnesses would have us believe, then why would the demons tremble at His presence? (Matthew 8:29). Even before Matthew 28 when Jesus was “given authority” He seemed to already have this authority. The spiritual and physical worlds both were subject to the will of Jesus Christ in the flesh. Certainly Satan does not, nor ever did have this kind of dominion.

The Resurrection

The resurrection of Christ is literally the hinge that our whole faith hangs on. True Christianity believes in a bodily resurrection of Christ, but on page 51 of “What does the Bible Really Teach?” it says,

“On the third day after Jesus died, Jehovah raised him back to spirit life”.

What Does the Bible Really Teach?

Because Jesus is a “spirit son” of God, he was not raised physically, but spiritually. This is a bizarre teaching that cannot be reconciled with the multitude of Scriptures that give an account of Jesus appearing physically to His disciples. They defend their position by asserting that Jesus manifested in different physical forms to convince the disciples that he was alive.

There are many problems with this. First it implies that Jesus purposely deceived His disciples into believing something that wasn’t true. And secondly it denies the clear teaching of Christ about His own resurrection when He said in John 2:19-21, “‘Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.’ Then the Jews said, ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?’ But He was speaking of the temple of His body.” The Scriptures plainly tell us He was talking about his body.

The physical resurrection is the hinge of the whole Gospel, the Gospel of which Paul says is “of first importance” (1 Corinthians 15:3). If Christ is not physically raised, then we have no hope. We have no assurance that He will raise us on the final day and our faith is in vain.

The false teaching of the Jehovah’s Witnesses does exactly the opposite of what they claim it does, it gives no hope for people hurting in a broken world. The Jesus of the Jehovah’s Witnesses is a weak, powerless sibling of Satan. He is not Almighty God that came from Heaven to Earth to save His people from the grips of death. He is the one of many spirit creatures (although he is God’s favorite since he was created first) that came from Heaven to Earth to die and hypothetically rise to spirit life. The power of the Gospel is stripped away and we are left with empty, pagan, accidental polytheism. Because of the attack on the person of Christ, the rest of the harmony of Scripture suffers. The Holy Spirit is an “Active Force”, God’s judgement is not eternal, and the Watchtower becomes the only “true” church in the whole world.

There is a lot more that could be said about the Watchtower, but suffice it to say they are definitely not even close to being a Christian denomination. Jehovah’s Witnesses know that if you just pick up a bible and read it, you would never believe the false teachings they espouse. So they have to make sure you don’t try to read the bible by yourself. They instruct you on page 55 of “What Does the Bible Really Teach” to,

“Study..the Bible with the aid of this publication.”

What Does the Bible Really Teach

This is exactly what the Roman Catholic Church did in Martin Luther’s day. Common folk can’t read the bible without the help of our organization or else they will believe in heresy. The Jehovah’s Witnesses are a dangerous heretical cult, and a cauldron of false teaching that is to be exposed, and shunned. It is incompatible with the true Gospel of grace and has perverted the truth of our blessed Triune God.

Sources

“What Does The Bible Really Teach?”, Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, New York, NY, 2005