117. JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES, the TRINITY and THE ... - Answers

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Ask: Why does the WT organisation add the word ‘Son’ into the verse, when not one Greek NT manuscript in the world contains ‘Son’? Ask: Do you think it is acceptable to insert words into the Bible that are not found in any NT Greek manuscripts? Jesus, who is called God, shed His own blood for the flock. Jesus was fully God and fully man. He was always one person. Christ the God-man shed His blood to pay for our sins. In His human nature, Christ knew hunger (Luke 4:2), weariness (John 4:6) and sleepiness (Luke 8:23). In His divine nature, Christ was omniscient (John 2:24), omnipresent (John 1:48) and omnipotent (John 11; Matthew 28:20). 5. Hebrews 1:8 and Psalm 45:6 KJV (Psalm 45:6) KJV (Hebrews 1:8) ‘Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ‘But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O ever....’ God is for ever and ever......’ ‘Thy throne, O God’ is changed by the JWs to ‘God is thy throne’. The Watchtower alters these verses so that Jesus cannot be called ‘God’. They change it to appear that Jesus’ authority has it’s source in Jehovah God, by altering it to ‘God is your throne forever’. The KJV shows Jesus is God and the NWT diminishes Jesus to be less than God. Hebrews 1:8 is quoted from Psalm 45:6. NWT (Psalm 45:6) NWT (Hebrews 1:8) ‘God is your throne to time indefinite, But with reference to the Son: ‘God is even forever...’ your throne forever and ever....’ The NWT is wrong because: i) NWT reverses the word order in the Greek NT in Hebrews 1:8. iv) The Watchtower interpretation is foreign to the context. The writer to the Hebrews quotes Psalm 45:6 and applies it to Christ, as God, being superior to the angels. If the purpose of Hebrews 1:8 in the NWT is just to show that Jesus derives His authority from Jehovah God, as the Watchtower says, then Jesus’ superiority is not demonstrated in the least. After all, the angels, Moses, the Apostles and every believer derive their authority from Jehovah God. However, the message of Hebrews 1:8 (‘Thy throne, O God is for ever and ever’) is that God’s throne is Christ’s throne - they are one and the same. That is, all that is God’s is also Christ’s as John 16:15 says: ‘All things that the Father hath are mine.’ This is true of God’s throne. Christ owns God’s throne as Revelation 22:1 says: ‘The throne of God and of the Lamb.’ Christ sits on the throne of God exercising the same authority as the Father. Ask: Can you see that the NWT interpretation is foreign to the context? v) The early church writers quote ‘Thy throne, O God is forever’ from their Bibles from 110-250 AD. a) Justin Martyr (110-165 AD) in his dialogue with Trypho. Volume 1, p.224 and p.229. b) Tertullian (145-220 AD) defends the doctrine of the Holy Trinity against Praxeas. Vol 3, p.607. ii) The Septuagint, which is the Greek translation of Psalm 45:6 reads, ‘Thy throne, O God.....’ Tertullian believed, quoted and taught the Trinity as seen in Volume 3, p.606. iii) The Hebrew of Psalm 45:6 has the vocative of address ‘O God’. ‘O God’ in the Hebrew means that God is being addressed. This is well before 325 AD that JWs say that the Trinity doctrine was introduced by Rome. c) Cyprian (200-258 AD). Volume 5, p.518.
d) Melito (about 140-195 AD). Volume 8, p.761. vi) The NWT’s ‘God is your throne’ is clearly a wrong reading because Hebrew parallelism favours ‘Thy throne, O God’ in Psalm 45:6. Notice: verse 3 ‘Gird thy sword......... O most mighty’. verse 6 ‘Thy throne................ O God....’. verse 10 ‘Hearken.................... O daughter...’. Ask: In view of Hebrew parallelism, can you see how the Watchtower translation of Hebrews 1:8 (‘God is your throne’) is wrong? The writer of Hebrews 1:8 places Jesus on par with God regarding His nature, but subordinate to God regarding to function. 6. Hebrews 1:6 Why did the Watchtower change ‘worship him’ in the 1961 edition of the NWT, to ‘do obeisance to him’ in the 1971 NWT edition? The word for ‘worship’ in Greek is ‘προσκυνεω’ 4352 (‘proskuneo’). When one is much inferior, he fell upon his knees and touched his forehead to the ground before his superior, or prostrated himself, throwing kisses to his superior. This is what Greek writers mean by ‘προσκυνεω’. It means to kiss, like a dog licking his masters hand; to prostrate; to worship. Another Greek word indicating ‘reverence’ or ‘half-heartedness, non genuine worship’ is ‘σεβοµαι’ 4576 (‘sebomai’) used in: i) Matthew 15:9 and Mark 7:7. ‘...in vain do they worship me’. ii) Acts 16:14. ‘...unconverted Lydia worshipped God’. iii) Acts 19:27. ‘Diana.....whom all Asia and the world worships’. If Christ is to be reverenced as a created being, as the Watchtower claims, then ‘sebomai’ would be used. But the NT uses ‘προσκυνεω’ (proskuneo) as worship to God and ‘προσκυνεω’ (proskuneo) as worship to Christ. This shows that Christ is 100% God. Ask: Why does the NWT translate ‘προσκυνεω’ as ‘worship’ when it applies to God, angels, devils, the antichrist and images, but when ‘προσκυνεω’ is used for worshipping Christ as God, they translate it as ‘do obeisance’? Consider these occurrences of ‘προσκυνεω’ meaning ‘worship’ in the New World Translation. The KJV always translates ‘προσκυνεω’ (proskuneo) correctly as ‘worship’. New World Translation of the Word ‘προσκυνεω’ FATHER CHRIST ANGELS DEVILS Worship Do obeisance Worship Worship Matthew 4:10 Matthew 2:2 Rev 19:10 Matthew 4:9 Luke 4:8 Matthew 2:8 Rev 22:8 Luke 4:7 John 4:20 Matthew 2:11 Acts 7:43 John 4:21 Matthew 8:2 Rev 9:20 John 4:22 (a) Matthew 9:18 Rev 13:4 (a) John 4:22 (b) Matthew 14:33 Rev 13:4 (b) John 4:23 (a) Matthew 15:25 Rev 13:8 John 4:23 (b) Matthew 18:26 Rev 13:12 John 4:24 (a) Matthew 20:20 Rev 13:15 John 4:24 (b) Matthew 28:9 Rev 14:9 I Cor 14:25 Matthew 28:17 Rev 14:11 Hebrews 11:21 Mark 5:6 Rev 16:2 Rev 4:10 Mark 15:19 Rev 19:20 Rev 5:14 Luke 24:52 Rev 20:4 Rev 7:11 John 9:38 Rev 11:16 Hebrews 1:6 Rev 14:7 Rev 15:4 Rev 19:4 It is obvious that the Watchtower wants to avoid every reference to Christ being Jehovah God, so they refuse to translate ‘προσκυνεω’ as ‘worship’ when it refers to Christ. Notice these problems with the Watchtower ‘obeisance’: i) Ask: Why did the 1961 edition of NWT translate Hebrews 1:6 to say that we should worship Jesus, while the 1971 edition says that we should merely do obeisance to Him? ii) If the NWT is correct in saying that Jesus is a created being and is not to be worshipped, then the Father Himself is guilty of committing a horrible sin by commanding all the angels of God (in Hebrews 1:6) to commit a sacrilegious act in worshipping (προσκυνεω’) a mere creature. iii) If the NWT is correct in saying that Jesus is Michael the Archangel, then why would God command the angels to worship a fellow created angel (in Hebrews 1:6)? God has clearly stated that worship is to be directed to God alone. ‘Thou shalt worship no other god.’ Exodus 34:14 ‘Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God.’ Matthew 4:10 iv) In the NT, angels are clearly shown to reject worship. ‘I fell at his feet to worship him. He said see thou do it not..worship God.’ Rev.19:10; 22:8 Ask: If angels refused worship when it was offered, why did Christ accept worship 16 times? By accepting worship, He claimed to be God. Note: The ‘προσκυνεω’ worship that the angel refused and told John to give to God, is the same ‘προσκυνεω’ worship that the father commanded angels to give to Jesus in Heb. 1:6. Hence, Christ was worshipped with the same kind of ‘προσκυνεω’ worship given to the Father. Ask: What does it say about Jesus’ true identity if He receives the same ‘προσκυνεω’ worship as Jehovah the Father? (Answer: Jesus’ true identity is Jehovah the Son.) Ask: Is it appropriate to give the Son the same worshipful honour that is given to the Father?
Page 1 and 2: 117. JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES, the TRI
Page 3 and 4: 3. HOW TO HANDLE A JW WITNESSING EN
Page 5 and 6: Once you accept this, then you will
Page 7 and 8: 7. JEHOVAH’S NAME or JESUS CHRIST
Page 9 and 10: Peter quotes from Joel 2:32 (spoken
Page 11: Ask: Which do you believe regarding
Page 15 and 16: I Timothy 6:14; II Timothy 1:10 and
Page 17 and 18: 4) Tertullian (145-220 AD), Vol 3 p
Page 19 and 20: ii) Blasphemy. (Leviticus 24:10-23)
Page 21 and 22: Note: JWs compare Christ as the fir
Page 23 and 24: Conclusion: Because Jesus is God’
Page 25 and 26: Q4: Now, according to John 1:1 in t
Page 27 and 28: The Watchtower organisation believe
Page 29 and 30: 2. Is the Trinity a Pagan Concept?
Page 31 and 32: Ask: Can you see that rules of gram
Page 33 and 34: 8. In John 3:13, John states that J
Page 35 and 36: Ask: 1) If Thomas was just expressi
Page 37 and 38: GOD = JESUS CHRIST = GOD Revelation
Page 39 and 40: 101.both enter the east gate of Jer
Page 41 and 42: Jesus is trying to convince them th
Page 43 and 44: 8) I Thessalonians 1:10 ‘ Jesus,
Page 45 and 46: 2. Did the Times of the Gentiles en
Page 47 and 48: e afraid of it or respect it. (Deut
Page 49 and 50: Conclusion: False prophecies lead u
Page 51 and 52: ‘And other sheep I have, which ar
Page 53 and 54: 22. WITNESSING TO A JW 1) Do work p
Page 55 and 56: grammatically neuter does not mean
Page 57 and 58: 5) ‘Father, glorify thy name. The
Page 59 and 60: Q47: Why does the NT always lift up
Page 61 and 62: Ask: According to John 17:3, how ma
Page 63 and 64:
) Tertullian: Volume 3, p.598,606,6
Page 65 and 66:
Mexicans: One man, his wife and chi
Page 67:
“In the same hour came forth fing
show all

117. JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES, the TRINITY and THE ... - Answers

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?