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

Ask: ‘Can anyone other than God be omniscient?’ (No).
Ask: ‘Since Christ had both a human and divine nature, and since He used His omniscience
often, can you see that Jesus was speaking from His human nature when He said that He
didn’t know the day or the hour of His return?
‘Father of eternity’ means ‘possessor of eternity’. Hence, Christ as ‘Father of eternity’
means that He is an eternal Being. Only God is eternal. This proves that Jesus is 100% God.
11. Isaiah 9:6 - Is Jesus ‘a Mighty God’ or ‘Jehovah God’?
‘His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God (410), the Everlasting
Father, the Prince of Peace’.
Watchtower teaching: JWs concede that Jesus is a ‘mighty God’, but they are adamant that
He is not Almighty God as Jehovah is. They think that Christ is one of lesser gods.
Bible teaching: The Bible shows that both Jesus and Jehovah are called ‘Mighty God’.
Jehovah is called ‘Mighty God’ in:
a) ‘The remnant of Israel . . . shall stay upon Jehovah, the remnant of Jacob shall return . .
unto the mighty God (410)’. (Isaiah 10:20,21).
b) ‘the Great, the Mighty God (410), Jehovah of hosts, is his name’. (Jeremiah 32:18).
Because Jehovah and Jesus are both called ‘Mighty God’, this proves Christ’s equality with
God the Father.
Ask: Since Jehovah is called ‘Mighty God’ (Isaiah 10:21) just as Jesus is called ‘Mighty
God’ (Isaiah 9:6), doesn’t this mean that the Watchtower is wrong in saying that ‘Mighty
God’ means a lesser deity?
Ask: If both Jesus and Jehovah are ‘Mighty God’, then what does this tell you about Jesus’
divine nature?
Ask: If both Jesus and Jehovah are equally ‘Mighty God’, then isn’t this two members of
the Trinity?
Note: There is only one Mighty God in heaven:
a) ‘I am the first and I am the last; beside me there is no God (430)’. (Isaiah 44:6b)
b) ‘Is there a God (433) besides Me? Yea, there is no God; I know not any’.(Isaiah 44:8b).
c) ‘I am the Lord (YHWH), and there is none else,there is no God beside me’(Isaiah 45:5a)
The NWT translates John 1:1 as ‘the word was a god’.
Isaiah 44:8b shows this to be false by denying the existence of ‘a god’ other than Jehovah.
The phrase ‘Mighty God’ is ‘Elohim’ in Hebrew, meaning ‘Fullness of power’, portraying
Christ as the ‘powerful Governor of the universe’.
Notice that ‘Elohim (430)’ is also used to describe Jehovah God as:
i) ‘The God (430) of the whole earth’. (Isaiah 54:5)
ii) ‘The God (430) of all flesh’. (Jeremiah 32:27)
iii) ‘I prayed to the God (430) of heaven’. (Nehemiah 2:4)
iv) ‘For the Lord (YHWH) your God (430) is God (430) of gods....a great God.’(Deut 10:17)
In Isaiah 40:3 Jesus is called both Jehovah (3068) and Elohim (430) in the same verse:
‘Prepare ye the way of the Jehovah, make straight in the desert a highway for our God (430)’.
Mark 1:3 and John 1:23 apply Jehovah here to Jesus.
Question: What is meant by calling Jesus ‘Everlasting Father’?
Since Jesus is not the Father, why does Isaiah call Jesus ‘Everlasting Father’?
Answer: Jesus considers the Father as someone other than Himself over 200 times in the NT.
‘Everlasting Father’ in Isaiah 9:6 means ‘Father of eternity’.
12. John 17:3
NWT John 17:3 KJV
‘This means everlasting life, their ‘And this is life eternal, that they may
taking in knowledge (noun) of you know (verb) thee the only true God, and
the only true God, and of the one Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.’
whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ’.
This is a most commonly used verse by JWs in two ways:
1) The NWT changes the Greek ‘know (verb in KJV) thee’ to ‘take in knowledge (noun) of
you’. The JW then offers a ‘free home Bible study’ to take in this so-called knowledge of
God. Those who accept the offer are quickly switched from the Bible to a Watchtower
booklet. Watchtower facts keep filling their heads as they take in Watchtower knowledge,
but they never get to really know Jesus Christ as Saviour and God personally. Real
Christianity is entering God’s family and really knowing God through Jesus Christ as
Saviour (Galatians 4:5-9; Romans 8:14-16). For example: If you ‘take in knowledge’
about a movie star, it does not mean that you ‘know’ that movie star personally.
2) JWs use John 17:3 to deny the deity of Christ. They say that because the
Father is called ‘the only true God’, then Jesus Christ cannot be the true God.
a) The context is Jesus as a man praying the great High Priestly prayer to the Father, and
as such it was proper for the man Christ Jesus to call the Father ‘the only true God’.
Christ would not have said this if it was spoken from the viewpoint of His deity.
b) If Jesus’ reference to the Father as ‘the only true God’ was meant to exclude the Son
from deity, then the same principle of interpretation would have to apply to Jude 4
where Jesus Christ is called ‘our only owner and Lord, Jesus Christ’ (NWT).
This would have to exclude the Father from Lordship and ownership. No JW (or anyone
else) would accept this.
They speak of the Father as ‘the Lord Jehovah’, even though Jude 4 calls Jesus ‘our
only Lord’.
The Holy Spirit is also called ‘Lord’ in II Corinthians 3:17, ‘the Lord is that Spirit’.
Conclusion: The use of the word ‘only’ is not used exclusively of the Father, nor of the Son,
nor of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus being called our ‘only’ Lord does not exclude the Father or Holy Spirit being Lord.
The Father being called ‘the only true God’ does not exclude the Son or Holy Spirit from
deity.
Ask:
Q1: According to John 17:3, how many true Gods are there?
JW: Only one: Jehovah the Father
Q2: Right. Now, would you agree that whatever is not true must be false? (JW:Yes)
Q3: Then, if there is only one true God, all other gods must be false gods, right?(JW:Yes)