I know that Jesus said, "I am" I know that in John it states God is the word and the word became flesh. I am a born again Christian. But my brain can't understand that Jesus and God are one and the same. Are they the same personality? Are they the same in salvation? Doesn't it say in Revelation that Jesus will hand his authority over to God the father? Are the Jw's so wrong?
2006-12-15 04:59:07 · 11 answers · asked by Jeanmarie 7 in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Jehovah's Witnesses are Christians; they teach that Christ was and is divine and of the same nature as God.
Jehovah's Witnesses teach that no salvation occurs without Christ, that accepting Christ's sacrifice is a requirement for true worship, that every prayer must acknowledge Christ, that Christ is the King of God's Kingdom, that Christ is the head of the Christian congregation, that Christ is immortal and above every creature, even that Christ was the 'master worker' in creating the universe!
Jehovah's Witnesses love and respect and honor Christ. However, Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the Scriptures quite plainly demonstrate that Jesus and the Almighty are separate distinct persons, and the Almighty created Jesus as His firstborn son.
(Colossians 1:15) the firstborn of all creation
(Mark 10:18) Jesus said to him: 'Why do you call me good? Nobody is good, except one, God.
(Revelation 3:14) the Amen says, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation by God
(Philippians 2:5-6) Christ Jesus, who, although he was existing in God's form, gave no consideration to a seizure, namely, that he should be equal to God
(John 8:42) Neither have I come of my own initiative at all, but that One sent me forth
(John 12:49) I have not spoken out of my own impulse, but the Father himself who sent me has given me a commandment as to what to tell and what to speak
(John 14:28) I am going my way to the Father, because the Father is greater than I am
(1 Corinthians 15:28) But when all things will have been subjected to him, then the Son himself will also subject himself to the One who subjected all things to him
(Matthew 20:23) this sitting down at my right hand and at my left is not mine to give, but it belongs to those for whom it has been prepared by my Father
(1 Corinthians 11:3) I want you to know that the head of every man is the Christ; ...in turn the head of the Christ is God
(John 20:17) I am ascending to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God.
(Deuteronomy 6:4) Jehovah our God is one Jehovah
(1 Corinthians 8:4-6) There is no God but one. For even though there are those who are called "gods," whether in heaven or on earth, just as there are many "gods" and many "lords," there is actually to us one God the Father, out of whom all things are, and we for him
Thanks again for an opportunity to share what the bible actually says about the distinct persons of Jesus Christ the Son and Jehovah God the Father!
Learn more!
http://watchtower.org/e/ti/
http://watchtower.org/e/20050422/
http://watchtower.org/e/20020515/
http://watchtower.org/e/pr/article_04.htm
2006-12-15 07:47:03 · answer #1 · answered by achtung_heiss 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Hello, I am one of Jehovah's Witnesses, and I would like to answer your questions. The scripture you are referring to is found in John 1:1....Many people get confused with this scripture b/c it sounds like Jesus and God are the same being.
The King James Version reads: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." Trinitarians claim that this means that "the Word" (Greek, ho lo'gos) who came to earth as Jesus Christ was Almighty God himself.
Note, however, that here the context lays the groundwork for accurate understanding. Even the King James Version says, "The Word was with God." Someone who is "with" another person cannot be the same as that other person. In agreement with this, the Journal of Biblical Literature, edited by Jesuit Joseph A. Fitzmyer, notes that if the latter part of John 1:1 were interpreted to mean "the" God, this "would then contradict the preceding clause," which says that the Word was with God.
Notice, too, how other translations render this part of the verse:
1808: "and the word was a god." The New Testament in an Improved Version, Upon the Basis of Archbishop Newcome's New Translation: With a Corrected Text.
1864: "and a god was the word." The Emphatic Diaglott, interlinear reading, by Benjamin Wilson.
1928: "and the Word was a divine being." La Bible du Centenaire, L'Evangile selon Jean, by Maurice Goguel.
1935: "and the Word was divine." The Bible—An American Translation, by J. M. P. Smith and E. J. Goodspeed.
1946: "and of a divine kind was the Word." Das Neue Testament, by Ludwig Thimme.
1950: "and the Word was a god." New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures.
Furthermore, other scriptures such as Phillipians 2:5,6 and
1 Corinthians 15:27, also help us to appreciate that Jesus is not God.
I apologize for the length, but I hope this answers your questions.
2006-12-15 06:13:56 · answer #2 · answered by chollo03 1 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The Christian Century, in its May 20-27, 1998, issue, quotes a pastor who acknowledges that the Trinity is “a teaching of the church rather than a teaching of Jesus.”
The New Catholic Encyclopedia (1967) discusses the Trinity at length and admits: “The Trinitarian dogma is in the last analysis a late 4th-century invention. . . . The formulation ‘one God in three Persons’ was not solidly established, certainly not fully assimilated into Christian life and its profession of faith, prior to the end of the 4th century.”
Bible verses that in the Greek language have a construction similar to that of John 1:1 use the expression “a god.” For example, when referring to Herod Agrippa I, the crowds shouted: ‘It is a god speaking.’ And when Paul survived a bite by a poisonous snake, the people said: “He is a god.” (Acts 12:22; 28:3-6) It is in harmony with both Greek grammar and Bible teaching to speak of the Word as, not God, but “a god.”—John 1:1.
Consider how John identified “the Word” in the first chapter of his Gospel. “The Word became flesh and resided among us,” he wrote, “and we had a view of his glory, a glory such as belongs [not to God but] to an only-begotten son from a father.” So “the Word,” who became flesh, lived on the earth as the man Jesus and was seen by people. Therefore, he could not have been Almighty God, regarding whom John says: “No man has seen God at any time.”—John 1:14, 18.
‘Why, then,’ one may ask, ‘did Thomas exclaim when seeing the resurrected Jesus, “My Lord and my God!”?’ As already noted, Jesus is a god in the sense of being divine, but he is not the Father. Jesus had just told Mary Magdalene: “I am ascending to my Father and your Father and to my God and your God.” Remember, too, why John wrote his Gospel. Three verses after the account about Thomas, John explained that he wrote so that people “may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God”—not that he is God.—John 20:17, 28, 31.
For more please go to :http://watchtower.org/e/20050422/article_01.htm
2006-12-15 07:43:59 · answer #3 · answered by TeeM 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Your reasoning is correct. The doctrine of the trinity is nowhere expressed in the Bible. The evidence is overwhelming that God and Jesus are two separate people. If you are interested in this subject, Jehovah's Witnesses have published a brochure called Should You Believe in the Trinity? This brochure examines such questions as:
How is the Trinity explained?
Is it clearly a Bible teaching?
How did the Trinity Doctrine develop?
What does the Bible say about God and Jesus?
Is God always superior to Jesus?
What about Trinity "proof texts"?
You are welcome to contact your local Kingdom Hall and request this brochure. Examine it along with your copy of the Bible and you will find satisfying answers to your questions.
2006-12-15 06:00:54 · answer #4 · answered by queenn_mab 1 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Why did Thomas call Jesus, "My Lord and My God?" wouldn't this be blasphemy?
John 20
26 A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, "Peace be with you!" 27 Then he said to Thomas, "Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe."
28Thomas said to him, "My Lord and my God!"
How about John 1
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning.
3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of men. 5 The light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood[a] it.
********************
John 14
9 Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. 11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves.
2006-12-15 05:40:49 · answer #5 · answered by :-) literary cappy 4 · 2⤊ 2⤋
I am not a Jehovah's Witness but have been friends with two awesome ladies who are, so I have studied with them, even though I don't have any plans of converting or joining.
I learned a lot from them and many questions were raised as well as answered. The following is what I learned in my studies, but this is just what I understood:
The JW believe that Jesus is a prophet, not God himself. They do not believe in the Trinity where The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit are all manefestations of the same entity (for example, water, ice and steam are all forms of water). The JW believe that Jesus is also the archangel, Michael. They believe that the Kingdom is going to be here on earth, not some heavenly place out in the universe. They explained to me that the earth was originally supposed to be paradise for us, and it will be restored to paradise for us when Jesus returns. They believe that when we die, we are "asleep" until we are resurrected, as opposed to going to Heaven (and I did check various references in the Bible, and it does refer to peole who have died as being "asleep.") These are some of the things that might be considered contrary to the Bible.
2006-12-15 05:08:23 · answer #6 · answered by Coop 2 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Jehovah's Witnesses believe that there is no immortal soul. Yet the bible clearly states that who ever believes in Jesus will never die. If this isn't immortality then the term 'immortality' has no meaning. Personally, I'm an atheist, but I was raised by a Jehovah's Witness mother so I learned thier doctrine rather well.
2006-12-15 05:05:09 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
One thing a lot of Bibles today took God's name out and changed it with captial G God and Lord. The name should be in the Bible more than 6000 times. Here's a King James version quote. In the newer King James Version the name is completely taken out.
Psalm 83:18 (King James Version)
King James Version (KJV)
Public Domain
18That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, art the most high over all the earth.
Jesus prayed to his God before he died, "My God my God why have you forsaken me..." Even the movies use this.
When people say the trinity is a mystery, look up the meaning of mystery. The answer is we don't know. So why believe it.
This guy has good article how the trinity belief started. It was basically started by a sun worshipper.
http://www.sullivan-county.com/identity/trinity.htm
2006-12-15 05:04:27 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
Well you can start with their belief that only 144 people will be saved and the rest of the Witnesses, what about them, are they going to a void in the space time contineum because they are not part of the 144???
2006-12-15 05:12:23 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 1⤋
The Trinity is a complex mystery. We are not meant to understand everything in Creation. And God is greater then His creation, so therefore much more of a mystery.
2006-12-15 05:02:01 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 2⤋