Why Did the Jehovah's Witness Governing Body Stop Worshipping Jesus?

Question

Charles Taze Russell and the whole Jehovah's Witnesses from the start are worshipping Jesus Christ. Check their first NWT versions,

"And let all God's angels worship him." - Revised NWT, 1961

"And let all God's angels worship him." - Revised NWT, 1970

"And let all God's angels do obeisance to him." - Revised NWT, 1984

Did you notice the big difference? A former JW said that thousands of JWs walk away from the Watchtower movement just because of this single verse. They cannot accept the fact that the JW Governing Body changed their doctrine from worshipping Jesus to just paying high respect or honor by doing "obeisance" to him. They watered down the translation of the Greek word "proskuneo" by choosing "obeisance" rather than "worship" because they cannot accept the fact that Jesus should be honored with THE SAME honor that they do with the Father.

John 5:23, "... that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father."

JWs, how do you honor the Father? Do you worship Him?

Answer 1

The primary "question" here seems one of semantics regarding the term "worship".

Jehovah's Witnesses fully understand and agree that Jesus Christ the Son deserves and receives what can be described as "worship", but only when the English-language word "worship" has been properly defined. The obeisance and honors due the Christ should remain unambiguously subject to the "exclusive devotion" which is owed to the Father, Jehovah God. The Scriptures quite plainly show that true worship is uniquely devoted to the person of Almighty Jehovah God the Father. His Son, Jesus, personally taught that Jehovah deserves a unique form of "sacred service".

(Matthew 4:10) Jesus said... ‘It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.’

(Luke 4:8) Jesus said... ‘It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.’

(Exodus 20:5) I Jehovah your God am a God exacting exclusive devotion


Jehovah the Father specifically directs that Jesus the Son receive obeisance and honor. Note that Jesus is at God's right hand and has *BECOME* better than the angels.

(Hebrews 1:6) [God] says: “And let all God’s angels do obeisance to him [Jesus].”

(Hebrews 1:3-4) [Jesus] sat down on the right hand of the Majesty in lofty places. So he has become better than the angels


From where does Christ's authority come?

(Matthew 28:18) And Jesus approached and spoke to them, saying: “All authority has been given me in heaven and on the earth.

(Acts 2:36) God made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you impaled.

(John 3:35) The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand.

(Acts 5:31) God exalted this one as Chief Agent and Savior to his right hand

(Psalm 2:2-6) The kings of earth take their stand And high officials themselves have massed together as one Against Jehovah and against his anointed one... Jehovah himself will hold them in derision..., Saying: “I, even I, have installed my king [Jesus]

Learn more:
http://watchtower.co.uk/e/20050422/article_01.htm
http://watchtower.co.uk/e/19951101/article_02.htm

Answer 2

They seem to also believe that Jesus was the arch angel Michael anyway. Also, there isn't a trinity either because the holy spirit isn't a separate entity.My wife used to be a pretentious witness for awhile until she decided to divorce me, and I wasn't even a witness. I don't really despise them or hate them either. They can interpret the bible differently like others do because it's vague anyway. The bible supposedly warns of changes but it's been revised and edited already and is actually a collection of other stories as well. The beast may actually be the very nature of the planet and our solar system. Remember Jesus had said that there will be signs in the heavens and various natural disasters. Perhaps the signs may also be UFOs planets, asteroids, sunspots etc , etc. Don't always be so sure that you already know what the truth really is.

Answer 3

The New English Bible uses the term "pay him homage" which means special honor or respect. How do you view that translation?

I guess if you were to do some research, you'll find the original greek word used is best translated, not worship, but obeisance.

When understanding increases, we make adjustments in our teaching. Does your church? Not lickly because they no doubt support the political system we live in, right?

Answer 4

the more "New Light " the governing Body gets, the farther from the Truth they are..It is Satan's light, not tne light ofGod.

Answer 5

It's funny when people do half-baked research. Here's some more info for you.

***Does the fact that worship is given to Jesus prove that he is God?

At Hebrews 1:6, the angels are instructed to “worship” Jesus, according to the rendering of RS, TEV, KJ, JB, and NAB. NW says “do obeisance to.” At Matthew 14:33, Jesus’ disciples are said to have “worshiped” him, according to RS, TEV, KJ; other translations say that they “showed him reverence” (NAB), “bowed down before him” (JB), “fell at his feet” (NE), “did obeisance to him” (NW).

The Greek word rendered “worship” is pro·sky·ne′o, which A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature says was also “used to designate the custom of prostrating oneself before a person and kissing his feet, the hem of his garment, the ground.” (Chicago, 1979, Bauer, Arndt, Gingrich, Danker; second English edition; p. 716) This is the term used at Matthew 14:33 to express what the disciples did toward Jesus; at Hebrews 1:6 to indicate what the angels are to do toward Jesus; at Genesis 22:5 in the Greek Septuagint to describe what Abraham did toward Jehovah and at Genesis 23:7 to describe what Abraham did, in harmony with the custom of the time, toward people with whom he was doing business; at 1 Kings 1:23 in the Septuagint to describe the prophet Nathan’s action on approaching King David.

At Matthew 4:10 (RS), Jesus said: “You shall worship [from pro·sky·ne′o] the Lord your God and him only shall you serve.” (At Deuteronomy 6:13, which Jesus is evidently here quoting, appears the personal name of God, the Tetragrammaton.) In harmony with that, we must understand that it is pro·sky·ne′o with a particular attitude of heart and mind that should be directed only toward God.

***OBEISANCE

The act of bowing, kneeling, prostrating the body, or making some other gesture to betoken submission; or simply the paying of respect. It adequately translates the Hebrew hish·ta·chawah′ and the Greek pro·sky·ne′o in many cases.

Hish·ta·chawah′ means, basically, “bow down.” (Ge 18:2) Such bowing might be done as an act of respect or deference toward another human, as to a king (1Sa 24:8; 2Sa 24:20; Ps 45:11), the high priest (1Sa 2:36), a prophet (2Ki 2:15), or other person of authority (Ge 37:9, 10; 42:6; Ru 2:8-10), to an elder relative (Ge 33:1-6; 48:11, 12; Ex 18:7; 1Ki 2:19), or even to strangers as an expression of courteous regard (Ge 19:1, 2). Abraham bowed down to the Canaanite sons of Heth from whom he sought to buy a burial place. (Ge 23:7) Isaac’s blessing on Jacob called for national groups and Jacob’s own “brothers” to bow down to him. (Ge 27:29; compare 49:8.) When men started to bow down before David’s son Absalom, he grabbed them and kissed them, evidently to further his political ambitions by making a show of putting himself on a level with them. (2Sa 15:5, 6) Mordecai refused to prostrate himself before Haman, not because he viewed the practice as wrong in itself, but doubtless because this high Persian official was an accursed Amalekite by descent.—Es 3:1-6.

From the above examples it is clear that this Hebrew term of itself does not necessarily have a religious sense or signify worship. Nevertheless, in a large number of cases it is used in connection with worship, either of the true God (Ex 24:1; Ps 95:6; Isa 27:13; 66:23) or of false gods. (De 4:19; 8:19; 11:16) Persons might bow down in prayer to God (Ex 34:8; Job 1:20, 21) and often prostrated themselves upon receiving some revelation from God or some expression or evidence of his favor, thereby showing their gratitude, reverence, and humble submission to his will.—Ge 24:23-26, 50-52; Ex 4:31; 12:27, 28; 2Ch 7:3; 20:14-19; compare 1Co 14:25; Re 19:1-4.

Bowing down to humans as an act of respect was admissible, but bowing to anyone other than Jehovah as a deity was prohibited by God. (Ex 23:24; 34:14) Similarly, the worshipful bowing down to religious images or to any created thing was positively condemned. (Ex 20:4, 5; Le 26:1; De 4:15-19; Isa 2:8, 9, 20, 21) Thus, in the Hebrew Scriptures, when certain of Jehovah’s servants prostrated themselves before angels, they only did so to show they recognized that these were God’s representatives, not to render obeisance to them as deities.—Jos 5:13-15; Ge 18:1-3.

Obeisance in the Christian Greek Scriptures. The Greek pro·sky·ne′o corresponds closely to the Hebrew hish·ta·chawah′ as to conveying the thought of both obeisance to creatures and worship to God or a deity. The manner of expressing the obeisance is perhaps not so prominent in pro·sky·ne′o as in hish·ta·chawah′, where the Hebrew term graphically conveys the thought of prostration or bowing down. Scholars derive the Greek term from the verb ky·ne′o, “kiss.” The usage of the word in the Christian Greek Scriptures (as also in the Greek Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures) shows that persons to whose actions the term is applied prostrated themselves or bowed down.—Mt 2:11; 18:26; 28:9.

As with the Hebrew term, the context must be considered to determine whether pro·sky·ne′o refers to obeisance solely in the form of deep respect or obeisance in the form of religious worship. Where reference is directly to God (Joh 4:20-24; 1Co 14:25; Re 4:10) or to false gods and their idols (Ac 7:43; Re 9:20), it is evident that the obeisance goes beyond that acceptably or customarily rendered to men and enters the field of worship. So, too, where the object of the obeisance is left unstated, its being directed to God is understood. (Joh 12:20; Ac 8:27; 24:11; Heb 11:21; Re 11:1) On the other hand, the action of those of “the synagogue of Satan” who are made to “come and do obeisance” before the feet of Christians is clearly not worship.—Re 3:9.

Obeisance to a human king is found in Jesus’ illustration at Matthew 18:26. It is evident that this was the kind of obeisance that the astrologers rendered to the child Jesus, “born king of the Jews,” that Herod professed interest in expressing, and that the soldiers mockingly rendered to Jesus before his impalement. They clearly did not view Jesus as God or as a deity. (Mt 2:2, 8; Mr 15:19) While some translators use the word “worship” in the majority of cases where pro·sky·ne′o describes persons’ actions toward Jesus, the evidence does not warrant one’s reading too much into this rendering. Rather, the circumstances that evoked the obeisance correspond very closely to those producing obeisance to the earlier prophets and kings. (Compare Mt 8:2; 9:18; 15:25; 20:20 with 1Sa 25:23, 24; 2Sa 14:4-7; 1Ki 1:16; 2Ki 4:36, 37.) The very expressions of those involved often reveal that, while they clearly recognized Jesus as God’s representative, they rendered obeisance to him, not as to God or a deity, but as “God’s Son,” the foretold “Son of man,” the Messiah with divine authority. On many occasions their obeisance expressed a gratitude for divine revelation or evidence of favor like that expressed in earlier times.—Mt 14:32, 33; 28:5-10, 16-18; Lu 24:50-52; Joh 9:35, 38.

While earlier prophets and also angels had accepted obeisance, Peter stopped Cornelius from rendering such to him, and the angel or angels of John’s vision twice stopped John from doing so, referring to himself as “a fellow slave” and concluding with the exhortation to “worship God [toi The·oi′ pro·sky′ne·son].” (Ac 10:25, 26; Re 19:10; 22:8, 9) Evidently Christ’s coming had brought in new relationships affecting standards of conduct toward others of God’s servants. He taught his disciples that “one is your teacher, whereas all you are brothers . . . your Leader is one, the Christ” (Mt 23:8-12), for it was in him that the prophetic figures and types found their fulfillment, even as the angel told John that “the bearing witness to Jesus is what inspires prophesying.” (Re 19:10) Jesus was David’s Lord, the greater than Solomon, the prophet greater than Moses. (Lu 20:41-43; Mt 12:42; Ac 3:19-24) The obeisance rendered those men prefigured that due Christ. Peter therefore rightly refused to let Cornelius make too much of him.

So, too, John, by virtue of having been declared righteous or justified by God as an anointed Christian, called to be a heavenly son of God and a member of the Kingdom, was in a different relationship to the angel(s) of Revelation than were the Israelites to the angels that had earlier appeared to them. The angel(s) evidently recognized this change of relationship when rejecting John’s obeisance.—Compare 1Co 6:3; see DECLARE RIGHTEOUS.

Obeisance to the glorified Jesus Christ. On the other hand, Christ Jesus has been exalted by his Father to a position second only to God, so that “in the name of Jesus every knee should bend of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the ground, and every tongue should openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.” (Php 2:9-11; compare Da 7:13, 14, 27.) Hebrews 1:6 also shows that even the angels render obeisance to the resurrected Jesus Christ. Many translations of this text here render pro·sky·ne′o as “worship,” while some render it by such expressions as “bow before” (AT; Yg) and ‘pay homage’ (NE). No matter what English term is used, the original Greek remains the same and the understanding of what it is that the angels render to Christ must accord with the rest of the Scriptures. Jesus himself emphatically stated to Satan that “it is Jehovah your God you must worship [form of pro·sky·ne′o], and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.” (Mt 4:8-10; Lu 4:7, 8) Similarly, the angel(s) told John to “worship God” (Re 19:10; 22:9), and this injunction came after Jesus’ resurrection and exaltation, showing that matters had not changed in this regard. True, Psalm 97, which the apostle evidently quotes at Hebrews 1:6, refers to Jehovah God as the object of the ‘bowing down,’ and still this text was applied to Christ Jesus. (Ps 97:1, 7) However, the apostle previously had shown that the resurrected Christ is “the reflection of [God’s] glory and the exact representation of his very being.” (Heb 1:1-3) Hence, if what we understand as “worship” is apparently directed to the Son by angels, it is in reality being directed through him to Jehovah God, the Sovereign Ruler, “the One who made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains of waters.” (Re 14:7; 4:10, 11; 7:11, 12; 11:16, 17; compare 1Ch 29:20; Re 5:13, 14; 21:22.) On the other hand, the renderings “bow before” and ‘pay homage’ (instead of “worship”) are in no way out of harmony with the original language, either the Hebrew of Psalm 97:7 or the Greek of Hebrews 1:6, for such translations convey the basic sense of both hish·ta·chawah′ and pro·sky·ne′o.