Who Is Jesus? Do the Jehovah’s Witnesses Know?
I found a copy of the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ pamphlet “Jesus Christ Who Is He?” This pamphlet is very carefully worded, it dances around the fact that the Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe that Jesus Christ is God. This pamphlet sings the praise of Jesus and actually seems to endorse Jesus but when you read some of the Witnesses’ other material you will see how they use pamphlets like this to pull other people in (because they wouldn’t make many converts if they started off by smearing Jesus).
In their book, “The Greatest Man Who Ever Lived” the Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that Jesus is somehow a lower creation not on the same level as God. In the beginning of their book there is a section called “Really, Who Was He?” the Witnesses point to Matthew 16:15 where Jesus asks his disciples who the people think He is and after a few answers He asks His disciples who they think He is and Peter speaks up and says, “Thou art the Messiah, the Son of the Living God”. The Witnesses say that proves he was God’s son and not God (emphasis theirs).
The Trinity is not a stumbling block for traditional Christians but the Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe in the Triune God. Catholic Tradition and most Protestant and Evangelical traditions hold the idea that God is singular but has three parts; The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. See Matthew 28:19 where Jesus tells his disciples to baptize in the name of The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. Then read John 10:30 where Jesus says, “I and the Father are one”. Now I can say that God is within me but that is a far cry from saying, “I and the Father are one”. Can any created being claim that he (or she) and the Father are one? There is no good way to explain the Trinity, nothing in our world has three different parts and yet is one and the same. I could try to compare the Trinity to water; it can be a solid, a liquid and a gas, all the same chemically but different in appearance and form, but this really falls short of explaining the concept. Trying to explain the Trinity would be like trying to describe a three-dimensional world to a two-dimensional being (if there were such a thing). From the way the Jehovah’s Witnesses handle the Trinity one would assume if a concept cannot be explained then it can not be true.
Jesus has all the knowledge and resources of God. In Matthew 11:27 Jesus essentially equates Himself with God. In fact, if you look at the very next verses Matthew 11:28-30 Jesus offers rest to those who come to Him, if He were a lesser being wouldn’t He say something to the effect of, “Come to God all you who labor and are burdened”, but He doesn’t say that, He says, “Come to Me”. Can an angel or other created being offer you rest? Read Matthew 9 and Mark 2; Jesus tells the paralytic, “Your sins are forgiven”, then knowing the evil that was in the scribes hearts He addresses them and says “which is easier to say ‘your sins are forgiven’, or to say ‘rise and walk?’ but that you may know that the son of man has authority on earth to forgive sins”, (He then turns to the paralytic and says), “Rise, pick up your stretcher and go home” and the man got up, gathered his stretcher and walked home. Who has the power to know your sins and to forgive them?
Jesus accepts worship a few times in the scriptures, see John 20:28-29 where Thomas sees the resurrected Jesus and he falls down in front of Him and proclaims “My Lord and my God!” A created being, especially one who’s working for God, would never accept worship that is due to God alone. Thomas’s words fly in the face of the Jehovah’s Witnesses who say Jesus is not God.
Immanuel means, “God is with us”, not “a representative from God is with us” or “a nice miracle worker from God is with us”. Read Isaiah 7:14, almost everyone accepts this passage is about Mary (the virgin) and the son she will bear whose name shall be Immanuel (Jesus). Immanuel is explained as meaning, “With us is God”. You can also read in Matthew 1:23 that Emmanuel means “God is with us”. I don’t think you can confuse who this Child is.
If you ask the Jehovah’s Witnesses who Jesus is they will give all sorts of answers; the son of God (but certainly not God) and maybe Michael the Archangel but they do not accept the divinity of Christ Jesus and unfortunately you probably will not be able to change their minds. They have been taught that the idea or teaching of the Trinity is “pagan” and that Christians have been deceived. This leads me into the next point I have to make about the Jehovah’s Witnesses.
The definition of a Christian is “someone who follows Christ” this name really does not apply to the Jehovah’s Witnesses. When the Witnesses speak of the failings of so-called Christians (see the top of page three in their pamphlet ‘Jesus Christ Who Is He?’) who are they speaking of? If you love and accept Jesus as your savior and try to follow Him and obey the commandments in your life you are a Christian. A so-called Christian would be someone who doesn’t believe who Jesus is but wants to say everyone else is not listening to what Jesus told us to do. And in that aspect the Jehovah’s Witnesses are not doing what Jesus told us to do, they cite in their pamphlet that Jesus told us to “love one another”. Part of loving other people is taking care of the sick, helping the poor feeding the hungry and protecting the downtrodden. Right here in Birmingham the Catholic Church has the St. Vincent’s Hospital system and the Baptists have the Baptist Health system, these are helping people restore their physical health. There is also the Jimmy Hale Missions giving shelter to homeless people. Many Christian denominations have outreach programs or homeless shelters or missions overseas. Christians build hospitals and schools and try to make a difference. Have you ever heard of a Jehovah’s Witness Hospital anywhere? Do the Witnesses operate shelters for homeless women and children or operate non-profit pregnancy centers. Have you ever heard of a school operated by the Jehovah’s Witnesses or a soup counter even? Do they do any sort of charity at all? A tree will be judged by the fruit it produces and if it produces no fruit or bad fruit it will be cut down and thrown in the fire. In the book of Matthew 25:31-45 it says that Jesus will separate the goats from the sheep. To the goats He will say “Depart from Me, you accursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels, for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, a stranger and you gave Me no welcome, naked and you gave Me no clothing, ill and in prison and you did not care for Me” and the condemned will say “Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or ill or in prison and not minister to your needs?” And Jesus will answer them, “Amen, I say to you, what you did not do for one of these least ones you did not do for Me” and that will be the last thing the eternally damned will ever hear from God. The actions of the Jehovah’s Witnesses prove they are not Christian but we should pray for them and for their conversion, after all it’s the least us “so-called” Christians can do for them.