In a six page tract published by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society (WBTS), entitled
What Do Jehovah's Witnesses Believe? a select few of their teachings are mentioned. Among other things, the reader should be aware of the following:
(1) Their denial of the deity of Christ is based on Scripture which shows the true humanity of Christ while avoiding or distorting other Scriptures which affirm His true deity such as Jesus' statement after His resurrection that he has all 100% authority or power in Heaven and on earth (Mt. 28:18). Notice: Jesus, not the Father, has all authority in Heaven! Remember, Jesus humbled himself when he came to the earth, taking the very nature of a servant, even though his nature is God (Phil. 2:5-8).
(2) The Jehovah's Witnesses (JW's) have their own Bible translation called the New World Translation (NWT), which has inconsistently translated the Greek word which shows that Jesus received worship from His disciples. In that translation, if it can be properly called such, Jesus is said to have received "obeisance" and not "worship." Among other places, please see Mt. 28:9. That same Greek word found there is properly translated at other passages as "worship" in their Greek English Interlinear called the Kingdom Interlinear Translation (1969 edition). To be exact, in Mt. 2:11; 14:33; 28:9 and 28:17 the Greek word is translated obeisance because it refers to the Lord Jesus, but when the same exact Greek word is used at Rev. 5:14; 7:11; 11:16; 19:4; 20:4 and Jn. 4:20 it is rendered worshiped because it doesn't refer to Jesus. This is not good scholarship, neither is it being consistent, as they claim in the foreword of their translation.
(3) Another striking characteristic of the NWT is their usage of "Jehovah." They have done this over 6,000 times in their Bible! But in other literature that they have published, they have gone on record as stating that Yahweh is "the more correct way" to render God's name! Their actual quote is:
While inclining to view the pronunciation "Yah.weh" as the more correct way, we have retained the form "Jehovah" because of people's familiarity with it since the 14th century (The Kingdom Interlinear Translation of the Greek Scriptures (KIT), 1969 ed., p. 23).
Furthermore, they admit that no one ever used the Latinized word "Jehovah" until the thirteenth century. This word is of Catholic origin:
By combining the vowel signs of 'Adho.nay and 'Elo.him' with the four consonants of the Tetragrammaton the pronunciations Yeho.wah' and Yehowih' were formed. The first of these provided the basis for the Latinized form "Jehova(h)." The first recorded use of this form dates from the thirteenth century C.E. Raymundus Martini, a Spanish monk of the Dominican Order, used it in his book Pugeo Fidei of the year 1270. Hebrew scholars generally favor "Yahweh" as the most likely pronunciation (Aid to Bible Understanding, 1971, pp. 884, 885).(26)
(4) Another unique characteristic of the JW's belief system is their strange view that only 144,000 will enter Heaven. Please know that the 12,000 from the 12 tribes of Israel (equaling 144,000) as mentioned in Rev. 7:4-8 and 14:1-3 does not state that they will be the only ones that will enter Heaven!
Let's take a look at two passages by focusing in on the words "before the throne":
Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. (Rev 14:1) And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. (Rev 14:2) And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth. (Rev 14:3)
The second passage is:
After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. (Rev 7:9) And they cried out in a loud voice: "Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb." (Rev 7:10) All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, (Rev 7:11) saying: "Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!" (Rev 7:12) Then one of the elders asked me, "These in white robes—who are they, and where did they come from?" (Rev 7:13) I answered, "Sir, you know." And he said, "These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Rev 7:14) Therefore, "they are before the throne of God and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will spread his tent over them. (Rev 7:15)
Please note, according to Rev. 14:1-3, the 144,000 are "before the throne." If they are in Heaven, then there are many others in Heaven as well because that same phrase "before the throne" is also found in 7:9 and refers to a great multitude that no man can count, which is a different group from the 144,000!
Further, please remember this: the JW's take part of the Rev. 14:1-3 passage literally and part of it figuratively. In other words, the number they take literally but they figuratively interpret the Israelite tribes to mean something other than Israelite tribes!
The Lord Jesus taught:
Whoever serves me must follow me; and where I am, my servant also will be. My Father will honor the one who serves me. (John 12:26)
From the above passage, Jesus taught that all of his servants will be in the same place as he is! Hence, since Jesus is in Heaven, all of his servants, which certainly exceeds 144,000, will be in Heaven with him, according to Jesus himself!
(5) While JW's call themselves "Christians," the reader should be advised that not everyone who says, "Lord, Lord" will enter into the kingdom of God (Mt. 7:21). Moreover, the JW's fail the test to identify themselves as being "in the faith." In 2 Cor. 13:5, we read:
Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test? (2 Cor 13:5)
Since the JW's wrongly teach that Jesus is Michael the Archangel, without any clear Scriptural backing, and since an angel cannot dwell in multitudes of Christians at the same time, then their view of Christ is not only wrong
but they would fail the doctrinal test to be in the faith!
(6) So what do JW's want from you and what do they believe about salvation? Let the following quote from their own literature answer this:
Do not conclude that there are different roads, or ways, that you can follow to gain life in God's new system. There is only one. There was just the one ark that survived the Flood, not a number of boats. And there will be only one organization—God's visible organization—that will survive the fast-approaching "great tribulation." It is simply not true that all religions lead to the same goal. (Matthew 7:21-23; 24:21) You must be part of Jehovah's organization, doing God's will, in order to receive his blessing of everlasting life.—Psalm 133:1-3. (You Can Live Forever In Paradise On Earth, 1982, p. 255.)
The JW's want you to spread their false teachings, just as they themselves do. Furthermore, their own literature clearly states you must be part of their organization to receive everlasting life, as you just read. Finally, the JW religion is based on the teachings of a Bible-defined false prophet from their first president, C. T. Russell, on through to the present time. Though they claim the light gets brighter and brighter, their own prophetic track record has consistently remained the same, that is, one false prophecy after another after another!
They have made prophecies that have failed about the following years: 1914, 1915, 1918, 1925, 1931, 1941, 1975 and 1995. Though the JW's claim they "admit their mistakes," they refuse to admit their 1975 false prophecy (or "mistake" as they call it).
A true prophet does not make false prophecies (Jer. 28:9)! The Lord Jesus warned that false prophets would arise and would "deceive" many people (Mt. 24:11, 24). Dear reader, don't allow yourself to be a victim of this organization, which is a ravenous wolf in sheep's clothing (Mt. 7:15) but claims of itself to be Jehovah's organization.
Those who will, in the end, enter God's kingdom have a trusting, submitting and enduring faith in Jesus Christ for salvation. Furthermore, such faith in Christ produces holy living and good fruit.
And all those "in the truth" today can wholeheartedly agree with the Apostle Thomas who called Jesus both his Lord and his God (Jn. 20:28).
