Though much smaller than Mormonism, JW's still number over 2 million members world wide.
Founded by Charles Taze Russell. Born in Alleghany, Pennsylvania in 1852. As a youth Russessl developed a fear of hell and used to write warnings about hell-fire on the sidewalks.
At 17 he got into a discussion with a person who denied the existence of hell and finally decided that the person was right. At 18 he wandered into a church where the second coming of Christ was being discussed, he became interested and began to study the Bible and soon "discovered" that Christ would return in 1874.
In 1874, Russell was elected "Pastor" of a Bible study group he had been teaching for four years. This marked the beginning of the JW cult. Of course, when Christ didn't return that year a new and safe prediction was made. That Christ would return in 1914, only this would not be a physical return, but an invisible spiritual return. Safe, because no one could say, "where is He"... The problem is that it contradicts Rev. 1:7 and other passages that speak of a literal, visible and physical return.
In 1879, Russell began to publish the magazine ZION's WATCHTOWER AND HERALD OF CHRIST'S PRESENCE. By 1880, there were 30 new congregations in seven states. In 1884, ZION'S WATCHTOWER AND TRACT SOCIETY was chartered and the cult was official.
In 1879 Russell married Maria Frances Ackley. In 1913 Maria divorced Russell citing egotism, domination, and improper conduct to other women.
In 1912, one year before his divorce, Rev. J. J. Ross, a Baptist pastor of Hamilton, Ontario, denounced Russell in a pamphlet. Russell filed suit and was in court proved to be a liar.
Russell had no theological education and only attended school through the seventh grade. On the witness stand and under oath, when asked if he knew the Greek alphabet he said, "Oh, Yes." Then the attorney produced a chart with the Greek alphabet. Here is the rest of that cross examination.
Att. - Can you tell me the correct letters if you see them?
Rus. - Some of them, I might make a mistake on some of them
Att. - Would you tell me the names of those on top..?
Rus. - Well, I don't know that I would be able to.
Att. - You can't tell what those letter are, look at them and see if you know? ... Are you familiar with the Greek language?
Rus. - No.
Also during the cross examination, Russell admitted that he had lied about having been ordained.
As a result, JW's claim that they don't believe or follow Russell, but if you examine the teaching of Russell and of the contemporary organization you find that they are the same. If you really want to get the ball rolling when they knock on your door, call them Russellites.
Russell died in 1916 and Judge Joseph Franklin Rutherford who had been the cults legal counsel, became the president. Under his leadership it gained momentum.
Rutherford died in 1942 and Nathan Homer Knorr became the 3rd president. Under his direction the Society's own translation of the Bible was published, THE NEW WORLD TRANSLATION OF THE CHRISTIAN SCRIPTURES. Interestingly the translators of the NWT remain anonymous except for one, Fred W. Franz, who was the spokesman for the translation committee and later became the fourth president of the Society. In 1954, in a court appearance similar to that of Russell's, a surprisingly similar dialogue takes place.
Att. - Have you also made yourself familiar with Hebrew?
Fran. - Yes
Att. - So that you have a substantial linguistic apparatus at your command?
Fran. - Yes, for use in my biblical work.
The attorney produced Genesis 2:4 in Hebrew (a verse that any 2nd year Hebrew student should be able to translate).
Att. - Can you, yourself, translate that into Hebrew?
Fran. - Which?
Att. - That fourth verse of the second chapter of Genesis?
Fran. - You mean here?
Att. - Yes.
Fran. - No.
Doctrines of the Jehovah's Witnesses
God:
According to JW theology, God is only to be called by his "Biblical name - Jehovah."
The problem is:
1. The title Elohim was used before Jehovah and used hundreds of times in the Old Testament.
2. We really don't know if that is the way the name is pronounced. (The name Jehovah isn't really found in the Bible.) You see Hebrew is a consonantal language which means that originally there were no vowels written into the language and the pronunciation of the words was passed down from one generation to the next. It wasn't until after the completion of the Hebrew Old Testament that a system of writing vowels in Hebrew was developed. Since the Name of God was never pronounced, it's correct pronunciation was not handed down and was therefore lost. All we know for certain are the consonants that were contained in the name. They were as follows.
Y H W H
J H V H - is the Latin rendering of the Hebrew vowels.
Jehovah - is the modern spelling. From where did the vowels come? In the copies that were made of the Old Testament, the Name of God, Y H W H was not usually written, but was replaced with the word Adonai which means Lord. Wanting to find a pronunciation for the divine name, someone came up with the idea of inserting the vowels from Adonai.
----------------aDoNaI
Watch -----JaHoVaH
As the language changed the first a was gradually changed to an e to make the name JeHoVaH
Trinity:
JW's deny the trinity. They misunderstand it and miss represent it. JW's believe the doctrine of the trinity teaches that there is either 3 Gods of that God is like some mythological god with 3 heads. Of course these are wrong. The Biblical doctrine of the triune God does not teach either of these things nor does it imply modalism. Modalism means that God simply appeared in different modes as the need arose. Sometimes He needed to appear as the Father. Other times He might need to manifest Himself as the Son etc. It would be like a man who is a father, a son, and a husband. At different times he assumes the role of each. The Biblical doctrine of the trinity teaches that the one God exists as 3 persons, individual and distinct yet co-equal and co-eternal possessing all the same attributes of deity. No one can adequately explain the doctrine of the trinity. (Frankly, I'm glad that I can't explain God, if I could then He would be just like me and not worthy of worship.) But the Bible does teach the plurality of the Godhead. Gen. 1:26; 11:7; Isa. 6:8; Matt. 28:19.
The Holy Spirit:
JW's not only deny the deity of the Holy Spirit, but also teach that the Holy Spirit is not a person, but is a force like gravity or electricity. The scripture clearly teaches, however that the Holy Spirit has all the attributes of a person, which are, mind, emotion, and will. Acts 5:3-4; Acts 13: 2-4; John 14:16-17, 26; John 16:7-14.
Jesus Christ:
JW's deny the deity of Christ. Witnesses teach that Christ was not even equal with God, but that He was created by Jehovah God. The New World Translation translates John 1:1, "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was a god."
This translation however, is grammatically incorrect. A literal word for word translation of this passage would read as follows; "In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with (the) God and the Word was God." The second time the word God is used, the definite article (the) does not proceed it. The JW's are right when they explain that in Greek if the definite article is not present, the indefinite article (a) is usually inserted, which would make their translation accurate and Jesus would be identified as (a god) different than (the God) mentioned first in the verse. The problem is that there is another grammatical rule that applies in English as well as Greek that supersedes this rule. If the proper noun has an antecedent that identifies it, the definite article is not used. The antecedent (the God) identifies the noun that follows. In English we might say something like, "John the Baptist went to Galilee and there John saw Jesus." There is no need to repeat (The Baptist) because it has already been established by the antecedent that the John of whom you are speaking is John the Baptist. As matter of fact, we would probably go one step further and use a pronoun and say "John the Baptist went to Galilee and there he saw Jesus. The NWT of John 1:1 is not only grammatically incorrect it is theologically incorrect. It flies in the face of other Scripture such as John 8:58; 10:30; and Hebrews 1:9 which clearly affirm the deity of Jesus.
According to JW theology, Jesus was Michael the archangel. When He came to earth, however, He was stripped of his angelic nature and became only a man. (See Jude vs. 9) If Michael were Jesus, he could have rebuked the devil in his own name, but he didn't. Instead he spoke in the name of someone greater, the Lord. (Heb. 1:1-4)
Remember that this study is not to teach you everything these cults believe and how to defend against it. There are good books that will go into detail about that. This study is simply to make you aware of some of the basic heresies of these cults. The best defense is a thorough knowledge of the Word of God, because these people are false teachers and they will take the Scripture and twist it to make it say what they want it to and JW's will put most Baptist to shame with their ability to use the Scripturet. Concerning the deity of Christ they will use a number of Scriptures such as John 14:28, which refers only to his voluntary submission to the father during his earthly ministry. In Phil. 2:5-8, the Greek word "Kenosis" is used which means Jesus in the incarnation emptied himself. Of what did he empty himself? Deity? No! Attributes of deity? No! As you read the New Testament you find abundant evidence of both in the person of Jesus. Of what then did He empty himself? Only of the outward, manifested glory that He possessed with the Father. On the mount of transfiguration we see a brief glimpse of that glory restored.
Another passage that the JW's use to attempt to disprove the deity of Christ is Col. 1:15, which they say speaks of His creation and therefore makes Jesus inferior to "Jehovah God". This passage however refers to His pre-eminent position not to His beginning. The context demonstrates that Christ is Himself the agent of all creation.
The Watchtower, also, teaches that Jesus did not rise bodily from the dead but, as a spiritual creature. This is convenient since Russell's original prophecy of Christ didn't take place. The 2nd prediction of Christ's return, you might remember, was of a spiritual and not a visible return. The Scriptures, however, say something completely different. Luke 24:36-39; This is a post-resurrection appearance.
Hell:
The Watchtower denies the existence of Hell as a place of everlasting punishment for the wicked. They substitute for it a doctrine of annihilation This includes two parts. First, when the body dies, the soul goes to sleep, thus it is called soul sleep, and that it enters into an unconscious state. They use such Scripture as Acts 7:59.
The Bible teaches, however, that when we die, our soul remains conscious and is ushered into the presence of the Lord. II Cor. 5:8; Phil. 1:21.
Second, JW's teach that in the end those who are lost will not be separated from God in conscious torment, but that Hell is really just a reference to the final destruction of the soul and body. That is that both will be annihilated and cease to exist. How appealing to the flesh.
The Bible, however, teaches that Hell is a place of eternal and unending torment reserved for those who reject the gospel. Jesus spoke of Hell more than any one else and the word He used to describe Hell was the word, "Gehenna." Gehenna was a valley just outside the walls of Jerusalem, also known as the valley of Hinnom. Gehenna was the city dump and also the place where the bodies of drifters were thrown and in Gehenna there burned a perpetual fire. Like some of the subterranean fires we hear about in the news today in old landfills, etc. it never went out. Matt. 5:22, 29, 30.
Hell is described as a lake of fire in Rev. 19:20; 20:10 (KJV). It is described as a place of conscious torment in Luke 16:1931.
JW's believe in eternal life for those who earn it, but say that when the Bible speaks of eternal punishment it is just a figure of speech. Matt. 25:46 uses the same word (Aionios) to describe eternal life as it does to describe eternal punishment.
Salvation:
JW's are divided into two primary groups. Those who hold important offices and make the decisions are called the 144,000. This comes from a misuse of Revelation 7:4-8. It really speaks of 144,000 Jewish-Christian evangelist who will be raised up by God to preach the gospel during the tribulation. There will be 12,000 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel. Hence, the number 144,000. The Witness say that this text speaks of JW's who have been chosen by God to be special leaders and only these actually go to heaven.
The second group called "the other sheep" from a statement made by Jesus. "I have other sheep not of this pasture." (John 10:16) He was talking to Jews who had rejected the gospel and telling them that He would now take the gospel to the Gentiles.
This group are the ordinary JW's. They are the ones who come knocking at your door. They do not have the same eternal future as the 144,000. They must work hard to earn their salvation, which is not heaven, but life on earth. According to the Watchtower, Christ only atoned for the affects of Adam's sins, but the rest is up to us.
The Bible teaches, however, that salvation comes by a simple act of faith in the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, made possible by God's Grace. Grace is the unmerited favor of God.
Eph. 2:8-9; and Titus 3:5.