![]() The purpose of Christ’s death, therefore, was to restore “perfect human life with its rights and earthly prospects” which Adam had forfeited. The penalty for Adam’s sin was physical death, not eternal condemnation. He did not satisfy divine justice nor endure God’s wrath in the place of sinners. (7) JWs deny the penal substitutionary sacrifice of Christ on the cross. ![]() Jesus Christ now enjoys not a human life but an angelic life, “life as a spirit-creature called Michael” (275). The Son now resumed the name Michael, ‘to tie him with is pre-human existence’” (275). ![]() ![]() God now exalted his Son to be higher than he was before he lived and died as a man, and made him to be Head under Jehovah God’s capital organization over the universe. In his book critiquing false religions, Anthony Hoekema points out that at the time of his resurrection Jesus “was given immortality as a reward for his faithful course on earth he was, in fact, the first creature to receive this gift. (6) Jesus was raised from the dead spiritually but not physically. He became “a human Son of God, a perfect man, no longer a spirit.” Thus, Jesus did not have two natures (one divine and one human) but only one: the nature of man. In other words, at the point of conception in Mary’s womb he ceased to exist as a spirit and became a man, to the exclusion of any other mode of being. When he became human flesh, Jesus was wholly divested of his spirit existence. (5) JWs affirm the doctrine of the virgin birth but deny the Incarnation. Technically speaking, JWs are therefore polytheists. Thus, in the Watchtower translation of John 1:1, Jesus is “a” god but not the God. He never has been and never will be equal with Jehovah. He is a creature, the first product of Jehovah God’s creative work. (4) In his pre-human state Jesus was known as Michael, the archangel. They also believe that the Holy Spirit is not a person but a force of God. JWs are, strictly speaking, unitarian in their view of the Godhead. They insist it is an invention of Satan that originated in ancient Babylon, sometime around 2200 b.c. (3) The JWs deny the doctrine of the Trinity. Joe Carter notes that “In 1961 a JW corporation, The Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, published its own formal equivalence translation of the Bible: the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures (NWT).” However, this is misleading insofar as the group has produced its own translation into which they have subtly smuggled their own unique heretical innovations. (2) The JWs claim the Bible as their final authority in all matters of faith and practice. It was during Rutherford’s presidency in 1931 that the name of the movement was changed to “Jehovah’s Witnesses,” largely based on Isaiah 43:10 – “You are my witnesses,’ declares the Lord, “and my servant whom I have chosen.” The name change was largely chosen to distance the movement from the reputation of Russell. He was arrested in 1918, together with seven others, on charges of sedition for refusing induction into the U.S. He wrote a book insisting that both the Roman Catholic Church and all Protestant denominations constitute present day Babylon. Joseph Franklin “Judge” Rutherford (1869-1942) succeeded Russell in 1917. ![]() His wife divorced him in 1913 on grounds of adultery. Russell secured a legal charter in 1884, the year generally recognized as the official launch of the Jehovah’s Witnesses (hereafter JWs). The first, Charles Taze Russell (1852-1916), was raised in Scotch-Irish Presbyterianism but soon abandoned his heritage due to his objections to the doctrines of predestination, eternal punishment, and the physical/visible return of Christ. (1) Two men in particular are generally recognized as giving theological shape to the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Here are some ten things that may prove helpful for you to know, especially as they likely will come knocking at your door sometime soon. They also tend to be less educated, with a solid majority of adult Jehovah’s Witnesses (63 percent) having no more than a high school diploma (compared with, for example, 43 percent of evangelical Protestants).” Roughly two-thirds (65 percent) are women, while only 35 percent are men. In his article at the website of the Gospel Coalition, Joe Carter cites the Pew Research indicating that “no more than 4 in 10 members of the group belong to any one racial and ethnic background: 36 percent are white, 32 percent are Hispanic, 27 percent are black, and 6 percent are another race or mixed race. Some demographic details are enlightening. It got me thinking once again about this unusual religious organization. I read in the local newspaper today (5-18-18) that an annual Jehovah’s Witnesses convention is scheduled to convene here in OKC this weekend. ![]()
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