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This morning, I answered a knock on my door and was asked if I wanted to take part in a Bible study.  I knew immediately that the person visiting my house was a Jehovah’s Witness.

Jehovah’s Witnesses have different beliefs than I have.  Primarily, I believe that Jesus IS God.  There is only one God and God is present in three forms, God the Father, God the Holy Spirit and God the Son, Jesus.  Jesus’ deity (the fact that He is God) is extremely important.  I believe Jesus claimed to be God.  Therefore, if He is not God, Jesus would not be sinless.  If Jesus was not sinless, He could not be the perfect sacrifice for all mankind.  According to Christian denominations, Jesus, the son of God, was sinless, died on the cross as the once-and-for-all sacrifice for mankind’s sin so that mankind could repent, be forgiven and have a relationship with God and not be separated from Him at death.

I told my Jehovah’s Witness friend that I appreciated her visiting but that I wouldn’t take part in the Bible study because my family had some core beliefs that were very different from hers.  I told her that I believed Jesus, God and the Holy Spirit were all one God.  I told her that I can’t explain the trinity, but I explained the importance of the belief in Jesus’ deity as outlined above.

She agreed on almost every point: Jesus was sinless, He was God’s son, He was mankind’s sacrifice.  She does not believe that Jesus is God.  She believes that Jesus is A god.  I asked her if I could see her Bible. 

Jehovah’s Witnesses have their own version of the Bible – the “New World Translation.”  In my opinion, you can’t call it a translation any more than you could call me paraphrasing the King James version Bible into colloquial English a translation.  The NWT was first published in 1950.  The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society never published the translation committee members but it is believed/hypothesized/rumored that only one member of the committee, Frederick W. Franz, had any university education and he even admitted under oath on November 24, 1954 that he could not translate Genesis 2:4 from the Hebrew.

I asked her if she studied Revelation a lot.  She did.  Jehovah’s Witnesses tend to do so.  I asked her if I could look at several passages in Revelation with her.  I didn’t remember the passages off the top of my head and asked her if I could go pull them out of some old notes I had and she kindly let me do that.  I left her at the front door and found my notes.  I wrote down Revelation 1:8, 21:6-7, 22:12-16 and 1:17-18.  My kids filed by her one by one waving and saying hi.  She was very friendly. 

I came back and we opened her Bible to Revelation 1:8.  [NWT – Her Bible] “I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says Jehovah God, “the One who is and who was and who is coming, the Almighty.” ([NAS – one of several academically accepted translations] "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, “who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty.")  We agreed that the speaker was Jehovah God / God the Father.

We turned to Revelation 21:6-7: [NWT] And he said to me: “They have come to pass! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To anyone thirsting I will give from the fountain of the water of life free.  Anyone conquering will inherit these things, and I shall be his God and he will be my son…” ([NAS] Then He said to me, “It is done I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost. He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son…”).  I asked, who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end?  Again, we agreed that this was Jehovah God / God the Father.

We turned to Revelation 22:12-16: [NWT] 12 “‘Look! I am coming quickly, and the reward I give is with me, to render to each one as his work is. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end. 14 Happy are those who wash their robes, that the authority [to go] to the trees of life may be theirs and that they may gain entrance into the city by its gates. 15 Outside are the dogs and those who practice spiritism and the fornicators and the murderers and the idolaters and everyone liking and carrying on a lie.’ 16 “‘I, Jesus, sent my angel to bear witness to YOU people of these things for the congregations. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright morning star.’”

See verse 16?  I asked her who was speaking here and it’s Jehovah God / God the Father but the voice changes in 16 and Jesus starts speaking.  In my opinion, both of these are Jesus, who is God, who is the Alpha and the Omega, who is the first and the last, who is the beginning and the end.  It’s ok that we disagree on this point.

Finally, we turned back to Revelation 1:17-18: [NWT] And when I saw him, I fell as dead at his feet. And he laid his right hand upon me and said: “Do not be fearful. I am the First and the Last, and the living one; and I became dead, but, look! I am living forever and ever, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.

This is John speaking at the beginning and he quotes someone.  Who is the First and the Last?  In the other verses, we see that this is a title that Jehovah God gives himself.  If this is Jehovah God, when did God die?  “and I became dead…”  Jesus died on the cross and was raised to life again three days later (that’s Easter).  If this is Jesus, then isn’t Jesus claiming God’s title?  Isn’t Jesus saying, “I am God?”  This is what I believe.

She thought this was very interesting.  I had kept her at my door so long that her friends had finished with our street and they came back and joined her. 

We had another discussion about Jesus. 

According to Jehovah’s Witnesses, Jesus was the first of God’s creation.  I believe Jesus is eternal past, present and future.  If however, He was a created thing, and we both agree Him to be sinless, would it be ok if he allowed himself to be worshiped?  If he did so, I believe that is a sin and Jesus could no longer be the perfect sacrifice.  There would be no salvation.

Exodus 23:3-5 – (2nd commandment – “thou shalt not bow down thyself to them (any likeness of any thing that is…)). Moreover (in case anyone claims that Jesus is not a likeness or an image, but he is an Angel or anything other than God, consider Deuteronomy 4:19 – do not worship the sun or moon or stars or all the host of heaven.  The Hebrew word is Tsaba’ – that which goes forth, army, host of organized army, host of angels, the sun, moon and stars…

God commands us to not worship the angels.  To do so would be sin.

In a popular story in Matthew 14, Jesus commands Peter to walk to him on the water.  Peter leaps out of his boat and walks on the water toward Jesus.  At one point, he takes his eyes of Jesus and he begins to sink.  Jesus reaches down and pulls him up and together they walk to the boat.  In Matthew 14:33, we see that Jesus is worshipped on the boat: [NIV] “Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”  The King James, New American Standard and NIV all say “worshipped.”  In my opinion, if Jesus were not God, allowing Himself to be worshiped would be sin.  If Jesus sinned, there is no salvation.

My friends were REALLY ready to leave.  I hope they consider what I explained.  I hope they come to accept Jesus as God and not just another god.  I hope they give up their desire to be gods themselves.  I believe these beliefs deviate from God’s teachings and will cause them to miss their salvation.  I believe they have been deceived and they face a really grim penalty if they don’t find their way out of their current beliefs.

If you found this to be interesting, I hope you’ll try to connect with friends of different faiths and denominations, invite them into your home and spend time with them.  Don’t shut them out but get to know why they believe what they believe.  Be truly interested in their lives, their families and their beliefs.  Spend time learning about them and their beliefs and when they’re open to hearing about your beliefs, be prepared to share your faith (even if your beliefs are different than mine).

Acts 5: 38-39 [NIV] …if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.

I’d like to see all men and cultures humbly and openly sharing their beliefs and their faiths. I believe God’s message can’t be stopped.  Only silence will keep God’s message from spreading.  And even then, I believe God’s Spirit is out running amok in the streets so perhaps silence only keeps God’s message from spreading quickly.