This is the 5th blog in the series “False or Faith-Worthy?“.

Why do I write about different world religions? Religion and Spiritualism has always interested me. As I have mentioned in some of my blogs before, I did not grow up in church, so everything I know is first hand personal experience. I decided to look into different religions for myself and find what is right. I am a Christian because Christianity has never been proven wrong and there is a tremendous amount of evidence to base my faith on. Really, I am just in the search for truth and I like writing about it. Let this study begin.

What is the Religion of Islam?

The religion of Islam, also known as Muslim, is a large world religion.  Many Americans associate Muslims with terroristic war and threats, but let us examine the religion to figure out what they believe and we can come to some conclusions.  Islam is very popular in countries such as Indonesia (the largest Muslim country), Bangladesh, Pakistan and India, but the religion is now growing in the United States, with over 6 million members in the United States.    The United States is a Christian nation statistically, I say this because around 90% of the country is Christian (around 90% meaning that many people claim to be Christian).  Now that other religions such as Islam are expanding in America, Christians should be ready to learn about them for evangelism’s sake.  If you are Muslim and reading this, I encourage you to keep reading just to learn more about it.  In many Muslim countries, the people are not allowed to speak against it, since I am in the United States, I can believe whatever I want to believe, so I am writing about this.  Please keep reading if this is your religion.  If Islam is completely true and right then you have nothing to be afraid of reading.

The religion of Islam can be a very dangerous religion, because their teachings sometimes involve violence to spread their word.  Christians tend to be their main targets.  There have been several occurrences of Christian churches being burned down, Christians being beheaded, Christian homes being raided and people murdered for their Christian faith.  This has been relatively common in Muslim countries in the past.  I’m not trying to attack the religion or the followers, I am trying to get across how dangerous it can be.

So What Do They Believe?

As for the Muslim people…The Muslim god is Allah.  Muslims believe that everything that happens is Allah’s will and they believe that they have no way of changing what happens.  Due to this belief, they consider everything as Allah’s will and people die because of diseases that could have been prevented with little effort.  Most Muslims have a very blank stare because they have no hope.  They believe that they can merely do their best on earth, but Allah decides who goes to heaven by weighing their good and bad deeds, so they never really know if they are going to heaven or hell.

The Start of Islam

So how did the religion begin?  If you read my blog on Mormonism, you will find it very interesting to know that Islam began in a similar way.  Muhammad was the prophet of the Islam religion, born in A.D. 570.  He began to receive spiritual revelations at the age of 40 and died at the age of 62.  Muhammad began to go to a cave north of Mecca to pray and meditate.  According to Muslim tradition, the angel Gabriel came to Muhammad, but there are 4 different statements (which contradict each other) of what happened written in the Koran (the Islam holy book).  Either way, they have chosen to say that Gabriel came to Muhammad.

After Muhammad meditated in the cave for about 2 years, Muslims say, he began to go into epileptic fits and receive revelations from an angel of light.  Now this is very interesting if you remember the blog on Mormonism, because these are only two of many religions that began with an angel of light and for Christians this is a scary thing, because of what the Holy Bible says about an angel of light.

“And no wonder, for Satan himself masquerades as an angel of light”

2 Corinthians 11:14

I’m not saying that I know for a fact Satan was in charge of starting the religion of Islam, but from a Christian’s perspective, it really does make sense that Satan would create multiple religions.  Like I always say, Satan doesn’t necessarily want everyone to be Satanists, he just doesn’t want you to follow God.  Either way, let’s continue into their culture and beliefs.

The Islam religion is not just a religion, Islam almost must be practiced as a culture and a religion for it to succeed.  When Muhammad spread Islam, he did so by threatening to kill anyone who wouldn’t bow down to Allah.  The problem with this is that after Muhammad died many people left the religion, because they didn’t have as much fear of death.  There are still Muslims today that are scared to leave the religion, because they will be killed.

The Dangers of Islam

When examining the many world religions, you will find that some are harmless to people in general, although Christians, including myself, would want people to go to Heaven and be saved, but as far as inflicting harm on people on earth…many are harmless.  The religion of Islam is one religion that should be thought of as a threat to every other religion including people who don’t really think they have a religion.  The terroristic attacks on 9/11 to America’s World Trade Centers are most widely believed to be nothing more than terroristic attacks from Muslims.  Why would they do this?  While Muslims believe that Allah will weigh their good and bad deeds when they die and decide whether they get into Heaven or not, there is one sure way that they believe they, and their family, will go straight to Heaven when they die and that way is to die a martyr…to die defending the Islamic faith.  This is why after many suicide bombings in the middle east, you will see the family of the suicide bomber rejoicing and having a party, because they believe that they are now going straight to Heaven.

Degrading and Abusing Women

Most of this specific blog has been random and scattered, but I did want to make a point on the subject of Muslims degrading women.  There are so many things that Islams do that Christians disagree with, but many people just attribute it all to the Islam culture.  The culture can account for some of it, but most of it is just plain wrong.  First off, why do the Muslims degrade and abuse women?  One Muslim, when being interviewed live on television, was about to take another wife.  His new wife was 9 years old.  The 9 year old girl was crying and upset knowing that she would never see her family again, because she was going to be the wife and slave of this 60 or 70 year old Muslim man.  The guy doing the interview asked the man how this was okay; the rest of the world would consider this child abuse, but in his country it was common.  When the interviewer asked the man this question, the man laughed and said: “there is nothing wrong with this…this is basic Islam”…the man went on to say:  “Muhammad had many wives, including a 9 year old wife, if he can have a 9 year old wife, so can I”.

This is one of the many issues with followers of other mere men.  They basically hold Muhammad as high as their god, so they can do anything he does.  Muslims still hold very old traditions of making their women wear heavy black clothes in the desert, while the men wear light white clothes.  This is another attempt to degrade women.  Also when Muslims take new wives they remove any part of a female that would bring them pleasure during intercourse so that they can not have pleasure during intercourse.

An Interesting Fact About Islam

Everyday Muslims take the oath that “There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his prophet”.  This is interesting because the religion of Islam began with Muhammad and his revelations.  Like I said earlier, they hold Muhammad almost as high as their god.  What is interesting is that while they hold Muhammad as high as they do, Muhammad is only mentioned in the Koran 25 times, while Jesus is mentioned in the Koran 96 times.  The Koran speaks much higher of Jesus than Muhammad and the Koran states that the word of Jesus is the Word of God, but it is interesting that they do not look to the Word of Jesus for their values.

This blog was written relatively quickly, so if you are interested in finding out my references and source, please contact me.  Though most of this blog is fact, some of this blog may be personal opinion and I am not saying that my opinions should be held as anything but opinions.  I know this blog is not very long, but I hope this blog has given you some insight into the religion of Islam.  Thanks for reading, look forward to a new blog very soon.

It is safe to say that there are many problems with the “Christians” in this world.  There are many views on this subject and for the longest time I just told myself that as long as they are Christian than they are ok with me, but there are some problems there.  There are many Christian denominations now and ultimately I understand this, because there is so much to Christianity that people will have different views on some things.  So what really matters?  Well, salvation is really all that matters, except for the fact that some denominations are getting so “religious” that they are drifting away from Jesus’ teaching.  This leads to many problems, especially since I know many people personally that are not Christians because they grew up in an extremely “religious” Christian denominational church.  I will not point out specific denominations, but I am against forcing people to do religious things to the extent that they drift away from God.  God is in no way boring and when churches make him boring something is wrong.

I have many thoughts on this subject.  I try to live my life by the Bible, without finding loopholes.  If the Bible tells me something is wrong, I look in to it and if I conclude that it is Biblically wrong, then I try to stop doing it.  I want to try my best to live by God’s standards not my own and not society’s.  That being said, I don’t spend my time doing religious things, because it wastes valuable time that I could be spending writing about things that help other people spiritually or I could be witnessing to people instead.  Donald Miller has a great quote about this.

“I believe that the greatest trick of the devil is not to get us into some sort of evil, but rather have us wasting time.  This is why the devil trys so hard to get Christians to be religious.  If he can sink a man’s mind into habit, he will prevent his heart from engaging in God.”

Donald Miller (Blue Like Jazz)

I don’t waste my time being “religious”, but I do follow the Bible.  I study the Bible frequently and I love reading it.  I try my best to live by the spirit of the law and not the letter of the law, but I think many people have got themselves into the other ditch too.  It is true that we should live by the spirit according to Jesus, but what does that really mean?  It is just as bad in God’s eyes to murder now that we are under the spirit as it was when we lived by the law?  Living by the spirit is simply referring to the condition of your heart.  In other words, you shouldn’t not kill somebody because God’s law told you not to, you shouldn’t kill people because you spiritually don’t want to.

Living under the spirit is no reason to omit the Bible.  If you truly live by the spirit, you would want to please God by obeying His Word.  So when somebody shows you a verse in the Bible that contradicts what you do, you can’t use living under the spirit as an excuse to keep doing it.  If you truly believe something is ok, it may be, but listen to your heart and God’s Spirit about it, don’t block them out.

Back to the “religious” crowd.  I am not attacking, I am just worried.  It worries me because it seems like one of the biggest reasons for people to leave Christianity is because they grew up under strict rules and no fun, as opposed to growing up knowing the love of God and having fun.  The love of God is an amazing thing and if more people could experience it, I think more people would be open to Christianity.  Obviously most people are open to Christianity since well over 90% of this country is Christian, but how many of those people know what they could be experiencing with the true love of God and His Spirit?  We are always going to have a war on God going on outside of Christianity, but why are we having such a civil war?

There is so many ditches that Christians can fall into when it comes to their faith and their lifestyle.  Anything from the religious crowd to the crowd that trys to become so spiritual that they create their own religion.  Another problem that people seem to have with the “Modern Christian” title becoming more popular is an ego issue.  Even since I have been a Christian, I have had people talk down to me as if they are a better Christian than I am.  This really seems to come heavily from the Bible college crowd.  I am not against Christian colleges, in fact I hope to be going to one in the Fall, but it seems like many of the Bible college kids get an enormous ego once they begin to learn about the Bible and then they feel like they know more than everyone about the subject.

Statistically the Christian college crowd seem to be the worst about feeling superior to other Christians.  They are almost all great people,  but somehow many have an egotistical mindset.  Many people don’t realize that when they condemn other people for being consumed with sin, they are often being consumed with sin from an alternative perspective.  When somebody is consumed with pornography, they obviously have an addiction to a sin (lust).  Alternatively, when somebody is consumed with their ego and constantly condemn people for things like this, they have an addiction to a different sin (pride).  These are exactly the same in God’s eyes.  If somebody needs help breaking an addiction, we should help them to our best ability and we should let them know what the Bible says about it, but making them feel terrible and judging them will not help in any way.

This entire blog may seem like I am judging and pointing fingers, but really I just want people to think about what they are doing.  I know I am not perfect and I have just as many flaws as anyone, but I just want to put that thought in peoples mind.  I don’t mean to judge, I just want people to think about what they are doing.

This is the 4th blog in the series “False or Faith-Worthy?“.

One very important question to ask ourselves in any religion is: who do we follow?  Are we following somebody that really makes sense or did we not really stop and think about who we are really following.  When I say this, I am not referring to a God necessarily.  Many religions claim to follow God, but they are actually following the founder of the religion, because if it wasn’t for the founder, they would not have that religion.  Many popular religions are based on Christianity, but the founder didn’t like some things about Christianity and they have different beliefs from Christians.

Who Do I Follow?

I can honestly say that I believe in God and I follow Jesus.  I follow Jesus because I believe He is the Son of God and I believe that everything he said is true.  Why do I follow Jesus?  First off, just to begin I would have to say that Jesus has more supernatural miracles than any other religious figure, because I can’t think of another religious figure that performed any supernatural miracles.  Jesus lived a sinless life, unlike any other person to ever live.  Jesus did claim to be the Son of God.  This always amazes me when I hear other religions say things like:  Jesus was not the Son of God, but he was a great prophet.  Does that really make sense to say:  I know he claimed to be God and all, but he was just confused or lying, he is just a great prophet.  I think it has to be one way or them other.  He either is the Son of God as he claimed or He is just a crazy or a liar, because he claimed to be the Son of God.  You can’t claim to be the Son of God without either being crazy, a liar or truly being the Son of God.  So if they believe He was just a prophet, they also have to think He was either a liar or a mental patient, thus not really making Him prophet material.

Joseph Smith and the Mormon Church

Mormons believe that without Joseph Smith, we would not have salvation.  What made Joseph Smith so special?  He is one guy that claimed to have spoken to God, as many people have.  He claimed to have visions from who he thought was God, as many people have.  He performed no miracles and if you ask a Mormon about Joseph Smith, they really don’t know as much as you would think they would know about him, being the founder of their religion.  They tend to say that he was a good person and he lived the best life he could.  That’s arguable, but even if he did, I know many people like that.  He was heavily involved with the occult and spiritism.  He was arrested for counterfeiting money, stealing horses, burning down a printing press and many other crimes.  Finally, he died in a gun fight, shooting 2 men before he was gunned down.  There is absolutely no reason to believe anything that Joseph Smith ever said pertaining to the spirit world.  Joseph Smith died being proven a false prophet and Mormons today still follow his teaching.  View my blog on Mormonism.

Charles T. Russell and the Watchtower Organization

Jehovah’s Witnesses basically all agree with Charles T. Russell and his opinions on theology.  They would have to, to be Jehovah’s Witnesses; otherwise, they would most likely just be Christians.  Russell grew up in a Christian church, but he personally believed that some of the Christian doctrines were wrong.  Because of this one man’s belief to change these things, there are now millions of people in the Watchtower Society.  Who are they following?  They claim to follow Jesus, but they really follow one person’s distorted view of Jesus Christ.  Russell never performed miracles in any way and in fact he and the other Watchtower leaders prophesied a few things, including the end of the world, and they never came true.  Russell  and a few other leaders of the Watchtower Society all died being proven to be false prophets and though millions have left the Watchtower, many are still there.  View my blog on Jehovah’s Witnesses.

L. Ron Hubbard and the Church of Scientology

Somewhere between 50,000-100,000 people follow Hubbard and for what reason?  He preached against drugs and he was on drugs when he died.  His son reported Hubbard using drugs through his whole life.  Hubbard was quoted saying that religion is where the money is and on top of everything, he was a Science Fiction author.  Why does it matter that he was a Science Fiction author?  Because Scientologists believe aliens live inside us all and all of the aliens were put on this planet millions of years ago by the great overlord Xenu from another planet.  There is no basis for any of Hubbards’s teaching outside of his creative mind and people follow him and believe him.  I will admit that many early Scientologists don’t know anything about the crazy alien stuff, but by the time they get to that level they have spent so much money that many stay in.  I may write a blog about Scientology, but I am a little scared, because anybody who speaks out against Scientology seems to get attacked by the Church of Scientology.  Including people who have had their offices broken in to and been physically assaulted.

Who Do We Follow?

That is just to name a few of the more popular groups of followers.  I know Scientology is one of the world’s smallest religious movements, but the media makes it seem much bigger.  They all follow false prophets.  It’s funny that they almost all agree that Jesus was a great person.  They say Jesus was a great person and then they say He is not our Savior.  He is not our Savior?  He performed outstanding miracles, he is mentioned as an amazing person in books other than the Bible, we base our entire dating system on Jesus (this is the year 2009…2009 years since what?  Jesus) and most of all, He claimed to be the Son of God and he fulfilled 100s of prophecies.  Explain why you wouldn’t automatically assume He was our Savior and then go from there?  There is only 2 options here.  You can either assume He is who He says He is or you must assume that He was crazy or a liar.  It makes no sense for somebody to accept Him as a good person or a prophet, but not the Son of God.  If people do not believe He is the Son of God then they have to assume He was either crazy or a liar.

Another question arises for non-believers.  Do we have to follow anybody?  You don’t have to follow anybody if you think you are as good as it gets and there is no higher force.  Personally, I don’t want to be as high as the totem pole goes.  If you think there may be a higher force or power then you should probably figure out who the most reasonable figure would be to follow.  I have never been an Atheist, so I can’t understand how people could think there is no God.  I have been an Agnostic, but it really didn’t make sense for me to not follow Jesus after I realized that there are no flaws in His teaching and living.  I believe that the main reason people don’t follow Jesus and His teaching is because they don’t want to change the way they live.  This is just my opinion, like the rest of this post, but it makes perfect sense to me.  So, who do we follow?  Who do you follow?  Thanks for reading.

This is the 3rd blog in the series “False or Faith-Worthy?“.

Why do I write about different world religions?  Religion and Spiritualism has always interested me.  As I have mentioned in some of my blogs before, I did not grow up in church, so everything I know is first hand personal experience.  I decided to look into different religions for myself and find what is right.  I am a Christian because Christianity has never been proven wrong and there is a tremendous amount of evidence to base my faith on.  Really, I am just in the search for truth and I like writing about it.  Let this study begin.

Moving along in our study on world religions, we move to Jehovah’s Witnesses, also known as the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.  Again, I want to point out that I am not out to attack or tear down any individual here.  My arguments and conflicts are with The Watchtower Bible and Tract Society.  Please understand that my arguments have mainly factual evidence as backing.

When we think about Jehovah’s Witness, we think about people knocking on our doors.  Perhaps the Jehovah’s Witnesses are most famous for their door-to-door recruiting and it makes sense that they are known for this since recent statistics have shown them spending 835 million hours of door-to-door witnessing in one year.  They actually have America mapped out so that they can reach every home at least once or twice per year.  So, what do these people teach?  Most people tend to either hide when they hear the knock at their door or simply send them away.  Now, as a Christian, you will be informed.  You can now use their mission field as your own mission field at your front door.  For Jehovah’s Witnesses, I ask that you please continue reading.  If you are discouraged from reading anti-Watchtower literature, please ask yourself “why?”.  Are they hiding something?  If you don’t think they are, then you have no reason to fully disconnect as soon as anti-Watchtower literature is brought up.  Please read forth and keep an open mind.  Of course for people of no religion or other religions, this blog should answer many questions.

The Start of the Watchtower Society

The society began by a man named Charles T. Russell.  Russell grew up as a Protestant Christian, but he said there were some things that he didn’t like about Christianity.  These were some of the things he disagreed with:

• The teaching of hell (hell and eternal judgment)
• The Trinity (he claimed it was not rational and he could not understand it)

Since Russell so strongly disagreed with these things, he decided to develop his own theology and began publishing Studies in Scripture and he later began publishing the Watchtower Magazine.  He later incorporated the organization in 1884 as the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society and in 1909 he moved the headquarters to Brooklyn, New York, where it is currently located.

Russell’s Predictions of Christ’s Return

Early is Russell’s ministry he calculated when Christ was going to return physically to the Earth.  For many years he prophesied that Christ would return in 1874. As we know, Christ did not return in 1874, so he changed his calculations to 1914.  After Christ did not show up in 1914, Russell redefined the coming of Jesus from a physical coming to a spiritual coming.  He said that Christ returned invisibly as a spirit to help him set up his organization.  Russell died a few years later in 1916.

Rutherford Takes Over the Alleged Theocratic Kingdom

In 1917 the Watchtower organization was taken over by Joseph Franklin Rutherford.  The organization grew tremendously under Rutherford’s leadership.  Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that the Watchtower Society in Brooklyn, New York is the theocratic kingdom of God on Earth.  A theocratic kingdom is a government ruled by God.  They believe that all government outside of the Watchtower society is satanic.  Because of this, Jehovah’s Witness will not salute the flag, they will never recite the Pledge of Allegiance and they will not serve in the armed forces of any nation.  This is one of the ways that their practices differ heavily from Christianity.  Another difference in Jehovah’s Witnesses is that they do not celebrate Christmas, because they deny they incarnation of Jesus Christ and  they do not celebrate Easter, because they deny the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ.

The name was actually changed to “Jehovah’s Witnesses” under Rutherford’s leadership.  He said they would do this to vindicate the true name of Jehovah, because he claimed that Jesus Christ is not God, the Holy Spirit is not God but Jehovah is God alone.  The term Jehovah is just an Old Testament translation for the word God.  The ancient Jews did not use vowels in their writing and the term God was translated as YHWH.  It was basically translated from that as Jehovah, so there is no problem with the actual term Jehovah.

Rutherford also had many famous prophesies, one prophecy that included Abraham, Isaac and Jacob returning visibly to the Earth to help promote the kingdom of God.  He believed they would return between 1925 and 1929.  He actually believed this so much that he built a mansion in San Diego, California for the 3 of them to live in, but when they did not return by 1929, he moved into the mansion himself.  Rutherford later died in 1942.

Continuing under Knorr’s Leadership

Nathan H. Knorr took over the Watchtower Organization in 1942.  Under his leadership the organization developed it’s high outreach all over the world with many missionaries.  Also under Knorr’s leadership, they decided to make their own translation of the Bible, calling it The New World Translation.

The Jehovah’s Witnesses claim that 4 Greek scholars did The New World Translation.  The organization does not make known the translators of their bible, but it has been released from former Jehovah’s Witnesses.  The translators were Nathan H. Knorr (President of the organization), Frederick W. Franz (Vice-President), George D. Gangas, and Albert D. Schroeder.  Of these men, not all of them had graduated high school and none of them had the actual credentials to be considered a Greek scholar.  There are very obvious errors in their translation that are altered to line-up with their specific beliefs and theology that they have created.

Knorr decided to create his first prophecy in the year 1975.  He said that in 1975 Armageddon would occur and it would be the end of the age.  As we know, 1975 came and went and we are all still here, because Armageddon did not occur.  Since we have heard all of these prophecies that did not come true from the Watchtower organization, let’s see what the Bible actually says about this.

²⁰ But a prophet who presumes to speak in my name anything I have not commanded him to say, or a prophet who speaks in the name of other gods, must be put to death.”

²¹ You may say to yourselves, “How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the LORD ?” ²² If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the LORD does not take place or come true, that is a message the LORD has not spoken. That prophet has spoken presumptuously. Do not be afraid of him.

Deuteronomy 18 : 20-22

Apparently many of the Jehovah’s Witnesses at the time understood what that verse meant, because in 1976 and 1977 over 1,000,000 Witnesses left the organization.  Nathan H. Knorr died in 1977

Continuing Leaders

Frederick Franz took over the organization after being the leading theologian for over 60 years.  The Watchtower organization continued after the death of Franz, under the leadership of  Milton G. Henschel.  Henschel stepped down from presidency in 2001.  Now the current president is M.H. Larson.

Talking to Jehovah’s Witnesses

It is easy to just pretend like you are not home when Jehovah’s Witnesses knock at your door, but why not witness to the Witness at your door?  Here are some important things to know about witnessing to Jehovah’s Witnesses.  The next few parts are heavily inspired by Ron Carlson’s teaching on the subject.

Five Facts to Remember when Witnessing to a Witness

1. They have accepted the organization as the prophet of God.
2. They have accepted the organization as God’s sole channel for His truth.
3. They believe that to reject the organization is to reject God.
4. They believe that only the organization can interpret the Bible; as individuals, they are unable to do so.
5. They believe that the Watchtower magazine contains God’s truth, directed by Him, through the organization.

Conflict with Christianity

This is what the organization and their magazine teach that conflicts with orthodox Christianity.

1. That Jesus is a created being – a creature.
2. That Jesus is actually Michael the Archangel.
3. The Jesus was not resurrected bodily, but as a spirit being.
4. That Jesus returned invisibly in 1914 (secretly to their organization).
5. That Jesus was only a man when on earth, not “the Word become flesh”.
6. That the Holy Spirit is only an active force, not the Person of God.
7. That hell is simply the grave.
8. That heaven’s doors are only open to 144,000 people.
9. That the majority of Witnesses must remain on earth.
10. That salvation is found only though their organization.
11. That salvation can be obtained only through good works until the end, then they will live on earth in a paradise.
12. That Satan is the author of the doctrine of the trinity.
13. That Jesus cannot be given worship, only honor as Jehovah’s first creation.

What the Jehovah’s Witnesses deny

• The trinity
• The deity of Christ
• The bodily resurrection of Christ
• The visible return of Christ
• The Person of God the Holy Spirit
• The promise of heaven to all believers
• The necessity of a new birth for all believers
• Communion for all believers (not only 144,000)
• The eternal security of the believer
• The conscious eternal punishment of the lost

The Truth from the Bible

For lack of space, I am only going to put the Bible verse reference, I am not actually going to type the entire verses.  You can look up the verses online at BibleGateway.com.  God exists in a Trinity of 3 eternal and co-equal persons.  Meaning within the nature of  the one God, there are 3 eternal Persons:  Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

• Father: Romans 1:17
• Son: John 20:28
• Holy Spirit: Acts 5:3-4

Jesus is no less than God in human flesh.  (Colossians 2:9)

God, the Holy Spirit, is the 3rd member of the Holy Trinity.  (Matthew 28:19, Acts 13:2)

Jesus Christ rose bodily from the grave. (John 2:20-21, Luke 24:39)

Jesus is visibly coming again to setup His kingdom on earth. (Matthew 24:30, Acts 1:8, Revelation 1:7)

Salvation is in the Person of Jesus Christ and comes through faith in Him.  (Acts 16:31, Ephesians 2:8-9)

It is the work of God for man, not a work of man for God. (Titus 3:4-6)

Jesus was and should be worshiped. (John 20:26-28, Matthew 2:10-12, Matthew 14:33)

When You Talk to Jehovah’s Witnesses

When you talk to Jehovah’s Witnesses today, they really don’t have much hope.  Their entire plan is to be saved through good works and hopefully make it to a paradise on earth.  They only believe that the first 144,000 Witnesses make it to heaven and many of them are either dead or too old to be going door to door.  So, the people you will probably talk to, mostly think they are only going to a paradise on earth, not heaven.

Why They Believe Only 144,000  Make it to Heaven

Joseph Franklin Rutherford, their 2nd president, believed the end of the world was very near, so he began to tell his followers that only 144,000 members would make it to heaven, to increase membership.  They believed for a long time that only these people could be saved.  They ran into a problem in 1935 when their membership increased to over 144,000.  Rutherford quickly pulled down another revelation from God and began teaching that the people that got in after the 144,000 would stay here on earth in a paradise when they died.  This is why most Witnesses have no hope of ever going to heaven when you talk to them today.

Jehovah’s Witnesses and the Trinity

Ok, so what is the main thing that truly separates Jehovah’s Witnesses from Christians?  What is the main part of their doctrine that differs from what Christ taught and what the Bible teaches?  It is the trinity.  They will tell you that you do not find the word trinity in the Holy Bible.  That may be true.  The word trinity is a Latin term meaning “3 in the unity of one”.  This is simply a term we use to describe what God has revealed to us.  So the question is not whether or not the word trinity is actually used, but whether or not the Bible teaches the Trinity.  Let’s answer some questions for Jehovah’s Witnesses and look at whether or not the Bible teaches the doctrine of the Trinity.

The following verses from the Bible explain the Trinity easily and make it very hard for Jehovah’s Witnesses to deny it.  These verses are actually translated the same even in the Jehovah’s Witnesses own Bible, which makes them very easy to use when talking to a Witness.  We will show these verses out of their favorite book, Revelation.

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God, “who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty.”

Revelation 1:8

Who is speaking here?  The Lord is speaking and Jehovah’s Witnesses agree that Jehovah God is speaking here.  They will agree that the Alpha and the Omega is the Lord God.  Their version of the Bible also capitalizes Alpha and Omega so that you know who it is.  The next verse…

^“He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”  He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. ⁷He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”

Revelation 21:5-7

Once again we see that the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End is the Lord/Jehovah God.  It is capitalized in their Bible and they agree with it.  Another verse…

“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”

Revelation 22:13

Again they agree that these verses refer to the Lord/Jehovah God.  Next verse…

“When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. Then he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid. I am the First and the Last.”

Revelation 1:17

Who is the First and the Last here?  They will agree that it is Jehovah God.  Once again, it is capitalized in their Bible.  Well let’s read the verse directly after that verse.

“I am the Living One; I was dead, and behold I am alive for ever and ever! And I hold the keys of death and Hades.”

Revelation 1:18

This verse is the same in their Bible.  The Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Living One…who is this?  In any translation you can see that this is referring to Jehovah God.  So a great question arises for Jehovah’s Witnesses.  When did Jehovah God die?  They do not have an answer for this question.  Who died?  The answer is that Jesus died and it says the Lord God died.  This is because Jesus and the Lord God, the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Living One, Jehovah God are one in the same.  Jehovah’s Witnesses do not have an answer for this.  You can even use their Bible to show these verses to them and they still do not have an answer.

What Does This All Mean?

Jehovah’s Witnesses deny many essentials of the Christianity…but why?  Because they all follow the original beliefs of one man who was proven to be a false prophet, who never accomplished any great miracles and who lived a sinful life.  This all comes down to who are we following?  This is an important question.  Do we follow sinless, amazing, faith-worthy Jesus or do we follow a false prophet?  Read more about this in the next blog.  For more great information on Jehovah’s Witnesses visit CARM on Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Kent Hovind is the Creationist in this video and he takes on 3 Evolutionists.  The Evolutionists don’t really appear to be very informed, but they are professors, so this debate is very interesting.

Check out Kent Hovind’s website: drdino.com