Hot answers tagged jehovahs-witnesses
33
The verse in question is:
Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ὁ λόγος, καὶ ὁ λόγος ἦν πρὸς τὸν θεόν, καὶ θεὸς ἦν ὁ
λόγος.
That bold part is, somewhat literally, "God the word was".
The issue here is the lack of the indefinite article in Greek. They had no word for "a, an". Depending on context, it is acceptable and even necessary to insert those words into a translation. ...
29
There is comparatively little evidence in the NT for the shape of the object. There is not much etymological help from the Greek words σταυρός or ξύλον, which do not clearly indicate either shape.
Some of the textual hints we do have are:
But [Thomas] said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put ...
16
According to this article, the New World Translation translated this incorrectly. http://carm.org/religious-movements/jehovahs-witnesses/john-11-word-was-god
The New World translation is incorrect in its translation of this
verse for several reasons. First of all, the Bible teaches a strict
monotheism. To say that Jesus is "a god" is to suggest ...
15
You basically have three sub-questions here, so let me attempt to answer them in order.
Why do christians have to promote their beliefs to other people?
For two principal reasons: because we were commanded to at several different places in the Bible, and as an act of love. The Gospel improves the lives of those who live its principles, and we want to ...
14
There's a problem with one of your assumptions: Jehovah's Witnesses don't use Jehovah "to be accurate". They use Jehovah because they think it's important to call God by name, and because Jehovah is the traditional rendering in English. They accept that the original pronunciation has been lost, and argue that were it important, Jehovah God would not have ...
14
It is not always the case with all Kingdom Halls. In fact there are many with windows. About as many as reasons for having no windows. A few common answers are found below:
For security reasons. Normally they do not have a parish residence nearby to keep a watch on their belongings. This is a bigger problem in larger cities.
Cost benefits. Windows are more ...
12
First to address a couple fuzzy or incorrect conclusions drawn in the question:
The book of Job does NOT say, "However and whenever they celebrated, Job knew it didn't please God." As you quoted, Job is being proactive to show God he cares about his children, and that on the off chance they have sinned, an atonement can be made.
Also, the beheading of John ...
10
Symbolic meaning of the bread and wine
JW's do not accept transubstantiation (the unyeasted bread means/symbolizes Jesus' perfect and sinless body and the wine represents his blood he sacrificed to save humankind from the sinful state inherited by Adam and to seal the second covenant).
The biblical verses in the New World Translation (NWT), the ...
10
Ecclesiastes 8:15
So I commend the enjoyment of life, because nothing is better for a man under the sun than to eat and drink and be glad. Then joy will accompany him in his work all the days of the life God has given him under the sun.
Seriously, have some fun in life.
10
Yes, they do. It's called New World Translation.
There are several verses with a completely different meaning than other translations, such as John 1:1
1 In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the
Word was a god
Quite different than the NIV translation
1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the
...
9
You're reading from the Jehovah Witnesses' version of the bible. The Witnesses preach that Jesus is a separate God.
Jesus IS GOD. There's a thousand verses that back this up, but the Witnesses deny Jesus of His deity. They actually try and teach that Jesus is a created angel, which the Bible states the exact opposite. Jesus IS GOD.
John 5:16-18
Therefore ...
8
The capitalized YOU is used to disambiguate singular vs. plural usage. While unclear in English, the difference between singular and plural usage is clear in the original Greek sources of these texts.
It also makes a distinction between the singular and plural in the 2nd person personal pronoun: "you" is singular, and "YOU" is plural. In English, the ...
8
Jehovah's Witnesses (JWs) take Daniel 10:13,21; 12:1 to equate Michael to Christ. They believe that since it refers to Michael as "one of the foremost princes", and,
"Michael will stand up, the great prince who is standing in behalf of the sons of your people."
They also interpret "stand up" to be mean "take control and reign as king." From their ...
7
This is actually a verse that Witnesses would know well, and quote often. It is on the basis of this verse that Witnesses avoid politics (and, generally, careers which would result in fame). Witnesses do not vote; do not join political campaigns; do not donate to political causes; and do not join political parties. This is all on the basis of John 18:36:
...
7
Flawed Logic
By that logic, I could easily show that getting married is a sin, because practically every woman in the Bible was a cause of stumbling for her husband... :p Or I could show that God's interactions with Israel in the wilderness were evil, because whenever He tested them, they sinned.
We need to stick to what the Bible does say, and be careful ...
7
Short answer: Jehovah's Witnesses do not believe in Hell.
Longer answer: Technically, Jehovah's Witnesses do believe in Hell, but (a) their beliefs about Hell are quite unusual, and (b) they generally don't use the name "Hell". (So it's simpler to say they don't believe in Hell.)
Even longer answer: The Biblical words usually translated as "Hell" are the ...
7
Here's Revelation 7:4 from the New World Translation of the Bible
And I heard the number of those who were sealed, a hundred and forty‐four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the sons of Israel:
In the article "Great Crowd" in the Watchtower Biblical/theological encyclopaedia Insight on the Scriptures, we find:
The apostle [Paul] wrote: “He is ...
7
I love Narnian's answer indicating that Jesus is the Alpha and Omega. Here are a few other proofs to supplement that answer.
1. There is only one God
"I am He, And there is no god besides Me" -Deuteronomy 32:39
“You are My witnesses,” declares the Lord,
“And My servant whom I have chosen,
So that you may know and believe Me
And understand ...
6
This question does a good job at explaining part of your question, especially the answer with a lot of references:
Biblical basis for the doctrine of the Trinity
Some verses shed some light on Christ as a/the God:
Hebrews 1:2-4- Christ help make the world (universe in NIV), sat on right hand of God, and was made 'better than the angels' (KJV) (compare to ...
6
I can't verify the accuracy of this post, but the origin of "Kingdom Hall" is given here (and I would imagine that the phrase "Kingdom Songs" has a similar origin): http://wiki.answers.com/Q/First_Jehovah%27s_Witness_kingdon_hall_establish_in_America
The name Kingdom Hall was suggested in 1935 by J. F. Rutherford, who
was then president of the Watch ...
6
Witness doctrine:
God's original plan was for humans to live forever in paradise conditions on Earth.
But
Then Adam and Eve rebelled and threw a spanner in the works.
God's purpose (ultimate goal) didn't change, but his plan (the way to get there) did. Now there had to be all that complicated business with sending his son down to Earth to die as a ...
6
Apparently, per Wikipedia, this date corresponds to Nisan 14, converting the date from the Hebrew Calendar to the Gregorian Calendar.
I don't believe they're saying it happened on a Tuesday. In 2012, it was a Thursday.
5
This is an interesting question. I don't know if I'm correct about this, but here are my thoughts.
The differences might be theologically meaningful to a certain extent (e.g. the meaning of diatheke in 2 Cor. 3:14), but they probably have, in my opinion, a more important social function. By using specific language (or jargon) the group can distinguish and ...
5
I feel that the previous answer might be a bit one sided.
0) First of all, persons who are not baptised as a JW, but only raised as a JW, are free to live their lives as they see fit (there is no infant baptism among JW's). They are not considered as JW's and the society can not officially sanction any of their life style choices. The same goes for ...
5
The word church has various meanings. It can be used to refer to an physical building. Witness churches are called Kingdom Halls. It can also be used to refer to a group of believers in a specific area. For sense of the word, Witnesses use congregation, which I believe is quite common for many branches of Christianity.
But the word church has another ...
5
After speaking to someone I know who is a former witness, the short answer is "No." They treat the body of Christ similarly but differently. If they have some equivalent, which many would debate, it's something they call "The Memorial of Christ's death" which occurs once a year and only the "anointed" are allowed to eat the bread and drink the wine.
...
5
Only Jehovah is God; Jesus Christ is Michael the
archangel. He is different from the other angels in that he was the
first one created. They quote the following verse to prove that he
is Michael:
1 Thessalonians 4:14 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command,
with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, ...
4
Let me put it to you this way:
If you saw someone about to walk off a cliff, wouldn't you try to stop them?
The question is asking about a Christian's motives, so it's fair to evaluate this from the Christian's point of view. Perhaps the atheist about to walk off the cliff is only trying to reach a ledge just below top of the cliff, but if all the ...
4
First of all - Jesus Christ is Jehovah. He states about him "I am" and when He pronouces it it makes his captors fall to the ground. So the name of God "I am" is the name of Jesus, not only of Father.
At least two fragments I can come up with now:
That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under ...
4
Jehovah's Witnesses use the standard 66-book Protestant Bible, but usually use their own translation thereof (they do reference other translations from time to time, but generally use The New World Translation). It's fair to say that the NWT is quite, let's say, distinctive in places, and has received a fair amount of criticism. The Witnesses do not in any ...
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