What do the Jehovah's Witnesses Teach?

  1.   There is one God in one person, Make Sure of All Things, p 188. No, that’s modalism. The true is that there is one God in 3 Persons.
  2.   There is no Trinity, Let God be True, p. 100-101; Make Sure of All Things, p.386. No. God is Triune – a Trinity. This is how He reveals Himself to us.
  3.   The Holy Spirit is a force, not alive, Reasoning from the Scriptures, 1985, pp.
       406-407.     No. The Holy Spirit is not a force. The Holy Spirit is literally God’s life in His 3rd Person. These are spiritual terms we use to express God’s vast complexity as He reveals Himself to us.
  4.   The Holy Spirit is God's impersonal active force, The Watchtower, June 1, 1952,
       p. 24.      No. The Holy Spirit is God’s personal active non-force, literally God Himself revealed in His 3rd Person.
  5.   Jehovah's first creation was his 'only-begotten Son'. . . was used by Jehovah in
      creating all other things",     Aid to Bible Understanding, pp. 390-391. No. Jesus was not created. Jesus was uncreated. This is the best quote I have ever read on the Lordship of Christ,

    “As regards to the Godhead, the Son and the Father are co-equal; but His being the Lord is rewarded Him by God. The Lord Jesus Christ was made Lord only after He emptied Himself. His deity derives from who He is, for His being God is His inherent nature. His being Lord, though, issues out of what He has done. He was exalted and rewarded by God to be the Lord only after He forsook His glory and maintained the perfect role of obedience. As regards Himself, He is God; as regards reward, He is Lord. His Lordship did not exist originally in the Godhead.

    The passage in Philippians 2 is most difficult to explain, for it is most controversial besides being most holy. Let's remove our shoes and stand on holy ground as we review the Scripture. It seems as though at the beginning a council was held within the Godhead. God conceived a plan to create the universe. In that plan the Godhead agreed to have authority represented by the Father. But authority cannot exist alone. God must therefore find obedience in the universe. Two living beings were to be created: angels (spirits) and men (living souls). According to His foreknowledge God foresaw the rebellion of the angels and the fall of men; hence He was unable to establish His authority in angels or in the Adamic race. Consequently, within the Godhead perfect accord was reached that authority would be reached by the obedience of the Son. From this come the distinctive operations of God the Father and God the Son. One day God the Son emptied himself, and being born in the likeness of men. He became the symbol of obedience. Inasmuch as rebellion came from the created beings, so obedience must now be established in the created being. Man sinned and rebelled; therefore the authority of God must be erected on man’s obedience. This explains why the Lord came to the world and was made as one of the created men”.

  1.   Jesus was Michael the archangel who became a man, The Watchtower, May 15,
      1963, p. 307; The New World, 284.     No. Michael is an archangel in Rev. 12, the only one ever mentioned by name of the 24 discussed in Rev. 4.
  2.   Jesus was only a perfect man, not God in flesh, Reasoning from the Scriptures,
      1985, pp. 306.     Jesus was God in the flesh and a perfect man.
  3.   Jesus did not rise from the dead in his physical body, Awake! July 22, 1973, p. 4. Yes. Jesus did rise from the place of the dead called Hades (Sheol) in his physical body. "See My hands and My feet, that it is I Myself; touch Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have" (Luke 24.39).
  4.   Jesus was raised "not a human creature, but a spirit." Let God be True, p. 276. Jesus was raised as a human creature and in spirit (see the movie this weekened that came out called THE FORGOTTEN).
  5.   Jesus did not die on a cross but on a stake, Reasoning from the Scriptures, 1985,
       pp. 89-90.     No. It was the cross.     Mat 27:40 And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest [it] in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross.
  6.   Jesus returned to earth, invisibly, in 1914, The Truth Shall Make You Free, p. 300. No. When Jesus returns, all shall know it like lightening and He will step down on the mount of olives in the flesh just as He left. Act 1:11 and said, "Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into heaven? This Jesus, who was taken up from you into heaven, will come in the same way as you saw him go into heaven." Matt. 24.30 “In heaven” – Since the sign appears in heaven, all the tribes of the earth shall see it. “All the tribes of the earth” refers to the twelve tribes of Israel. They shall mourn and weep (see Zech. 12.10-14). Zec 14:4 On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives which lies before Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley; so that one half of the Mount shall withdraw northward, and the other half southward. Mat 24:27 For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be the coming of the Son of man.
  7.   Jesus' ransom sacrifice did not include Adam, Let God be True, p.  119. Yes it did. For Adam could have been redeemed believing in God through the Son of man (as typified like men such as Ezekiel). The cross is eternal whether you look forward or back at it. It was for Adam also, the first God-conscious man. Adam was blocked from the tree of life, but observe how Abel gave God a proper offering not of his own strength, but according to God’s will. This same right was still afforded to Adam, but there was no indication Adam was saved. He fell from grace.
  8.   Their church is the self-proclaimed prophet of God, The Watchtower, April 1,
      1972, p. 197.      True. But not true.
  9.   They claim to be the only channel of God's truth, The Watchtower, Feb. 15, 
       1981, p. 19.     True. But not true.
  10.   Only their church members will be saved, The Watchtower, Feb, 15, 1979, p. 30. No. Most assuredly most of these will go to hell.
  11.   Good works are necessary for salvation, Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. 1, 
      pp. 150, 152    . No. Initial salvation requires no works just belief according to John 6.47, 3.16,18.
  12.   The soul ceases to exist after death, Let God be True, p. 59, 60, 67. No. Soul exists for eternity either in heaven or hell. God does not extinguish the soul life for once God-consciousness is given He in his righteousness can not extinguish that soul. What an easy way out that would be. It is the belief that the soul is extinguish which causes a person to act more sinfully. Therefore this can not be true of God’s ways.
  13.   There is no hell of fire where the wicked are punished, Let God be True, p. 79, 80. The Bible disagrees with Jehovah Witnesses. Mat 25:46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal. (fire speaks of suffering and judgment).
  14.   Only 144,000 Jehovah's Witness go to heaven, Reasoning from the Scriptures,
      1985, pp. 166-167, 361; Let God be True, p. 121.     Almost all Jehovah Witnesses go to hell, especially all the 144,000 Jehovah Witnesses.
  15.   Only the 144,000 Jehovah's Witness are born again. Reasoning from the
      Scriptures, 1985, p. 76.; Watchtower 11/15/54, p. 681. All 144,000 Jehovah Witnesses are not born again.
  16.   Only the 144,000 may take communion, The 144,000 Jehovah Witnesses may not take communion and are not able to break bread with the body of Christ.
  17.   Blood transfusions are a sin, Reasoning from the Scriptures, 1985, pp. 72-73. It is a sin not to take blood transfusion.
  18.   The Cross is a pagan symbol and should not be used, Reasoning from the
       Scriptures, 1985, pp. 90-92.     The cross is pagan to Jehova Witnesses because Jehovah Witnesses are pagan. The cross is where the death of Christ occurred and bore the sins of the world and we died with him so that now in co-death we bear our crosses daily, take up the cross in daily experience in resurrection life. Praise the Lord!
  19.   Salvation is by faith and what you do, Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. 1, pp.
      150,152.      No. Salvation is by faith, not what you do. If it was by what you do then it would not be grace.
  20.   It is possible to lose your salvation, Reasoning from the Scriptures, 1985, pp.
      358-359.     No. It is not possible to lose your salvation. When God gives eternal life. He gives it eternally. Give God some respect that He has the foreknowledge to save forever when He saves.
  21.   The universe is billions of years old, Your will Be Done on Earth, p. 43. This is true.
  22.   Each of the 6 creative days of God in Genesis 1, was 7000 years long.  No. Neither are the 6 days creative, nor are they 7000 years long. Rather, they are 6 twenty four summary days of restoration. We do not know exactly how long the period in which they summarize took from Gen. 1.2 when God made the earth desolate because of the sin of earth’s earliest ages and its inhabitants then. http://www3.telus.net/trbrooks/mystery.htm
      Therefore, Man was created toward the end of 42,000 years of earth's
      preparation,     Let God be True, p. 168. Therefore. No, since the earth was longer than 42,000 years, and we don’t know how long the summary period represents, when desolation occurred in Gen. 1.2. We may know one day, but right now, we do not.
  23.   They also refuse to vote, salute the flag, sing the "Star Spangled Banner," or
      celebrate Christmas or birthdays. They are not allowed to serve in the armed
      forces. This is a sin to not do these things for these things are set up as authority and it is a sin not to be submissive to these authorities God has set up.
  24.   Satan was entrusted with the obligation and charged with the duty of
      overseeing the creation of the earth, Children, p 55 Satan created nothing. He is the created, falling from pride, cast out of heaven. Rather, he was the most beautiful angel who ruled the earth, for he is called in the Bible the prince of the earth, but when he fell he was cast out of heaven and infected the inhabitants of the earth, as well as bringing down a 3rd of the angels with him to 2nd heaven, and the demons they ruled over and those demons that infected the inhabitants of the earth and its cities was utterly destroyed in Gen. 1.2.

Troy Brooks

http://www.carm.org/witnesses.htm