Cults
Book: Purveyors of Death.
JESUS : A mighty god ?
On page 47 of the official Watchtower book put out by their Elect,we read:
" ... God's Son, the Word, a god. He is a 'mighty god', but
not the Almighty God, who is Jehovah. Isi. 9:6." Book, The
Truth Shall Make You Free.
Notice the use of the small 'm' and 'g' when referring to Jesus.
But this is not what Isiah 9:6 says according to their
ownWatchtower bible. This text reads:
"And his name will be called ... Mighty God, Eternal Father"
Notice the difference in what the Elect of the Watchtower
say,and what the bible says. Notice that both adjectives and
nounsare capitalized. This will give you an idea of how the
Witnessessubstantiate their claim regarding the personality of
Jesus. Tothem, 'Mighty God' means 'mighty god'. It is
important to noticethat they call Jesus a 'true god', and they
agree that He waswith Almighty God in the beginning, which
brings them intoconflict with Isiah 44:8, where we read:
"Is there a God beside me? there is no God, I know not any."
See also 44:6; 45:22 and 46:9.
I have produced quotations elsewhere to show the Witnesses
preachthat Jesus is a created entity. I now quote the following
frompages 48 and 49 of the above book because it contains two
pointsI wish to touch on:
"The question now arises as to the OTHER creatures that were
produced after God's firstborn Son, the Word. Were these
OTHER creatures each a direct creation of God as his Son was?
The firstborn Son's title 'only begotten Son' indicates that
the OTHER creatures were not God's direct creation without
any agent in between. After God CREATED the Word, then he
used this only begotten Son as His agent or 'master
workman' in the creation of everything else."
The very next sentence says:
"To this effect John 1:3 testifies concerning the Word: 'All
things were made by him; and without him was not made anything
that was made." My emphasis and Capitals.
One can see the conflict of these two quotations if one
teachesthat Jesus is a created entity. Please note the use of
the word'OTHER'. The purpose of its use is obvious, and it
isinteresting to note that the Witnesses have added this word
intovital texts to insinuate into your mind that Jesus is among
thosewho were created. But this is flatly contradicted by
theirquotation from John, which, on their interpretation means
thatJesus created Himself! On the next page they quote from Col
1:16to 17 to prove God's use of His Son in the creation of all
thingsafter Him. The quotation is taken from the King James
version of1611, and in that quotation the term 'All Things' is
used fourtimes:
"For by Him were all things created; All things were created
by Him; He is before all things; By Him all things
consist."
When the Witnesses came to print their own bible in 1950,
theyintroduced into the text their own conception of how these
textsshould read:
"Because by means of him all OTHER things were created;
All OTHER things have been created through him;
He is before all OTHER things;
By means of him all OTHER things were made to exist."
The Greek word in these four places is 'Panta' with the
Definitearticle standing before it as 'Ta Panta'. It means 'The
All' or 'The Everything'. It has been correctly translated by
the KingJames version quoted above. And not only this, but The
EmphaticDiaglott, which is published by the Watchtower, also
follows theK.J. version. Also, The Living Bible In English, a
Watchtowerbook, has 'Everything' in these places.
When this addition of 'other' to the text was pointed out to
theWatchtower, they placed 'other' in brackets in the next
edition. On page 45 of the book mentioned above, they
charge'Religionists' who have 'Tried to manufacture proofs for
theirteaching of the trinity'. They make this charge on one
page, andthen are brazen enough to perpetrate it themselves on
the next. They send up a smoke-screen in the hope that we will
not be ableto see through their wiles.
BEGOTTEN = CREATED ?
The Witnesses explanation of the meaning of 'Only Begotten' is
sonaive that for anyone to accept it must place a question
markagainst that degree of common sense such a person would
claim topossess. Indeed, they might possess common sense, but
theiracceptance of such an explanation is good evidence that
they havesuspended its use in this field of inquiry. By no
stretch of theimagination can 'Only Begotten' in the English
language be madeto mean 'Only Directly Created'. And it is the
same in Greek. Prototokos means 'First Born', and Monogenes
means 'OnlyBegotten'. Neither of these two Greek words are ever
used ofJesus to convey that He was Protoktisteos - First
Created. Inthe text previously mentioned (Col 1:15-17) the
Witnesses use thephrase 'First born of all creation' as a proof
text to show thatJesus is a created entity: Book, Make Sure Of
All Things, page207. After quoting this text they comment on
page 49 of thebook, The Truth Shall Make You Free:
"Jesus Christ would have to be the 'firstborn of every
creature' to be before all other creations and to be God's
'master workman' in producing them."
Notice now, their proof of the above:
"In proof of this Jesus says concerning himself: 'These things
saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning
of the creation of God'. Rev 3:14. Being the only begotten
Son of God and 'the firstborn of every creature', the Word
would be a prince among all other creatures."
Note again the use of the word 'other'. The suggestion is
madethat Jesus is the 'Firstborn of every creature' because,
being created first he is thereby 'Before all other creations'.
We aretold quite clearly why Jesus is the 'Firstborn of
everycreature', because/for by him were all things created.
Therevised edition of their bible now reads:
"He is ... the firstborn of all creations; because by means of
him all (other) things were created ..."
The word 'other' is not in the Greek text of Westcott and
Hort,whom the Witnesses call 'renowned Greek scholars'. This is
adirect fabrication of proof for theories previously worked
out,which it was quite obviously needed a little 'addition'
tocertain texts to substantiate. In Weymouth's version, this
textreads:
"The Firstborn and Lord of all creation."
In a footnote he explains: "Or 'of earlier birth than any
createdbeing, born before anything was created'."
The New English bible reads: "His is the primacy over
allcreated things."
The Twentieth Century New Testament reads: "First-born and
headof all creation."
Matthew Henry comments on 'Prototokos pases ktiseos':
"Begotten before all the creation, or before any creature was
made."
The same thought is expressed by A. Plummer, M.A., D.D. in
theCambridge Greek Testament:
"Born prior to (not 'first of') all creation."
The Living New Testament reads: "He existed before God
madeanything at all ..."
Philips reads: "He existed before creation began ... "
You will have noticed above that the Witnesses used Rev 3:14
alsoas a proof text that Jesus Himself says He was the first
thingcreated. To establish further their position I will quote
from'Let God Be True':
"The truth of the matter is that the Word is Jesus Christ, who
did have a beginning; because at Rev 3:14 he distinctly
states he was the beginning of the creation of God. That is
why he is spoken of as the 'only begotten' of the Father. The
Apostle Paul sustains this truth when he speaks of Jesus as
'the firstborn of every creature'. Col 1:15." Page 88.
These are the first two texts quoted to prove that,
'JesusChrist, (is) a created individual', in their book 'Make
Sure OfAll Things' on page 207. If we keep in mind John 1:3:
'... andwithout him (Jesus) was not anything made that was
made,' we cansee that the term 'The beginning' as used in Rev
3:14 does notmean 'The first thing created by God'. This
distinction isbrought out in the following translations:
"... the Origen of God's creation." Moffat.
"... the prime source of all of God's creation." New English.
"... the Origen and beginning of God's creation." Amplified.
"... the primeval source of God's creation." L.N.Testament.
"... the source from which God's creation began." R. Knox.
"... the ultimate source of God's creation." Jerusalem bible.
The Revised Standard Version is typical of many that give:
"... the beginning of God's creation." In a footnote:
"... the source of creation."
The Roman Catholic version gives the same as the RSV, but
nonewould say that they are intending to claim thereby that
Jesus isa created Entity. As far as I am aware, the Witnesses
do notgive one version that has the same rendering as theirs, so
as tobe able to claim some other authority for their own
spurioustranslation.
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