JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES CAN YOU ACCEPT A CHALLENGE?
Can you accept a challenge? If so, I challenge you to search the scriptures in your own New World Translation, comparing the following scriptures! I am sure that you would agree with me, that the scriptures must harmonize, and must NOT contradict. Bearing this in mind, and in the secrecy of your own home, check out the following scriptures:
To start with, in the March 3, 1959 edition of the Watchtower Magazine, on page 150, you will see a statement to the effect - ''The name of the most high, the one and only true God is Jehovah" Now in your New World Translation, in John 1:1 we read, In the beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god" If I were to ask you, who is this "a god," you would answer that it is Jesus Christ. Now the next question is, "Is Jesus Christ a true god?" If your answer is yes, then you have two true gods, which contradicts the statement of faith by the Watchtower Organization. I know that you will say that there are many gods, but we are not dealing with gods of this world, but with Deity. Now, if your answer is no, then He must, according to you, be a false god. He is either true or false. If He is a false god, then you have many problems.
In your little booklet, "Make Sure of All Things," on page 282, we see that according to the Watchtower Organization, Jehovah created a False god, and through this false god, all other things were created. On page 283 Jehovah is the Father of this false god. This false god is the Messiah, Prophecys were fulfilled through him! On page 284, this false god uncompromisingly proclaimed the truth. On page 285, Jehovah gave the false god divine backing to perform miracles. Page 286 tells us that this false god died as a ransom, opening the way to Eternal Life for all who would believe. Forgiveness of sins and salvation to eternal life .is possible only through this false god. On page 287, this false god was resurrected from the dead and is now immortal! This false god is exalted to Heaven, and this false god is Jehovah's Son?! Something is drastically wrong somewhere. He must be a true God. But then you are in contradiction with the Organization that lays out tour beliefs and statements of faith. Remember, it is impossible for two true gods to exist.
ANOTHER PROBLEM
Another problem, John, who was the Author and writer of the book of John was a Jew, and as a Jew, he believed in only ONE GOD, and yet, if your translation is accurate, you have John writing about a Big God, who goes by the name of Jehovah, and a lesser god, known as Jesus Christ. As a true Jew, John could not possibly believe in two Gods! Something wrong here too!
Now, let's compare some scriptures in your own translation. Compare John 1:1-2 with Isaiah 43:10, where Jehovah says, "Before me there was no god formed, and after me there continued to be none."
I ask you in all sincerity, where then did this "a god" from John 1:1 come from, that Jehovah supposed to have created? Compare John 1:1 with the following scriptures: Isaiah 44:6, where it says, "besides me there is no god": John 1:1 with Isaiah 46:6, where they all say there is no other god. These scriptures according to your translation and the Watchtower Organization, statements of belief, DO NOT harmonize, they fully contradict. True scriptures do not contradict!
According to the Watchtower philosophy, Jesus Christ was created by Jehovah, as Michael, the Archangel. Note then in John 1:3, your "translation" (?) says that all things came into existence through him (meaning Jesus Christ), and apart from him, not even one thing came into existence. So, if not even one thing came into existence apart from him, then he must have created the angels too, in which case he created himself. Yes Michael is one of the angels, and reasoning further along this line you then have, a created Creator!
Now for further comparisons, Let's compare John 1:3 with Genesis 1:1, where we read that God created the heavens and the earth. Then in Isaiah 44:24 we read that Jehovah says, "I, Jehovah am doing everything, stretching out the heavens and the earth by myself". But John 1:3 says that Jesus Christ did all the creating! Isaiah 45:8, Jehovah says, "I myself, Jehovah, have created it." Same chapter verse 12, Jehovah says, "I myself, have made the earth and have created even man upon it. I, my own hands, have stretched out the heavens...etc." Now in Colossians 1:16 we read, "For by Him, (meaning Jesus Christ) were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers; all things were created by him, and for him."
I know that your New World Translation has added the word (other) in brackets, but search as you may, you will not find that word in any Greek text.
On page 6 at the bottom of your "translation", it says that brackets enclose words inserted to complete or clarify the sense in the English text! The word (other) was added by the Watchtower Organization-not to clarify but to change the meaning of the text in question. I repeat, that added word (other) does not appear in any Greek text! But if you want to leave the word, other, in there, then you have to come to terms with the fact that a created creature did all the creating and that you have a created Creator!
Now, let's turn our attention to the book of Revelation, again using your own N.W.T. of the scriptures. In Revelation 1:8, we read, "I am the Alpha and Omega," says Jehovah God, "the One Who is, and Who was, and Who is coming, The Almighty." This is supposed to be Jehovah God, according to your translation! Verse 17 and 18 says, "Fear not, I am the first and the last: I am He that liveth, and was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and death." Along with these verses read Revelation 21:6, and chapter 22:12-16. The quotation marks, in your translation, beginning at verse 12 show one speaker right through to verse 16. In verse 13, He says, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." Then, in verse 16 He says, I Jesus, sent my angel to bear witness to you people of these things for the congregations. I am the root and offspring of David, and the bright morning star."
The same speaker throughout the context, is Jesus Christ, and in verse 13 He says He is the Alpha and the Omega the first and the last, the beginning and the end."
In Revelation 1:8, according to your translation, Jehovah is supposed to make the same statement. Can there be two Alpha's and two Omega's? Can there be two First and two Last? Can there be two beginning and two endings without or unless they be one and and the Same?
Back to Isaiah again, chapter 44:6, also 48:12. Jehovah is declared to be the First and the Last. In Revelation 22:13 Jesus Christ is declared to be the First and the Last! Something is wrong. The Scriptures in your N.W.T. contradict in many places,.
In your booklet, "The Word Who is He", according to John, on page 11, it says, and I quote: "Search John's writings as much as you can, yet we do not once find that John says that the Word became a God-man, that is a combination of God and man" Unquote.
However, please, take notice of Joh's words recorded at John 5:18: "For this cause therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because he not only broke the Sabbath, but also called God his own Father, making Himself equal with God." And what are Christ's chief titles? "Son of man" and "Son of God" According to numeral usage, we find Son of man, mentioned 78 times, and Son of God mentioned 48 times in the New Testament.
I trust that these few verses from your own translation will suffice to show you that there is something drastically wrong with what you have been led to believe, because we have shown you from your own Translation of the Scriptures where they definitely contradict each other, and scripture must not contradict- It must harmonize!
I challenge you to check these out for yourself, and think seriously about what you have been led to believe!
In conclusion, The Savior, Jesus Christ, prepared a way out of love, offering you an escape. He took the penalty required by sin. It was a substitutionary atonement. There is no longer a standing debt held against anyone who has been born through the Water and the Spirit (John 3:5), his sins are gone and have been cast into the sea of God's forgetfulness, to be remembered by Him no more. Jeremiah 31:34 bears this out.
You should lose no time in coming to grips with this matter. God Bless you as you do!