JW's Beliefs, Practices and Errors

• History
◦ Started about 1852
◦ Charles Taze Russell
▪ https://christian.net/pub/resources/text/apl/jw/jehwit34.txt, The Kingdom of the Cults
– Walter Martin
▪ Committed Perjury (1913, JJ Ross)
• Q: (Attorney Staunton) – Do you know the Greek alphabet?
• A: (Russell) – Oh yes.
• Q: (Staunton) – Can you tell me the correct letters if you see them?
• A: (Russell) – Some of them, I might make a mistake on some of them.
• Q: (Staunton) – Would you tell me the names of those on top of the page,
page 447 I have got here?
• A: (Russell) – Well, I don't know that I would be able to.
• Q: (Staunton) – You can't tell what those letters are, look at them and see if
you know?
• A: (Russell) – My way... [he was interrupted at this point and was not
allowed to explain]
• Q: (Staunton) – Are you familiar with the Greek language?
• A: (Russell) – No.

• Cult
◦ General dictionary definition: Religion
◦ Christian offshoot: Take some elements of Christianity, twist essentials, still claim to
come from the Bible
▪ Islam – Bible's corrupted, so you need the Quran
▪ Mormonism – Book of Mormon is higher authority than the Bible
▪ Paganism – Not a Christian offshoot, just a false religion

• Beliefs of the JWs

◦ Jesus is a created being
▪ Jesus was Michael the archangel who became a man, (The Watchtower, May 15,
1963, p. 307; The New World, 284)
▪ Michael was made first
• Everything else was made through Michael
◦ Hebrews 1 refutes this entirely
• Michael became Jesus
• Then Jesus ceased to exist and Michael now exists
◦ Spiritual, not Physical resurrection
▪ Resurrection passages say it was Physical
◦ Jesus did not die on a cross, but on a stake, (Reasoning from the Scriptures, 1985, p. 89-
90)
▪ Stauros does mean stake, but... [usage of words change over time, e.g.
awesome/awful. Mike describes a reference jw.org uses that doesn't quote the whole
reference.]
◦ Jesus began his invisible rule over the earth in 1914, The Truth Shall Make You Free,
p.300
▪ Matthew 24:23-27 – If people say Jesus is back secretly, don't believe them. Jesus'
 return will be visible to all
◦ They think “firstborn” means first one created
▪ It's a title of authority
• Jesus is called firstborn, Michael never is
• Jesus is “only begotten of God”
◦ Don't believe in the Resurrection
▪ “the man Jesus is dead... forever dead” (Russell, The Atonement Between God and
Man, p. 454)
▪ “So the King Christ Jesus was put to death in the flesh and was resurrected an
invisible spirit creature” (Russell, Let God Be True, pg. 122)
• If above was true, why was his body gone from the tomb?
• Why did he still have the wounds and ask the disciples to inspect them?
• Luke 24:37-39
• Also ate with the disciples
• Luke 24:40-43
• It's as though God knew JW's would be hearing these lies and try to protect them
with the scriptures
▪ “he was put to death a man, but was raised from the dead a spirit being of the highest
order of the divine nature” (Russell, The Atonement Between God and Man, p. 453)
• In other words, he became a god
▪ So, all people just DIE and stop existing
• Those who are resurrected are recreated based on God's memory of them
◦ No spirit or soul like in Christian theology; just a physical creature
◦ (John 1:1) Not God, just “a” god
▪ “The justice of God would not permit that Jesus, as a ransom, be more than a perfect
man; and certainly not be the supreme God Almighty in the flesh” (Russell, Let God
Be True, p. 87)
• Denies the deity of Christ
• Jesus taught it
• Disciples taught it
• Churches have always believed it, historically
▪ For more information on the John 1:1 mistranslation and what scholars have said
about it: http://forananswer.org/Top_JW/Scholars%20and%20NWT.htm
◦ The Holy Spirit is a force, not a person
▪ Holy Spirit is not God, not a person, doesn't have thoughts, feelings, desires, a will
• 1 Corinthians 12:11 (calls Holy Spirit “he”)
▪ Holy Spirit grieved
• Ephesians 4:30
▪ Holy Spirit speaks
• Acts 10:19; Acts 8:29; Acts 11:12
▪ Holy Spirit teaches
• John 14:26
◦ No hell, only annihilation
▪ They teach that hell is a doctrine Satan made up and spread
▪ You need Watchtower approved material, not just the Bible alone
• Unintentional admission that what they teach is falsehood
◦ Normal categories of people:
▪ Saved
▪ Unsaved
 ◦ JW's have 3 categories of people
▪ “The Anointed Class” of 144,000 people
• Average of 70/year from Pentecost til now
• Most modern ones are in Brooklyn NY
• Resurrect as spirit beings, rule and reign with Christ (first of the 144,000)
• In 1935 God “stopped” calling people into the Anointed Class
▪ “The Great Crowd”
• Resurrected as physical beings (Earthly Hope)
◦ Revelation 21 – Paradise is heaven and earth joined together
▪ The rest of us
• Annihilation
◦ Jesus alone isn't enough for salvation
▪ The "ransom for all" given by "the man Christ Jesus" does not give or guarantee
everlasting life or blessing to any man (Russell, Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. I, p.
150)
• Jesus' sacrifice doesn't guarantee everlasting life to anyone
• Good works are necessary for salvation
▪ FOUR REQUIREMENTS
• 1 – Taking in the knowledge of God and Jesus Christ (false knowledge)
◦ John 17:3 – Knowing God and Christ is eternal life
▪ Taking in knowledge (of JW teachings) – Informational, not relational
• 2 – Obeying God's laws
◦ Rules of morality – Works for salvation
• 3 – Belonging to the Jehovah's Witness organisation
◦ They use Acts 4:12 for this
▪ Acts 4:11 gives context that the “name” is Jesus
▪ Acts 4:7 gives the question Peter responds to: “By what power or what
name did you do this?” – That is, “By whose authority?”
• 4 – “Loyalty”
◦ Promoting JW organisation and giving out or selling its material
▪ The Bible is clear – if you add works to the gospel, it's NOT the gospel!
• Romans 11:6 (NKJV) 6And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise
grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise
work is no longer work
◦ Either grace or works. Not both
◦ Pretty much every false religion tries to have grace AND works. If you mix
both, you have neither

• Beliefs about their church

◦ Their church is the self-proclaimed prophet of God (The Watchtower, April 1, 1972, p.
197)
▪ False prophecies prove this wrong
◦ They claim to be the only channel of God's truth, (The Watchtower, Feb. 15, 1981, p. 19)
▪ Members aren't ALLOWED to get information from other sources
• If JW's do, others direct them away. It's a mind control tactic
◦ Watchtower hypocritical by accusing the Vatican for doing the same thing it does.
▪ “We all need help to understand the Bible, and we cannot find the scriptural guidance
we need outside the 'faithful to and discreet slave' organization” (The Watchtower,
Feb. 15, 1981)
 ▪ “The Vatican belittles Bible study by claiming it is the only organisation authorised
and qualified to interpret the Bible” (The Watchtower, July 1, 1943, p. 201)
◦ Only their church members will be saved (The Watchtower, Feb. 15, 1979, p. 30)
◦ Only 144,000 JW's go to heaven (Reasoning From the Scriptures, 1985, pp. 166-167,
361; Let God Be True, pg. 121)
▪ Not in resurrected bodies, but are spiritual creatures
• 1 Corinthians 15 teaches Physical Resurrection
◦ Only the 144,000 JW's are born again (Reasoning From the Scriptures, 1985, p. 76; The
Watchtower 15/11/54, p. 681)
▪ The rest are in Paradise, or they cease to exist
• Revelation shows a special 144,000 Jews during the Tribulation period (they are
not the only ones saved or ruling with Jesus
◦ First mentioned in Revelation 7:4, “Then I heard the number of those who
were sealed: 144,000 from all the tribes of Israel.” This passage comes in an
interlude between the judgment of the sixth seal of the tribulation
(Revelation 6:12-17) and the opening of the seventh seal (Revelation 8:1)
• It also shows that “Paradise” means being with God, not a separate level of
eternity. Includes all believers (Revelation 21)
◦ Practices they CAN'T do
▪ The Watchtower Association has outlawed certain practices. No JW is permitted to
do the following
• Salute any flag or serve in the military
• Celebrate birthdays
• Blood transfusions are a sin (Reasoning From the Scriptures, 1985, pp. 72-73)
• The Cross is a pagan symbol and should not be used (Reasoning From the
Scriptures, 1985, p. 90-92)
• Talk to former JW's (shunning)
• Read or study anything contrary to Watchtower teachings
• None of this is found in Scripture
• They have their own translation of the New Testament
◦ NWT is a very poor translation, though most JW's have been taught that is is the best
translation ever made
◦ “Jehovah” is God's name, and He won't respond to you if you don't use it.
▪ Acts 4:8-12 (NKJV) 8Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers
of the people and elders of Israel: 9If we this day are judged for a good deed done
to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, [because the man had
been healed] 10let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the
name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the
dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. 11This [Jesus] is the ‘stone
which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.’
12
Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven
given among men by which we must be saved.”
▪ There is no “J” in Hebrew
▪ Yud, Hay, Vav, Hay
• YaHWeH
• Jehovah was a Germanisation of Yahweh. When words move into other langages,
sounds are replaced by other sounds
◦ “Accepted pronounciation” - Modern scholars do not accept
• Occurs thousands of times in OT
• Occurs not once in NT in Greek
▪ John 1
• John 1:1 (NWT) 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word wa with God,
and the Word was a god
• “was God”
▪ 2 Peter 1:1
• 2 Peter 1:1 (NKJV) 1Simon Peter, a bondservant and apostle of Jesus Christ,
To those who have obtained like precious faith with us by the righteousness of
our God and Savior Jesus Christ:
◦ One being who is our God and Saviour, and he's Jesus Christ
◦ Granville Sharp's Rule
• 2 Peter 1:1 (NWT) 1 ...through the righteousnesss of our God and the Saviour
Jesus Christ:
◦ “the” (In Greek said “ha”, written “ὁ”. Not here in the Greek)
• Titus 2:13
◦ Titus 2:13 (NKJV) 13...looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing
of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ,
▪ One individual: Jesus Christ, who is God and Saviour
◦ Titus 2:13 (NWT) 13 While we wait for the happy hope and glorious
manifestation of the great God and of our Savior, Jesus Christ
▪ JW's say it's translated this way due to a principle of theirs, but they only
use that principle a small percentage of the time: when a passage makes
Jesus God
• Colossians 1 NWT
◦ “Other” (allos) not found in this passage in any Greek manuscript – Check
interlinear Greek. The word “other” cannot be implied by the text.
◦ Colossians 1 (NWT) 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn
of all creation; 16 because by means of him all other things were created
in the heavens and on the earth, the things visible and the things invisible,
whether they are thrones or lordships or governments or authorities. All
other things have been created through him and for him. 17 Also, he is
before all other things, and by means of him all other things were made to
exist, 18 and he is the head of the body, the congregation. He is the
 beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might become the one
who is first in all things; 19 because God was pleased to have all fullness to
dwell in him, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all other things
by making peace through the blood he shed on the torture stake, whether
the things on the earth or the things in the heavens.
• They remove the word “the” in reference to the Holy Spirit
• They routinely change anything that doesn't fit their theology
• They quote scholars out of context... lies upon lies
◦ JW person doesn't know because they're not allowed to double-check
anything
• Watchtower publications
◦ Held at the same level of authority as the Bible
◦ Prophecies
▪ [insert prophecies]
• What you can expect
◦ Magazines
◦ Lots of Scripture, quoted out of context
▪ Go to the passage with them
▪ DON'T LET them leave it!!!
• Hold on, stop, let's go to the passage
◦ Read before, read after, take your time, look at it
◦ God, with the context, protects us from getting things wrong
◦ “Torture stake”
▪ No evidence
◦ The name of God “Jehovah”
▪ Many times in the Bible, God is called on without using JHVH/YHWH
▪ Jehovah's wrong pronunciation regardless
• Control the conversation
◦ DON'T let them change the subject
◦ Decide what's worth talking about. Make it a good topic
▪ e.g. Identity of Jesus
▪ e.g. How you can be saved
◦ Don't grab for red herrings or things that will derail the conversation
▪ (After derailment attempt) Can we come back to that later? Hold on, can we look
at [first passage] first? Let's not use the Bible to fight the Bible. Let's come to an
interpretation of the passage, then we can go there.
◦ Focus on one issue. Don't try answering every single thing.
 ▪ “You know what? That's a great question, but we can't do both of these. Let's stick to
the topic.”
• To JW's
◦ Something your organisation will never say: Test everything I say
▪ If what I'm saying is true, I shouldn't be afraid of what you'll find out through your
own study. Only danger is lack of familiarity with Scriptures.
▪ 1 John 4:1 (NKJV) 1Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits,
whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the
world
• It doesn't say ignore them, TEST them!
▪ 1 Thessalonians 5:21 (NKJV) 21Test all things; hold fast what is good
• It's worth digging in and doing some research