A quick search on the JW.org website reveals their belief about who God is. Clearly, a group’s belief of the nature and essence of God is important as we evaluate its congruence with another religion. The most important place to dig in and explore first is the JW’s doctrine of God. Rutherford molded the Witnesses into a cadre of dedicated evangelists”( 4) The religion was originally a splinter of the Adventist movement after a prophecy of William Miller about the second coming didn’t come true.( 1) Russell diverged on many theological points (as we’ll address later on) and “ soon began publishing his own magazine, Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence (now known simply as The Watchtower )”( 2) The organization then became a legal entity, with Russell at its head as president and began to expand.( 3) After Russell’s death “Russell was succeeded as president in 1917 by Joseph Franklin Rutherford (Judge Rutherford 1869–1942), who changed the group’s name to Jehovah’s Witnesses in 1931 to emphasize its members’ belief that Jehovah, or Yahweh, is the true God and that the Witnesses were his specially chosen followers. Brief History of the MovementĬharles Taze Russell, the founder of the JW’s began to surface in the 1870’s. In this paper I will be exploring the beliefs and history of the Jehovah Witnesses (JW’s) and evaluate whether their belief is truly Christian or not. It is also very important to evaluate the beliefs and history of a specific group as the doctrine they embrace may contradict and undermine the Gospel and lead to the damnation of their followers’ souls. Many believe groups such as Jehovah Witnesses or the Latter Day Saints to be just another group embedded within Christianity, but is this accurate? It is vitally important to know whether a group of individuals is truly “Christian” as we are called to embrace them as brothers and sisters in Christ if they truly are. The New World Translation was translated by anonymous individuals working for their organization.Are Jehovah Witnesses Christian? Oftentimes Jehovah Witnesses are called another “denomination” of the Christian faith, is this true?

Other Bible translations openly list their translators so you can verify their lives and credentials. It also uses a very rigid wording to make it difficult to read and study. The New World Translation was written by the Watchtower organization to remove and change verses that don’t align with the theology of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. Doing this in the New Testament makes it seem as though the term Jehovah is referring to the Father though many times it is actually referencing Jesus. The word Jehovah in the Old Testament is written as Lord in the New Testament however, the Jehovah’s Witness translates Lord as “Jehovah” to obscure the deity of Christ. Jesus is Alpha/Omega, Beginning/End, First/Last (Rev 1:4-8 *, Rev 1:17-18, Rev 22:12-16, Isa 44:6)Īll things are created by Jesus and for Jesus (Col 1:16, Rom 11:36, Isa 44:24, Isa 45:12, 66:2) The word Jehovah in the New Testament Thomas’ Confession that Jesus is God (John 20:28) God’s Spirit is Christ’s Spirit (Romans 8:9) A red asterisk ( * ) is placed by scriptures that are altered in the Jehovah’s Witness New World Translation. Below are scriptures which give evidence to the deity of Christ. This translation changes Bible verses to remove or obscure references to the divinity of Jesus Christ. This is made more difficult than usual because they trust their own organization’s translation of the Bible, entitled “The New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures”.

But since they claim to believe the Bible, we should use the Bible to show that Jesus is indeed truly God. Jehovah’s Witnesses deny the Biblical teaching that Jesus is God.

Christian vs jehovah witness beliefs