Questions For Jehovah's Witnesses - Questions

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QUESTIONS:

1. The Watchtower Bible (The New World Translation) has many contradictions in it. One of the contradictions pertains to perhaps the most important of Watchtower doctrines - that is, the name of Jehovah. What name does Jehovah use in reference to himself? Here is the contradiction in the Watchtower bible:

a. In Gen 28:13, Jehovah revealed himself to Jacob saying, "I am Jehovah the God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac."

b. But in Ex 6:3, Jehovah said to Moses, "I used to appear to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob as God Almighty, but as respects my name Jehovah I did not make myself known to them."

Questions:

1) These verses completely contradict each other in the New World Translation. Which one of them is true?

2) Is it possible that the translators of the NWT were overzealous in wanting to include the name "Jehovah" and so they inserted it in Genesis without realizing the contradiction they were creating by doing so?

3) Did the translators make a mistake?

4) Because it only takes one error to be imperfect, how can the Watchtower claim that the NWT is God's pure and perfect word?

2. There is a contradiction between what God's word says and what the Watchtower teaches about the memorial service in remembrance of Jesus' death.

a. God's word says in I Cor 11:26 that "For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do shew the Lord's death till he come."

b. The Watchtower today teaches that Jesus returned in 1914 and that he will not physically return at a second coming. (Live Forever pages 147-149)

Questions:

1) If Jesus returned in 1914 and will not physically return to earth again, then why does the Watchtower teach Witnesses to continue remembering the Lord's death when Paul commanded us to remember it only until Jesus came back?

2) Does it make sense to continue having memorial services for someone who is already with us here and now?

3) How do we know from God's word alone that Jesus returned in 1914?

3. There is a contradiction between what God's word says and what the Watchtower teaches about the Lake of Fire.

a. God's word says in Rev 20:10 that "the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

b. The Watchtower teaches that eternal hellfire does not exist (1995 Watchtower tract - Hellfire: Is It Part of Divine Justice?) and that any references to it are figurative (Reasoning: pgs 172-173 and Live Forever: pgs 85-89)

Questions:

1) How do we know from God's word alone that hellfire does not exist and that it is only figurative?

2) Instead of making it figurative, if God had REALLY MEANT to say that the devil would be tormented day and night for ever and ever in the lake of fire, how SHOULD he have said that to us? What words SHOULD he have used instead of the words that are written in Rev 20:10?

3) Does forever mean forever, and does torment mean torment, and does "day and night" mean "day and night"?

a) If not, then how do we know that we can live "forever"?

b) How do we know when "forever" is figurative and when "forever" really means "forever"?

4) According to God's word in Rev 20:10, where will the Devil be "tormented", "day and night", "for ever and ever"?

5) According to God's word in Luke 16:24, was the rich man "tormented" in a "symbolic flame"? If so, how is that possible to be tormented in a symbolic flame?

6) It is difficult to understand why Jesus would have Abraham talking with a rich man who really didn't exist. But if that is what the story is about, why should we care if a man who doesn't exist is tormented in a flame that is only symbolic?

7) Are God's words true - exactly as they are written - or are the Watchtower publications true?

4. There is a contradiction between what God's word says and what the Watchtower teaches about the Holy Spirit.

a. God's word says in Acts 13:2 that the Holy Spirit refers to himself as a person by use of personal pronouns ("I" and "me"). God's word says in Acts 5:3.4 that the Holy Ghost is God. God's word says in I John 5:7 that there are three that bear record in heaven: the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one.

b. The Watchtower teaches that God was simply speaking through the Holy Ghost as a person would use television to convey a message. The Watchtower teaches that the Holy Ghost is "God's Active Force". (Reasoning with the Scriptures pages 381 and 407). The Watchtower teaches that the Father and the Son are separate persons but that the Holy Ghost is not a person.

Questions:

1) How do we know from God's word alone that the Holy Spirit is not a person?

2) How do we know from God's word alone that the Holy Spirit is "God's Active Force"?

3) If the Holy Ghost is merely a force, like electricity, how can it be an independent witness as stated in I John 5:7?

4) Why would I John 5:7 make a list of witnesses that include the Father (who is a person), the Word (who is a person) and the Holy Ghost (a force like electricity)?

5) Doesn't it make more sense that God's word is making a list of three persons, all of whom are witnesses - The Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost?

6) God's word says in Acts 5:3,4 that Ananias lied to God, the Holy Ghost. If he actually lied to God, why would it say that he lied to the Holy Ghost unless the Holy Ghost was God?

7) If the Holy Ghost is only a force through which God acts, how could Ananias have lied to that force? Can a person lie to electricity? Can a person lie to gravity?

8) How do we know from God's word alone, that the Holy Ghost is not the third person of the one Godhead called "God" who refers to himself with words that connote a composite unity? (From "us" and "our" in Genesis, through many passages depicting plurality of personhood, Godhead, three witnesses, etc.)?

9) Knowing that the Holy Ghost is the greatest teacher for us today (I Cor 2:13), would you say that it was the Holy Ghost who taught you that he is not a person, or was it man who taught you that?

5. There is a contradiction between what God's word says and what the Watchtower teaches about the saints being caught up to meet the Lord in the air (I Thess 4:15-17).

a. God's word says in this passage that when Jesus returns, we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord.

b. The Watchtower teaches that only the 144,000 will be caught up to heaven to rule with Jesus from heaven.

Questions:

1) How do we know from God's word alone that only the 144,000 (specifically) will go to heaven?

2) How do we know from God's word alone that all of these 144,000 saints had been selected by 1934, and that - after 1934 - no more people would be allowed into heaven?

3) If the faithful saints were resurrected from the dead in 1914 at Jesus' return and the remnant of the 144,000 will all be resurrected from the dead immediately upon their death, then who are the people in I Thess 4:17 "who are alive and remain" that shall be caught up together to meet the Lord in the air?

6. There are many verses, phrases and words missing in the Watchtower bible (the New World Translation), including:

Mark 9:44 A verse that describes hell as a place where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched

Mark 9:46 A verse that describes hell as a place where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched

Matt 18:11 A verse that tells us "the Son of man is come to save that which was lost." This is a very clear and important verse about Jesus' purpose.

Acts 8:37 A verse that tells how the Ethiopian eunuch expressed his faith in Jesus to the extent that he became saved.

I John 5:7 A verse that proves the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost are the three persons in heaven who are witnesses. The NWT does not include this verse but pretends to include it by splitting verse 8 and making it look like there is a verse 7.

Questions:

1) If the NWT is God's word, then how do we know from God's word alone any of the doctrines expressed in these and many, many other verses, when so many of the verses, phrases and key words have been removed from it?

2) If these verses never existed in the original manuscripts, then why have blank numbers been inserted in these places in the NWT as if a verse is supposed to be there?

3) If I John 5:7 had been left in the NWT, how would the Watchtower teaching about the Father, the Son and the Holy Ghost be affected?

4) Which bible is actually God's complete, pure and perfect word - the Authorized King James Bible, or the NWT of the Jehovah's witnesses?

7. On page 13 of the Watchtower study book, "What Does the Bible Really Teach?" it says that God's personal name is Jehovah. (Ps 83:18)

Questions:

1) What is the Hebrew word in Ps 83:16 that the NWT translates as "Jehovah"?

2) What is the Hebrew word in Ps 83:18 that the NWT translates as "Jehovah"?

3) Why would the translators of the NWT translate these two different Hebrew words both as "Jehovah"(one in Ps 83:16 that means "LORD" and the other in Ps 83:18 that means "Jehovah")?

4) Why is the name "Jehovah" inserted 237 times into the New Testament when there are no Greek manuscripts at all that have the name "Jehovah" in them?

5) Why are the Hebrew and Greek words meaning "LORD" and "Lord" inconsistently translated hundreds of times in the New World Translation - sometimes as "Jehovah" and sometimes simply as "Lord"?

6) God's word calls Jesus the "KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS" in Rev 19:16. Because names are so important, why does the NWT not accurately translate the name of Jesus (the Word of God) when it translates his name as the "King of kings and Lord of lords" instead of translating it as "Jehovah" like it does in other passages where LORD and Lord are translated as "Jehovah"?

7) Why is it that every time where these words appear in reference to Jesus (which would prove that Jesus is 'Jehovah' God) these same words are translated in the New World Translation simply as "Lord" instead of being translated as "Jehovah" like they are translated hundreds of other times when they are not referring to Jesus?

a) For one example, in Rev 22:5, why does the NWT translate "Lord God" as "Jehovah God" but in Rev 22:20 it translates "Lord Jesus" as "Lord Jesus"?

b) For another example, in James 1:1, why does the NWT translate "Lord" Jesus Christ as "Lord" Jesus Christ, but just a few verses later in James 1:7 it translates the same word "Lord" as "Jehovah" ?

c) One final example: In Phil 2:10 the bible says that God exalted Jesus so that, at the name of Jesus every knee should bow and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. So, why does the NWT say that Jesus is "Lord" here instead of saying that he is "Jehovah"?

8) Is it possible that the translators of the NWT did not want people to think that Jesus is God?

9) Who is "God" in Genesis 1:1? Is he "Jehovah"? Why doesn't the NWT use the name "Jehovah" here?

10) Who is "God" in Phil 1:3? (And in hundreds of other verses). Is he "Jehovah"? Why is his name "Jehovah" not used here?

11) In Rev 22:6, why does the NWT translate the title "the Lord God" and re-arrange it as a name "Jehovah the God" when it didn't do the same in the immediately preceding verse?

12) Why does Acts 4:12 say that Jesus is the only name by which we must be saved? If "Jehovah" is our only saviour (Is 43:11) then why doesn't Acts 4:12 say that "Jehovah" is the only name by which we must be saved? Shouldn't such an important doctrine - the one that determines our salvation - identify the only and most important name for salvation - Jehovah?

13) The NWT says in Acts 2:21 that "everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved." But as we just reviewed, Acts 4:12 tells us that there is no other name than "Jesus" whereby we must be saved. So, did the NWT translators make a mistake when they inserted "Jehovah" into Acts 2:21? Or is Jesus actually Jehovah God?

8. There is a contradiction between what God's word says and what the Watchtower teaches about the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.

a. God's Word says that Jesus was the creator of all things and without him was not any thing made that was made. (John 1:3)

b. The Watchtower teaches that Jesus was created himself and is Michael, the archangel. (Reasoning with the Scriptures, pg 218)

Questions:

1) Did Jesus make himself?

2) If Jesus was actually made by God, then how is it that "without him was not any thing made that was made"?

3) How do we know from God's word alone that Jesus is Michael the archangel?

4) How can Jesus be an angel when God's word says in Heb 1:5, "For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?"

5) Why would Jehovah say to Jesus in Heb 1:8, "Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever:"

6) Is Jesus God?

7) Why did the Jews pick up stones to kill Jesus in John 8:58? Was it not because he claimed to be God by saying, "I am"?

8) In this same verse, why does the NWT have Jesus saying, "Before Abraham came into existence, I have been", translating "ego eimi" as "I have been" when in all other places in John it correctly translates "ego eimi" as "I am", which is the name of God (Ex 3:14)?

9) Why did the Jews pick up stones to kill Jesus in John 10:31-33? Was it not for blasphemy, for making himself God? (Verse 33)

9. There is a contradiction between what God's word says and what the Watchtower teaches about whether Adam and Eve will be resurrected.

a. God's word says that there are two resurrections - the first, a resurrection of the just unto eternal life, before the 1000 years (Rev 20:5); and the second, a resurrection of the unjust unto eternal death, after the 1000 years (Rev 20:13-14).

b. The Watchtower teaches that Adam and Eve will not be resurrected. (Salvation (1939) p. 43 - Rutherford; and in Paradise Lost to Paradise Regained p. 236)

Questions:

1) Were Adam and Eve just? If so, why does the Watchtower say they won't be in the first resurrection?

2) Were they unjust? If so, why does the Watchtower say they won't be in the second resurrection?

3) If Adam and Eve are dead, and Rev 20:13 says that death and hell delivered up the dead that were in them, then where have Adam and Eve been so that they could escape being delivered up for judgment?

4) Because we know it is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment, - the just to eternal life and the unjust to eternal death - how do we know from God's word alone that Adam and Eve will not be resurrected?