The Watchtower Organization, beginning with Rutherford, wanted to “get away” from anything Christian…which literally means “Christ In”… and wanted to turn the Bible Student’s focus off of Jesus and Jehovah’s Plan of Salvation, which is only through the sacrifice of His son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
Most loyal Jehovah’s Witnesses today are not aware of the fact that all the early members of the Watchtower Organization understood that their salvation was through Christ…just as is core to all Christian Faiths today, and if any Watchtower members ARE aware of it, they have been indoctrinated by the Watchtower Organization to believe that those early members were “of the anointed,” the only ones that they believe “get to go to Heaven.” They have long been taught to believe that “the door to Heaven” was “closed” in 1935; as if God’s Plan of Salvation does not apply to them.
Yes, in 1935, then Watchtower President J. F. Rutherford announced to the rank-and-file that from that day on, any further members that might come into the Watchtower Organization were to be of an “earthly class,” know also as “the great crowd.”
Members of the great crowd were NOT to see themselves as being any part of the New Covenant under Christ Jesus, no, but they were to see the Watchtower as their mediator; that their earthly hope lay in their humble and submissive obediance to the Watchtower; seeing it as “God’s only Channel” to mankind.
From that day on, new Jehovah’s Witnesses had to “earn” their “hope” of being spared at Armageddon; holding onto the coatails of the Governing Body of the Watchtower, so to speak, in order to have hope of making it into the New World. They believed that their “hope” of salvation lay in the “works” assigned to them by the leaders of the Watchtower; works which would prove to Jehovah God their loving loyalty to Him, in the hope that He might spare them at Armageddon.
After Russell’s death in the fall of 1916, Rutherford began attacking anything Christian in order to get more control of the Bible Students ..except Jesus, though he did work to begin to “demote” Him. (Anyone who is willing to do the research can discover for themselves that this is true; the Watchtower hides the truth of it’s history from its members to maintain control over them.)
Since the cross has long been the cornerstone symbol of Christianity, Rutherford began to teach that it was “pagan.” (Wasn’t everything, pretty much, “pagan” before we had Christianity?)
On page 1578 of the Watchtower Society’s 1984 version of the Holy Scriptures, they show a drawing by Justus Lipsius (1547-1606) of a man nailed to a stake; hands above his head.
The Watchtower has used this drawing by Justus Lipsius to “show” that Jesus did not die upon a cross…because they wanted all JWs of that time, and for future time, to see the cross as “evil,” yes, they wanted them to see the symbol of the Christian faith as “evil,” and to thus eventually come to see all of Orthodox Christianity, and the core doctrines of the faith, as being “lies from Satan,” in order to hide the good news about the Christ from their followers. (Acts 8:35; Ro.1:9; 15:19; 2Cor. 2:12; 4:4; 9:13; 10:14; Gal.1:6-7)
However, if you were to look at an actual copy of the book from which this drawing is taken, which is called, “De cruce libri tres,” you would see on page 661 Justus Lipsius’ drawing of a man nailed to a cross, and that he there states that THIS is how Jesus died.
This is just one of many examples of how the Watchtower will “quote” just what they need to quote in order to bolster their position on a particular matter to the rank-and-file.
Further, if you would look up Matthew 27:37, you will see that the scripture states that the sign, “This is Jesus, King of the Jews,” was “posted above His head,” not above His hands as would have been the case had Jesus been nailed to an upright stake.
Also, if you look up John 20:25, you will read there that Thomas said that he could see in the hands of Jesus “the print of the nails, ” which is PLURAL.
If Jesus had been nailed to a stake, only one nail would have been used for his hands. (“Nail” is one; “nails” means at least two.)
Truly, there is more evidence that Jesus died on the cross than there is “evidence” that He “died on a ‘torture stake’,” as the Watchtower has claimed.
The reason that so many Christians wear a cross around their neck is not because they “worship” it, but because it is a symbol of how lovingly willing Jesus was to suffer and die a terrible death on our behalf so that, through His sacrifice, we might now have our sins forgiven, be “adopted” by God as His sons, be clean in His sight, now having a “righteous standing” in His sight, and HAVE eternal life!! (John 3:36; 8:31-36,52; 14:23; 21:9; Matt.11:28-30; Acts 8:20; 11:17; Ro. 5:15-17; 1Thess. 4:8; Col.3:11; 1John 3:24)
The Watchtower can’t afford to allow any of the rank-and-file to ever understand that they can HAVE eternal life through Jesus…no!! Because then the Society couldn’t depend upon their fear and upon their belief that they have to WORK for the “hope” of their salvation, nor could they any longer rely upon their submissive obediance and complete LOYALTY.
The Watchtower would lose all control if their members knew the real truth!!
Let’s look at the Trinity Doctrine.
First, the term, “Trinity,” is just man’s best effort to explain the one and only True God as He is understood through His Word. The word “Trinity” is from the contraction, “Tri-Unity,” and is used to describe God as He eternally expresses Himself in the persons of Himself: namely, Father, Son, (His Word), and Holy Spirit.
The Bible clearly teaches that there is only ONE TRUE GOD.
This may sound elementary, almost insulting, but this is a base concept in understanding the term, “Trinity.”
If you begin reading in your own NWT at Isaiah 43:10 and just keep reading, you will see many scriptures where Jehovah, Himself, makes it CLEAR that there is only ONE TRUE GOD!!
John 17: 3 says that There Is Only One “True God.”
Jesus referred to “the one true God” as, “Our Heavenly Father.”
(That’s One.)
Let’s look at Jesus.
At John 1:1 we read that “The Word,” (which we understand to be Jesus), “was with God in the beginning.”
According to a Greek Scholar which I personally spoke with, the Greek word for “was” denotes “past, continuous, action.”
We need to understand that the Greek word for “was” is the SAME WORD and has the SAME MEANING in each case in this scripture, and therefore we can understand and read John 1:1 as follows:
“In the beginning the Word continuously was, and the Word continuously was with God, and the Word continuously was God.” The meaning is clear. Jesus IS God; He is God’s Word, and was already in existence IN the time period of “the beginning.”
In other words, in the beginning The Word, Jesus, already WAS…He already existed BEFORE the BEGINNING! And in keeping with the Bilblical understanding that there is only one true God, Jesus cannot, by any means, be a separate, “litte god,” or “a god.”
If Jesus WERE a separate, “little god,” that would make Jesus, then, a false god, because you cannot have two of “only one” of anything. That simply would not make any sense at all.
“I-I am Jehovah, and besides me there is no savior.” (Isaiah 43:11) “I am the first and I am the last, and besides me there is no God.” (Isaiah 44:6) “Does there exist a God besides me? No, there is no rock. I have recognized none.” (Isaiah 44:8)
“I am Jehovah and there is no one else. With exception of me, there is no God.” (Isaiah 45:5) v.6 “I am Jehovah and there is no one else.” v.18 “I am Jehovah, and there is no one else.” “I am the Divine One and there is no other God, nor anyone like me.” (Isaiah 46:9) And John 17:3 shows that the “One True God” understanding of the scriptures remains the same. (All scriptures are from the New World Translation.)
(To be certain that Jesus truly IS “The Word of God,” please see Rev. 19:13)
The Watchtower tries to “demote” Jesus by teaching that He was “created”; an arch angel named Michael; of being not much more than a glorified perfect servant of Jehovah God, but this is a lie. (Heb. 1: 3, 5, 6)
The Scriptures clearly state that Jesus was “begotten” of Jehovah…brought forth from the person of Jehovah, Himself. Jesus IS the literal “Word of God” as supported by John 1:1 and by Revelation 19:13.
It makes sense, therefore, (since there is “only one true God”), to believe and to understand that Jesus is “of” Jehovah, of the same Divine Essence, or quality, as God, Himself. Look at Colossians 2:9. Even the Watchtower Bible comes close to admitting this truth! (Unbiased translations make Colossians 2:9 more clear in showing the true Deity of Jesus.)
Nowhere in the Bible does it say that Jesus was created!
You may “create” a chair, but you “beget” or “bring forth” a child.
It is clear that to “create” is not, by any means, the same as to “beget.” When you “beget” a child, you “bring forth” another human from your own body, and you understand that that child is of the same essence or “quality” as you…no better, nor lesser!
Is it really so difficult to imagine that Almighty God could, and did, “bring forth” from the person of Himself a direct expression of His Word in the person of Jesus?
Let’s look again at John 1:1. Jesus is “The Word,” or, as we know, “The Word of God,” Himself. (Revelation 19:13)
We know that Jesus already existed “in the beginning.” Now, we see in verse 14 of John chapter 1 that “The Word,” or, “The Word of God,” “became flesh and resided among us…”
So Jesus, to put it simply, is God’s expression of Himself to mankind in the person of Jesus Christ. And The Scriptures bear this out.
Jesus said many times that He spoke, not His own thoughts, but that all His thoughts originated with “The Father.” He said that if one had seen Him, they had seen the Father, because, He said, He and His Father were “ONE.” (See John 14:10) This makes sense.
And, no, Jesus is not “Michael the Archangel”!! He was never an “angel”! Hebrews 1:1-6 makes this point very clear! The teachings that Jesus is not only “a little god,” less than Jehovah, or that He is an “angel” is blaphemy because they are both LIES.
Further, Jude 9 says that Michael the Archangel was afraid to rebuke Satan, and we know that Jesus was not afraid to rebuke Satan.
(That’s Two)
Let’s look at the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is simply The Spirit of God, Himself. You have a spirit and so do we all.
The Holy Spirit is Holy because it is the pure essence God, Himself. This is why the only UNFORGIVALBE SIN is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit!! (Luke 12:10)
The Holy Spirit of God is referred to in the Bible as “He” many times. The Holy Spirit is said to “teach us,” to “guide us,” to “intercede for us,” to “plead for us,” and The Holy Spirit can be “grieved”!! (Luke 12:12; John 1:33; John 16:13; Ro. 8:26; Ephes. 4:30)
Now if the Watchtower’s teaching of The Holy Spirit is true, that “it” is just “like electricity from a car battery”; simply “God’s tool,” or “God’s Active Force,” how can it be that “electricity” from a “car battery” can be and do all of the above that God’s Holy Spirit is attributed to being and doing in the Bible?? The Watchtower’s teaching on the Holy Spirit is clearly another lie; a fabricated lie; another blasphemy.
God’s Holy Spirit is the pure essense of Himself, and as such, is truly HOLY, and IS God.
(That’s Three)
So now that we have considered the three attributes of The One True God…now that we can see that there are three main components, as understood from The Scriptures, that make the One True God…Almighty God, “Almighty God”… the term, “Trinity,” as being a word to describe a “Triune God,” makes sense.
We can have seen by God’s own Word that the One True God eternally expresses Himself in the persons of The Father, The Son, (His Word), and The Holy Spirit!!
I hope that something of what I’ve written, which is MY understanding through prayer and study, is helpful to you!
Hugs!
