Vol. 6, No. 7, 1989

Articles on Jehovah's Witnesses

Rick Branch

A recurring theme found throughout the history of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society is their insistence upon the denial of any type of polytheism.

In their book Babylon The Great Has Fallen! God's Kingdom Rules! the writers state in support of their position, "The Babylonians, with all their wonderful gifts, were never able to conceive of one god, of one god alone, of one god whose very existence makes logically impossible the existence of any other deity.

"Monotheism transcends the spiritual grasp of the Babylonian mind...," (1963 ed., p. 42).

Jehovah's Witnesses insist upon the doctrine of Monotheism, that is, the worship of only ONE God. This one God they claim is named Jehovah and is the only true God with all others, though they are called gods, are in actuality false gods.

In fact, they have stated, "Jehovah God is described in the Bible as living from time indefinite to time indefinite, forever, and as being the King of eternity, incorruptible, invisible, the only true God.

"He, being the Creator, existed before any other gods, and all false gods will be wiped out so that there will be none existing after him," (Aid to Bible Understanding, pp. 665-666; emphasis mine).

Since this is true according to the Jehovah's Witnesses own material, this poses an interesting problem. What are Jehovah's Witnesses to do with Jesus Christ?

In 1946 the Witnesses published a book entitled, Let God Be True, in which the following information was given concerning the position of Jesus in Jehovah's Witness theology.

"In John, Chapter 1, he is spoken of as being the Word of God, That is to say, the mouthpiece or representative of God.

"In the Greek Bible text the Word is Logos. Hence he may be called the `Word or Logos'. Being a mighty one and holding this high official capacity as Logos and being before all other creatures, he was a God, but not the Almighty God, who is Jehovah," (1952 Revised ed., p. 33).

In a more recent publication, one designed for answering questions in the door-to-door preaching activities of every Jehovah's Witnesses, a similar idea is discussed. Under the heading Trinity, it is stated, "But that does not mean that Jehovah never caused to exist anyone who is properly referred to as a god," (Reasoning from the Scriptures, 1985 ed., p. 413).

Thus Jesus, a creature, is defined by the Jehovah's Witnesses as a God. However, the question now arises, is He a true God or a false God?

Remember, Jehovah is the only true God, all other gods will be wiped out. Hence, Jesus, a creature, though He is called a god, if He is not Jehovah, which according to the Jehovah's Witnesses He is not, must by necessity be a false God and therefore, eventually destroyed by Jehovah.

From this simple line of reasoning it is clear to see that according to the theology of the Jehovah's Witnesses, there is only one of three possible solutions to this dilemma:

First, Jehovah is the only true God and Jesus is a false God, thus Jesus will be destroyed as will all false gods.

Second, both Jehovah and Jesus are true Gods and the Jehovah's Witnesses practice polytheism, the same as the Babylonians.

Third, the Jehovah's Witnesses can admit their doctrinal error, and accept the fact that the Bible plainly teaches the doctrine of the Trinity.

Has the Monotheistic doctrine of the Trinity `transcended the spiritual grasp' of the Jehovah's Witnesses' Governing Body and that of the average Jehovah's Witnesses living next door?