Love God Only

JW Book: What Can the Bible Teach Us?

Towards the end of 2019 I obtained a small JW book “What Can the Bible Teach Us?” I spoke to two JW ladies who had a magazine and booklet stand. I raised the subject of the return of Jesus based on Acts 1:11 and Acts 3:19-21, and they raised the subject of the 144,000 and a few other topics. The book is similar to an earlier book that I had received some years ago “What Does the Bible Really Teach?” The new book is basically a revision of the old, with similar chapter titles, while the new has endnotes replacing different appendix notes in the old.

In general I agree with much of what is stated, but some JW ideas are introduced without any Biblical support, and these ideas simply reflect the environment and teaching of the JWs. I invite discussion on the following brief comments and the JW view.

Chapter 1: Who is God?
Page 12: “God has told us that his name is Jehovah.”
Comment: It is generally recognised that YHWH is better understood as Yahweh. Please consider Rotherham’s introduction and the 1971 JW Book: Aid to Bible Understanding especially pages 884-885 which is now been mainly suppressed by the new JW publications. I agree with the future tense.

Page 17: “God wants us to have the best life possible.”
Comment: This is true ultimately, but God subjects us to many circumstances now to develop us and some of these trials can be very difficult.

Chapter 2 The Bible – A Book from God
Page 22: “In Matthew chapters 5 to 7, we read very good advice that Jesus gave on how to be happy …”.
Comment: Similar to the previous comment. Jesus speaks about being blessed, especially in the future and the word “happy” can have a different range of meaning.

Chapter 3 What is God’s Purpose for Humans?
Page 30: “Satan .. made it look as though the snake was talking.”
Comment: The Bible states that the serpent was discerning and spoke Genesis 3:1. The JW NWT tries to hide this by translating Genesis 3:1 as “cautious”, but the KJV “subtil” and most modern translations “crafty” represent the correct translations.

Page 38: “We die because we inherited sin from Adam.”
Comment: We do not inherit sin, but we inherit the effects or consequences of Adam’s sin. A baby is not a sinner.

Chapter 4 Who is Jesus Christ?
Page 40 Endnote 12: “God created Jesus before everything else.”
Comment: I do not accept this as I believe that Jesus did not pre-exist his conception and birth. Jesus was and is a human, now glorified, the Son of God by birth, character and resurrection.

Page 51: “Luke 1:30-35 Jehovah sent Jesus to the earth.”
Comment: Matthew 1:20-21 and Luke 1:30-35 speak about the conception and anticipated birth of Jesus. The One God, Yahweh, God the Father was His father through the power of the Holy Spirit.

Kind regards
Trevor

JW Book: What Can the Bible Teach Us? (cont'd)

I considered Chapters 1-4 of the JW book “What Can the Bible Teach Us?” in the Opening Post and Chapter 5 in Reply #1. My initial focus will be to highlight the items which I find difficult and that I do not agree with.

Chapter 6: Where do we go when we die?
I agree with most of this chapter as together with JWs and SDAs, as I believe in the resurrection at the return of Jesus and I do not believe that we have an immortal soul that goes to heaven or hell at death. The JW concept that the serpent in Genesis 3 is somehow Satan recurs in this chapter, three times on page 65 and once on page 66:
Page 66: “Satan said that Eve wouldn’t die, so Eve ate some of the fruit and then gave some to her husband.”
Comment: The serpent was one of the creatures that was created as related in Genesis 1 and had the ability to discern and speak.

Chapter 7: There will be a resurrection!
Again as I do not believe in immortal souls, I share some aspects of the resurrection with the JWs but some of their unique concepts become apparent in this chapter.
Page 79: “The unrighteous” includes billions of people who did not have the opportunity to know Jehovah. Even though they died, Jehovah hasn’t forgotten them, and they will have the opportunity to learn about him and serve him.
Comment: My understanding is that only some are resurrected, the faithful and unfaithful, representing those who have heard the gospel, whether they have responded or not, and whether they have been faithful to the gospel. There is no second chance for those who died without faith in the Gospel.

Page 79: “The Bible also tells us that some people will live in heaven. When someone is resurrected to heaven, he is not brought to life as human with a human body. He is resurrected to life in heaven as spirit person. … Jesus was not resurrected with a human body.”
Comment: This is starting to introduce the JW concept of the 144,000, specifically mentioned on page 80. The JW view is also based upon the idea that the body of Jesus was not resurrected but preserved. Acts 2 clearly teaches that the tomb was empty, and this is because of the bodily resurrection of Jesus. I believe in the resurrection of the human body of the faithful, they will then be changed to immortal bodies and they will be upon the earth with Jesus when he returns.

Chapter 8: What is God’s Kingdom?
I share with JWs that there will be a Kingdom for 1000 years, but differ in many details.
Page 83: “We have learned that God’s name is Jehovah.”
Comment: I suggest that Jehovah is an incorrect representation of YHWH. Yahweh is a better rendition, refer Rotherham’s introduction in his Bible translation.

Page 84: “Forty days after his resurrection, Jesus returned to heaven. Eventually, Jehovah appointed him as King of the Kingdom Acts 2:33. God’s government will rule over the earth from heaven Revelation 11:15.”
Comment: The following two references give a different view to what the JWs deduct here.
Acts 2:36 (KJV): Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.
Revelation 5:9–10 (KJV): 9 And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; 10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
Jesus was already appointed as both Lord and Christ and the faithful will reign on earth not from heaven.

Page 91: “For many years before 1914, a group of sincere Christians understood that it would be an important year in Bible prophecy. World events since 1914 have proved that they were correct. Jesus began to rule as King in that year.”
Comment: This introduces the unique JW view that Jesus started to rule in 1914. The Bible teaches that Jesus will return to earth and then reign from Jerusalem for the 1000 years Acts 1:11, 3:19-21, Isaiah 2:1-4, Daniel 2:35,44, Zechariah 14.

Kind regards
Trevor

JW Book: What Can the Bible Teach Us? (cont'd)

The following is a brief consideration of the next four chapters of the JW book “What Can the Bible Teach Us?” Again my initial focus will be to highlight the items which I find difficult and that I do not agree with.
Chapter 12: How can you become God’s friend?
A large portion of this chapter from page 125 to 129 gives the impression our major problem is dealing with Satan. I remember my mother-in-law when a JW at the door spoke a lot about Satan or the Devil, my mother-in-law said: “I have enough problems in dealing with the devil within without worrying about a devil without.” I agree with her and believe that we have a real struggle with the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eye and the pride of life.

Another feature throughout the whole book is the citation of a Biblical reference from the NWT. Some of these can be helpful, some give a slightly different perspective to my usual environment with the KJV and others seem strange. On Page 132 it uses “the old personality” and “the new personality” while the KJV has “the old man” and “the new man”. These have a slightly different range, and I prefer the KJV.

Chapter 13: Respect the gift of life
I agree with and endorse what is stated on Pages 135-139. Then on Pages 140-141 the subject of blood transfusion is considered and this is one of the unique JW teachings.
Page 104: “God’s faithful servants are determined to obey his law about blood. They will not eat or drink blood, and they will not accept blood for medical reasons.”
Comment: I believe that the law concerning drinking blood does not apply to blood transfusions. The law was speaking about some form of pagan sacrifices.

Chapter 14: Your family can be happy
This chapter is Pages 145-153 and I agree with what is stated.

Chapter 15: The right way to worship God
I agree in concept with what is stated in this chapter, including some teachings that are different to many Protestant Churches, but one outcome is that they claim that the JWs are the true religion. Here is one example of this where it is almost stated:
Page 156: “So, as God’s servants we follow Jesus’ example. We worship only Jehovah, we use his name, and we teach others God’s name and what he will do for us.”
Comment: This claim is based upon their use of the word “Jehovah”, and I believe that the Name of God is better rendered Yahweh, and it is not only speaking the Name, but what is the meaning of the Name. I do not believe that the JWs fully or correctly understand or teach the meaning of the Name.

Their claim that the JWs are the true religion is explicitly stated on pages 158-159, where there is a list of some of their teachings and practices are listed, and then the following is stated:
Page 158: “After studying these points, ask yourself: Who base their teachings on the Bible? Who tell others about God’s name? Who …? Who …? Who …? It is only Jehovah’s Witnesses Isaiah 43:10-12.”
Comment: JWs do not fully base their beliefs on the Bible. They incorrectly use and teach the name “Jehovah”. The witnesses spoken of in Isaiah 43:10-12 was Israel, not the JWs.

Kind regards
Trevor

Chapter 18: Should I Dedicate my Life to God and be Baptized
This chapter possibly does not give much detail. One feature is the introduction of one of the main JW functions, that of preaching and traditionally this has been door to door, but more recently they have been using book stands in shopping areas or public areas such as parks where there are pedestrians passing by. Both of these have been restricted due to covid, but they plan to resume soon.
Page 188: “Eventually, you will be able to begin preaching with the congregation. When you feel ready to do so, you can talk to the Witness who is teaching you the Bible and tell him or her that you would like to share in the preaching work with the congregation.”
Comment: This seems to indicate that the individual is gradually inducted into preaching before they are baptised, and that this reflects the main purpose and activity of the JW movement.

Yes, it's a major part. I started going door to door in the preaching work before I was baptized but I mostly just listened to another JW who was with me while they did all the talking.

Page 191: “After you have dedicated yourself to Jehovah, you are ready for the next step. You need to get baptized.”
Comment: This possibly gives the impression that part of this dedication is a full induction to preaching before baptism. Also what is not clear is the level of faith and understanding before baptism, but it would include all of the unique JW teachings.

It probably means after you have decided that you want to be a JW, the next step is baptism.
I had a weekly bible study for about two years and then I decided that I wanted to get baptized. I had to answer 100 questions to their satisfaction before they would allow me to get baptized. There was a question about Jesus that I didn't answer the way they wanted me to so I had to keep having a bible study and the baptism was delayed.. That almost made me change my mind about wanting to get baptized because they took that choice from me to decide on my own. I felt hurt by that. I did eventually get baptized though in 1979.

This seems to confirm that you were not brought up in the JW environment.

No, I wasn't brought up in the JW environment, thank goodness. I was already married and my first child was a baby. I was in my early twenties. I had been to many different churches before that. I started out in a Baptist Church when I was a little girl. Then I was in foster care for ten years so during that time I went to Methodist, Episcopal, Catholic, Lutheran, Baptist and Pentecostal Holiness(several of those).

When you left have you retained some of the JW teachings?

There are couple of doctrines that I already believed long before I became a JW that they teach. So I wouldn't necessarily call those only JW teachings. They have a warped view of things and they break up families and destroy people's lives. So many suicides resulting from being disfellowshipped. But I did go to the JW church longer than any other church, unfortunately.