 Questions for Jehovah’s Witnesses
- The Watchtower organization has claimed to be
the prophet of God (The Watchtower, April 1, 1972, p. 197) yet it has made numerous false prophecies. The excuse given for
their false prophecies has been to quote Proverbs 4:18 which says, "But the path of
the righteous ones is like the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the
day if firmly established." However, this is not the correct verse to use. Instead,
it says in the NWT in Deut. 18:20-22, "‘However, the prophet who presumes to
speak in my name a word that I have not commanded him to speak or who speaks in the name
of other gods, that prophet must die. And in case you should say in your heart: "How
shall we know the word that Jehovah has not spoken?" when the prophet speaks in the
name of Jehovah and the word does not occur or come true, that is the word that Jehovah
did not speak..."
If the NWT condemns false prophesying and states that it is proof
that God is not speaking through that prophet, then doesn’t this prove that the
Watchtower Bible & Tract Society is not speaking for God?
- Why does the New World
Translation insert the word Jehovah in the New Testament when there are absolutely no
Greek manuscripts that have it in there? Isn’t this playing with the text?
- In the book,
"Salvation" by J. F. Rutherford, 1939, p. 311, (a Watchtower Publication) it
says, "At San Diego, California, there is a small piece of land, on which, in the
year 1929, there was built a house, which is called and known as Beth-Sarim. The Hebrew
words Beth Sarim mean "House of the Princes"; and the purpose of
acquiring that property and building the house was that there might be some tangible proof
that there are those on earth today who fully believe God and Christ Jesus and in His
kingdom, and who believe that the faithful men of old will soon be resurrected by the
Lord, be back on earth, and take charge of the visible affairs of earth. The title to
Beth-Sarim is vested in the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society in trust, to be used by
the president of the Society and his assistants for the present, and thereafter to be
forever at the disposal of the aforementioned princes on earth [italic added]. . . .
while the unbelievers have mocked concerning it and spoken contemptuously of it, yet it
stands there as a testimony to Jehovah’s name; and if and when the princes do return
and some of them occupy the property, such will be a confirmation of the faith and hope
that induced the building of Beth-Sarim."
This place was sold
in 1942 after Rutherford’s death. Therefore, it appears that the faithful were misled
since the house was to "be forever at the disposal of the aforementioned
princes." Is this really a testimony to Jehovah’s name as it said? How can it be
if they sold the house?
- The Watchtower
organization states that Jesus died on a stake, not a cross. The typical Watchtower
representation of this is with Jesus on a single vertical stake, hands over his head with
a single nail in his wrists. If Jesus were crucified on a cross, then two nails would be
necessary, one in each hand. How then does the Watchtower organization handle the verse in
the Bible that states that Jesus had nails (plural) in his hands: "Consequently the
other disciples would say to him: "We have seen the Lord!" But he said to them:
"unless I see in his hands the print of the nails and stick my finger into the print
of the nails and stick my hand into his side, I will certainly not believe" (John
20:25, NWT).
Jesus had one nail in each hand. This is made clear by the use of the
word ‘nails’ not ‘nail.’ Jesus must have been crucified on a cross,
and not a stake as the Watchtower organization teaches. Why is it, then, that the
Watchtower teaches something that is so clearly unbiblical?
- The Watchtower
organization states that through good works and sincere effort only 144,000 elite
JW’s will go to heaven. The 144,000 are mentioned in two chapters in the Bible:
Revelation 7 & 14. By looking at the verses it is obvious that the 144,000 are literal
Jews of the ancient tribes with no Gentiles among them (7:4-8). They are all males (14:4)
and virgins (14:4). If the JW states that the usage of Jewish male virgins is figurative,
what gives them the right to state that number of 144,000 is literal?
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