Why I cannot be a member of the Jehovah's Witnesses
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By Andrew Riffenburgh
I cannot be a Jehovah’s Witness because of the many logical and doctrinal errors that exist within
the tenants of the religion. My reasons are listed below.
The Watchtower denies the doctrine of the Trinity by saying that there cannot be three gods in one.
In that point I agree and I do not believe that the doctrine of the Trinity states that there are three
gods in one, rather I believe that there is one God in three persons. The scripture clearly states
that there is one God as in 1 Timothy 2:5 which says “For there is one God, and one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”.
The Bible clearly shows the existence of the trinity. The person of the Holy Spirit, as Dr. Walter
Martin pointed out in Acts 5:3-4, is an individual person in the trinity and is fully God.
“But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back
part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it
not in thy own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto
men, but unto God.” (emphasis mine)
You cannot lie to an inanimate object. This cannot be just the outworking actions of God the father
(which is what the Jehovah’s Witnesses believe the Holy Spirit to be). You can only lie to a
cognitive person that exists.
Denying the doctrine of the Trinity is denying the facts of the very character of God which is a place
where I definitely do not want to be.
I could not be a Jehovah’s Witness even on the basic principles of logic. The Watchtower denies
the full deity or Godhead of Christ by calling him a lesser god and yet prints Isaiah 43:10 on the
front of their own literature which says
“Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and
believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there
be after me.
If there is only one God how could Jesus be a second lesser god? As Dr. Martin pointed out in
Hebrews 1:5-8
4. Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent
name than they.
For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?
And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
6. And again, when He bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels
of God worship him.
7. And of the angels He saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
8. But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is
the sceptre of thy kingdom.
Here God the father calls His son God. One must look carefully at this sentence “But unto the Son
he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever”. Here is a clear affirmation of the fact that God the
father called His son God.
I could not be Jehovah’s Witness because of the Watchtower’s denial of Hell and eternal
punishment. Jesus clearly taught that there is a place of eternal torment for those that deny God’s
great gift of salvation in Mark 9:42-48
42. And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a
millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.
43. And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having
two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
44. Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
45. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two
feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
46. Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
47. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God
with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:
48. Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
49. For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.
50. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in
yourselves, and have peace one with another.
It is also clearly shown in the Old Testament in Isaiah 66:24
24. And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against
me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring
unto all flesh.
It is a harsh and terrible thing to think of, but is only fair and just for those who willfully know and
reject God. There is no other choice for God because He is holy and cannot permit sin in his
presence so He must therefore send those who deny the cleansing redemption He has offered as
a free gift, to a place separate and away from His throne, a place that is in complete antithesis to
Him. That place is Hell
I could not be a Jehovah’s Witness because of the great controlling power that the Watchtower
exerts over its people. They enforce a blind, unthinking, unquestioning faith on their people that
forces them to believe everything they are told or risk severe discomfort or punishment (though
not necessarily physical). I know that no one should ever follow anyone or anything blindly. Even
God in His word does not force us to take a step of blind faith, but one that is well grounded in
reality. He has clearly shown His existence in His creation and the many verifications of His word
in history, science, the way people act and the life changing influence of it that can forever change
a murderous convict to a man who loves God and seeks to serve Him and change bitter and violent
hearts to ones of peace and joy, but it is not on just these merits that I am a Christian. I am a
Christian because the plain and simple fact is that the Bible is true and God exists, I believe on the
basis of truth and not merely because it can make people “happy”, change drug addicts or create
positive social change. I believe it because there is overwhelming evidence in my life to show me
that God exists and that His word, the Bible, is undeniably true. No matter what government leader,
pastor, teacher or any human being on this earth claims to be no one should ever be followed
blindly.
I could not be a Jehovah’s Witness because of their use of the New World Translation which is
filled with poor translation of the original Greek and Hebrew languages. Granted you do not have to
understand those languages to read an English translation, but if you intend to translate any book
from its original language you should have good knowledge of the language you are translating
from in this case the Bible which was written in the Old Testament in Hebrew and the New
Testament in Greek. The Jehovah’s Witnesses have a history of bad credentials in “dead”
languages that date back to their original founder (whom they have distanced themselves from)
Charles Taze Russell who very clearly, during a well documented trial, could not translate any
Hebrew or Greek. The anonymity of the scholars who translated the NWT also brings up a
tremendous red flag. While the official word is that they remained anonymous so as not to be lifted
up with pride, it should be noted that there is then no way to verify the credentials of the
translators.
The core beliefs of the Jehovah’s Witnesses stand in direct antithesis to the word of God and all
logical thinking. I could not be a Jehovah’s Witness without leaving behind all reason and truth.
the tenants of the religion. My reasons are listed below.
The Watchtower denies the doctrine of the Trinity by saying that there cannot be three gods in one.
In that point I agree and I do not believe that the doctrine of the Trinity states that there are three
gods in one, rather I believe that there is one God in three persons. The scripture clearly states
that there is one God as in 1 Timothy 2:5 which says “For there is one God, and one mediator
between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”.
The Bible clearly shows the existence of the trinity. The person of the Holy Spirit, as Dr. Walter
Martin pointed out in Acts 5:3-4, is an individual person in the trinity and is fully God.
“But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back
part of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it not thine own? and after it was sold, was it
not in thy own power? Why hast thou conceived this thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto
men, but unto God.” (emphasis mine)
You cannot lie to an inanimate object. This cannot be just the outworking actions of God the father
(which is what the Jehovah’s Witnesses believe the Holy Spirit to be). You can only lie to a
cognitive person that exists.
Denying the doctrine of the Trinity is denying the facts of the very character of God which is a place
where I definitely do not want to be.
I could not be a Jehovah’s Witness even on the basic principles of logic. The Watchtower denies
the full deity or Godhead of Christ by calling him a lesser god and yet prints Isaiah 43:10 on the
front of their own literature which says
“Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and
believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there
be after me.
If there is only one God how could Jesus be a second lesser god? As Dr. Martin pointed out in
Hebrews 1:5-8
4. Being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by inheritance obtained a more excellent
name than they.
For unto which of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee?
And again, I will be to him a Father, and he shall be to me a Son?
6. And again, when He bringeth in the first begotten into the world, he saith, And let all the angels
of God worship him.
7. And of the angels He saith, Who maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flame of fire.
8. But unto the Son He saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is
the sceptre of thy kingdom.
Here God the father calls His son God. One must look carefully at this sentence “But unto the Son
he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever”. Here is a clear affirmation of the fact that God the
father called His son God.
I could not be Jehovah’s Witness because of the Watchtower’s denial of Hell and eternal
punishment. Jesus clearly taught that there is a place of eternal torment for those that deny God’s
great gift of salvation in Mark 9:42-48
42. And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a
millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea.
43. And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having
two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
44. Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
45. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two
feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched:
46. Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
47. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God
with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire:
48. Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.
49. For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt.
50. Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in
yourselves, and have peace one with another.
It is also clearly shown in the Old Testament in Isaiah 66:24
24. And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against
me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring
unto all flesh.
It is a harsh and terrible thing to think of, but is only fair and just for those who willfully know and
reject God. There is no other choice for God because He is holy and cannot permit sin in his
presence so He must therefore send those who deny the cleansing redemption He has offered as
a free gift, to a place separate and away from His throne, a place that is in complete antithesis to
Him. That place is Hell
I could not be a Jehovah’s Witness because of the great controlling power that the Watchtower
exerts over its people. They enforce a blind, unthinking, unquestioning faith on their people that
forces them to believe everything they are told or risk severe discomfort or punishment (though
not necessarily physical). I know that no one should ever follow anyone or anything blindly. Even
God in His word does not force us to take a step of blind faith, but one that is well grounded in
reality. He has clearly shown His existence in His creation and the many verifications of His word
in history, science, the way people act and the life changing influence of it that can forever change
a murderous convict to a man who loves God and seeks to serve Him and change bitter and violent
hearts to ones of peace and joy, but it is not on just these merits that I am a Christian. I am a
Christian because the plain and simple fact is that the Bible is true and God exists, I believe on the
basis of truth and not merely because it can make people “happy”, change drug addicts or create
positive social change. I believe it because there is overwhelming evidence in my life to show me
that God exists and that His word, the Bible, is undeniably true. No matter what government leader,
pastor, teacher or any human being on this earth claims to be no one should ever be followed
blindly.
I could not be a Jehovah’s Witness because of their use of the New World Translation which is
filled with poor translation of the original Greek and Hebrew languages. Granted you do not have to
understand those languages to read an English translation, but if you intend to translate any book
from its original language you should have good knowledge of the language you are translating
from in this case the Bible which was written in the Old Testament in Hebrew and the New
Testament in Greek. The Jehovah’s Witnesses have a history of bad credentials in “dead”
languages that date back to their original founder (whom they have distanced themselves from)
Charles Taze Russell who very clearly, during a well documented trial, could not translate any
Hebrew or Greek. The anonymity of the scholars who translated the NWT also brings up a
tremendous red flag. While the official word is that they remained anonymous so as not to be lifted
up with pride, it should be noted that there is then no way to verify the credentials of the
translators.
The core beliefs of the Jehovah’s Witnesses stand in direct antithesis to the word of God and all
logical thinking. I could not be a Jehovah’s Witness without leaving behind all reason and truth.