95-Disputations on Jehovah’s Witness Theology for Christian Unity

1. The Watchtower says Jehovah God controls their organization (Watchtower, 11/1/1956, p. 666), but there are false prophecies by this same Watchtower  about 1914 (Studies, Vol. 2, early editions, pp. 76-78).  (The references from primary source material are mostly used from Index of Watchtower Errors by David A. Reed, 2000).
2. “True, there have been those in times past who predicted an ‘end to the world,’ even announcing a specific date. Some have gathered groups of people with them and fled to the hills or withdrawn into their houses waiting for the end. Yet, nothing happened...Why? What was missing?...Missing from such people were God’s truths and the evidence that he was guiding and using them.” (Awake! October 8, 1968, p. 23).
3. The Watchtower asserts that to expose falsehood is not religious persecution (Watchtower, November 15, 1963, p. 688) but claiming one religion is not egoistical (Watchtower, November 15, 1963, p.688-689).  Therefore it provides basis for the reality of the Reformed faith set forth in the Reformed Confessions (LCF and WCF).
4. The New World Translation (1984) of the Watchtower organization teaches that Colossians 1:15-20 wrongly and intentionally inserts “other” things in related to the creation by Christ of the world (properly translated versions are those who do not insert “other”: NASB, NIV, KJV, NKJV, and the ESV).
5. Christians should not honor an organization over the Bible, but the Bible over an organization.
6. Christians must believe the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
7. Christians must believe in the deity and personality of the Holy Spirit (Studies, Vol. 5, p. 244).
8. It is better to believe the Bible’s view of the doctrine of faith alone than the Jehovah’s Witness doctrine of obedience unto eternal life.
9. Christians must believe the Trinity of God; one in essence but three in person.  It is not contradictory to believe this Trinitarian formula because it is meant in two different senses.
10. It is not right to lie in court according to the theocratic doctrine of the Watchtower organization (Watchtower, 6/1/1960, p. 352).
11. Christians must believe the bodily resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
12. Christians should not follow Charles Taze Russell or Joseph F. Rutherford but the Lord Christ.
13. Christians must believe in the hypostatic union of the Lord Jesus Christ.
14. Christians are called to study other false religions but not take part in them.
15. In 1889 they claimed divine authority for a lie (Studies in the Scriptures, Vol. 2, 1889, p. 15).
16. The world did not end in 1914 as they “divinely” predicted.
17. The “Armageddon of anarchy” did not happen (The New York Times, October 5, 1914, p. 8).
18. Christians must believe in sola scriptura devoid of the Watchtower organization.
19. The Watchtower taught that the men of Sodom would be resurrected but no such thing happened.  It better to believe in the final day of resurrection than a fake story.
20. True Jehovah’s Witnesses are not true Christians.
21. Christ never came in 1844.
22.  “Messiah’s Kingdom” did not come about as foretold (Watchtower Reprints, September 1, 1916, p. 5951).
23. Human works do not play a roll in spiritual salvation but only the work of Christ in His life and death saves.
24. The Versions of the Bible (KJV, NKJV, NASB, etc.) are authentic versions but they teach that the New World Translation (hereafter the NWT) is believed to be the best translation by the Watchtower (New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures, 1950, p.6 & What Has Religion Done for Mankind, 1951, p. 351). 
25. The New World Translation renders John 1:1 as “In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.”  (New World Translation, 1984, 1327).  But the authentic Versions render the verse correctly in John 1:1, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (NIV, NASB, KJV, NKJV, and ESV).
26. We know the Watchtower teaches that it is not persecution to reveal falsehoods about false religion (Watchtower, Execution of Divine Judgment upon False Religion, November 15, 1963).  Therefore let us consider there denial of the Gospel of grace alone.
27. The Bible is meant for private interpretation but the responsibility to interpret it correctly lies with us all.  But they teach it cannot be properly comprehended but only through the Watchtower organization (Watchtower, October 1, 1967, p. 587, Watchtower, May 1, 1957, p. 274, Watchtower, December 12, 1981, p. 27 & Watchtower, December 1, 1990, p. 19). 
28. Jehovah’s Witnesses teach that the Holy Spirit is an impersonal force and an active force (Reasoning from the Scriptures, 1985, p. 380 & Holy Spirit, 1976, p.11).  But the Bible teaches that the Spirit of God is a divine person (Matthew 3:13-17; Acts 28:25).
29. Trinitarians do not believe in three separate gods that make up God (Tritheism), nor do we deny the distinctions within the Godhead (Modalism) (Let God Be True, 1946 [1952 rev.], p. 100, 102).  It is not honest to portray both as if it is Trinitarianism.  It is a purposeful error to sway the reader.  Neither of these theologies represents what Trinitarians believe.
30. Russellites teach that the Trinity is an Egyptian and Babylonian mystery (You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, 1982, pp. 40-41 & Let God Be True, 1946 [1952 rev.] p. 101), and originated from Satan himself (Let God Be True, 1946 [1952 rev.], p. 101).  In Watchtower thought the Trinity is believed to be an untrue doctrine (Reconciliation, 1928, p. 101, Should You Believe in the Trinity? 1989, p. 31, Let God Be True, 1946 [1952 rev.], p. 111, & You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, 1982, p. 39).  In reality, Trinitarians believe that the Trinity is properly explained this way: God is one in essence (Deuteronomy 6:4), and three in person (Matthew 28:16-20). 
31. The Watchtower rejects doctrines that are essential to the gospel.  If a person rejects these doctrines it is not without spiritual harm.  These doctrines are essentials for our spiritual health and well-being.  But we are not saved by doctrine.  Yet it is necessary to let us know how a person is saved, but it is Christ alone that saves.  The question is which doctrines are essential to the gospel of Jesus Christ?  And another question is do you believe the true gospel of Jesus Christ?  If you do not believe the true gospel you are accursed (Galatians 1: 6-10). 
32. The Watchtower is not from God because God does not inspire falsehood.  If you want to hold that it alone correctly interprets Scripture as it says, you will have to concede the point of it being from God.  We know that God cannot lie (Titus 1:2; Hebrews 6:18).  Therefore we must submit to the divine Surety of the Word of God revealed in the sacred pages of the Old and New Testament alone.
33. Jesus merely pre-existed creation as God’s spokesman and he was not immortal before his resurrection (You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, 1982, p. 58 & Insight on the Scriptures, vol. 1, 1988, p. 1189).  But the Bible speaks of His deity (Revelation 1).
34. Jesus was a perfect man as Adam was but he was not God (Should You Believe in the Trinity? 1989, p. 15, You Can Live Forever on Earth, 1982, p.63 & You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, 1982, p. 39-40).  But the Bible says He was God in human flesh (Philippians 2).
35. Before Jesus became man he was Michael the Archangel, and he was resurrected with his first identity as Michael because it was restored (Reasoning from the Scriptures, p. 218, You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, 1982, p. 21).  But Jesus was never Michael because He eternally existed as God the Son (John 1:1; Colossians 2).
36. Jesus was and is not Jehovah God but “a god” (You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, 1982, pp. 39-40 & You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, 1982, p. 40).  But the Bible says that Jesus was God in Hebrews 1.
37.  Jesus did not become the Christ but only when He became baptized (You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, 1982, p. 138).  But the Bible teaches that Jesus is the Christ at His birth in Luke 2:11.
38. Jesus was not resurrected bodily but as a spirit, and not resurrected in the same body (You Can Live Forever in Paradise on Earth, 1982, p. 172, 143).  But the Bible teaches that Jesus rose bodily from the dead (1 Corinthians 15).
39. The Bible teaches that Jesus existed before His birth from everlasting to everlasting (John 1:1-2). He did not merely pre-exist creation.  Rather He is the Eternal Self-Existent One (John 8:58). 
40.  When God the Son became man, He was the Eternal God in human flesh (Philippians 2; 1 Timothy 3:16).  He is truly the Second Person of the Trinity.  He is submissive to the Father but co-equal to the Father.  He did not find equality with God something to be grasped; for He was God incarnate. 
41. Jesus was without sin, or the capacity to sin; He was the sinless God-man (2 Corinthians 5:21 cf. John 1:14). 
42. Jesus was never Michael, nor did He become Michael (Colossians 1; Revelation 1-2).
43. Jesus was the Christ that was proclaimed by the angel (Luke 2:11), and Simeon declared the child the Christ (Luke 2:25-32).
44. Jesus was bodily raised from the dead, and He was raised in the same body yet it was glorified (John 20; Acts 2:22-31).  Doesn’t the Scripture say that Christ is the fullness of Deity in bodily form (Colossians 2:9)? 
45. The doctrine of justification by faith alone is a biblical doctrine; God’s people are justified by faith apart from works (Romans 4; Titus 3:5).
46. The questions are: how can an impersonal force approve someone to a divine task?  How can an impersonal force be holy?  Tell me, how is it that the Spirit of God in Scripture speaks (Acts 28:25), indwells His people (Romans 8:11), convicts the world of sin (John 16:8-11), and even prevents His people from doing what they desired in Bithynia (Acts 16:7)? 
47. Any serious reading of Scripture shows that the Spirit of God is a divine person.  He is called God (Acts 5:3-4) and His title is the Eternal Spirit (Hebrews 9:14).  Tell me, how is an impersonal force called the Lord God (Isaiah 61:1)?  He is the One who changes the heart of stone with the divine Word of God (John 3).  He is the One who works in the life of a believer in sanctification.  He is the One who illuminates the mind of His people.  We do not own allegiance to an impersonal force but to the true living God Who is the Holy Spirit.  It is biblically proper to call the Holy Ghost the one true God.  He is the Third Person of the Trinity.  He is the One that is called God by Luke (Acts 5:1-4).
48. The Watchtower denies Hell is a place but says it’s “the common grave of all mankind” (Live Forever, p. 83).  Hell is a real, eternal place (Matthew 25:41). Disbelieve what you have learned, and submit to the Triune God of Scripture (Matthew 28:16-20).
49. What if there really is consciousness after death known as the intermediate state; for doesn’t the Scripture say to be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8)?  Where you will spend eternity is at stake: repent and believe in the gospel of the Spirit of God.
50. The Bible teaches that we should worship the Lord Jesus Christ, but the Jehovah’s Witnesses changed from worshipping Christ (Watchtower, 11/1879, p. 48) to forbidding worshiping Christ (Watchtower 7/15/1959, p.421).
51. Are we to believe that substantial changes of Watchtower doctrine are a “growing process” or “gaining more light over time?”  Or is it an indication that the Watchtower organization had serious errors to it?  It is better to serve the Bible’s message then an errant organization.
52. For salvation a Jehovah’s Witness must always be apart of the Watchtower organization (Watchtower, 1/1/1960, p. 19), but the Bible teaches faith and repentance in the Gospel of Christ (Mark 1:15).
53. For salvation a Jehovah’s Witness must do works to have their names in the book of life (Watchtower, 4/1/1947, p. 204), but the Bible teaches faith accounted as righteousness (Romans 4).
54. Some sins for the Jehovah’s Witness are not forgiven (Watchtower, 8/1/1975, p. 459) and through it salvation comes (Watchtower, 11/15/1981, p. 21), but the Bible speaks of the forgiveness and cleansing of all sin for elect believers (1 John 1:9).
55. One must have faith in “a victorious organization” (Watchtower, 3/1/1979, p.1), but God in His Word says it’s in Christ alone that one has eternal life (John 3:16).
56. Charles Taze Russell should not have been worshipped as a creature (1975 Yearbook, p. 88), but God the Holy Trinity alone (John 4:21-24).
57. The Watchtower teaches that the Lord Jesus is forever dead (Studies, Vol. 5, p. 454), but the Bible teaches that He rose bodily from the dead (John 20:27 opposed to Studies, Vol. 7, p. 57).
58. The Watchtower denies that the atonement body of Christ is the same body of Christ at His resurrection (Watchtower, 8/1/1975, p. 479).
59. The Watchtower denies that Jesus is a man forever after His resurrection (Love Forever, p. 143), but the Bible teaches that Christ is the God-man forevermore (Acts 10:42).
60. The Watchtower teaches that the white race has “some qualities of superiority” (Watchtower, 7/15/1902, p. 3043), but the Bible teaches that God elects men from every tribe, tongue, people and nation (Revelation 5:9).
61. The Watchtower admits that Jehovah’s Witnesses are “not infallible or inspired prophets” (Watchtower, 5/15/1976, p. 297) but understands themselves as a “prophetlike organization” (Watchtower, 10/1/1964, p. 601) and Jehovah’s Witnesses are called God’s people, prophets and witnesses (Awake, 6/8/1986, p. 6).
62. The Watchtower calls its people not to take part “in political activities” (United, p. 166), but the Bible speaks of having Christ determine one’s whole life (Philippians 4:8-9).
63. The Watchtower believes the Second Advent of Christ took place in the Fall of 1874 (Studies, Vol. 7, p. 60), but the Bible speaks of Christ’s Second Coming as a public event (Revelation 1:7).
64. How can salvation be given to “a god” who is not the Divine Christ (Word, p. 52)?  Spiritual salvation is granted by the Incarnate Divine Christ, because only the God-man could satisfy divine justice (John 1:14; 1 Timothy 2:5).
65. The Watchtower spoke of the possibility of military service (Watchtower, 8/1/1898, p. 2345), but refuses it in 1951 (Watchtower, 2/1/1951, p. 73 cf. United, p. 167).
66. The Watchtower says it matters what people believe about Jesus (Watchtower, 2/1/1984, p. 3), but questions how Jesus could be “a god” (Watchtower, 7/1/1986, p. 31).
67. The Watchtower says that there is “no biblical evidence” that Jesus died on the cross (Awake, 11/8/1972, p. 14) but the Bible says Simon the Cyrene carried Jesus’ cross (Matthew 27:32 opposed to Awake, 9/22/1974, p. 28).
68. The Watchtower says it is proper to join in on Christmas (Watchtower, 12/15/1903, p. 3290), but changed its mind (Watchtower 12/15/1979, p. 5) and it is alleged that Christmas is from Satan (Watchtower, 12.15/1983, p. 7).  However, Christmas was good enough for the sinless Christmas angels to celebrate the birth of Christ the Blessed One (Luke 2:7-15).
69. The Watchtower is alleged to be “the one and only channel” of God (Watchtower, 4/1/1919, 6414), but the Bible speaks of a biblically Reformed local church (1 Timothy 3:15).
70. It is better to think that God shows people that Charles Taze Russell is from Satan then to believe Satan causes people to believe he is from him (Watchtower 9/15/1922, p. 279).
71. Vaccinations are considered a “violation of the everlasting covenant” (Golden Age, 2/4/1931, p. 293), but the Bible does not anywhere condemn them.
72. Organ transplants are considered “cannibalism” (Watchtower, 11/15/1957, pp. 702-4), but the Bible does not anywhere condemn them.
73. The Watchtower forbids blood transfusions (JW On Blood, pp. 18-19), but the Bible does not anywhere condemn them.
74. The Watchtower understands itself as a sealed book except for itself (Watchtower 7/1/1973, p. 402), but the organization is erred because the Bible calls us to private interpretation but to do so correctly (2 Timothy 2:15).
75. The Watchtower is considered by itself to be “the channel of communication that God is using” and no one will “progress along the road to life” without it (Watchtower 12/1/1981, p. 27) and it forbids independent thought (Watchtower 1/15/1983, p. 27).  The Bible must be understood as the sole infallible authority, but organizations can make errors; however, the Bible is all for independent thinking as long as it does not commit heresy.  The sin of error is a crime that can damn the soul.
76. The Watchtower wants itself recognized in “organization minded[ness]” nut the Bible can be understood apart from organizational mindedness  (Watchtower, 9/1/1954, p. 529) but every Christian should be in a Bible-based church apart from true providential hindrances (Hebrews 10:25).
77. The Watchtower says that it alone is from God (Watchtower, 3/1/1979, p. 24) but the Bible speaks of Gospel-honoring churches (Romans 1:1) but warns of those who put forth contrary opinions (Watchtower, 3/15/1986. p. 17).
78. The Bible speaks of the omnipresence of God the Father (Jeremiah 23:23-24), God the Son (Colossians 3:11) and God the Holy Spirit (Psalm 139:7-12).
79. The Bible speaks of the omnipotence of God the Father (Job 42:2), God the Son (Matthew 8:3) and God the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:5).
80. The Bible speaks of the omniscience of God the Father (Isaiah 40:14), God the Son (Colossians 2:2-3), and God the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 2:10-13).
81. The Bible speaks of the eternity of God the Father (Psalm 90:2), God the Son (1 Timothy 1:15-17) and God the Holy Spirit (Hebrews 9:14).
82. The Bible speaks of the divinity and personality of God the Father (Isaiah 64:8; Matthew 3:17).
83. The Bible speaks of the divinity and humanity of God the Son (Isaiah 7:6; 1 Timothy 2:5).
84. The Bible speaks of the divinity and personality of God the Spirit (Genesis 1:1-2; 6:3).
85. The atonement of Christ did not make Him a sinner when He willingly died at Calvary (nor was He a sinner at anytime in His life; He did not freely die to atone for any sin of Himself, but rather, He was and is without sin.  He died for the sin of His people, and He became sin so His people may become the righteousness of God in Him.  He died to God the Father; that is, He offered of Himself, the perfect ransom (a sweet fragrance unto God the Father), and He remains the impeccable, eternal, and unchanging Son of Man, Christ Jesus, the Victor).  He wholly and freely bore the totality of the sins of His people alone in their place in complete fullness.  The just dreadful wrath of our Heavenly Father was satisfied through, by and because of His Beloved Son. The sins of God’s people were expiated, that is, removed from all them as far as the east is from the west, and Christ appeased the wrath of God.  God the Father has accepted what the God-man, the selfless, all-sufficient, spotless, sinner-Seeker, has done for His people.  The sufficient work of the God-man was, indeed, and still is, wholly and completely well-pleasing to His Beloved Father.  What Christ Himself accomplished on the cross at Calvary, was not in opposition to His Beloved Father’s will but was in complete and total harmony with it and perfect cooperation to it.  The cross of the Incarnate Lamb did not merely potentially save God’s people but actually saved His people. The alien righteousness of Christ alone avails before God the Father Himself.  There is no division or separation between the Father and the Son.  Christ Himself, the God-man, paid for our eternal sin debt which we could never pay.  God makes a heavenly and true forensic declaration in their justification of His own, once and for all, which is not a process.  His people’s salvation is dependent upon the Triune Lord Himself not man; indeed, it is God-dependent, that is, all by, from and because of God’s sheer and pure sovereign grace alone.  It is of Christ alone, because of Christ alone, and from Christ alone, wholly in behalf of totally depraved sinners.  When God bestows upon His people, graciousness, it is not from obligation but by His blessed voluntary work of His holy kindness and tender abundant mercies. It is wholly God-glorifying and God-magnifying, which is all divinely predestinated and foreordained, before the world began for His blessed elect only.  The elect of the Lamb will preserve because of the preservation of God Himself.  Those who are truly regenerate will truly preserve unto the very end.  God safely keeps His chosen from truly falling away.  His sovereign work alone is irrevocable and unchangeable.  Indeed, it cannot be undone.  This is what a Christian is, and it is entirely foreign to the WTO (Dr. Petillo, Michael A., The Jehovah’s Witness Controversy, 2009).
86. Revelation 1:17-18 proves the deity of the Lord Jesus Christ.
87. This would be a good prayer for Jehovah’s Witnesses to say:  “Dear God, whom I hate with all my being precisely because you hate and threaten me with hell, I hate this punishment perhaps even more than I hate you. Or, maybe I should say that I love my comfort even more than I hate you. For that reason I am asking a favor of you. I want you to make me love you, whom I hate even when I ask this and even more because I have to ask this. I am being frank with you because I know it is no use to be otherwise. You know even better than I how much I hate you and that I love only myself. It is no use for me to pretend to be sincere. I most certainly do not love you and do not want to love you. I hate the thought of loving you but that is what I'm asking because I love myself. If you can answer this 'prayer' I guess the gift of gratitude will come with it and then I will be able to do what I would not think of doing now—thank you for making me love you whom I hate. Amen.”  (Gerstner, The Rational Biblical Theology Of Jonathan Edwards, 81). 
88. Christians must believe that the grace of faith is born of God but not through Watchtower errors (Titus 3:5).
89. The Bible forbids us to go door to door, but Christians should know their faith in Christ because God has given us minds to understand His truth. 
90. Easter is a great way to celebrate the bodily resurrection of the Lord Christ.
91. Reformation Day on October 31^st is a great way to celebrate the birth of the biblical Gospel into a dark world in the 95 Disputations of Martian Luther.
92. Holy Thursday as Ascension Day should be celebrated by faithful Christians because it is an essential doctrine and speaks of Christ’s kingship.
93. It is good for a Christian to engage in consistent prayer in the manifestation of an hour of worship on one’s knees to God the Holy Trinity.
94. It is better to worship the Holy Trinity alone than worship a false god.
95. Baptism must be in the Triune Name of God in the last Chapter of Matthew.