The Third Edition of Jehovah’s Witnesses Defended

 

The Third Edition of Jehovah’s Witnesses Defended: An Answer to Scholars and Critics is scheduled for release near the end of this year or the first part of 2007.

 

Jehovah’s Witnesses are worth defending. They have a racial unity that is truly beautiful to behold. They do not, as a people, promote any political agenda. They, by and large, promote a wholesome Christian morality. Of course, you could point to other religious groups who also, similarly, display these marks. However, I must admit that I have been forcefully reminded by my recent attendance at some Witness meetings of the wonderful racial unity Jehovah’s Witnesses possess. It is an outstanding feature, one increasingly hard to find on the earth today.

 

But in my opinion the most noteworthy distinction Jehovah’s Witnesses hold among the world religions is they are called by God’s name, Jehovah. By this I do not mean that being called by or calling yourself by Jehovah’s name means Jehovah is absolutely the one responsible for it. On the other hand, Jehovah does have a history of ‘putting his name’ where he wants (Deuteronomy 12:21; 1 Kings 14:21; 2 Chronicles 12:13).

 

My point here is not to prove anything about why Jehovah’s Witnesses are called Jehovah’s Witnesses. Rather, my point is they are called Jehovah’s Witnesses. This is not merely representative of a token use in some hymnbook, either. Jehovah’s Witnesses use Jehovah’s name everywhere, and it is a big part not only of who they are but also says a great deal about what they do: bear witness to the truth that Jehovah is God (Isaiah 43:10).

 

Let’s go further on this last distinguishing mark, that is, on their use of God’s name. I challenge anyone to point to a religious group today that proclaims the divine name from the Hebrew Bible in more ways and with more zeal than do Jehovah’s Witnesses. I know of none.

 

They are far and away to be distinguished from every other world religion of similar notoriety in this respect. This surely is an outstanding feature that is hard to deny them. However, it is also the sharpest of two-edged swords.

 

If you use Jehovah’s name for as long and as proudly as Jehovah’s Witnesses have done, you will get Jehovah’s attention. If after you get Jehovah’s attention you are found by him earnestly seeking him and trying to do his will, day after day, you will get Jehovah’s blessing, even if you make some mistakes along the way. But if after you get Jehovah’s attention by using his name you then use Jehovah’s name for your own gain or for inappropriate leverage in support of your own traditions, you will get Jehovah’s wrath. In either case, there is no escaping this fact: seek Jehovah, use his name, and you will get his attention:

 

 

*** Psalm 14:2 (NWT) ***

As for Jehovah, he has looked down from heaven itself upon the sons of men, to see whether there exists anyone having insight, anyone seeking Jehovah. [See also Psalm 53:2.]

 

If for no other reasons than that they have sought Jehovah and that he has allowed his name to reside among them for an extended period of time, I will defend Jehovah’s Witnesses. I will defend them where they have, in my opinion (for that is all I have), earnestly sought Jehovah and succeeded in doing his will. I will not defend them where they have, in my opinion (for that is all I have), refused to do Jehovah’s will.

 

I say “refuse” because I am not talking about the occasions where they may have simply failed to do Jehovah’s will. The nation of Israel failed him more times than I care to recount (Lamentations). Prominent persons and congregations of Christians have also failed him and his Son. Indeed, if you were brought in to look upon the first-century Christians you might have had the misfortune of seeing racism and class distinctions (Galatians 2) or outright heresy (1 Timothy 1:2). We have all failed Jehovah:

 

*** (NWT) Job 14:1-4 ***

Man, born of woman, is short-lived and glutted with agitation. Like a blossom he has come forth and is cut off, and he runs away like the shadow and does not keep existing. Yes, upon this one you have opened your eye, and me you bring into judgment with you. Who can produce someone clean out of someone unclean? There is not one.

 

We must be ever aware of this in order to keep from elevating ourselves above anyone else. We must remain subject to correction by the lowliest of our brothers, for that is what we should strive to become (Matthew 18:4; 23:11 -12; 1 Corinthians 15:9; Ephesians 3:8).

 

In my third edition of Jehovah’s Witnesses Defended I will not defend Jehovah’s Witnesses’ time-reporting requirements for being considered an “active” Witness of God and of Christ. I will not defend them for requiring others to accept most of their interpretations of prophecy and of chronology. I will not defend their view that transfusing blood is the same thing as eating blood, when transfusing blood is putting blood back into the circulatory system for the very purpose for which it was intended:

 

Blood [AS. Blod]. The cell-containing fluid that circulates through the heart, arteries, veins, and capillaries CARRYING nourishment, electrolytes, hormones, vitamins, antibodies, heat, and oxygen to the tissues and taking away waste matter and carbon dioxide. [Taber’s Cyclopedic Medical Dictionary, Clayton L. Thomas, ed., 16th edition (Philadelphia, PA: F. A. Davis Company, 1989), page 223.]

 

I emphasize by all capitals the word “CARRYING” because that’s what transfused blood does: it carries the products of the food we eat. It is not a food eaten after being transfused. So I cannot defend Jehovah’s Witnesses on this point, either.

 

I will, however, provide their reasons for historically rejecting whole blood transfusions. In the third edition of Jehovah’s Witnesses Defended I will give them a voice on this subject, even as I moderately add my own so as to have a clean conscience before God and before men.

 

Jehovah’s Witnesses Defended is not a book written to defend only one Jehovah’s Witnesses’ views, namely, my own. It is a book meant to defend both shared and differing views among those who call themselves by Jehovah’s name. It is a book that above all seeks to defend what can be defended, even if not proven, because what cannot be defended should not have anything to do with Jehovah. The Witnesses’ views on blood can be defended, so I will give a defense on their behalf knowing, as I do, that I am not the only Jehovah’s Witness.

 

Here are some other subjects on which I will defend Jehovah’s Witnesses:

 

The New World Translation (NWT): Far from being an inaccurate or poor translation of the Bible the NWT is an exceptional rendering of the Holy Bible. Most noteworthy is that it did not take a committee of so-called “learned men,” scholars of the world, to produce it. It is not perfect. No translation is. It has flaws. All translations do. But the NWT has been unjustly criticized on numerous occasions by people who should have known better, by “scholars” who claim the NWT Committee should have known better when it turns out that they did, in fact, know better than the “scholars” much of the time.

 

Most of the translations in the NWT that I defend are of theological and Christological import, including: Zechariah 12:10 , Acts 20:28 , Romans 9:5, Hebrews 1:8, Exodus 3:14 , John 1:1, John 8:58 , and John 14:14 . Since these are among the verses most often criticized by others, they deserve a defense most of all.

 

Jehovah God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit: I am again presenting an entire chapter devoted to “Understanding Trinitarianism: Why Trinitarians Believe What They Believe.” Most of the material is the same, with some additional discussion on how Jesus is Jehovah through the greatest act of humiliation and worship ever given to his God and Father.

 

Jesus is truly the “imprint of God’s being” (Hebrews 1:3). Since Jesus chose to do his Father’s will and not his own (unlike Satan), he has by his perfect representation of Jehovah, become Jehovah. There is no difference between the two in terms of their will. One has turned himself entirely over to do the will of the other, and he has shown that he can not only accept the will of the Father entirely but he can accomplish it. This does not involve an ontological oneness (thus, no Trinitarianism). But I do believe Jehovah’s Witnesses need to make more out of Jesus being Jehovah, in this way.

 

Also included in the book are defenses of the “a god” rendering in John 1:1c., an extended look at the grammatical implications of the grammar of that clause, and the implications of the “qualitative” view of THEOS in John 1:1c that many Trinitarians advocate nowadays, implications that they and others seem to have missed or ignored, completely. 

 

Additional material has been added to the chapter on the “’I Am’ Sayings of Jesus.” I have also added a section supporting, in more detail, the Witnesses’ belief in the prehuman existence of Jesus as the Word of God.

 

There are several other chapters and sections covering questions related to the relationship between God and Christ, as well as a new appendix discussing a mistaken understanding often associated with the words “grieving God’s holy spirit” in Ephesians 4:30. I believe there is strong evidence to support the idea that this does not involve the holy spirit ‘grieving for something,’ suggesting that the holy spirit is a personal being. Rather, I believe there are good reasons for taking the word commonly translated “grieving” to mean “opposing” or “resisting” God’s holy spirit.

 

Blood, Salvation, and the Resurrection Body: I have already mentioned that I will give the Witnesses who refuse blood transfusions a voice by presenting what I believe are their best arguments in support of their current position. I will make mention of certain limitations to their arguments as well, in order to maintain balance and to keep true to my own perspective. But it will be more of a defense on their behalf than a reflection of my views, views I have expressed in Three Dissertations.

 

There is an entire chapter defending the Witnesses’ view of salvation through living faith in Christ. The belief that “faith alone,” that is, apart from works, justifies a person is rejected with reasons. Questions regarding the “great crowd” of Revelation 7 and the 144,000 of both Revelation 7 and 14 are discussed. Translation issues relating to “exercising faith” (John 12:36 ) “over the earth” (Revelation 5:10 ), and “before the throne” in Revelation 7:9 are also considered. 

 

The chapter on the “The Temple of [Jesus’] Body” from the second edition is included in the new edition, with some additional material on the meaning of “flesh and blood” in 1 Corinthians 15:50 and an added discussion about Jesus’ raising his body after being “made a life-giving spirit” (1 Corinthians 15:45), in which he appeared to others before his ‘flesh saw corruption’ (Acts 2:31), meaning, of course, that it never ‘saw corruption.’

 

Is the Watchtower Society a False Prophet? Ultimately, this question cannot be answered because only God or Jesus Christ can answer the question: Was the Watchtower Society appointed by Jesus Christ in 1919 as the “faithful and discreet slave” spoken of by Jesus in Matthew 24:45 and in Luke 12:42 ? If they were not so appointed, then they are false prophets. I cannot answer the question. So I will let Jehovah and Jesus answer this in their own time.

 

But I will defend Jehovah’s Witnesses against the claims of many who oppose them on the basis that they are false prophets because of various interpretations they have made respecting certain key dates, such as 1874, 1914, 1925, 1975, and their interpretation and comments relative to “this generation” spoken of by Jesus in (Matthew 24:34). I believe that many opponents of Jehovah’s Witnesses have misquoted and misused numerous documents relative to these dates in order to convince others that the Watchtower Society is a false prophet, though it is a fact that the Witnesses have themselves been irresponsible in their presentation of material relating to certain end-time prophecies.

 

The Divine Name: As I talked about it in the beginning of this article, so I will talk about it again at the end. For me, at this time, the only thing that matters is Jehovah. Since Jesus is the “exact representation” of Jehovah (Hebrews 1:3), he matters just as much. But the controversy now has to do with his God and Father’s name, the name that has been hidden from so many, the name that is to be known by all earthling man:

 

*** (NWT) Jeremiah 16:20-21 ***

“Can earthling man make for himself gods when they are no gods? Therefore here I am causing them to know; at this one time I shall cause them to know my hand and my mightiness, and they will have to know that my name is Jehovah.”

 

To be sure, there is a fight today for Christianity, a fight for “the way and the truth and the life,” a fight for Jesus Christ, the Son of God, as “the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14 ). But the “antichrist” denies both “the Father and the Son” (1 John 2:22 ). So I will fight for “his name and the name of his son” (Proverbs 30:4).

 

Jehovah’s Witnesses represent, for me, the best place to start fighting this battle once again. Until that changes, until Jehovah decides to “put his name” somewhere else, I will I defend Jehovah’s Witnesses.

 

Greg Stafford

August 1, 2006