Exodus 33:20

Proverbs 4:18

Proverbs 8:22-31

Isaiah 44:24

Daniel 7:13-14

Exodus 33:20

And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.

"Men saw Jesus Christ," a Jehovah's Witness will say, "so Jesus could not be God." However, there is a flaw in that argument. It ignores the fact that men saw Jesus Christ only after he "became flesh and made his dwelling among us." (John 1:14 NIV) Naturally, he could be seen then. However, when the words of Exodus 33:20 were uttered in Moses' day, Jesus Christ was "in the form of God" and could not be seen by men. (Philippians 2:6 KJV) He took on a different form when he later "took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men." (Philippians 2:7 KJV)

See also the discussion of John 1:18.

Proverbs 4:18

The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day. (NIV)

In the JW New World Translation this passage reads, "But the path of the righteous ones is like the bright light that is getting lighter and lighter until the day is firmly established." Witnesses are taught to use the verse as justification for the sect's many doctrinal changes over the years.

When asked about the organization's past involvement with the Great Pyramid of Egypt as a tool for predicting dates (For discussion and documentation see How to Rescue Your Loved One from the Watchtower, pages 76-78 and 84-91.), the typical Witness will respond, "We no longer believe that because the light has gotten brighter." Or, when asked why tobacco users were suddenly rejected as candidates for baptism as of the early 1970s, a JW will reply, "We received new light on the subject." Rather than see such changes as evidence of unreliability or human fallibility in the sect's leadership, members conclude instead that God is running the organization and that the changes prove his active involvement on a continual basis. "The churches are in darkness, but Jehovah makes the light keep getting brighter for his Witnesses," a Witness will explain. In fact, JWs are eager for changes in belief to be announced at their conventions or to be introduced in new publications, and a new book or convention that doesn't feature any "new truths" is a disappointment for them.

Are orthodox Christians really in darkness because Baptists and Lutherans today embrace the same beliefs as Baptists and Lutherans of a hundred years ago? Are we in darkness because we are missing out on "new light" from God? Is that what Proverbs 4:18 really means?

Not at all! Jesus Christ is "the true Light, which lighteth every man." (John 1:9 KJV) Those who come to Christ are in the light. What greater light could there be? The context of Proverbs 4:18 contrasts the enlightened path of the righteous with "the path of the wicked." (verse 14) "The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble." (verse 19) It does not indicate that the righteous stumble in the wrong direction until they receive "new light" to set them straight. If "new truths" contradict old teachings, then the "old light" must actually have been darkness.

When the Watchtower sect was still in its infancy and before it had been around long enough to start revamping its own doctrines, founder Charles Taze Russell pointed to this very practice as one of the flaws of the Adventist sect he left behind. He declared,

If we were following a man undoubtedly it would be different with us; undoubtedly one human idea would contradict another and that which was light one or two or six years ago would be regarded as darkness now; But with God there is no variableness, neither shadow of turning, and so it is with truth; any knowledge or light coming from God must be like its author. A new view of truth never can contradict a former truth. "New light" never extinguishes older "light," but adds to it. -- Zion's Watch Tower, February 1881, page 3

Yet, as time went on, Russell's new sect fell into that very pattern by introducing "new truths" that contradict prior Watchtower teachings.

However, perhaps the most convincing evidence against the JW misuse of Proverbs 4:18 is found in the organization's frequent return to previously rejected points of view. For example, it first taught that the "higher powers" of Romans 13:1 are the secular governments, then denounced this as false doctrine and identified the "higher powers" as God and Christ, and later reidentified them as the secular governments. The Society told its active followers they were all "ministers," then denied this in the mid-1970s and told them instead that only the appointed leaders were ministers, and then in the early 1980s resumed declaring all active JWs to be ministers. A similar back-and-forth shift occurred in the sect's teaching on the identity of the "faithful and wise servant" of Matthew 24:45. First that "servant" was said to be the Christian congregation collectively, then Charles Taze Russell individually, and then later the whole congregation collectively again. Watchtower teaching flip-flopped back and forth even more dr astically on the question of whether the men of Sodom would be resurrected. The official answer was YES in 1879, NO in 1952, YES again in 1965, and NO once more in 1988. (The Watchtower July 1879, page 8; June 1, 1952, page 338; August 1, 1965, page 479; and June 1, 1988, page 31)

On these issues, instead of "getting brighter," the Jehovah's Witness "light" has been blinking on and off--like a blinker on the highway warning traffic of danger ahead. Indeed, all should take warning that the Watchtower road is not "the path of the righteous" (Proverbs 4:18) but more closely resembles one of the many travel lanes on the broad way to destruction. (Matthew 7:13) The many doctrinal changes the JW organization has undergone over the years are indeed described in Scripture, but not at Proverbs 4:18. The appropriate verse in the New World Translation is Ephesians 4:14, "Štossed about as by waves and carried hither and thither by every wind of teaching by means of the trickery of men, by means of cunning in contriving error," or as paraphrased in the Living Bible, "Šforever changing our minds about what we believe because someone has told us something different, or has cleverly lied to us and made the lie sound like the truth."

Proverbs 8:22-31

The LORD possessed me in the beginning of his way, before his works of old. I was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth was. When there were no depths, I was brought forth; when there were no fountains abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled, before the hills was I brought forth: While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world. When he prepared the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass upon the face of the depth: When he established the clouds above: when he strengthened the fountains of the deep: When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth: Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before him; Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth; and my delights were with the sons of men. (KJV)

The Witnesses' New World Translation renders verse 22 to say, "Jehovah himself produced me as the beginning of his way, the earliest of his achievements of long ago," and JWs interpret this as applying to the prehuman Jesus Christ--proof that he is not God but was "produced" or created by God as the first angel.

However, the "me" who is speaking throughout Proverbs 8:1 through 9:12 is identified as "wisdom," and many other translations reflect the fact that feminine pronouns are used. Wisdom raises her voice in 8:1; she takes her stand in 8:2; she cries out in 8:3; wisdom has built her house in 9:1; she has prepared her table in 9:2--hardly the language one would expect if Jesus Christ were meant. (King James Version, Revised Standard Version, Jerusalem Bible, Modern Language Bible, The Living Bible, A Literal Translation of the Bible in the Pocket Interlinear Old Testament)

Besides, the best translations agree with the King James Version in saying that God "possessed" wisdom from the beginning. In fact, it is illogical to say that God produced or created it, since this would imply a time prior to that when the Almighty lacked wisdom.

See also the discussion of Isaiah 44:24 and Colossians 1:16.

Isaiah 44:24

This is what the LORD says--your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself (NIV)

This verse is particularly useful in refuting JW theology. Witnesses believe Christ to have been an incarnation of Michael the archangel: "The foremost angel, both in power and authority, is the archangel, Jesus Christ, also called Michael." (The Watchtower November 1, 1995, page 8) Supposedly this first angelic being that God created was therefore "like" a son to him: "The first spirit person God made was like a firstborn son to him." (Caption with picture number 29 in the 1982 Watchtower booklet Enjoy Life on Earth Forever!--its pages are not numbered.) This "son" then worked along with God as his helper or instrument in creating all other things.

Scripture does indeed state concerning the Son, "All things were made by himŠthe world was made by him." (John 1:3, 10 KJV) "GodŠ Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his SonŠby whom also he made the worlds." (Hebrews 1:1-2 KJV)

In the Jehovah's Witness view this means that the first angel was present with God when the heavens and the earth were created--contradicting God's testimony above that he was "alone" when he stretched out the heavens and that he created the earth "by myself." Who then is correct?--the Watchtower le aders who concocted their own explanation of matters, or God himself who was present at creation and who never lies?

If we are to believe Scripture that the LORD (YHWH=Yahweh=Jehovah) created the heavens and the earth "aloneŠmy myself" and that the Son made all these things, then we are forced to the conclusion that the Son is the LORD, Yahweh. Although contradictory in the JW scheme of things, these clear statements in the Bible pose no problem for the Christian who understands that the triune God--Father, Son, and Holy Spirit--acted in the person of the Son to accomplish these creative deeds. It was still the LORD acting alone, by himself. Thus, the theology promoted by Jehovah's Witnesses must be wrong, and the traditional Christian view of the deity of Christ must be correct.

See also the discussion of Proverbs 8:22-31 and Colossians 1:16.

Daniel 7:13-14

I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him. And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed. (KJV)

"Christ is not God," a Watchtower adherent will assert triumphantly after reading this passage. "Jehovah God is the Ancient of Days, and Jesus is the Son of man who is brought before God and who receives dominion, glory, and a kingdom. Christ is not God because God could not come near to himself."

In response it should be noted, first of all, that this was one of the prophet Daniel's "visions." Such visions often used graphic symbols to depict spiritual realities that would otherwise have been invisible and incomprehensible to mere humans. Do clouds of water vapor actually serve as vehicles to transport visitors from earth who travel into God's presence? The language is obviously symbolic.

Moreover, if the Son could start out "in the form of God," just like God the Father, and then empty himself to take on "the likeness of men" and "in fashion as a man" undergo death on the cross (Philippians 2:6-8 KJV), it should not seem strange for him eventually to return to the Father as "the Son of man." This does not in any way contradict the trinitarian view of Christ as God but as a divine Person distinct from the Father.

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