I was called upon by two JW's today- Mike and Brandt, by arrangement. The JW's deny the deity of Jesus Christ, believing instead that he was the archangel Michael!
My initial approach was to declare that I am a trintarian Christian, and am one because of the Holy Scriptures. I believe that the Scriptures teach that Jesus is YHWH, 'Jehovah'. Their version of the Scriptures is a corrupt one 'the New World Translation'. It has taken great pains to take out any and all notions of the diety of Jesus Christ. But they didn't get rid of it all, and that is the wedge I can take advantage of.
My first dilemma to them- the comparison of Psalm 102 specifically verses 25-27, and Hebrews 1:10-12, which quotes the Psalm. Here is the rub- the Psalm speaks very clearly about Jehovah the true unchangeable God, and the Hebrews passage then takes that and ascribes it directly to Jesus Christ. If Jesus Christ is a creature, as they say- then the writer of Hebrews has done something horribly inappropriate. Unless, of course, Jesus is Jehovah God, then it is appropriate. They will look into that for me, and prepare a response for next time.
The second of the dilemmas- John 12:37-41 and Isaiah 6:1-10. Specifically in John 12:41, where the 'glory' is mentioned by John- note that the glory that Isaiah saw is the same glory of Christ on earth. This is subtle, but the point can be made. The glory that Isaiah saw- YHWH, Jehovah. The glory that John saw- Jesus. John has no problem there connecting the two. Again, the promise to deal with these things is forthcoming.
The seven I AMs of John is one of the next things we will discuss in the future. They translate the I AM differently as 'I have been'. There is a rather long argument that takes one through Isaiah in the LXX to show the translation of Hebrew 'ani hu' into greek 'ego eimi'-then linking it to the Exodus IAM, and this helps form a foundation for the Apostolic use of I AM by John as identification of Jesus claim to be YHWH, coupled with the reaction of the Jews to Jesus 'I AM' statement in Chap 8.
Another target, the issue of the general disdain of the NW Translation of the Bible- even by non-trinitarians and agnostics.
They gave me homework too- Psalm 96:4-5 and Ecclisiastes Chapter 9.
God bless
Followers
1 comments:
Garret, thanks for this overview. I don't interact much (if at all) with JW's. I found this very edifying.
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