First of all, whatever the Jehovah Witnesses are they ARE NOT CHRISTIAN because they do not believe Jesus Christ is God and second of all they think He died as this excerpt from the pamphlet relate:
“ . . . Witnesesses agree that Christ existed before He was born into this world, but say he was himself only a creature – the first creature made by God and used as an instrument for the creation of all else. Russell [the one-time leader of the Witnesses] tells us that He [ – meaning here Jesus Christ] was “Michael the Archangel! When, millenniums after his creation, the creature became man, his nature was completely changed from angelic and spiritual to material and human. “In obedience to God, he gave up his spirit-being and was born of Mary as a wholly-human being.” Apparently that was the end of Michael the Archangel, a fact St. John unfortunately forgot when writing his Apocalypse, for there he has Michael still existing side by side with the Christ into whom Russell declared him to have been transformed!
But let us go on. When Christ died on the Cross, according to the Witnesses, he was merely a man, and his death was the end of him; completely and absolutely the end. But a “spirit-being” emerged from the tomb, to become “a” god, not “the” God; which apparently was better than being merely Michael the Archangel who had existed in the first place.
The doctrine that Christ was three successive and independent beings, Michael the Archangel, the man Jesus, and the semi-divine king of the new world, is certainly not Christian doctrine, whatever else it may be. Most intelligent people will rightly estimate it as fantastic nonsense.
And what becomes of the basic fact in the Christian religion – the resurrection of Christ? “If Christ be not risen,” says St. Paul, “then is your faith in vain.” (1 Cor. XV,17.) The Witnesses of Jehovah deny that he is risen. “The man Christ,” they say, “is dead forever.” “The Person who died,” Russell tells us, “remained dead, and he will never be seen again in his human nature.” What became of his body? Russell says that no one knows. He suggests that possibly it was dissolved into gases, or supernaturally removed by God to be preserved until He chooses to produce it as a grand memorial or trophy of Chris’s work. But it will be only a material corpse.”
Then of course is the issue of the soul and immortality. Jehovah Witnesses do not believe, according to the pamphlet, in an immortal soul. This being the case who should care about anything but doing what you want anyway because the second you die your gone. But they believe the end of the world is near and those living then, and to their mind soon, will have a “second chance” Specifically, the pamphlet says this about the annihilation of the soul and subsequently the second chance:
“The doctrine of annihilation at death leads to the problem of the nature of the human soul. According to Russell and his followers, man has not “not” a soul; he “is” a soul. And his soul is his body. When a man’s body dies, his soul just ceases to be. There is no spiritual soul, immortal of its very nature. “Death,” says Russell, “means total annihilation. There are no souls anywhere awaiting a resurrection. No human being who has ever lived and died exists any longer.”
Russell was not impressed by any of the references in the Scripture to the living reality of the Patriarchs and Prophets after death, such as Abraham, Moses, Elias, Samuel and others. When confronted with the words or Christ to the dying thief, “Amen I say to thee – this day thou shalt be with me in paradise.” He said that the proper Greek reading of the text is, “Amen I say to thee this day – thou shalt be with me in paradise.” With all the Greek scholars of the world against him, this man who did not know even the Greek alphabet, tells us that the Greek meant that!”
With relation to the second chance they, according to the pamphlet believe:
“During the “Millennium,” then, in the ‘Theocratic kingdom,” men will again be offered eternal life, on the terms of the new Covenant. This life is not our only probation. Despite the fact that nowhere in the Bible is hope held out for any further probation after death: despite the express teaching of Scripture that “it is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgement” (Heb. Ix,27); despite the evident finality of Our Lord’s warning, “This night thy soul shall be required of thee” (Lk.Xii,20), the Witnesses tell us that we are to have our lives all over again, and that nothing that took place in this life is going to count. All will depend on the way we behave under the much better millennial conditions.”
The bottom line for Jehovah witnesses “philosophy” is sell books, to alert everybody of the imminent coming of Armageddon, to be one of the saved! No need to help your fellow man any other way such as charity to the poor, visiting the imprisoned, taking care of the orphans and widows, etc. because the end is near – and has been for the last 100 years! The pamphlet points out:
“ Spiritually, the whole system is utterly bankrupt. One will read through the whole flood of literature published by the Russell-Rutherfored organization without finding any inculcation of the basic Christian virtues of humility, of repentance of sin, or of charity. No genuine love of God or of one’s neighbor finds expression there. There is no emphasis on character-building, on self-conquest, on the necessity of taking up one’s cross and following Christ our Lord. The supreme message of this caricature of Christianity is “Read, believe, and sell Russell’s and Rutherfords books, speak of God as ‘Jehovah’ and of all Churches and Governments as ‘Antichrist’ – this do, and thou shalt be saved!”
So, if their philosophy/theology is so at odds with the Bible, which it loosely claims to be based on being the “New Christianity” as the pamphlet says it implies to be, why do they attract so many people, enough to make their book selling scam lucrative for those at the top?
“ Firstly, it must not be overlooked that the Witnesses of Jehovah make their appeal chiefly to professing Christians who have drifted from their Churches, and who know little or nothing of Christian doctrine. When these people hear the Churches they have forsaken denounced, they find quite a consolation in the thought that, not they themselves, but the “Churches” are to blame for their neglect of religion. Their lingering attachment to a vague Christian sentiment then makes them listen sympathetically to claims by agents of the “International Bible Students’ Association” that what is needed is a return to Bible Christianity. And they know so little of their religion that they fail to realize how opposed to the teachings of Christ is the mockery of the Bible put before them by the Witnesses in the name of “truth.”
Secondly, among such lapsed Christians, besides ignorance, credulity and superstition are very prevalent. Figures from the Department of Justice in U.S.A. indicate that less than one per cent of the Witnesses of Jehovah have had a secondary education, whilst fifteen percent have had less than a normal primary education. Credulity and superstition have moved them to accept on the authority of Charles Taze Russell and Judge Joseph Franklin Rutherford what has been put before them.
Thirdly, for this they were disposed by world conditions, their own uneasy conscience, and their innate pride. One of the greatest assets of the Witnesses of Jehovah has been the failure of scientific progress to produce Utopia. The world’s poverty and insecurity have made many of the poorer classes clutch at the idea of early return of Chris, with an ensuing peace and security. Their own uneasy conscience over the neglect of their duties to God has been consoled by the new doctrine that there is no hell. Ingersoll, it is true, had denounced the idea of hell. But he was an infidel, and could scarcely be trusted. Yet here were teachers from God assuring them in the name of religion that hell does not exist. Such an assurance could not fail to appeal to such people.
Meantime, the constant repetition of extravagant threats about the fearful fate soon to overtake Christendom, to escape which one had only to become a Witness of Jehovah and devote oneself to selling booklets, had and additional effect. It is a fact that the atom-bomb scare in America has given a new boost to the Witnesses of Jehovah, many people imagining the end of the world and Armageddon to be really at hand.
Nor must we overlook the subtle appeal to pride and covetousness; the pride of knowing, like the Gnostics of old, esoteric and occult doctrines which the greatest of Christian theologians have failed to grasp; the pride of the coming masters of the world, triumphing like a kind of religious proletariat over the religious capitalists who remained faithful to the spiritual treasures they themselves had forsaken.”
This is just key samplings of the writings from 5-6 pages of a 32 page Imprimatur stamped pamphlet one should read if they wish to engage and try to counter “witnesses” that come to their door with the aim of turning them from their religion to an utterly counterfeit religion. The pamphlet’s complete specifying information is “Incredible Creed of the Jehovah Witnesses” by Rev. Dr. Rumble, M.S.C., Copyright 1974 by TAN Books and Publishers, Inc.
Now if you wish to actually have the strongest chance of countering Jehovah witnesses and converting them you should get a book entitled “The Catholic Answers to the Jehovah’s Witnesses: A Challenge Accepted” by Louise D’Angelo, Copyright 1981 by Maryheart Catholic Information Center, Inc. preferably from your local library possibly through an interlibrary loan. It will be left to another blog for me to possibly cover this book in a book review if I am able to read enough of it during what I plan to be by new busy schedule.
Traditional Thomistic Catholic 