Question:
Do Jehovah's witnesses believe that Jesus is divine?
Who?
2012-03-26 07:35:47 UTC
Hi there all

In my time here on Yahoo Answers I have seen many people tell me through their answers that Jehovah's witnesses do not believe that Jesus is divine. Most say this out of ignorance of what the Jehovah's witnesses teach while others do it to mislead others.

So, Do Jehovah's witnesses believe that Jesus is divine?

What does it mean to Jehovah's witnesses that Jesus is divine?
21 answers:
jimspace3000
2012-03-27 12:00:21 UTC
Yes Jesus is divine. All the inhabitants of the divine spirit realm are divine by definition. The Bible calls the angels gods (elohim) by nature, and they are not false gods.
2016-10-03 10:35:12 UTC
some thing else to keep in mind is that Jesus is mentioned as a "corresponding ransom" and the "final Adam". those 2 words on my own placed him right into a classification different than God himself. He became born as a human, yet a desirable human. That took divine intervention on Jehovah's section to verify that a desirable guy became born that could desire to be equivalent (and basically equivalent, not greater) to Adam, who had bought mankind into slavery and desirable dying for all individuals. So by way of Jesus being the subsequent desirable guy, he might desire to pay a cost to offset the existence lost by way of Adam. He might desire to grow to be a replace 'father" to the whole human race as Isaiah calls Jesus. As a human, he might desire to not without Jehovah's backing carry out miracles, etc. yet Jehovah provided Jesus together with his holy spirit, and it is what gave Jesus the surprising presents he had - not because of the fact he became God or God/guy.
בַר אֱנָשׁ (bar_enosh)
2012-03-27 12:33:16 UTC
Yes, and it doesn't matter whether one spells it as "divine' or "Divine." These are English conventions of speech. The Bible terms for what Jesus is does not make such distinctions.



The New Testament calls Jesus "theos" (without definite article in John 1:1), which even some Trinitarian scholars agree confers the quality of divinity, or Deity, upon him. Jehovah's Witnesses agree.



Still, in the Bible, "theos" is not the absolute term for God Almighty. As the Son of God, Jesus would also be "theos." But there is still Someone above him.



1 Corinthians 11:3 identifies who is "theos" in the ultimate, supreme sense, and it is not Jesus. Rather, "God" is identified as the one who is the Head of Christ.



As the Good News Bible renders this verse:



"God is supreme over Christ."



Thus, God is not Christ.



God is One who is supreme over Christ, otherwise identified in Scripture as the Father only.
2012-03-28 09:19:00 UTC
How does the teachings of the watchtower prove that it is from God?



In 1910 Russell wrote,



"If anyone lays the Scripture Studies [short for a 7-volume WTS publication entitled Studies in the Scriptures] aside, even after he has used them, after he has become familiar with them, after he has read them for ten years—



if he lays them aside and ignores them and goes to the Bible alone, though he has understood the Bible for ten years, our experience shows that within two years he goes into darkness. On the other hand, if he had merely read the Scripture Studies with their references and had not read a page of the Bible, as such, he will be in the light at the end of two years . . . " (WT Reprints, 9-15-1910, 4685).



The WTS maintains that it is God’s reliable mouthpiece to the nations, and it claims to be God’s inspired prophet (WT, 4-1-1972, 197)—and yet its prophecies have repeatedly proven to be false. The only conclusion to be drawn is that the WTS is to be rejected as a false prophet.



Among other things, the WTS predicted the following:

1889 "The ‘battle of the great day of God almighty’ (Rev 16:14) which will end in AD 1914 . . . " (Studies, Vol. 2, 1908 edition, 101).

1891 "With the end of AD 1914, what God calls Babylon, and what men call Christendom, will have passed away, as already shown from prophecy" (Studies, Vol. 3, 153).

1894 "The end of 1914 is not the date for the beginning, but for the end of the time of trouble" (WT Reprints, 1-1-1894, 1605 and 1677).

1897 "Our Lord is now present, since October 1874 AD" (Studies, Vol. 4, 1897 edition, 621).

1916 "The six great 1000 year days beginning with Adam are ended, and that the great 7th day, the 1000 years of Christ’s reign began in 1873" (Studies, Vol. 2, p. 2 of foreword).

1917 "Scriptures . . . prove that the Lord’s Second Advent occurred in the fall of 1874" (Studies, Vol. 7, 68).

1918 "Therefore, we may confidently expect that 1925 will mark the return of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the faithful prophets of old" (Millions Now Living Will Never Die, 89).

1922 "The date 1925 is even more distinctly indicated by the scriptures than 1914" (WT, 9-1-1922, 262).

1923 "1925 is definitely settled by the scriptures. As to Noah, the Christian now has much more upon which to base his faith than Noah had upon which to base his faith in a coming deluge" (WT, 4-1-1923, 106).

1925 "The year of 1925 is here. . . . Christians should not be so deeply concerned about what may transpire this year" (WT, 1-1-1925, 3).

1931 "There was a measure of disappointment on the part of Jehovah’s faithful ones on earth concerning the dates 1914, 1918, & 1925 . . . and they also learned to quit fixing dates" (Vindication, 388, 389).

1939 "The disaster of Armageddon is just ahead" (Salvation, 361).

1941 "Armageddon is surely near . . . soon . . . within a few years" (Children, 10).

1946 "Armageddon . . . should come sometime before 1972" (They Have Found a Faith, 44).

1966 "Six thousand years from man’s creation will end in 1975, and the seventh period of a thousand years of human history will begin in the fall of 1975 C.E" (Life Everlasting in Freedom of the Sons of God, 29).

1968 "The end of the six thousand years of man’s history in the fall of 1975 is not tentative, but is accepted as a certain date" (WT, 1-1-1968, 271).



Will the men of Sodom be resurrected?



The men of Sodom will be resurrected (WT, 7-1879, 7-8).



The men of Sodom will not be resurrected (WT, 6-1-1952, 338).



The men of Sodom will be resurrected (WT 8-1-1965, 479).



The men of Sodom will not be resurrected (WT 6-1-1988, 31).



The men of Sodom will be resurrected (Live Forever, early ed., 179).



The men of Sodom will not be resurrected (Live Forever, later ed., 179).



The men of Sodom will be resurrected (Insight on the Scriptures, Vol. 2, 985).



The men of Sodom will not be resurrected (Revelation: Its Grand Climax at Hand! 273).
ForeverYoung
2012-03-27 12:42:17 UTC
We most certainly do! The devil is blinding people from seeing the truth. This goes along with my recent question. Also, look at any translation on this scripture. Jesus came to earth to declare and explain who Jehovah is. He has the CLOSEST relationship to Him; called First Born and Only Begotten. Here is one scripture to think about:



2 Corinthians 4:3, 4



Contemporary English Version (CEV)



If there is anything hidden about our message, it is hidden only to someone who is lost.

The god who rules this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers. They cannot see the light, which is the good news about our glorious Christ, who shows what God is like.



And my recent Question:



https://answersrip.com/question/index?qid=20120327112850AAeydoq
2012-03-26 19:19:02 UTC
Greetings,



Witnesses believe that Jesus is divine or deity. However, we need to be careful to define what we mean by those words because some go beyond the dictionary definitions and take them to mean that Christ is equal to Almighty God.





Jesus Christ is our loving Lord and Savior, our King and the divine son of the Almighty God. He is our exemplar and we listen to him as obedient children.



He was elevated and "made Lord" over all God's creation and was "given" an exalted name and authority (Acts 2:36; Php 2:9-11; Matt 28:18). As the reigning king of God's kingdom he will soon cleanse the earth of all wickedness.



Jehovah's Witnesses believe everything the Bible says about Jesus, especially the fact that he is God's divine son, our Lord and savior.



Christ is our only means of approach to Jehovah God (Jn 14:6; 1Cor 3:11; Eph 5:20; Jn.17:3,26) and by his teachings and actions he showed how we could be reconciled to God and proved God's love for us (Jn. 3:16 ; Rom. 5:8; 5:10). As imperfect humans, we can attain such a peaceful relationship with God only through his Son. Because Jesus' love, feeling, and compassion are a faithful reflection of Jehovah's qualities. (Mt 11:28-30; Mk 6:30-34; Jn 15:13, 14; Col 1:15; Heb 1:3)



By our thinking and actions we prove that Jesus is our Lord and Savior and that he dwells in our hearts (Eph 3:14-17). Because of our great love for Christ, we have made it our primary purpose in life to teach others all that Christ has done for mankind and that everyone owes him their thanks, praise, and honor.



More than just our Lord and King he is also our friend and comforter when we are enduring physical or spiritual troubles and our assurance when we make mistakes.



(1 John 2:1-6) "if anyone does commit a sin, we have a helper with the Father, Jesus Christ, a righteous one. 2And he is a propitiatory sacrifice for our sins, yet not for ours only but also for the whole world's. 3And by this we have the knowledge that we have come to know him, namely, if we continue observing his commandments. 4 He that says: "I have come to know him," and yet is not observing his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in this [person]. 5?But whoever does observe his word, truthfully in this [person] the love of God has been made perfect. By this we have the knowledge that we are in union with him. 6He that says he remains in union with him is under obligation himself also to go on walking just as that one walked."



Jehovah's Witnesses live up to these words by demonstrating that they accept Jesus as their Lord by being obedient to his commands and also teaching Truth from the Scriptures.



Yours,



BAR-ANERGES
ccrider
2012-03-26 17:04:00 UTC
Just like the term "Christian," the word "divine" is reinvented with a meaning that mainstream Christianity does not understand the word to be. This a basically a logical fallacy called equivocation similar to a sign that says "fine for parking here" and telling the judge that it said it was fine to park there.
Ryan
2012-03-27 09:15:38 UTC
http://www.watchtower.org/e/ti/article_08.htm



Although a supporter of the Trinity, that source says of 2 Corinthians 13:13 (14): "We could not justly infer that they possessed equal authority, or the same nature." And of Matthew 28:18-20 it says: "This text, however, taken by itself, would not prove decisively either the personality of the three subjects mentioned, or their equality or divinity."





When Jesus was baptized, God, Jesus, and the holy spirit were also mentioned in the same context. Jesus "saw descending like a dove God's spirit coming upon him." (Matthew 3:16) This, however, does not say that the three are one. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are mentioned together numerous times, but that does not make them one. Peter, James, and John are named together, but that does not make them one either. Furthermore, God's spirit descended upon Jesus at his baptism, showing that Jesus was not anointed by spirit until that time. This being so, how could he be part of a Trinity where he had always been one with the holy spirit?



Another reference that speaks of the three together is found in some older Bible translations at 1 John 5:7. Scholars acknowledge, however, that these words were not originally in the Bible but were added much later. Most modern translations rightly omit this spurious verse.



At 1 Corinthians 3:6, 8, Paul says: "I planted, Apollos watered . . . He that plants and he that waters are one." Paul did not mean that he and Apollos were two persons in one; he meant that they were unified in purpose. The Greek word that Paul used here for "one" (hen) is neuter, literally "one (thing)," indicating oneness in cooperation. It is the same word that Jesus used at John 10:30 to describe his relationship with his Father. It is also the same word that Jesus used at John 17:21, 22. So when he used the word "one" (hen) in these cases, he was talking about unity of thought and purpose.



NOTHER scripture offered as support for the Trinity is John 5:18. It says that the Jews (as at John 10:31-36) wanted to kill Jesus because "he was also calling God his own Father, making himself equal to God."



But who said that Jesus was making himself equal to God? Not Jesus. He defended himself against this false charge in the very next verse (19): "To this accusation Jesus replied: . . . 'the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees the Father doing.'"—JB.



By this, Jesus showed the Jews that he was not equal to God and therefore could not act on his own initiative. Can we imagine someone equal to Almighty God saying that he could "do nothing by himself"? (Compare Daniel 4:34, 35.) Interestingly, the context of both John 5:18 and 10:30 shows that Jesus defended himself against false charges from Jews who, like the Trinitarians, were drawing wrong conclusions!
Τιμοθέῳ
2012-03-26 10:54:47 UTC
Jesus is the first definition of "the Divine", notice how you use the lower case of "divine" showing a lower divinity, we use the upper case of "Divine" to show Jesus has the True Divinity of God...



12. the Divine,

a. God.

b. ( sometimes lowercase ) the spiritual aspect of humans; the group of attributes and qualities of humankind regarded as godly or godlike.



Jehovah's Witnesses like to use the lower case definition of this word to say they do believe their Jesus is "divine", but they will never say Jesus is "Divine"...that is the difference between night and day!

_____________



LOL! Now I get it...Jehovah is Divine and Jesus is divine...exactly what I thought they would say! Big God and little god...neat polytheological arrangement!
TeeM
2012-03-26 13:59:54 UTC
Yes, contrary to the lies being spread about us.



Trinitarians take a narrow view of the word divine. Using their definition. "Divine equals God."



to say "this cake is divine". We must assume that cake is God.



di·vine adjective

1. of or pertaining to a god, especially the Supreme Being.

2. addressed, appropriated, or devoted to God or a god; religious; sacred: divine worship.

3. proceeding from God or a god: divine laws.

4. godlike; characteristic of or befitting a deity: divine magnanimity.

5. heavenly; celestial: the divine kingdom



Since Jesus is from God (3); is godlike having God's characteristics (4); and came and return to heaven (5) Jesus is definitely divine.



.
Linda
2012-03-26 08:05:02 UTC
Yes we do because divine means deity and Jesus if definitely a deity although we dont see him as the Almighty God because there is only one Almighty God whose name is Jehovah according to Psalms 83:18
JimBrewski
2012-03-26 08:15:19 UTC
Jesus testified that he had a prehuman existence. (John 3:13 ; 6:51; 8:58)

“Father, glorify me alongside yourself with the glory that I had alongside you before the world was.”—John 17:5.



Yes, “the Word became flesh” as the man Jesus Christ.

“...he emptied himself and took a slave’s form and came to be in the likeness of men.” (Philippians 2:5-7)

Paul called Jesus “the firstborn of all creation;”—Colossians 1:13-16.



Not Divine on Earth

The Scriptures make it clear that Jesus was entirely human from his birth until his death.

He “became flesh” and was not part flesh and part God. If Jesus had been human and divine at the same time, it could not have been said that he had been “made a little lower than angels.”—Hebrews 2:9; Psalm 8:4, 5.

Jesus often prayed to God. “In the days of his flesh Christ offered up supplications and also petitions to the One who was able to save him out of death, with strong outcries and tears, and he was favorably heard for his godly fear.”—Hebrews 5:7.

Jesus was not partly a spirit when on the earth rather he was “put to death in the flesh, but . . . made alive in the spirit.” (1 Peter 3:18) Only because Jesus was wholly human could he have experienced what imperfect people experience and thus become a sympathetic high priest. (Hebrews 4:15.)

As “the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world,” Jesus “gave himself a corresponding ransom for all.” (John 1:29; 1 Timothy 2:6) In that way, Jesus bought back exactly what Adam had lost—perfect, eternal human life. Since God’s justice required ‘soul for soul,’ Jesus thus had to be what Adam was originally—a perfect human, not a God-man.—Deuteronomy 19:21; 1 Corinthians 15:22.



The Bible consistently shows that Jesus has always been inferior to his Father.

“The Father is greater than I am.”—John 14:28.

Paul made a distinction: “There is actually to us one God the Father, out of whom all things are, and we for him; and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are, and we through him.” (1 Corinthians 8:6)

“You belong to Christ; Christ, in turn, belongs to God.” (1 Corinthians 3:23) As Christians belong to their Master, Jesus Christ, so he belongs to his Head, Jehovah God.



“The head of every man is the Christ; in turn the head of a woman is the man; in turn the head of the Christ is God.” (1 Corinthians 11:3)

“the Son himself will also subject himself to the One who subjected all things to him, that God may be all things to everyone.”—1 Corinthians 15:24, 28; Revelation 20:6.

There's more to this article.... w92 1/15
2012-03-26 08:14:44 UTC
We do believe Jesus is of divine origin, but we do not believe he is the Almighty God, as the Bible (meaning ANY, not just the NWT) does not teach that. Surprised? Well, consider these points:



Jesus himself referred to his Father as “the only true God.” (John 17:3) Jehovah himself said: “Besides me there is no God.” (Isa. 44:6) The apostle Paul wrote that, to true Christians, “there is . . . one God the Father.” (1 Cor. 8:5, 6) So Jehovah is unique; no one else shares his position. Jehovah stands in utter contrast to all such objects of worship as idols, deified humans, and Satan. All these are false gods.



Jesus is spoken of in the Scriptures as “a god,” even as “Mighty God.” (John 1:1; Isa. 9:6) But nowhere is he spoken of as being Almighty, as Jehovah is. (Gen. 17:1) Jesus is said to be “the reflection of [God’s] glory,” but the Father is the Source of that glory. (Heb. 1:3) Jesus in no way seeks the position of his Father. He said: “It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.” (Luke 4:8) He exists “in God’s form,” and the Father has commanded that “in the name of Jesus every knee should bend,” but this is all done “to the glory of God the Father.”—Phil. 2:5-11
SUNSHINE
2012-03-26 07:38:25 UTC
Yes we do.



Trinitarians always assume that the word 'god' or 'divinity' or any similar word when applied to Christ means that he is Almighty God. But the Hebrew and Greek words for 'god' is not limited to the one true God, but can apply to others, even faithful beings. The Greek word "theotetos" translated divinity or diety according to most scholarly Greek lexicons can mean "divine quality." and may or may not apply to Almighty God, it depends on the context. In short someone asking "do you believe in the divinity of Christ" is in reality asking if Jesus has DIVINE QUALITIES, or is GODLIKE.



Jehovah's Witnesses believe Christ to be divine in nature but do not believe him to be Almighty God. They believe Jesus had a prehuman existence as God's first Created being and that he was the "master worker" through whom God created everthing in existence. At this time he was indeed "divine" or "godlike" in nature. While on earth however, the Witnesses hold that human and not a "god-man" (part human part God). They believe he was the perfect human son of God of divine origins but fully human equal to the perfect man Adam.



Since his resurrection they hold that Jesus is a mighty heavenly, glorious divine spirit, incorruptible and immortal but still subordinate to his Father.





Source(s) : The above is a summary based on the Watchtower Sept 15, 1961



Further reading...

http://jimspace3000.blogspot.com/2011/02/jesus-spirit-born-on-earth-jesus-was.html

http://fosterheologicalreflections.blogspot.com/2006_04_01_archive.html
2012-03-26 07:37:35 UTC
yes
Kata
2012-03-26 07:48:19 UTC
God says He alone is Savior in the OT, and in John 1 we see that all things were made through Christ Jesus of Nazareth and by Christ Jesus of Nazareth.

Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Joh 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.

Joh 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.





Furthermore, Jesus being the Way, the Truth, the Life, and our perfect example of how to conduct ourselves, did not attempt to pronounce the tetragrammaton (which is rendered LORD in the OT) as Jehovah or Yahveh or Yahweh or any other thing, but He taught us to pray, "Our Father, who is in heaven, HALLOWED be Thy name." Jesus is the name by which all men must be saved, and any denomination that claims to be the one true church is claiming to be the way and is in contradiction with Jesus when He says "I AM the Way", I do not care if they are JW, Mormon, SDA, pentecostal, orthodox, coptic, catholic, baptist, presbyterian, anglican, or any other, I will state with absolute certainty, any congregation who believes they are the only true church is standing against God.



Stop giving your Smiths and your prophets and your ellen whites and your doctrines of men praise and adoration that is due to Christ Jesus of Nazareth.



JESUS is the Way.



This message has been brought to you by JESUS.



The word in Psalm 83:18 is the same word translated to LORD in Psalm 83:16, it is four hebrew letters, H3608 in Strong's, the monks who did the manuscript copying and translating so revered it they feared saying it aloud or writing it, and so referred to it as the tetragrammaton, which generically means four letter word, and rendered LORD instead.



Bottom line, Jesus did not say Jehovah, or Yahweh or anything of the sort when asked how to pray, He said "Our Father Who art in heaven, HALLOWED be Thy name." Jesus also said anything we ask in His(Jesus') name would be given us, and in the book of acts the apostles baptize and heal and cast out devils in His(Jesus') name. The book of Acts also said Jesus is the only name under heaven by which men must be saved. There is no demigod, there is One God.
Maximus
2012-03-26 09:36:33 UTC
If u carefully analyze the watchtower teachings they have purposefully downgraded Jesus in christianity(like changing bible verses to disprove Jesus deity,Jesus not the mediator for all,rejecting bread n wine in communion,salvation by works(which teaches no value for d blood of Christ for all etc).Even if JWs are nice people and do good ,satan has used them against Jesus.Bible says without Jesus we can do nothing and will be on satans side.This is what the satan want.

The are providing counterfeits in chrsitianity and serving Lucifer and his aim"I will exalt above the most high"

This is just one of the reason Why JW are cults

Russell(founder of JW) asks to worship Jesus

Rutherford continued this teaching.

"Jehovah God commands all to worship Christ Jesus because Christ Jesus is the express image of his Father, Jehovah, and because he is the Executive Officer of Jehovah always carrying out Jehovah's purpose (Heb.:3-6)." Watchtower 1939 Nov. 15 p.339



In the 1950's, the Watchtower changed their doctrine on Jesus to coincide with the release of the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures.one example for Jehovah's Witnesses translated the word "proskuneo(greek) "as obeisance rather than worship whenever it referred to Jesus.This is despite the fact that with almost every other occurrence, the New World Translation translates proskuneo as worship. Proskuneo occurs 55 times. Of the 15 times it applies to Jesus, it is translated 15 times as obeisance. Of the remaining 37 times it is translated 34 times as worship regardless of whether it is referring to Jehovah, angels, humans, Satan,demons, the wild beast or idols. Why this unusual stance in connection with Jesus? This is because the teaching about Jesus was to change. These are few examples out of 55 verses

verses referred to Jesus:Matt 2:2,Matt2:8,Matt14:33,luk24:52Matt20:20,…

verses referred to satan:Matt4:9,luke 4:7

verses referred to God:Matt4:10,Luke 4:8



Watchtower bible is a counterfeit bible-denying the deity of Jesus.They have changed John1:1,col1:16 and several other verses.They ll argue thatt NWT translation is the only correct translation available in the world.Lets see what they have to tell to the above proven facts.
Pamela Janes
2012-03-26 07:41:15 UTC
They believe God is the Father of an Angel

Much like I am the mother of my creation, a bird house
11th Grader
2012-03-26 07:39:22 UTC
Of course we do! The kingdom that he will rule is the one that we're constantly preaching about. We're actually hosting all over the world the commemeration of Jesus' death and what significance it has for us and our salvation!
2012-03-26 10:02:11 UTC
Sunshine: Jesus was not created.
?
2012-03-26 07:37:46 UTC
Whatever they believe is delusion.


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