God and god - The Irony of the Watchtower Jesus, part 1

Christians believe, on biblical grounds, that there is one God. This belief is nicknamed 'monotheism'. God is the unique being over all. In essence, God is the creator of everything and everyone else. He alone is uncreated. He alone is God. Anyone else who claims godhood is a mere pretender to the throne. Throughout the history of both old and new testaments, people have been constantly pursuing gods other than God. God has condemned this pursuit repeatedly.

For example:

• "You shall have no other gods before Me." - Exodus 20:3, NAU
• "To you it was shown that you might know that the LORD, He is God; there is no other besides Him." - Deuteronomy 4:35, NAU
• "I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me;" - Isaiah 45:5, NAU
• "Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen." - I Timothy 1:17, NAU

Jehovah's Witness beliefs differ from historic Christianity in several areas. One critical difference lies in their presentation of Jesus as 'a god' instead of God the Son. They believe that Jehovah is Almighty God and Jesus is a created being who fills the role of Mighty God. In defense of this, they feel compelled to justify the existence of 'a god' apart from Jehovah but there is an inescapable irony to their defense of this dual-god doctrine.


In their pamphlet on the Trinity, they make the following claim:

"Thousands of times throughout the Bible, God is spoken of as one person. When he speaks, it is as one undivided individual. The Bible could not be any clearer in this. ... I am Yahweh your God . . . You shall have no gods except me." —Exodus 20:2,3, JB. (http://www.watchtower.org/e/ti/article_05.htm)

"You shall have no gods except me." Now wait a minute. What did God say? Read it again. "... no gods". But doesn't the Watchtower teach Jehovah's Witnesses that there is both God and a god ruling the universe? How does that make sense in light of God's prohibition against having any god other than him? Jehovah's Witnesses want to have God and a god. God denies that this is possible.

The Watchtower did get something right. "The Bible could not be any clearer on this." It's ironic that Jehovah's Witnesses believe something that is opposite from what the Bible teaches so clearly.

To be continued...