Episode 25: Flesh and Bone

Episode 25 of the Theopologetics Podcast is now available! The Bible teaches the bodily resurrection of Jesus and that of all the dead, contrary to claims made by theological liberals, hyperpreterists and Jehovah's Witnesses that 1 Corinthians 15 speaks of a spiritual, non-physical resurrection.

Episode 9: Can I Get A Witness

Episode 9 of the Theopologetics Podcast is now available! In this episode I interview Mike Felker of The Apologetic Front blog, discussing how to reach out to Jehovah’s Witnesses with the truth of biblical Christianity.

Episode 7: Truth Be Told

Episode 7, "Truth Be Told," has been released! In this episode of the Theopologetics Podcast I discuss Sola Scriptura, the doctrine that the Bible contains all knowledge necessary for salvation and holiness, and that it is the ultimate authority and rule of faith for the believer. I look at what serves instead as the authority for Catholics, Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons, as well as the view of some Christians, such as the Churches of Christ, who take Sola Scriptura to an unjustified extreme.

Episode 5: God Man

Episode 5 of the Theopologetics Podcast is available to download, in which I discuss the historic Christian doctrine which teaches that Jesus Christ is God, and I’ll address some of the challenges leveled by the Jehovah’s Witnesses, who teach that Jesus is a created being and is not God.

Wrestling With the Watch Tower: Trinity Not In the Bible

In "Not a God of Confusion," we examined the Watch Tower's argument that the Trinity cannot be true because it is confusing, and discovered that 1 Corinthians 14:33 does not say, "God is not a God of confusion," but rather, "God is not a God of disorder," prohibiting chaotic church services. Additionally, we learned that God transcends human ability to fully comprehend Him, and thus we cannot expect to grasp His nature completely.

Having refuted this plank of the Jehovah's Witness' case against the Trinity, let's continue with their brochure, "Should You Believe in the Trinity?" In the next section entitled, "Is It Clearly a Bible Teaching?" the argument continues:

"Since the Bible can 'set things straight,' it should clearly reveal information about a matter as fundamental as the Trinity is claimed to be. But do theologians and historians themselves say that it is clearly a Bible teaching?"

A Request for Prayer: Jehovah's Witnesses at the Door

I was re-reading an earlier post in my blog this morning when I heard a knock at my door. Two guesses: no, not LDS missionaries, a pair of Jehovah's Witnesses dropping off the latest copies of The Watchtower and Awake! magazines. I accepted them (and hope to find some apologetics usefulness therein), but asked if they were only interested in dropping off their material, or if they might additionally be interested in discussing our respective beliefs at some point in the future. They reluctantly agreed, saying they would come back next Saturday morning.

Now, I personally don't think it's likely they'll return. However, it's possible, and in the upcoming week I'm going to be preparing myself and praying that God would use me to open their hearts, if it's His will, to the truth of the historic Christian faith. Those of you who've read through my past posts may be able to tell that the religions of the Mormons and the Jehovah's Witnesses are those I'm most equipped (at this time) to refute. Over the past couple of years in our new home I've been disappointed because they've always stopped by when I was not at home. Today, that has changed.

So with that, I humbly request your prayer for me and for them. Ultimately it is not I who will change their hearts, but God if it's His will to do so. However, the extent to which I am open to being led by God in this discussion--if it happens--rather than by trying to accomplish a change by my own strength, is the extent to which I will be an agent of God's will, whatever that may be. Those of you who know me know that while I have a fair amount of knowledge and logic at my disposal, I'm not always the easiest to communicate with personally. It is for this ability that I ask you to pray.

Please pray that I would be able to shed myself of any sense of arrogance or smugness; that I would share the truth of Scripture with love and with compassion, rather than a prideful desire to prove them wrong; that I would listen and be attentive to their words, patiently and humbly hearing what they have to say rather than merely waiting for my turn to speak. And please pray that, if it's God's will to change their hearts, He would speak through me and open their eyes.

Wrestling With the Watch Tower: Not a God of Confusion

Previously in this series we saw that some of the passages the Watch Tower points to in order to cast doubt on the belief that Jesus is God do not support their case. In Jesus, the Firstborn of All Creation we found that the word "firstborn" communicates preeminence, rather than birth order. In Jesus, the Only-Begotten Son we discovered that the word rendered "only-begotten" is used of children born second to parents whose firstborn is still alive, and means "unique" rather than "only one born to." And in "The Father is Greater than I" we saw that the Father is greater than the Son in terms of authority, not nature.

NOT A GOD OF CONFUSION

Jehovah's Witnesses argue their case from other passages as well, and we'll look at those later in this series. At this point, however, the Witness at the Christian's door may try to cast doubt on the historic understanding of God's nature by claiming that it is confusing, pointing to 1 Corinthians 14:33 which reads, "God is not a God of confusion." In their brochure, "Should You Believe in the Trinity?", in an article entitled How Is the Trinity Explained?, the Watch Tower writes:

Thus, the Trinity is considered to be "one God in three Persons." Each is said to be without beginning, having existed for eternity. Each is said to be almighty, with each neither greater nor lesser than the others.

Is such reasoning hard to follow? Many sincere believers have found it to be confusing, contrary to normal reason, unlike anything in their experience. How, they ask, could the Father be God, Jesus be God, and the holy spirit be God, yet there be not three Gods but only one God?

Wrestling With the Watch Tower: "The Father is Greater than I"

Upon being shown that his "proof-texts" do not teach Jesus was created (here and here), the Witness at the Christian's door may try to go a different route in proving Jesus is not God. The Watch Tower publication "What Does the Bible Really Teach?" continues the argument saying, "The only-begotten Son never even considered trying to be equal to his Father, " citing John 14:28 and 1 Corinthians 11:3 as proof that "the Bible clearly teaches that the Father is greater than the Son" (http://www.watchtower.org/e/bh/article_04.htm).

Wrestling With the Watch Tower: Jesus, the Only-Begotten Son

Upon refuting the argument that Jesus' having been called "the firstborn of all creation" means He was the first being God created (Wrestling With the Watch Tower: Jesus, the Only-Begotten Son), the Christian may be asked by the Jehovah's Witness at the door to turn to John 3:16 which reads, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son..." The argument continues in the Watch Tower publication, "What Does the Bible Really Teach?" in the chapter, "Who is Jesus Christ?" in the section, "Where Did Jesus Come From?":

There is something else that makes this Son special. He is the “only-begotten Son.” (John 3:16) This means that Jesus is the only one directly created by God. (http://www.watchtower.org/e/bh/article_04.htm)

The word "begotten" comes from the word "beget" which means "to procreate or generate". The Jehovah's Witness, then, would argue from this passage that while Jesus created everything else, He himself was created by the Father, and thus is not eternal nor equal with God.

Wrestling With the Watch Tower: Jesus, the Firstborn of All Creation

The Jehovah's Witness at the Christian's door, if pressed to defend the position that Jesus is not God but is instead His first creation, might start with Colossians 1:15 which reads, "[Jesus] is...the firstborn of all creation" (in certain translations including the NASB and Watch Tower-approved NWT). The argument is presented in the Watch Tower publication, "What Does the Bible Really Teach?" in the chapter, "Who is Jesus Christ?" in the section, "Where Did Jesus Come From?" (http://www.watchtower.org/e/bh/article_04.htm):

Jesus is Jehovah’s most precious Son—and for good reason. He is called “the firstborn of all creation,” for he was God’s first creation. (Colossians 1:15)

The dictionary defines "firstborn" as, "first in the order of birth; eldest" or "a first result or product." The Watch Tower's argument, then, is that in saying that Jesus is "the firstborn of all creation" Paul is asserting that of everything God created, Jesus was the first. Obviously, if Jesus was created by God, He is not God Himself, and does not have an eternal nature but instead came into existence when the Father created him.

But is this in fact what this passage in Colossians teaches?

Wrestling With the Watch Tower: Where Did Jesus Come From? An Introduction

Jehovah's Witnesses believe that the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania is God's mouthpiece and theocratic representative on earth. The Watch Tower demands that faithful Witnesses subscribe to a variety of peculiar beliefs. Arguably most egregious of these is the Watch Tower's teaching that Jesus is not God, contradicting what the historic Christian faith has always taught, but is instead God's first created being through whom He spoke into existence the rest of all creation.

Since mainstream Christianity has always taught that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is in fact God Himself in human flesh, this can come as somewhat of a surprise to many Christians unfamiliar with the peculiarities of Jehovah's Witness' beliefs. When a faithful Jehovah's Witness presents the Watch Tower's case to the typical Christian, at first the claim is often easily shrugged off as bizarre. However, to those Christians having a weak understanding of why the Church has always taught that Jesus is God, the Jehovah's Witness' argument can quickly begin to appear quite convincing.

This is an introduction to a series of blog entries I will post intended to equip the Christian to defend the historic Christian position that Jesus is God, as the Bible clearly teaches. My sincere hope is that my friends and family who follow this blog—if such people actually exist J—will be able to lovingly but convincingly respond to the Jehovah's Witness at the door when he or she argues that Jesus is not God. In so doing, you may be able to "with gentleness [correct] those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of truth" (2 Timothy 2:25). More importantly, however, you can be certain that in believing Jesus to be God, you worship God "in spirit and truth" as He demands (John 4:24).

Look for an upcoming post entitled, "Wrestling With the Watch Tower: Jesus, the Firstborn of All Creation" for the first entry in this series. Also, you can click the labels "Watch Tower" and "Jehovah's Witnesses" under any post to see all of my posts that refute Watch Tower and Jehovah's Witnesses' teachings.

Jesus: Jehovah, the LORD of the Old Testament

This, my first theology and apologetics blog post, is addressed to those of you whose pastors, preachers or priests teach you that Jesus is someone other than whom He really is. This is not an attack leveled against you out of pride, but rather a gentle correcting out of love for you in the hopes that "God may grant [you] repentance leading to the knowledge of truth, and [you] may come to [your] senses and escape from the snare of the devil" (2 Timothy 2:25-26).

I am charged to "preach the word; [to] be ready in season and out of season; [to] reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths" (2 Timothy 4:2-4).

I appeal only to "the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work" (2 Timothy 3:15-17).

WHO DO PEOPLE SAY THAT I AM?
(Mark 8:27)

So, what do your pastors, preachers or priests teach concerning the nature and identity of Jesus? If you believe God's mouthpiece on earth is the Watch Tower, they teach you that "God's name is Jehovah" but that "Chris is...inferior to Him" and "was first of God's creations" (http://www.watchtower.org/e/jt/article_03.htm).

On the other hand, if you are a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, they teach you that "generally the Father, or Elohim...is referred to by the title God" but that the "God known as Jehovah is the Son, Jesus Christ" (http://scriptures.lds.org/en/gs/g/22).

So if you are a Jehovah's Witness, you are told to believe that Jesus is not Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament, but is instead His first created being. And if you are a Mormon, you are instructed to believe that the Jehovah and Elohim referred to in the Old Testament are two separate gods, albeit "one in perfect unity and harmony of purpose and doctrine."

EXAMINING THE SCRIPTURES TO SEE WHETHER THESE THINGS WERE SO
(Acts 17:11)

Out of sincere love for you I ask you to look not to man--including myself--for a proper understanding of the nature and identity of Christ, but rather to what God has revealed in His Word. Look with me at the first chapter of Hebrews, verses 10 through 13. Both Jehovah's Witnesses and Mormons recognize the Old and New Testaments as being authoritative, at least to some extent, and to my knowledge neither claim that these verses, nor those from the Old Testament which the author is quoting, have been incorrectly translated or have changed since their original writing. Thus, these words should have some sway with you.

First, recognize that what the author is doing is asserting that Jesus is distinct from, and superior to, angels. As proof, he presents passages from the Old Testament as having been spoken by the Father to and about the Son, and rhetorically asks us, "to which of the angels did [God] ever say," and "to which of the angels has He ever said," these things? The answer implicit in the questions is: none of them.

YOU, JEHOVAH, LAID THE FOUNDATION OF THE EARTH
(Hebrews 1:10-12 and Psalm 102:25-27)

Therefore, in verse 10 the author of Hebrews, in quoting Psalm 102, teaches us that it was not just a song written by a man to his God, but in fact was the Father speaking to the Son, Jesus Christ. So, when the psalmist wrote the lyrics, "Of old You founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands" (Psalm 102:25), he was also recording the very words of God the Father speaking to His Son. But to whom was this psalm addressed?

The very first verse gives us the answer: "Hear my prayer, O LORD!" When Bible translations render the word "lord" in all-caps, as the NASB does here, it indicates that the original Hebrew uses the word Jehovah, or Yahweh, the Tetragrammaton (much could be said, and if you would like further explanation don't hesitate to ask). In verse 12 again the psalmist writes, "You, O LORD, abide forever." In verse 15 he begins to refer to Jehovah in the third person saying, "the nations will fear the name of the LORD", but he continues to direct the words toward Jehovah personally, saying, "and all the kings of the earth Your glory." Thus, in verse 25 when he writes, "Of old You founded the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands," the words continue to be directed toward Jehovah.

The author of Hebrews therefore instructs us that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is Jehovah to whom the psalmist sang the lyrics of Psalm 102.

SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL
(Hebrews 1:13 and Psalm 110:1)

However, the author of Hebrews goes on to quote verse 1 of Psalm 110, implying that God the Father said to the Son, Jesus Christ, "Sit at My right hand, until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet." In this case, the question is not to whom were these words addressed in the psalm quoted. Instead, the question is, who is doing the speaking?

Once again, the answer is found in the very first verse: "The LORD says to my Lord: 'Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet.'" We see, again, the word "lord" capitalized, meaning that the original text contained the name Jehovah. And the psalm tells us that it is this Jehovah who is speaking to another party.

So the author of Hebrews teaches us that God the Father is the Jehovah of the Old Testament.

IN THE BEGINNING THE WORD WAS WITH GOD AND THE WORD WAS GOD
(John 1:1)

When the Watch Tower demands that faithful Jehovah's Witnesses believe Jesus to be separate from Jehovah, God the Father, they are teaching falsely. The author of Hebrews makes it very clear that the Father was speaking to Jehovah when He said to Jesus, "You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth." Thus, Jesus is Jehovah.

And when the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints demands that faithful Mormons believe the Father is not Jehovah, they are teaching falsely. The author of Hebrews makes it very clear that Jehovah was speaking to the Son when He said to Jesus, "'Sit at My right hand until I make Your enemies a footstool for Your feet." Thus, the Father is Jehovah.

This is why the apostle John wrote, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" ("the Word" referring to Jesus Christ, the Son). Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament, is both God the Father and God the Son, and yet the two are distinct from one another and interpersonally relate to one another. Jesus was both "with God" and "was God" at the same time.

If you hold the teachings of either of these organizations in esteem, or those of any other organization that teaches falsely as to the nature of God and Jesus Christ, please consider the words of Hebrews carefully and prayerfully. They demonstrate that you are being led into error, and Jesus says "those who worship [God] must worship in spirit and truth" (John 4:24).

And please believe me when I say again that my words are not a condemnation nor an attack, but rather an attempt to "with gentleness [correct] those who are in opposition, if perhaps God may grant them repentance leading to the knowledge of truth" (2 Timothy 2:25), and to "exhort in sound doctrine and to refute those who contradict" (Titus 1:9).

WE WORSHIP ONE GOD IN TRINITY, AND TRINITY IN UNITY
(Athanasian Creed)

The historic teaching of the Trinity, albeit impossible to fully comprehend, is in fact what we are commanded by scripture to believe about the nature of God:

1. There is one and only one God
2. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God
3. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are eternally distinct and interpersonally relate to one another

As said in the Athansian Creed, "We worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity."