Jehovah's Witnesses are a brainwashing cult and not just 'some nice, albeit misguided, folk landing on your doorstep'.
The main reason for this is that they claim that the Bible describes Jesus as 'a god' in John 1:1 and 1:14. Their corrupt New World Translation actually uses this abomination.
They downgrade God The Son and commit a heinous blasphemy and then compound it by pretending that it is what the Scriptures say.
Challenge them on this and have this piece below printed and ready to give when they come-a-callin':
There are a total of four occurrences in the New Testament where the singular predicate, theos, precedes the verb and does not have the article. Let’s look at each of these verses to see how the New World Translation has translated them.
1. Luke 20:38. "He is a God, not of the dead, but of the living" (NWT)
2. John 8:54. "It is my Father that glorifies me, he who you say is your God" (NWT)
3. Philippians 2:13. "For God is the one that, for the sake of [his] good pleasure, is acting within you" (NWT)
"God" appears first in the sentence for emphasis. Again, the NWT correctly renders "God" with a big "G".
4. John 1:1. "the Word was a god" (NWT)
The main reason for this is that they claim that the Bible describes Jesus as 'a god' in John 1:1 and 1:14. Their corrupt New World Translation actually uses this abomination.
They downgrade God The Son and commit a heinous blasphemy and then compound it by pretending that it is what the Scriptures say.
Challenge them on this and have this piece below printed and ready to give when they come-a-callin':
There are a total of four occurrences in the New Testament where the singular predicate, theos, precedes the verb and does not have the article. Let’s look at each of these verses to see how the New World Translation has translated them.
1. Luke 20:38. "He is a God, not of the dead, but of the living" (NWT)
theos de ouk estin nekronIn this verse, we have theos appearing as a singular predicate before the verb, "is," and is not preceded by the article. "He" is implied and is the subject. "A God" is the predicate because it describes the subject. "He [subject] is [verb] a God [predicate] ...". Although indefinite [ie. without the Greek article], the NWT rightly translates theos as "a God" with a big "G," meaning Jehovah.
a God – not he is of the dead
or
He is not a God of the dead
2. John 8:54. "It is my Father that glorifies me, he who you say is your God" (NWT)
theos hemon estinTheos again is a singular predicate occurring before the verb "is", and is not preceded by the article. "He [subject] is [verb] your [pronoun] God [predicate]." Yet, the NWT again correctly translates "God" with a big "G".
God of you he is
or
He is your God.
3. Philippians 2:13. "For God is the one that, for the sake of [his] good pleasure, is acting within you" (NWT)
theos gar estin ho energon en hyminTheos is a singular predicate occurring before the verb "is", and is not preceded by the article. "The one working" has the article (ho) and is considered to be the subject. The predicate, "God", further describes who the subject is, "The one working [subject] in you [prepositional phrase] is [verb] God [predicate]".
God for is the one working in you
or
For God is the one working in you
"God" appears first in the sentence for emphasis. Again, the NWT correctly renders "God" with a big "G".
4. John 1:1. "the Word was a god" (NWT)
theos en ho logos
God was the Word
Theos is a singular predicate occurring before the verb "was", and is not preceded by the article. "The Word [subject] was [verb] God [predicate]". The inconsistency of the New World Translation here is clear. Of the four occurrences in the New Testament where the Greek theos is a predicate occurring before the verb and is not preceded by the article, this is the only time the NWT has not translated it "God" with a capital "G". John uses the term "God" to describe the Word. Deity is the certain character or quality described of the subject!
In conclusion, when we conduct a study of the reason provided by the Watchtower Translation Committee of the New World Translation why John 1:1 should be translated, "the Word was a god", we find a gross inconsistency. We saw that there is a total of four instances in the New Testament where the predicate theos precedes the verb and does not have the article. In three of the four instances, the NWT has translated it "God" in conflict with their own rule.
The Evil Version.
