In a memorable meeting with a Jehovah’s Witness elder I turned to the NT book of Hebrews and read the following passage:
Heb 1:8-12 - "In the beginning, O Lord, you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will roll them up like a robe; like a garment they will be changed. But you remain the same, and your years will never end."
Then I turned to the Psalm this passage is taken from:
Ps 102:25-27 “In the beginning you laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing you will change them and they will be discarded. But you remain the same, and your years will never end.”
I pointed out to the elder that the speaker, in Hebrews, is God (see context, starting at verse 5) and that the one spoken to is the Son (see context, verse 8 and on).
Seeing the implications of a text originally addressed to God, here addressed unapologetically to Jesus, the elder insisted on maintaining that the one spoken to in Hebrews is not the Son! He said, “If that is the Son, then the Son is Jehovah!” Remarkable! I asked with a touch of humor if he would put that into writing, but he declined, afraid to lock himself in, no doubt. The following week he returned, having checked with his fellow elders who, to his chagrin, verified that it is the Son who is being spoken to! But the elder did not hold to his earlier conclusion, “then the Son is Jehovah.” And he refused to meet again. So much for the commitment to the Scriptures as final authority.
This passage in Hebrews is unquestionably taken from Psalm 102 which, in the WT’s New World Translation begins, “O Jehovah, do hear my prayer;”. The “you” who “laid the foundations of the earth” in Hebrews 1 is the “you” who “laid the foundations of the earth” in Psalm 102:25. The elder was right in what he initially saw in the text. Unfortunately, he abandoned it because it did not fit his Watchtower mind-set.
Is this passage the only one that declares this truth about Jesus, the Creator? No!
Col 1:16-17, speaking about Jesus, says - “For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (underlining added)
Bear in mind when reading this passage in the Watchtower’s translation that the word “other”, (as in, “other things”) has been inserted four times, without any justification. [See the WT’s Kingdom Interlinear of the Greek Scriptures.][1] All things, without exception, were created by Jesus. Further proof of this is found in…
John 1:1-3 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” In two separate conversations with Witnesses, when shown this passage, the Witness could not resist editing God’s Word, “well, all things except Jesus”. No, my friends, it is not “all things except Jesus” that were created by him. It is “all things”, period!
Lest we miss the point he is making here in John 1:3, John states it both in the positive and the negative: All things were made by Jesus. Nothing was made that wasn’t made by Jesus. Now, that makes it perfectly clear that Jesus wasn’t created, as the Watchtower teaches. [2]
Much more could be said about this subject but let us wrap it up with…
Isa 44:24 - "This is what the LORD says-- your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: I am the LORD, who has made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself,” [3]
Are these statements a slip of God’s pen? No, they are clear and they are consistent.
Our God is triune in nature and He “alone,” the Triune God, created “all things.”
Written by Greta Olsoe
www.soundwitness.org
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[1] Witnesses argue that the word “other” is in brackets so is allowed, and is necessary to clarify the text. However, the earlier editions of the New World Translation [1950…] did not have the brackets. Later editions dropped the brackets only in response to objections, though the word “other” was kept. When quoting the verse the WT at times leaves out the brackets even today (WT, 4/1/93, p 11). Addition of the word “other,” brackets or no brackets, distorts the plain meaning of the passage and is not what the Apostle Paul said.
[2] Appealing to Colossians 1:15 and Rev. 3:14 will not help the WT, as a careful study of those passages will show. Contact Sound Witness for substantiation.
[3] The New World Translation is just as clear, “”This is what Jehovah has said, your Repurchaser and the Former of you from the belly: ‘I, Jehovah, am doing everything, stretching out the heavens by myself, laying out the earth. Who was with me?’”