Here is a conversation I had with a Jehovah’s witness. I am gonna add to it a bit to help benefit others. I’m gonna try to model how a conversation with one should occur. A preliminary question is in order. How do we distinguish God from creatures? I think we in order need to discern certain positions, attributes, and prerogatives that God has that no other being has. This is the common approach of New Testament scholarship:

Essentially a Christology of divine identity includes Jesus in the unique identity of God as understood in Second Temple Judaism. It takes up the defining characteristics of Jewish monotheism – the ways in which the God of Israel was understood to be unique – and applies them also to Jesus. We need to begin with those divine characteristics. We are concerned with the ways in which Jews identified their God as unique, the ways in which they distinguished him from all other reality. For this purpose, I believe that the category of unique identity does more justice to the material than that of divine nature (though the latter can, as we shall see, take a subordinate place within the overarching notion of identity). For Jewish monotheistic faith what was most important was who God is, rather than what divinity is. The key features of the unique identity of God are these: -God is the sole Creator of all things (all others are created by God)
-God is the sole sovereign Ruler over all things (all others are subject to God’s rule) -God is known through his narrative identity (i.e. who God is in the story of his dealings with creation, all the nations, and Israel)
-God will achieve his eschatological rule (when all creatures acknowledge YHWH’s sole deity)
-The name YHWH names God in his unique identity God alone may and must be worshipped (since worship is acknowledgement of God’s sole deity)
-God alone is fully eternal (self-existent from past to future eternity)

Richard Bauckham. Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified and Other Studies on the New Testament’s Christology of Divine Identity (Kindle Locations 3832-3847). Kindle Edition.

This is how I wish to demonstrate the Divinity of Christ. That is by showing that he is attributed things that can only be attributed to God alone.If these are attributable to any creature, then Jehovah is essentially indistinguishable from his creation. Let’s first start with their objections.

Philippians 2:6(NWT):

“Christ Jesus, who, although he was existing in God’s form, gave no consideration to a seizure, namely, that he should be equal to God.”

NASB says:

” 5 Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus,6 who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped,7 but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. 8 Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross”

The reason he “did not regard equality” with God the Father is because he humbled himself taking the form of a servant and wasn’t in glory, but rather became a man to die on the behalf of many at Calvary for their sins. This is perfectly consistent with a trinitarian theology that Christ was in the “form of God”. As one commentator:

In view of the great variety of contexts in which morphē may be used, Hawthorne makes a significant point in admitting that the word’s “precise meaning is elusive” (unfortunately, he then proceeds to adopt the precise definition in MM). To put it differently, morphē is characterized by semantic extension;[17] it covers a broad range of meanings and therefore we are heavily dependent on the immediate context to discover its specific nuance. Here in Phil. 2:6 we are greatly helped by two factors. In the first place, we have the correspondence of morphē theou with isa theō. Käsemann, as we have noticed, was absolutely right in emphasizing that being “in the form of God” is equivalent to being “equal with God.” To go beyond this equivalence and inquire whether morphē tells us precisely in what respects Jesus is equal with God (in essence? attributes? attitude? appearance?) is asking too much from one word. In the second place, and most important, morphē theou is set in antithetical parallelism to μορϕὴν δούλου (morphēn doulou, form of a servant),[18] an expression further defined by the phrase ἐν ὁμοιώματι ἀνθρώπων (en homoiōmati anthrōpōn, in the likeness of men). It is possible to cite parallels in which morphē is used to designate what is distinctively divine in contrast to what is distinctively human (cf. BDAG 659, s.v. μορϕή).[19] It appears then that Lightfoot (1868: 133), although misguided in seeing here a more or less philosophical meaning of “essence,” was not off the track in detecting a contrast between “the true divine nature of our Lord” and “true human nature.” And it moreover follows that the Philippians passage, although not written for the purpose of presenting an ontological description of Christ, is very much consonant with the trinitarian formulas of the fourth-century church.
Moisés Silva. Philippians (Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament) (Kindle Locations 2677-2691). Baker Publishing Group.

This testifies to the fact that Jesus existing in the form of God chose to become a servant to die for sins:

‘The pre-existent son regarded equality with God not as excusing him from the task of (redemptive) suffering and death, but actually as uniquely qualifying him for that vocation.’1043 Taking the point further, Wright claims that it is here that the real underlying soteriology of the ‘hymn’ is to be found: it is in the death of Jesus that the love of God is revealed (cf. Rom. 5:6-8). The participial clause that begins v. 6, ὃς ἐν μοφη θεου ὑπάχων should be understood as causal (rather than concessive), as Moule and others have claimed, and thus rendered: ‘precisely because he was in the form of God he did not regard this equality with God as something to be used for his own advantage’. 2:7 Instead (ἀλλά), Christ voluntarily chose the path of obedient humiliation that led to his incarnation and death. He who was God and never ceased to be otherwise humbled himself in the incarnation. He emptied himself by taking the form of a slave (thus having no rights whatsoever) and by being born like other human beings. Not that he ‘exchanged the form of God for the form of a slave, but that he manifested the form of God in the form of a slave’ (F. F. Bruce). Divine equality meant sacrificial self-giving. Accordingly, the hymn reveals not only what Jesus is truly like but also what it means to be God.

O’Brien, Peter T.. The Epistle to the Philippians (New International Greek Testament Com (Eerdmans)) (Kindle Locations 6024-6036). Eerdmans Publishing Co – A. Kindle Edition.

Jesus manifests the form of God in the form of a slave. The “emptying” is metaphorical for Jesus taking the status of a slave. He suffers a terribly painful death at the hands of wicked men that was used for the worst of criminals.

Let’s define the Trinity and Hypostatic union:

“The word “trinity” is a term used to denote the Christian doctrine that God exists as a unity of three distinct persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Each of the persons is distinct from the other yet identical in essence. In other words, each is fully divine in nature, but each is not the totality of the other persons of the Trinity. Each has a will, loves, and says, “I” and “You” when speaking. The Father is not the same person as the Son, who is not the same person as the Holy Spirit, and who is not the same person as the Father. Each is divine, yet there are not three gods but one God. There are three individual subsistences or persons. The word “subsistence” means something that has a real existence. The word “person” denotes individuality and self-awareness. The Trinity is three of these though the latter term has become the dominant one used to describe the individual aspects of God known as the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.”

https://carm.org/what-trinity

The hypostatic union is the Christian doctrine that in the one person of Jesus there are presently two distinct natures, a divine, and a human.
Also, the crucial concept is the Law of noncontradiction. It states that something cannot be both true and not true at the same time when dealing with the same context. For example, the chair in my living room right now cannot be made of wood and not made of wood at the same time. In the law of non-contradiction, where we have a set of statements about a subject, we cannot have any of the statements in that set negate the truth of any other statement in that same set. Now, I want to know who the Bible portrays Jesus as. That’ll hopefully be the goal of my messages. Also, how one is justified before God from a biblical perspective. These are mainly my focus (to do it rationally and truthfully)

1 Corinthians 8:4-6
“4 About eating food offered to idols, then, we know that “an idol is nothing in the world,” and that “there is no God but one.” 5 For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth as there are many “gods” and many “lords
6 yet for us there is one God, the Father. All things are from Him, and we exist for Him. And there is one Lord, Jesus Christ. All things are through Him, and we exist through Him. (NASB)”
I’d like to strengthen the argument by bringing up John 17:3-5 ” 3 This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.4 I glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do.5 Now, Father, glorify Me together with Yourself, with the glory which I had with You before the world was.”
Is this to mean that Jesus isn’t God? Of course not. It’s committing the fallacies of denying the antecedent and begs the question.

P1. The father is the only true God.
P2. Jesus is not the father.
C. Jesus isn’t God.
The argument is fallacious as this argument.

P1. Golden Retrievers are Dogs
P2. Great Danes are not Golden Retrievers
C. Therefore, Great Danes are not dogs.

The argument should be written as this:

P1. Only the father is the true God.
P2. Jesus is not the father
C. Therefore, Jesus is not God.

The issue is the weaker valid argument is never stated anywhere throughout the New Testament. The Father may be the ‘only true God’, doesn’t imply no other person also maintains the same being.
The argument could be taken in the weaker form, but then it begs the question. It would only make sense if we assume that God must be a Unitarian being. It needs to not assume Unitarian theology, but prove such. It would simply beg the question to show the Son isn’t the Father. Now, to turn to the issue of Lord. Why assume it is mutually exclusive? Why isn’t God the Lord as much as the Lord is God, why the dichotomy and competition? This is how Jesus presents the truth of monotheism. Since he is not a separate God from the father (he is a separate person, sharing the one being that is God) how could his confession of the deity of the father be taken as a denial of his own deity? As a perfect God-man, we wonder about the question of how the incarnate one might act and behave in relation to the persons who did not enter human existence (I.e. The father and the spirit). Would Jesus deny the deity of the father? He wouldn’t proclaim that the father wasn’t the one true God and neither would the God-Man be an atheist. What is missed is that John 17 is proof of the deity of Christ. The phrase “only true God’ is just idiomatic for (Yahweh) Jewish Monotheism. That is consistent and necessary for a Trinitarian view. We should also note the fact that Paul in 1 Cor. 8:6 is attached to the fact that Paul is modifying the Shema(Deuter. 6:4) to apply to Jesus. That in no way attacks his divinity, but it actually proves his divinity.

1. Either Jesus is a false God

(John 1:1 “In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.”).

2. Jesus would have to advocate that there is more than one god. Which contradicts Isaiah 43:10,45:5-21,46:8-111 Corinthians 8:4-6 is in actuality proving the deity of Christ. Paul is actually taking the shema. Which is found in Deuteronomy 6 ” ⁴ “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one!” and it is applied to Christ.

The problem is that this is a purposeful mistranslation of John 1:1. Here is a Basic Greek Textbook:

The nominative case is the case that the subject is in. When the subject takes an equative verb like “is” (i.e., a verb that equates the subject with something else), then another noun also appears in the nominative case-the predicate nominative. In the sentence, “John is a man,” “John” is the subject and “man” is the predicate nominative. In English, the subject and predicate nominative are distinguished by word order (the subject comes first). Not so in Greek. Since word order in Greek is quite flexible and is used for emphasis rather than for strict grammatical function, other means are used to distinguish subject from predicate nominative. For example, if one of the two nouns has the definite article, it is the subject. As we have said, word order is employed especially for the sake of emphasis. Generally speaking, when a word is thrown to the front of the clause it is done so for emphasis. When a predicate nominative is thrown in front of the verb, by virtue of word order it takes on emphasis. A good illustration of this is John 1:1c. The English versions typically have, “and the Word was God.” But in Greek, the word order has been reversed. It reads,
και θεός ήν ό λόγος
and God was the Word.
We know that “the Word” is the subject because it has the definite article, and we translate it accordingly: “and the Word was God.” Two questions, both of theological import, should come to mind: (1) why was θεός thrown forward? and (2) why does it lack the article? In brief,1 its emphatic position stresses its essence or quality: “What God was, the Word was” is how one translation brings out this force. Its lack of a definite article keeps us from identifying the person of the Word (Jesus Christ) with the person of “God” (the Father). That is to say, the word order tells us that Jesus Christ has all the divine attributes that the Father has; lack of the article tells us that Jesus Christ is not the Father. John’s wording here is beautifully compact! It is, in fact, one of the most elegantly terse theological statements one could ever find. As Martin Luther said, the lack of an article is against Sabellianism; the word order is against Arianism. To state this another way, look at how the different Greek constructions would be rendered:
και ό λόγος ήν ό θεός “and the Word was the God” (i.e., the Father;
Sabellianism)
και ό λόγος ήν θεός “and the Word was a god” (Arianism)
και θεός ήν ό λόγος “and the Word was God” (Orthodoxy).
Jesus Christ is God and has all the attributes that the Father has. But he is not the first person of the Trinity. All this is concisely affirmed in και θεός ήν ό λόγος.”
Basics of Biblical Greek Grammar: Second Edition; William D. Mounce(pg 27)

Has anyone seen God?

John 1:18
“No one has seen God at any time; …. ” (John 5:37) –“”And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form.” (John 6:46)–“Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father.”

1 Tim. 6:15-16
“He who is the blessed and only Sovereign, the King of kings and Lord of lords, 16 who alone possesses immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen or can see. To Him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.”
Gen. 17:1
“Now when Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, “I am God Almighty; Walk before Me, and be blameless;”(Gen. 18:1) Now the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of Mamre, while he was sitting at the tent door in the heat of the day.”(Exodus 6:2-3)–“God spoke further to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD; 3and I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name, LORD, I did not make Myself known to them.”(Exodus 24:9-11)–“Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, 10and they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. 11Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and they saw God, and they ate and drank.” (Num. 12:6-8)–“He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, shall make Myself known to him in a vision.  I shall speak with him in a dream. 7″Not so, with My servant Moses, He is faithful in all My household; 8With him I speak mouth to mouth, Even openly, and not in dark sayings, And he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant, against Moses?”(Acts 7:2), “And he [Stephen] said, ‘Hear me, brethren and fathers! The God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Haran. ‘”

Genesis 32:30
And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: “For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved.”
Exodus 33:11
So the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.

How would a Jehovah’s witness explain these? Either God was never seen at any time or he was seen in time. I as a Trinitarian can explain this. While the father has never been seen, the Son has.

That’s mainly a negative presentation without much evidence for my view. What’s the evidence of the Trinitarian view?

John 12 (NASB)

“39 For this reason they could not believe, for Isaiah said again, 40 “He has blinded their eyes and He hardened their heart, so that they would not see with their eyes and perceive with their heart, and be converted and I heal them.” 41 *These things Isaiah said because he saw His glory, and he spoke of Him.”*
He’s speaking of the prophet Isaiah’s temple vision. A text about Jehovah and John applies it to Jesus.

Isaiah 6
“I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple.2 Seraphim stood above Him, each having six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called out to another and said,

“Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord of hosts, The whole earth is full of His glory.”
8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!” 9 He said, “Go, and tell this people: ‘Keep on listening, but do not perceive; Keep on looking, but do not understand.’ 10 “Render the hearts of this people insensitive, Their ears dull, And their eyes dim, Otherwise they might see with their eyes, Hear with their ears, Understand with their hearts, And return and be healed.”

Does Jehovah call Jesus, Jehovah?

Psalm 102:21-27:

This is about Jehovah’s eternality and his immutability. That he is contrasted to those things that suffer duration and change because he will always remain the same. This is the thought of Old Testament commentators:

In contrast to all created existence, the Lord “remains the same” (cf. Heb 13: 8). He is the “first and last” (Dt 32: 39; Isa 41: 4; 46: 4; 48: 12). The phrase “but you” is an emphatic contrast to “they” (v. 26), i.e., all created existence(v. 25). He remains the same and undergoes no change over the “years” (cf. v. 24). He is the Creator (v. 25; cf. Heb 1: 10-12), who remains forever.

VanGemeren, Willem A.; VanGemeren, Willem A.. Psalms (The Expositor’s Bible Commentary) (Kindle Locations 23226-23229). Zondervan. Kindle Edition.

Hebrews 1:8-12:

The writer of the Hebrews then uses this to show how the Son is superior to all things. Either the author of Hebrews is committing idolatry or he rightly calls Jesus, Jehovah. It’s Jehovah calling Christ the eternal creator, ruler, and eventual king of all the earth. It is by these roles, attributes, and priorities that shows that Christ is greater than the Angels.

The quotation of Ps. 102:25–27 (101:26–28 LXX), the sixth quotation in the chain quotation of 1:5–14, is paired with Ps. 45:6–7 (44:7–8 LXX) on the basis of verbal analogy, by forms of the second-person personal pronoun sy (“you”). It is brought into the chain quotation as a resounding conclusion to the chain’s body, just prior to the climactic quotation of Ps. 110:1 (109:1 LXX) at 1:13. In tandem with Ps. 45, Ps. 102 extends an emphasis on the Son’s status, Ps. 45 focusing on the reign of the Son as messianic ruler and Ps. 102 on his lordship in creation and consummation of the universe. With other NT authors, the author of Hebrews holds the Son as the agent of God the Father in the creation of the universe (1:10; cf. John 1:3; 1 Cor. 8:6; Col. 1:16). Also, the Son is the one to whom all of creation will be subjected in the end (e.g., 1:13; 2:5, 8; cf. 1 Cor. 15:28). The quotation in 1:10–12 foreshadows the day of the Lord (9:28; 10:36–39) and the shaking of the earth, the eschatological judgment to be visited upon the earth at the end of the age, when the material universe will pass away (12:25–29; cf. 1 Cor. 7:31; 1 John 2:8; Rev. 21:1). On that day only the kingdom of God will remain, the kingdoms of this world having been utterly destroyed. Of all things, then, the Son is “Lord,” a basic element of early Christian confessions about Christ (e.g., Acts 2:36; Rom. 1:4; 1 Cor. 1:2; Phil. 2:11), and so the author of Hebrews recognizes this divine name from the LXX version of the psalm (101:26) as referring to him. Psalms 45 and 102 primarily work together, however, to demonstrate the eternality of the Son, over against the transitory nature of the angels. The eternality of the Son has already been expressed in 1:8 in the phrase “for ever and ever” (eis ton aiōna tou aiōnos) from Ps. 44:7 LXX (45:7 MT; 45:6 ET), and this motif is critical to a number of primary themes in the book, mainly expressed in the “forever” priesthood of the Son, based on Ps. 110:4 (5:5; 6:20; 7:3, 17, 21, 24, 28). This aspect of Christology, however, extends in the book to the “remaining” of those who, on the basis of new covenant, inherit the heavenly city (10:34; 12:22–24; 13:14) (Lane 1991: 1:31; Thompson 1976: 360–61). The “forever” status of the Son, therefore, has a direct implication for the forever stability of those who are believers in him.

Commentary on the New Testament Use of the Old Testament (Kindle Locations 36325-36342). Baker Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

 

Creator or not?
The ancient Jews had purposely set apart the act of creation for only Jehovah God and nobody else.
“This is what Jehovah says, your Repurchaser, Who formed you since you were in the womb: “I am Jehovah, who made everything. I stretched out the heavens by myself, And I spread out the earth. Who was with me? ” Isaiah 44:24

Isa. 45:12 NWT “I myself [Jehovah] have made the earth and have created even man upon it. I—my own hands have stretched out the heavens, and all the army of them I have commanded.”

Isa. 48:13 NWT “Moreover, my own hand laid the foundation of the earth, and my own right hand extended out the heavens. I am calling to them, that they may keep standing together.”

If Jehovah alone created all things, then what does Christ create?

John 1:3 NWT “All things came into existence through him, and apart from him not even one thing came into existence.”

Col. 1:16-17 NWT “. . . because by means of him all [other] things were created in the heavens and upon the earth, the things visible and the things invisible, no matter whether they are thrones or lordships or governments or authorities. All [other] things have been created through him and for him. Also, he is before all [other] things and by means of him all [other] things were made to exist . . ..“

Heb. 1:2 “God, who long ago spoke on many occasions and in many ways to our forefathers by means of the prophets, has at the end of these days spoken to us by means of a Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the systems of things. He is the reflection of [his] glory and the exact representation of his very being, and he sustains all things by the word of his power;”

Either Jehovah made all things alone or he made them through Christ. This is a dilemma for the Jehovah’s witness but for a Trinitarian like myself. The father God made everything by the son (Which is also the true God).

Isa. 45:12 NWT “I myself have made the earth and have created even man upon it. I—my own hands have stretched out the heavens, and all the army of them I have commanded.”

Heb. 1:10 NWT “And: “You at [the] beginning, O Lord, laid the foundations of the earth itself, and the heavens are [the] works of your hands.”

The same language is used of the Father and the Son.

Thomas called him God. John 20:28 NWT “In answer Thomas said to him: ‘My Lord and my God!’” Jesus not rebuking him shows that Jesus accepted it. Furthermore, according to Thomas, his God is Jesus for in Greek, the verse reads, “ho kurios mou kai ho theos mou,” which translates to “the Lord of me and the God of me.” Either Thomas is blaspheming and Christ failed to correct him, or Jesus is God. Which Christ being a rabbi would’ve condemned him for blasphemy?

The Parallel between John 13:19 and Isaiah 43:10. Jesus tells them they may know that he is “hoti ego eimi” this term is used of only Jehovah in Isaiah 43:10 in the LXX (the Greek version of the OT). It’s the equivalent to “ani hu” and that is a euphemism for Jehovah alone.

1 Peter 3:15 NWT
“But sanctify the Christ as Lord in your hearts, always ready to make a defense before everyone who demands of you a reason for the hope you have, but doing so with a mild temper and deep respect.”
It’s an amazing statement. But many do not know the OT background of it. Peter is referencing Isaiah 8:13.

“Jehovah of armies—he is the One you should regard as holy, He is the One you should fear, And he is the One who should cause you to tremble.”  ”

 

A common argument against Isaiah 9:6 is Jesus is only a “mighty god”. Jehovah is the almighty God. Jesus is a lesser created god. The word for mighty God is “El gibbor”. Which is applied to Jehovah in the very next chapter 10:20-21. It’s about Israel returning to Jehovah.

Prepare the way for whom?

Matt. 3:3 NWT “Listen! Someone is crying out in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of Jehovah, YOU people! Make his roads straight.’”

Of course, the Watchtower recognizes that Matthew is quoting from Isaiah. Certainly, the passage is calling for Israel to repent. But why repent? The answer is because someone is coming. The question is, who is John the Baptist announcing? The NWT clearly says “Jehovah.” But does the context not imply Jesus? Consider the rest of the Baptist narrative. For example, we read, “‘I, for my part, baptize YOU with water because of YOUR repentance; but the one coming after me is stronger than I am, whose sandals I am not fit to take off. That one will baptize YOU people with holy spirit and with fire. His winnowing shovel is in his hand, and he will completely clean up his threshing floor, and will gather his wheat into the storehouse, but the chaff he will burn up with fire that cannot be put out.’ Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, in order to be baptized by him.”

Isn’t it curious, that all four New Testament writers used a passage that announces the coming of Jehovah and applied it to Jesus?
Jesus continues copying Jehovah by doing what Jehovah is supposed to do. Jehovah is the Shepherd, savior, first and last, etc.

Isa. 40:11 NWT “Like a shepherd he will shepherd his own drove. With his arm, he will collect together the lambs; and in his bosom he will carry [them]. Those giving suck he will conduct [with care].”[8]

The Old Testament concept of God as a shepherd is not isolated to Isaiah. [9] Yet in the New Testament, Jesus takes this job description for Himself:

John 10:14 NWT “I am the fine shepherd, and I know my sheep and my sheep know me . . ..”
More comparison:

Isa. 44:6 NWT “This is what Jehovah has said, the King of Israel and the Repurchaser of him, Jehovah of armies, ‘I am the first and I am the last . . ..’”

Isa. 48:12a NWT “Listen to me, O Jacob, and you Israel my called one. I am the same One. I am the first. Moreover, I am the last.”

Rev. 1:17-18 NWT “And when I saw him, I fell as dead at his feet. And he laid his right hand upon me and said: ‘Do not be fearful. I am the First and the Last, and the living one; and I became dead, but, look! I am living forever and ever, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.’”

Rev. 22:12-13 NWT “Look! I am coming quickly, and the reward I give is with me, to render to each one as his work is. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”

These are about Christ.

Does Jehovah share his glory?

Isa. 42:8 NWT “I am Jehovah. That is my name; and to no one else shall I give my own glory, neither my praise to graven images.”

Yet, in John 17 Jesus claims to possess the glory of God.

John 17:5 NWT “So now you, Father, glorify me alongside yourself with the glory that I had alongside you before the world was.” Also, Jesus receives worship only God could in Revelation 5 they sang a new song.

Jehovah is our Savior.

Isa. 43:11-12 NWT “‘I—I am Jehovah, and besides me there is no savior. I myself have told forth and have saved and have caused it to be heard, when there was among YOU no strange [god]. So, YOU are my witnesses,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘and I am God.’”

Isa. 45:21-22 NWT “Is it not I, Jehovah, besides whom there is no other God; a righteous God and a Savior, there being none excepting me? Turn to me and be saved, all YOU at the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no one else.”

Titus 2:13 NWT “. . . while we wait for the happy hope and glorious manifestation of the great God and of the Savior of us, Christ Jesus”

Acts 4:10-12 NWT “. . . let it be known to all of YOU and to all the people of Israel, that in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene´ . . . there is no salvation in anyone else, for there is not another name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must get saved.”

Rom. 10:13 “For ‘everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved.’”

Just a few verses before it tells us that name by which we can be saved. The old concept of calling on Jehovah to be saved in Christ. Verse 9 For if you publicly declare with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and exercise faith in your heart that God raised him up from the dead, you will be saved. ”

Joel 2:32

“And everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved;”

Romans 10:13 For “everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved.”

Which is applied to Christ in verse 9.  “⁹ that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved”

 

To whom shall we bow?

Isa. 45:22-24.
“Turn to me and be saved, all YOU [at the] ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no one else. By my own self, I have sworn—out of my own mouth in righteousness the word has gone forth, so that it will not return—that to me every knee will bend down, every tongue will swear, saying, ‘Surely in Jehovah there are full righteousness and strength.”

Phil. 2:10-11 “. . . so that in the name of Jesus every knee should bend of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the ground, and every tongue should openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”

Why would holy spirit inspire language expressly used to recognize Jehovah and apply it to a creature? How can a finite creature have ever existed “in God’s form”? And if the Son is not Almighty God, how can he receive sovereign worship reserved expressly for Almighty God?

 

Did Jesus rise physically from the Dead?

1 John 3:2

“Beloved ones, we are now children of God, but it has not yet been made manifest what we will be. We do know that when he is made manifest we will be like him because we will see him just as he is. ”

John is talking about the resurrection. It Says we will be like him. But Jesus resurrection was a spirit. Will we be spirits? No, because Jesus bodily rose from the dead.

John 2:19-21

“Jesus replied to them: “Tear down this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”20 The Jews then said: “This temple was built in 46 years, and will you raise it up in three days?” 21 But he was talking about the temple of his body.”

This is Christ prophecy that he would bodily rise from the dead. The word ” Foma” means body. Either Christ bodily rose from the dead or he is a false prophet.

John 20:24-29

But Thomas, one of the Twelve, who was called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came. 25 So the other disciples were telling him: “We have seen the Lord!” But he said to them: “Unless I see in his hands the print of the nails and stick my finger into the print of the nails and stick my hand into his side, I will never believe it.”

26 Well, eight days later his disciples were again in doors, and Thomas was with them. Jesus came, although the doors were locked, and he stood in their midst and said: “May you have peace.” 27  Next he said to Thomas: “Put your finger here, and see my hands, and take your hand and stick it into my side, and stop doubting but believe.” 28  In answer Thomas said to him: “My Lord and my God!” 29  Jesus said to him: “Because you have seen me, have you believed? Happy are those who have not seen and yet believe.”

Unless he felt the body of Christ with the holes in his hands he wouldn’t believe it.

Luke 24:36-39

While they were speaking of these things, he himself stood in their midst and said to them: “May you have peace.” 37 But because they were terrified and frightened, they imagined that they were seeing a spirit. 38 So he said to them: “Why are you troubled, and why have doubts come up in your hearts? 39 See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself; touch me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones just as you see that I have.”

Jesus rose from the dead in his body. Not a spirit.

Do Jehovah witnesses have something to boast about?

“When a person, on the basis of the Scriptural knowledge he has gained, has belief in Christ as the Savior whom God provided and shows that faith by his works, he can consider himself as being on the way to salvation. It would be a mistake for him to think that he is now saved and cannot fall. He must show by his endurance in the Christian faith that he is worthy of salvation. “Let him that thinks he has a firm position beware that he does not fall,” 1 Cor. 10:12 . . . Salvation from death is a gift from God to those that obey him, not to those that disobey,” (Watchtower, March 1, 1960, p. 134).

According to the Watchtower, Feb. 15, 1983, p. 12, there are four requirements for salvation: “Many have found the second requirement more difficult. It is to obey God’s laws, yes, to conform one’s life to the moral requirements set out in the Bible. This includes refraining from a debauched, immoral way of life. 1 Cor. 6:9, 10, 1 Pet. 4:3, 4.” These seem to be in fundamental denial of the biblical position that we are saved by grace through faith. Romans 4-5:1, Galatians 2:15-3:14, Ephesians 2:8-9.

“Some people think there are these hidden secrets in the bible, and that it is mystical and only certain people will be able to understand its significance.”
Where did i say that?
” Col 2:8 teaches us to “Look out!” for there are those misleading people with their “philosophy and empty deception according to human tradition.”  ”

I’m watching. But the context of that verse is to the church of Colossae dealing with the beginning of the Gnostics movement. Which taught that the physical things were bad and spiritual things good. They thought God couldn’t have created the world because he would then be evil. That Christ wasn’t God but an emanation from God.  Then, Jews trying to get Gentiles to keep the Law.
“We all have an accounting to him on judgment day; because Jehovah is justice how could he judge someone because that didn’t have the ability to grasp something that he put beyond their reach?”

God makes them accountable Romans 1.

Church History:

Where were the Jehovah’s witnesses before the late 1800’s? Why is the watchtower non-existent for 1800 years? Where was the church?

Epistle to Diognetus:

“But the truly all-powerful God himself, creator of all and invisible, set up and established in their [Christians’] hearts the truth and the holy word from heaven, which cannot be comprehended by humans.  To do so, he did not, as one might suppose, send them one of his servants or an angel or a ruler…but he sent the craftsman and maker of all things himself, by whom he created the heavens, by whom he encloses the sea within its own boundaries, whose mysteries all the elements of creation guard faithfully, from whom the sun was appointed to guard the courses that it runs during the day, whom the moon obeys when he commands it to shine at night, whom the stars obey by following the course of the moon, by whom all things are set in order and arranged and put into subjection, the heavens and the things in the heavens, the earth and the things in the earth, the sea and all the things in the sea, fire, air, the abyss, creatures in the heights, creatures in the depths, and creatures in between–this is the one he sent to them. (7.2)

So, then, did he [God], as one might suppose, send him [his Son] to rule in tyranny, fear, and terror? Not at all.  But with gentleness and meekness, as a king sending his own son, he sent him as a king; he sent him as God; he sent him as a human to humans.  So that he might bring salvation. (7.3-4). … The Word appeared to them [the apostles] and revealed things, speaking to them openly.  Even though he was not understood by unbelievers, he told these things to his disciples, who after being considered faithful by him came to know the mysteries of the Father.  For this reason, he sent his Word, that it might be manifest to the world. This Word was dishonored by the people but proclaimed by the apostles and believed by the nations. For this is the one who was from the beginning who appeared to be recent but was discovered to be ancient, who is always being born anew in the hearts of the saints.  This is the eternal one who “today” is considered to be the Son, through whom the church is enriched and the unfolding grace is multiplied among the saints. (11:2-4).”
Ignatius of Antioch (c. 50–117): For our God, Jesus the Christ, was conceived by Mary according to God’s plan, both from the seed of David and of the Holy Spirit. (Ignatius, Letter to the Ephesians, 18.2)

Consequently all magic and every kind of spell were dissolved, the ignorance so characteristic of wickedness vanished, and the ancient kingdom was abolished when God appeared in human form to bring the newness of eternal life. (19.3.)
For our God Jesus Christ is more visible now that he is in the Father. (Ignatius, Letter to the Romans, 3.3.)
“I glorify Jesus Christ, the God who made you so wise, for I observed that you are established in an unshakable faith, having been nailed, as it were, to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. (Ignatius, Letter to the Smyrnaeans)

“Wait expectantly for the one who is above time: the Eternal, the Invisible, who for our sake became visible; the Intangible, the Unsuffering, who for our sake suffered, who for our sake endured in every way. “(Ignatius, Letter to Polycarp, 3.2)

 

Polycarp of Smyrna (69–155): “Now may the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the eternal high priest himself, the Son of God Jesus Christ, build you up in faith and truth . . ., and to us with you, and to all those under heaven who will yet believe in our Lord and God Jesus Christ and in his Father who raised him from the dead. (Polycarp, Philippians, 12:2)

 

Epistle of Barnabas (written c. 70–130): “If the Lord submitted to suffer for our souls, even though he is Lord of the whole world, to whom God said at the foundation of the world, “Let us make humankind according to our image and likeness,” how is it, then, that he submitted to suffer at the hands of humans?”

 

Justin Martyr (100–165): And that Christ being Lord, and God the Son of God, and appearing formerly in power as Man, and Angel, and in the glory of fire as at the bush, so also was manifested at the judgment executed on Sodom, has been demonstrated fully by what has been said. (Justin Martyr, Dialogue with Trypho, 128. )
Irenaeus of Lyons (120–202): “For I have shown from the Scriptures, that no one of the sons of Adam is as to everything, and absolutely, called God, or named Lord. But that He is Himself in His own right, beyond all men who ever lived, God, and Lord, and King Eternal, and the Incarnate Word, proclaimed by all the prophets, the apostles, and by the Spirit Himself, may be seen by all who have attained to even a small portion of the truth. Now, the Scriptures would not have testified these things of Him, if, like others, He had been a mere man. . .. He is the holy Lord, the Wonderful, the Counselor, the Beautiful in appearance, and the Mighty God, coming on the clouds as the Judge of all men; — all these things did the Scriptures prophesy of Him.” (Irenaeus Against Heresies 3.19.2)