Should you believe the JWs?

and that they are frequently inconsistent, even with their own arguments on text. They can produce no book of grammar that supports their translation methods. However their arguments have become more sophisticated over the years, but once you realise their selective method of question sources, and you read the parts of the same sources they don't quote, it is easy to see their manipulative style. They frequently use bits from people who totally disagree with their teaching, in order to appear to have orthodox opinion on their side. In their bibles' N.Ts'. they show a chart of basic meanings of prepositions, the trouble with their translation is that they never got beyond basics, and hence miss much of what prepositions actually do in Greek.

ORIGEN c. 185-255 AD A discussion with Bishop HERACLIDES about 244-9 AD. The Bishop quotes JN 1^1-3 as follows. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him, and without him nothing was made."

It is interesting to note, that in the discussion no one questions the phrase "the Word was God."

In the discussion Origen says "It is blasphemy to deny the deity of Christ." He concludes saying "offering is universally made to Almighty God through Jesus Christ in as much as, in respect of his deity, he is akin to the Father. Let there be no double offering, but an offering to God through God."

TERTULLIAN Also uses "the Word was God," in his letter "Against Praxeas 27" c. 210 AD.

Contrary to what is suggested in the booklet, both IRENAEUS and JUSTIN make quite clear statements in other places about the FATHER / SON / SPIRIT relationships. They show no problems about the equality of the 'PERSONS' in the discussion.

The J.Ws. have a persistent habit of over simplifying Greek tenses and cases. They never do exhaustive analysis of any article, preposition, conjunction, etc, they even do this with verbs. They stop the analysis at the point where they find what agrees, with what is for them, already believed. If you read any good lexicon you will readily see how selective they are, and how far they fall short, and hence produce errant teachings.

By Rev. I B Cook.