The title "Son of God" signifies the unique and eternal relationship of Jesus Christ to God his Father: he is the only Son of the Father; he is God himself. To be a Christian, one must believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. (CCC 454)from Has the Witness Committed Perjury?:
"When I look up a definition for 'Christian' I begin to see how Jehovah's (and other unlikely faiths) claim Christianity on a technicality. The term Christian is defined generically as 'a person who is a follower of Jesus and his teachings,' and Christ is defined merely as 'the anointed one or messiah.' I'm certain a Jehovah would admit that Jesus is a key figure in their beliefs, being that he is the "new Adam" now residing in Heaven as God's right hand man."
I was thinking about my blog entry earlier this month regarding the faith of the Watchtower Society. It still bothers me that they claim to be Christians when so much of what they claim to believe is contrary to what a Christian professes.
Before a friendly, neighborhood Jehovah argues that Jesus (aka Michael, the archangel) can be the son yet not God, I submit for evidence John 1:1 and John 1:14 to be read together in context. (I looked these verses up in the Witness' translation of Holy Scripture and see that they refer to the word as "was a god" rather than "was God" (note the lack of uppercase letter in the former):
John 1:1
New World Translation:
In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.
New American Bible:
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
John 1:14
New World Translation:
So the Word became flesh and resided among us, and we had a view of his glory, a glory such as belongs to an only-begotten son from a father; and he was full of undeserved kindness and truth.
New American Bible:
And the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us, and we saw his glory, the glory as of the Father's only Son, full of grace and truth.
Based on the New World Translation, I gather that a JW may claim belief in Jesus' sonship, but must not profess faith in the Trinity. However, the early Church was very clear in stating that the "consubstantial trinity" exists as three persons in one God.That Truth is a central dogma of the Christian faith.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
Witness to the Trinity
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1 comment:
Apparently I'm a simple man as it took me three readings of your comment to figure out that you were in fact supporting the NWT rendering of John 1:1!
After a brief "google-ing" of your screen name, I prefer to point readers to the following thread: (http://crossed-the-tiber.blogspot
.com/2007/11/scripture-re-alignment
.html) where you responded word for word to a similar post, and the ensuing discussion on the greek translation. Why rehash the same conversation that has already been discussed, right?
Personally, being the simple man that I am, I remain firm to the belief that the correct understanding of Jesus is that He is Lord and God -- not just a lord and a god. Thank you for taking the time to copy and paste your rebuttal in an effort to further advertise your forthcoming book. ;)
Peace in our Lord, Jesus Christ
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