Because of the pandemic, many are taking unorthodox means to engage others. One such interesting change is the local Jehovah Witness Kingdom Hall is now apparently proselytizing by mail instead of door to door. I received one such invitation lately; this is my response, with edits to remove personal details about my JW friend...
You are absolutely correct to have great concern for our eternal destiny & Jehovah’s central role as our true, final, & righteous Judge. But how are we to know this ultimate Judge & his edict for coming into his eternal presence? You are right once again to point to the Bible as our only ultimate source for revelation concerning his standard for righteousness.
The question then comes to the matter of a full interpretation & ensuing incorporation of the Bible’s teachings into our beliefs & practices. What does the Bible tell us to believe & do? I am somewhat older myself (in my mid fifties), & I have heard many a man teach John 5:19 & 30:
“Therefore, in answer, Jesus went on to say to them, ‘Most truly I say to you, The Son cannot do not a single thing of his own initiative, but only what he beholds the Father doing. For whatever things that One does, these things the Son also does in like manner.’ ”
“I cannot do a single thing of my own initiative; just as I hear, I judge; & the judgment that I render is righteous, because I seek, not my own will, but the will of him who sent me.”
It is a great thing to teach Scripture, but like anything, it must be taught in context. If, for example, I talk of a man pulling out a gun to chase down & kill someone it would appear I am describing an act of great evil. But if I give the greater context of this man as a police officer, & his supposed victim as someone in the act of murdering innocent children at their school, then I completely change the perception of this man & the nature of his actions.
Jesus’ teachings in John 5 are like that; because the greater context gives a wholly different perspective:
20-29 For the Father has affection for the Son and shows him all the things he himself does, and he will show him works greater than these, so that you may marvel. For just as the Father raises the dead up and makes them alive, so the Son also makes alive whomever he wants to. For the Father judges no one at all, but he has entrusted all the judging to the Son, so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. Most truly I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes the One who sent me has everlasting life, and he does not come into judgment but has passed over from death to life. “Most truly I say to you, the hour is coming, and it is now, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who have paid attention will live.
For just as the Father has life in himself, so he has granted also to the Son to have life in himself. And he has given him authority to do judging, because he is the Son of man. Do not be amazed at this, for the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, and those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.
The Jesus that declares verses 19 & 30 is no different from the Jesus of 20-29, & his teachings there should be given the same reverence. The understanding of a seemingly lesser Jesus of 19 & 30 must be contrasted by his clear teaching that all judgment is given to the Son. There he also teaches the very specific reason that the Father has done this- “so that all may honor the Son just as they honor the Father. Whoever does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him.”
This is the critical question to ask yourself:
“Do I honor the Son just as I honor the Father? Or have I relegated him to a lesser status than the Father, as someone less than the Almighty, Jehovah God?”
Remember the teaching- that the reason the Father gives all judgment to the Son is that we would not demote the Son to being someone less than the Father. The power to judge is the Father’s responsibility; for him to accord it to someone lesser than himself would be a great act of injustice. It would be as if a judge in our criminal justice system gave his robe & his gavel to the court bailiff to execute judgment while he went on vacation. Instead, the truly righteous judge would only give his great authority to another judge of equal status & qualifications.
Jesus’ teachings in John 5:19-30 are not impossible to reconcile, in fact, it’s quite natural to see Jesus as both submissive & equal to the Father, for this is often the natural state of affairs for us as well. I came from my natural father & he taught me & led me to be like himself. For these reasons I honored him by submitting to him, even & especially as an adult, for I came from him & saw his wisdom. As an adult human being, I certainly did not have to submit to him, for I too was human, of equal status to him in the eyes of our society, but in my eyes, I loved him, & therefore sought to honor him above myself at all times. We were equally human, yet I was submissive to him as the source of my humanity. And he likewise sought to cause others to give me the same respect that they would give him.
By embracing all the words of Jesus here, we should say the same can be said of Jesus & his Father. He was "begotten" of his Father, therefore he had the same qualities & status as his Father. Jesus was & is equally God, yet submissive to his Father as the source of his Godliness. Understand, in expressing this, he was fulfilling the mandate of the fifth commandment to honor his Father. He was honoring his Father, just as we are called to honor our father. And the Father likewise seeks to cause us to give his only begotten Son all the status of himself.
Again, that is the reason he has given all judgment to his Son.
To give more due to verses 19 & 30 than the verses between is like a restaurant that tries to sell you a hamburger without the meat. Those two verses are absolutely necessary to make a sandwich, but they are close to worthless without the “meat” of Jesus’ teachings in between them.
Note as well that Jesus also teaches that believing in “my word” concerning the nature of Jehovah to be the primary cause of everlasting life. The words of Jesus are life to our soul, & he gives in abundance here & elsewhere…
John 6:28-29 “So they said to him: ‘What must we do to carry out the works of God?’ In answer Jesus said to them: ‘This is the work of God, that you exercise faith in the one whom he sent.’”
Our works certainly play a role in our salvation, but they must be born out of true faith & belief in Jesus & his word, else they will be burned up as worthless wood, hay, & stubble (1 Cor. 3). We can never meet Jesus’ standard for us to merit salvation for he demands that we become perfect, even to the measure of the Father’s perfection (Matt. 5:48). It is only by believing in Jesus & his perfection, in the Son as the way, the truth, & the life, that we can come to the Father to have everlasting life (John 14:6).
You should note that I quote exclusively from the New World Translation. This does not mean that I regard it as a good translation, as it was done by elders of your church to try to render the many passages that honor the Son with a glory equal to the Father to mean something else. But in my study of God’s word, I have found this truth to be so conspicuous as to be impossible to hide, even when that is the obvious intent. Your church used the KJV for many years, but were challenged greatly every day by the thousands of verses that speak of the Son’s glory as Jehovah…
Psalm 2:11-12 Serve Jehovah with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Honor the son, or God will become indignant. And you will perish from the way, for His anger flares up quickly. Happy are all those taking refuge in Him.
I was raised in a religion which believed similar to yours concerning the status of the Son of God. I defended my beliefs with great resolve until I asked myself “What if I resolutely believe this all my life, & at the day of judgment I come into the Son’s presence with great hope- only to hear him say ‘I never knew you! Get away from me, you worker of lawlessness!’ ” (Matt. 7:23). I did not change my belief at this point; I only became open to the possibility that I was wrong concerning the Son’s full glory & prayed that God would show me the truth about his Son through the Scriptures, whatever that truth might be.
I ask with the deepest concern for your soul that you please consider this truth, for I believe that instead of giving witness to Jehovah, you are in fact denying him, by denying Jesus his status & pursuing an eternal glory by some means other than his righteousness & his work on that stake…
Acts 4:11-12 This is ‘the stone that was treated by you builders as of no account that has become the chief cornerstone.’ Furthermore, there is no salvation in anyone else, for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must get saved.
