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What Jehovah's Witnesses Believe About God

by Dave Sherrill

When Jehovah's Witnesses Talk About God, Who Do They Mean?
When Jehovah's Witnesses (hereafter JWs) talk about "God" in a general sense, who are they talking about? This is important to grasp since their concept of God is quite different from that held by orthodox Christians. When speaking of God they are not referring to the Biblical Trinity of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. They do not accept the Trinity (which we will deal with in detail in a later article). Their references to God belong entirely to what Christians know as God the Father. They accept "Jehovah" as the personal name of God the Father, belonging only to him.

What This Emphasis Results In
The centrality of the Father is evident in the name of their group, Jehovah's Witnesses. They see themselves as a witness to obeying the commands of Jehovah. They can be understood in a general sense as "Christianized Judaism". Their emphasis of obedience to the laws of Jehovah is much like the Pharisees of Christ's time, except they dress up their speech with Christian phrases. Being aware of this will help you understand one of the reasons why they work so hard at being a good JW. It is an absolute necessity to prove your allegiance to Jehovah God by your untiring efforts to obey his laws. The Christian concept of grace (God's unmerited favor) is undeveloped in their theology. They have little use for grace since obedience takes the place of primacy in their scheme of salvation.

The Watchtower Says
Therefore if we want God to hear our prayers, a basic requirement is that we do his will, that we obey his laws. (You Can Live Forever In Paradise On Earth, 1982, p.228)
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In a series of articles entitled "Gathering the Multitude," published in 1936, The Watchtower explained: "The Scriptures strongly support the conclusion that at Armageddon Jehovah will destroy the peoples of the earth, saving only those who obey his commandments to stand by his organization. (Jehovah's Witnesses - Proclaimers of God's Kingdom, 1993, p170)

What About God's Omni-Attributes?
The Bible presents God to us as having attributes which are limitless. You commonly hear of three main omni-attributes, God's omnipotence (all powerful), omniscience (all knowing), and omnipresence (everywhere present). These scriptural truths exalt our view of God, making him the all-sufficient provider of everything we need in all aspects of our life. The absence of any one of these attributes reduces God to being less than a reliable provider. For example if God was not omnipotent then you could not know for certain if he could save you. He could suffer defeat at the hands of one more powerful than himself or he might simply run out of gas. He would not be a trustworthy savior in an absolute sense because he may not have the actual strength necessary to save you. His promises become nothing more than good intentions because he may not be able to make good on them. If God was not omniscient then he would be merely playing the odds, not knowing for certain what the outcome would be. Once again he would not be a trustworthy savior for he could never truly promise to save anyone absolutely. He becomes nothing more than a "heavenly bookie", stacking the odds in his favor but not truly knowing the outcome until it has played itself out to the end. If God was not omnipresent he cannot certainly save you, for he might not be able to find you. The denial of any of these attributes results in the "death of God" and a universe based ultimately on chance and probability. God's omnipotence, omniscience, and omnipresence are crucial to the Christian faith.

JWs and God's Omni-Attributes
Considering the importance of God's omni-attributes, it is a fair question to ask where JWs stand regarding them. In their publications, the Watchtower Society does speak of God's omnipotence and omniscience. However, they outrightly deny God's omnipresence. Their discussions of each point need further examination. Regarding God's omnipotence, this is the point of nearest agreement between JWs and Christians. JWs view Jehovah God - remember that this refers to God the Father - as possesing all might but utilizing it at his discretion. In their view his possesion of all power does not make him like a hurricane or tornado of uncontrolled fury. His controlled use of omnipotence is what makes his promises trustworthy. This is demonstrated by the following statement. "Being almighty-omnipotent-Jehovah used his power to overcome any obstacle that could block fulfillment of his promise to Abraham, enabling that patriarch to become the father of Isaac." (Watchtower 5/15/86 p. 4) His power is viewed as the guarantee of fulfillment of his promises to nations and individuals. This is not, when taken by itself, an anti-Biblical definition of God's omnipotence.

JWs Affirm and Deny God's Omniscience
In a fit of schizophrenia the Watchtower Society both affirms and denies the omniscience of Jehovah God. It would seem impossible to hold to both points of view but the Watchtower makes an attempt to do just that. This is a point of controversy that the Christian would do well to be aware of. Since the Watchtower approves of both sides of the coin, any discussion about God's omniscience can be adapted to fit the prevailing viewpoint and the opposing view can be lost in the shuffle. I mean that a JW can present God's omniscience to you in a positive affirming manner if they perceive that you believe in God's omniscience. If they think you doubt God's full omniscience then they can deny it along with you while remaining true to Watchtower indoctrination. Either way, it allows the JW to guide the conversation and appear to be agreeing with you when they really are not.

The Christian should not allow this to go unchallenged. Why? The JW view has a partially knowing God who knows only those things he chooses to know. But what if he chooses to know the wrong things? What if he does not know something that proved later to be really important? These objections cannot be dismissed as being impossible by the JW since the only way God could make the "right" choices about what to know would have to be based on full omniscience, which they deny that he has. The JWs cannot have their cake and eat it too. Either God is fully omniscient or he is not (which raises doubts about his ability to save anyone). Plus, let's face it, it is only a word game to say that God is selectively omniscient. Omniscient means all-knowing. If there is ANYTHING he does not know, HE IS NOT OMNISCIENT by definition. Their definition of omniscience falls apart when you consider this: You are just as omniscient as their deity since you know what you know and you don't know what you don't know. Talk about demoting God to the level of man, that is exactly what has happened. But don't be surprised if they cannot respond to your questions adequately. After all, they are following the Watchtower's lead and the Watchtower has not been able to make up its mind concerning omniscience. Now in case we have some readers who think I'm just making this up I will provide a couple of quotes to substantiate my claims.

The Watchtower Says
"Why can the Author of the Bible, Jehovah God, accurately predict the future while man cannot? For two reasons. Jehovah is omnipotent. He is also omniscient. Man is not." (Watchtower; 5/15/1986; p.4)
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"Because of such cruel slaughter in anger and fury, Simeon and Levi disqualified themselves of either one having his line of descent lead down to the Messianic 'seed.' So this honorable privilege must now go to some other son aside from Simeon and Levi and the natural firstborn son Rueben. (Genesis 49:5-7) Certainly Jehovah God had not planned matters this way. He now had to adapt himself to the new set of circumstances." (God's "Eternal Purpose" Now Triumphing For Man's Good; 1974; pp. 97)
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"Jehovah can read hearts and minds, and he knows those who will likely respond to his love even though they may not yet know him." (Watchtower; 8/15/1994; pp. 17)

Omniscience and Predestination
We have yet to really touch on the reasons why the Watchtower rejects God's omniscience. I believe the primary "whys" are found in the Watchtower Society's statements on foreknowledge, foreordination, and predestination. We will be dealing with predestination in detail in a future article but I think it would be worthwhile to include their comments here too. The points they raise are some of the primary reasons why they reject God's full omniscience. The previous quotes were not the cause of their rejection of God's omniscience. Rather, they were the fruit borne out of the following concepts. Please note that the definitions are not accurate or complete when defining what predestination is.

The Watchtower Says
The view that God's exercise of his foreknowledge is infinite and that he does foreordain the course and destiny of all individuals is known as predestinarianism. Its advocates reason that God's divinity and perfection require that he be omniscient (all-knowing), not only respecting the past and present, but also regarding the future. For him not to foreknow all matters in their every detail would evidence imperfection, according to this concept.
But consider the implications of such a predestinarian view. This concept would mean that, prior to creating angels or earthling man, God exercised his powers of foreknowledge and foresaw and foreknew all that would result from such creation, including the rebellion of one of his spirit sons, the subsequent rebellion of the first human pair in Eden (Gen. 3:1-6; John 8:44), and all the bad consequences of such rebellion down to and beyond this present day. This would necessarily mean that all the wickedness that history has recorded (the crime and immorality, oppression and resultant suffering, lying and, hypocrisy, false worship and idolatry) once existed, before creation's beginning, only in the mind of God, in the form of his foreknowledge of the future.
If the Creator of mankind had indeed exercised his power to foreknow all that history has seen since man's creation, then the full force of all the wickedness thereafter resulting was deliberately set in motion by God when he spoke the words: "Let us make man." (Gen. 1:26) These facts bring into question the reasonableness and consistency of the predestinarian concept; particularly so since the disciple James shows that disorder and other vile things do not originate from God's heavenly presence but are "earthly, animal, demonic" in source.-Jas. 3:14-18.
The argument that God's not foreknowing all future events and circumstances in full detail would evidence imperfection on his part is, in reality, an arbitrary view of perfection. Ultimately, God's own will and good pleasure are the deciding factors as to whether anything is perfect, not human opinions or concepts.-2 Sam. 22:31; Isa. 46:10.
To illustrate this, God's almightiness is undeniably perfect and is infinite in capacity. (1 Chron. 29:11, 12; Job 36:22; 37:23) Yet his perfection in strength does not require him to use his power to the full extent of his omnipotence in any or in all cases. Clearly he has not done so, or, not merely would certain ancient cities and some nations have been destroyed, but the earth and all in it would have been obliterated long ago by God's executions of judgment, as at the Flood and on other occasions. (Gen. 6:5-8; 19:23-25, 29) God's exercise of his might is therefore not simply an unleashing of limitless power but is constantly governed by his purpose and tempered by his mercy, where merited.-Neh. 9:31; Ps. 78:38, 39.
Similarly, if, in certain respects, God chooses to exercise his infinite ability of foreknowledge in a selective way and to the degree that pleases him, then assuredly no human or angel can rightly say: "What are you doing?" (Job 9:12; Isa. 45:9; Dan. 4:35) It is therefore not a question of ability, what God can foresee, foreknow and foreordain, for "with God all things are possible." (Matt. 19:26) The question is what God sees fit to foresee, foreknow and foreordain, for "everything that he delighted to do he has done."-Ps. 115:3. (Watchtower 8/1/1970 p.469-70)

JWs Deny God's Omnipresence
The Watchtower Society does not ride the fence on this one. They flatly reject it. This has been passed down from the original founder of the group, Charles Taze Russell. Their denial of this Bible truth stems from the fact that they require everything to have a "body". It can be a physical or a spiritual body but it is a body nonetheless. This drives them to the conclusion that Jehovah God is a localized presence in some sense. The lengths they are willing to go with this line of reasoning have varied over the years. It has ranged everywhere from the very specific throne of Jehovah existing in the Pleiades constellation to a more general location in "the highest heavens". Amazingly, they use one of the verses intended to teach God's universal presence as the cornerstone proof text in concluding he is not everywhere present. Let's look at what they have said about this.

Does God Have a Body At a Specific Location?
But let none get the thought that the body is the soul: this is an error, as our Lord's words clearly show, - "God is able to destroy both soul and body." But on the other hand there can be no soul, no sentient being without a body - heavenly or earthly, spiritual or animal. (At-One-Ment Between God And Man, 1899; 1915 ed.; p.339).
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While it would be unreasonable in the extreme to think of a God getting personally into a hundred, a thousand, or a million men, there is not the slightest unreasonableness in the thought that the power of the Highest, the power, the influence of Jehovah could be in and upon hundreds, thousands, or millions without in anywise interfering with the personal presence of Jehovah upon the throne of the universe. (At-One-Ment Between God And Man; 1899; 1915 ed.; pp. 269)
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Actually, by teaching that God is omnipresent Christendom has confused matters and made it more difficult for God to be real to his worshipers. How could God be present everywhere at the same time? God is a spirit Person, which means that he does not have a material body, but a spiritual one. A spirit has a body? Yes, for we read, "If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual one." (1 Cor. 15:44; John 4:24) God being an individual, a Person with a spirit body, has a place where he resides, and so he could not be at any other place at the same time. Thus we read at 1 Kings 8:43 that the heavens are God's "established place of dwelling." Also, we are told at Hebrews 9:24 that "Christ entered . . . into heaven itself, now to appear before the person of God for us."
Moreover, the disciple Stephen and the apostle John had visions of heaven in which they saw both God and Jesus Christ. So Jehovah God must be just as much a person, an individual, as Jesus Christ is. (Acts 7:56; Rev. 5:1, 9) Those Christians who have a hope of eventually living in heaven are assured that they will see God and also be like him, showing that Jehovah God truly is a person and has a body as well as a certain location.-1 John 3:2. (Watchtower, 2/151/81, p.5-7)

Where Is God's Body?
The face of the deep, of course, would be toward the Pleiades, which are claimed to be the habitation of Jehovah. (Creation; 1927; 2,175,000 ed.; pp. 94)
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The constellation of the seven stars forming the Pleiades appears to be the crowning center around which the known systems of the planets revolve even as our sun's planets obey the sun and travel in their respective orbits. It has been suggested, and with much weight, that one of the stars of that group is the dwelling-place of Jehovah and the place of the highest heavens;... (Reconciliation; 1928; pp. 14)
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The constellation of the Pleiades is a small one compared with others which scientific instruments disclose to the wondering eyes of man. But the greatness in size of other stars or planets is small when compared with the Pleiades in importance, because the Pleiades is the place of the eternal throne of God. (Reconciliation; 1928; pp. 14)
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He has a location in the highest heavens, but his active force, his holy spirit, furnishes enlightenment, and its force can be felt everywhere, over all the universe. (Watchtower, 2/15/81, p.5-7)

JW Postion Summarized
So where does this leave us concerning God's omni-attributes? How does the JW position shake out in plain English? I think it is a fair summary to say that the JWs have an all-powerful, semi-informed, dimensionally-challenged deity. This in no way compares to the all-powerful, all-knowing, everywhere-present God of the Bible. It is a poor imitation. The glory of the one true God outshines the false glories of every imagined deity, including the puny, limited idol erected by the Watchtower Society.

God As Creator
Jehovah's Witnesses do believe that God is the primary creator of the universe. But even this doctrine is not without its problems.Briefly put, Jehovah God is referred to by the Watchtower as the creator of all things but the only thing he created directly was Jesus Christ. Once Jesus was created, Jehovah created all other things through him. There have also been some different ideas presented by the Watchtower concerning the duration of the creative days. Many years ago they were certain of the exact duration of each creative day. Presently, they reject a specific time frame for creation, speaking of it in terms of "creative periods".

The Watchtower Says
Throughout the Scriptures Jehovah God is identified as the Creator. He is "the Creator of the heavens, . . . the Former of the earth and the Maker of it." (Isa 45:18) (Insight vol.1, p.526)
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Jehovah's first creation was his "only-begotten Son" (Joh 3:16), "the beginning of the creation by God." (Re 3:14) This one, "the firstborn of all creation," was used by Jehovah in creating all other things, those in the heavens and those upon the earth, "the things visible and the things invisible." (Col 1:15-17) (Insight vol.1, p.527)
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That "seventh day" on which God desisted from work and which he consecrated was not a 24-hour day, but it is of the length of the preceding six days. The Bible speaks of this "seventh day" as still continuing, because it is 7,000 years long. (What Has Religion Done For Mankind?; 1951; pp. 47)
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The creative week itself began about 46,025 B.C., according to the Bible's timetable. (New Heavens And A New Earth; 1953; pp. 43)
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The Scriptures, in stating, "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth" (Ge 1:1), leave matters indefinite as to time. This use of the term "beginning" is therefore unassailable, regardless of the age scientists may seek to attach to the earthly globe and to the various planets and other heavenly bodies. The actual time of creation of the material heavens and earth may have been billions of years ago. (Insight vol.1, p.527)
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The Bible does not specify the length of each of the creative periods. (Insight vol.1, p.545)

God's Name
Obviously, Jehovah's Witnesses believe that God's name is Jehovah. How important is this name to them? I'll let them speak for themselves on this one.

The Watchtower Says
Hence, the sanctification of God's name is far more important than any other issue. All of God's purposes are linked to his name. (Divine Name, 1984, p.29)
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Our salvation on the day of judgement will be related to our knowing the name of God. To know his name includes knowing his attributes, works, and purposes and living in harmony with his high principles. (The Watchtower; 11/1/1993; p.4)

Praying To and Worshipping God
Who do Jehovah's Witnesses pray to and worship? They believe you should only pray to and worship Jehovah God - remember that this is God the Father. They do not believe you should pray to or worship Jesus Christ(a created being in their theology) or the Holy Spirit(something akin to "divine electricity" which they call "God's impersonal active force").

The Watchtower Says
To whom should prayers be addressed? The Bible book of Hebrews speaks of a person that "approaches God." (Hebrews 11:6) Who is this God? There is but one almighty God, though there are many man-made and false gods. (1 Corinthians 8:5, 6) The almighty God of the Bible is named Jehovah. (Psalm 83:18) He is the Creator of all things, and for this reason prayer should be directed only to him. Jesus Christ clearly taught his followers to pray: "Our Father in the heavens." (Matthew 6:9) No, Jesus did not teach his disciples to pray to him, to his mother Mary, or to any other person. But God now requires that we recognize the position of his Son and offer all our prayers in Jesus' name. That is why Christ told his followers: "No one comes to the Father except through me."-John 14:6.
For prayers to be acceptable to God, then, they must be addressed to Jehovah God through his Son, Jesus Christ. That is, they must be said to God in the name of Jesus. (Watchtower, 3/15/1988, p.6)
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So Jehovah is unique; no one else shares his position. Jehovah stands in utter contrast to all such objects of worship as idols, deified humans, and Satan. All these are false gods. (Reasoning, 1989, p.150)
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The Bible's use of "holy spirit" indicates that it is a controlled force that Jehovah God uses to accomplish a variety of his purposes. To a certain extent, it can be likened to electricity, a force that can be adapted to perform a great variety of operations. (Should You Believe In The Trinity, 1989, p.20)

More To Come...

                                              
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