Bridge of Reason

T oday, when we come across Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons we find that they are led by a group of people who hold unquestioned authority. Members of this group know this, some even believe it themselves. This puts them in a powerful position, even to the point where they can create their own Bible. Two examples are the J oseph S mith Translation of the Mormons and the N ew W orld T ranslation of the Jehovah’s Witnesses. T hey can add words into their own Bible, words that are not in other, respectable, translations. F or example, in the Greek, C olossians 1:1 6 say s that J esus created all things: ‘ He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities – all things were created through him and for him.’ Col.1:15,16, ESV Jehovah’s Witnesses say that this runs counter to their understanding that Jesus is God’s first creat...

  In our latest Watchtower Wednesday on the Facebook page we saw that, according to Watchtower teaching, Jesus is the first creature God created. On their website they write: 'God created Jesus before creating Adam. In fact, God created Jesus and then used him to make everything else, including the angels. That is why the Bible calls Jesus “the firstborn of all creation” by God,—Read Colossians 1:15, 16.' It is worth noting that anyone new to a faith, any faith, has a lot to take in and is understandably not especially discerning. They put a lot of trust in the people teaching them and this places a huge responsibility on those teachers (James.3:1). The new Jehovah’s Witness will typically look at this explanation of Colossians 1:15,16 and feel they are having a lightbulb moment. ‘ That makes sense,’ they might think, uncritically embracing this new knowledge. Sadly for Jehovah’s Witnesses, the organisation strives to keep them in this infant state, where their minds a...